[vorbis] Why 64kbps is important

[Michael Paine]

>>  Did you know:
>>
>>  Everyone needs to remember the purpose to 64kbps audio -- VoIP.
>>
>>  The current standard for G.711 is 64kbps, and once Docsys 1.1 become
>> reality this time next year, the VoIP industry will start looking for the
>> next generation audio codec for the cable softphone industry.
>>
>>  This is why MP3Pro and WMA are fighting it out for the 64kbps industry.
>> Did anyone on this newsgroup know that?
>
>What are the requirements? Mono I assume, and a narrower than music
frequency
>range?
>
>Given that vorbis does a fairly good job of mono 64kbps now, and vorbis 1.0
>will be tuned for it, vorbis might as well try for a 32kbps voice tuned
>encoding rate.
>
>John
>

Incorrect.  The idea is to make telephone sound better, so stereo mics
(perhaps even Ambisonic mics) or mono-mics with positioning information
(good for teleconferences).  Back in the day (before transistors), 8KHz was
perfect for voice -- 8KHz just doesn't cut it anymore when better sounding
codecs exist within the same bandwidth.

I think the drive is that 8khz has been the standard for too long with
budgets and prices for equipment having a solid/fundemental assumption on
64kbps for voice.  I'm sure music is part of the softphone/Docsys
consideration; otherwise, they would only be interested in G.711 still.

Time for Ogg Vorbis to step up to the telecom plate!

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