VATSIM tests voice codec live on network for first time

[Gunnar Lindahl]

Tonight, we tested the new voice codec live on the VATSIM network for the very first time. Featuring reduced latency, improved voice quality and VHF simulation, a first for the network!

 

[Andrew Ogden]

Brilliant work from the voice dev team! Great work guys!

[Don Desfosse]

Fantastic!

[Matthew Kosmoski 891361]

Glad to hear it!

 

When are we thinking this might be generally available? What's the transition plan look like? Will the new clients be backwards compatible? Will the old clients be backported?

[Andreas Fuchs]

So, we have some results! Where are all the critics now?

 

Well done!!

[Joaquin Blanco]

Fantastic news and thanks to all the members involved in the development of this codec. Look forward to using it online.

[Oliver Gruetzmann]

So, we have some results! Where are all the critics now?

 

Well done!!

Why don't we have it, yet?

[Nestor Perez]

Where are all the critics now?

 

There you go:

Hahaha

[Vu Viet Phuong]

Fantastic !

We are all looking forward to try the new level of communication on VATSIM.

[Andreas Fuchs]

Where are all the critics now?

 

There you go: https://twitter.com/MattDaviesHD/status/1045098246195105792 Hahaha

LOL Magic Matt at his best. Luckily somebody from our VATSIM staff (Gunnar) replied in a very constructive manner.

[Nestor Perez]

Gotta love people who are able to keep it cool in this situations. *GG* @Gunnar

Edited September 27, 2018 at 10:31 AM by Guest

[Liesel Downes]

Well done guys! Hope to see it out for the rest of us when it's ready

[Marinos Klouras]

Excellent! Well done guys! Hope it becomes available soon for all.

[Samuel Rey]

This is fantastic! I don't know if it's too clear or I'm used to the old one...

[Spencer Yackee 1326148]

So, we have some results! Where are all the critics now?

 

Well done!!

Wondering why VATISM has been so lethargic as to allow a problem that has been literally driving people off the network exist for so long, and why there's no information available for potential implementation for such a colossal issue the network is facing.

 

I'll believe it when my audio through my pilot client sounds like this.

[Nicholas Cavacini]

Wondering why VATISM has been so lethargic as to allow a problem that has been literally driving people off the network exist for so long, and why there's no information available for potential implementation for such a colossal issue the network is facing.

 

I'll believe it when my audio through my pilot client sounds like this.

 

It is currently in the early beta stages from my knowledge. It'll still need to be refined with tweaks, features, and integration into clients. There will be an update when the team has further information to share, this is how all progress is made. There can be no commitment as to a timeline right now because it is still in early testing. For right now just know that it is being worked on and the progress appears really good so far.

Edited September 28, 2018 at 12:39 AM by Guest

[Andreas Fuchs]

Wondering why VATISM has been so lethargic as to allow a problem that has been literally driving people off the network exist for so long, and why there's no information available for potential implementation for such a colossal issue the network is facing.

Again: I almost never encounter these problems. If people step onto each others' transmissions, then this is not only caused by the codec, but also by a full frequency paired with impatient customers. As long as you setup your computer the right way, voice should not be a major issue. But we've had this discussion already and I am glad that we are making progress on this new codec, which I very much welcome as well without over-dramatizing the current situation, though.

[Randy Tyndall 1087023]

Ye Gods,

 

The powers to be have heard and responded and yet still there is negativity. I swear, it's as if someone is handed a sack containing $50,000 to do with as they wish and when they look inside they complain because it's all in $10.00 bills and the sack would weight ten times less if they were Hundreds.

 

I for one take heart in the comment about "all clients" which may mean my beloved FS2004 is still viable, though ancient.

 

Randy

[Arthur Melton]

Yay, for FS 2004

[Spencer Yackee 1326148]

Again: I almost never encounter these problems. If people step onto each others' transmissions, then this is not only caused by the codec, but also by a full frequency paired with impatient customers. As long as you setup your computer the right way, voice should not be a major issue.

I never mentioned anything about having transmissions stepped on. That's an unavoidable problem experienced in the real world to the frustration of many.

 

Just because you don't encounter these problems does not mean that others do not. Surely if a new voice codec is one of the leading changes people wish to be implemented (there are 37 results for "voice codec" in this thread as of today), there must be a problem with the existing one. If you could inform me how to "setup me computer the right way," so that the compression and decompression of audio over the network isn't horrific, I'll be here. No amount of "setup" for my computer will change the fact that VATSIM uses a dated codec. I fly DCS world daily and use a program there - SimpleRadio, which produces VHF as rich as Christmas pudding.

 

VATSIM's poor radio quality is a headache and a half for me. I fly long hauls to destinations of the world where controller accents are tough to deal with -- compounded with a bad codec, and every time I fly into Dubai I've gotta go ask for text.

 

It's also amusing to me that this issue has been mentioned numerous times and discussed to great lengths over a span of years, and is being addressed only now because a challenger to VATSIM has approached.

[Simon Kelsey]

There's no pleasing some people, is there?

 

Curious to know what your reasoning is to think that "VATSIM" (in itself rather nebulous -- VATSIM is not a multinational corporation after all, it is a community -- we are all "VATSIM") has been ignoring the issue?

 

Do you know what the BoG have or haven't been doing in the background to try and get something moving, for instance?

 

If it's that easy a problem to solve and it bothered you that much, could you have whipped something up and offered it to VATSIM? Why not?

 

The leadership of VATSIM, like any volunteer organisation, cannot simply snap their fingers and demand a new codec. I don't know if you've ever been involved in running a volunteer organisation reliant on people's donated time and skills -- I have, and although you can try and encourage people to do things for you at the end of the day it is very difficult -- people spend their time developing things for VATSIM because they want to, not because some VATGOVX has told them to do so.

 

I'm sure there are many VATSIM members like you or I who could have developed a new codec before now, but it would appear that none of those people with the skills to do so wanted to until now.

 

The past is the past. We can spend hours arguing about what could have been done when, but it's not going to change anything. The only important thing is what is happening now.

[Harry Sugden]

Amen to that Simon!

 

I'm definitely living in the now, and thus am very excited for what the future holds! Not complaining now that something good is coming along...

 

Am looking forward to my VATSIM experience being enhanced tenfold (London Control will never be the same again), and some great work from those behind this - the drive is certainly there to get it to the finish line. No need to 'believe it when you see it' - just believe that change is happening now?

[Inwoo Yeo]

Great news! I'm happy to hear that!

[Robert Shearman Jr]

I never mentioned anything about having transmissions stepped on. That's an unavoidable problem experienced in the real world to the frustration of many.

True, but it is made worse by the buffering delay in the current codec. The longer the delay, the more "dead space" between transmissions where multiple pilots might begin to jump in with their message -- and when two or more do so at once, the more time that p[Mod - Happy Thoughts]es before they realize that they & another user are transmitting at the same time and can stop talking.

[Ross Carlson]

To be clear, the delay doesn't come from the codec, it comes from buffering and transport (network) latency. The codec just handles converting audio into digital data and back. There is some small latency in the codec but from what I'm told, that's insignificant compared to buffering and transport latency, both of which happen after the codec has done its job.

 

Regarding how latency causes people to step on each other far more than what happens in the real world, I wrote up a fairly detailed summary of it in another thread, if anyone cares for some more detail:

 

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