Streaming XM Radio - MoH

[William Bell]

Greetings,

I have a customer that is migrated to a 100% UC on UCS solution. They currently leverage a fixed audio source using the ol' USB sound card adapter on the publisher trick.  I know this configuration is supported on the virtual platform. Loading a MCS server for this purpose isn't very desirable.

All I really need is a way to take the existing satellite radio feed and multicast it on the corporate network. I am wondering if anyone has come across a graceful solution to this problem. I saw Jonathan's solution in this thread: 

https://supportforums.cisco.com/thread/2061266?tstart=-5

I am checking that out but I am hoping for other alternatives.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

Bill

[William Bell]

So, I did some testing and I was able to get a 2800 ISR to multicast input from an FXS to simulate Music On Hold. Now all I have to do is solve the problem of getting a mic input to RJ11 solution.

[James Hawkins]

Hi Bill,

A while ago I tried to use VLC to send multicast audio for MoH without too much success.

There are a few posts from people that have tried to do similar things on the VLC forum which go into the problems with using VLC.

http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=63667

I did find another product that can multicast music from an external source.

http://www.acrovista.com/music-service/abgms-datasheet.pdf

Could be a solution as long as your customer does not mind a PC being used for the purpose.

If you figure out how to use an FXS port for a mic input I would be interested to know more.

Cheers

James

[William Bell]

James,

Thanks for the info. I will take a look at the gotchas that you noted.

I was able to get this work with my FXS port. But my test was a basic analog phone and me singing into the mic! I was toying with the idea of trying to use my little radio shack phone and an iPod but need to convert from a 3.5mm TRS to a mini-trs. But I think that is a waste.

I found some docs on CME/SRST "live feed" which uses the same mechanics Jonathan was using. Hailey has an FXO in his lab. So I may get the necessary converter to test.

I did find an alternative from Barix (www.barix.com) which seems like a more viable option. It is purpose-built and they have two products that seem to fit the need. I may purchase one to test.

Thanks again for the info.

-Bill