Arun Kumar demonstrates the portability of the ATC Labs ALCO Professional Reporter app on a laptop computer. NEW DELHI — ATC Labs ALCO Professional Reporter is an IP-based software codec that has added flexibility to All India Radio’s field reporting/remote capabilities and reduced our dependency and requirement on fixed lines for remote broadcasts.
Now we feel confident that our team can set up to cover any event in a short time through ALCO. We have found that it is easy to set up in 10 minutes.
ALCO Professional can be installed in any desktop/laptop computer at the studio side and in a laptop or tablet with the reporter or remote team. A 2G/3G dongle sends the live field reporting to the studio for on-air use. With the use of the text massaging tool users can be in touch with the studio or remote crew for any information exchange.
From the studio side, all parameters for the remote reporters like bitrate selection, volume, buffering, etc., can be controlled. If for some reason a reliable and stable Internet signal is unavailable at the remote location, ALCO Professional allows for offline reporting that can be saved for later uploading.
It provides dual inputs. Input 1 is for a live feed and Input 2 is for playing saved audio files, a playlist or reports.
ALCO Professional has a choice of variable codecs like 32, 64 and 128 kbps bitrates; 32 and 64 kbps are mono codecs and 128 is a stereo codec equivalent to CD quality. You can also play internal saved audio files from your laptop or tab through the playlist manager and users can configure the start and stop time of the audio.
There is a 2G/3G mobile signal booster supplied along with ALCO Professional that is useful for boosting the RF strength of the wireless dongle for indoor broadcasting or where there is an issue of Internet strength.
We have found that ATC Labs’ ALCO Professional Reporter is a great innovation for remote broadcasting use. It has proven to be simple to use and cost-effective in comparison to our old, bulky hardware setups. We at the AIR OB team are now using ALCO Professional Reporter for all of our field reporting.
For information, contact Mike Lyons at ATC Labs in New Jersey at (973) 624-1116 or visit www.atc-labs.com.
