does obi200 or any obi device support adding your own codecs?

[mweaser]

I want to get a obi device, preferably an obi200, does this or any other obi support other codecs? can i add a purchased codec to an obi? I want to be able to use other codecs on this than the ones provided.

[SteveInWA]

Hunh?  No.  Why would you need to do that?

See these datasheets for supported CODECs:

OBi 200/202 ATAs:  http://www.obihai.com/docs/OBi200DS.pdf

OBi IP Phones:  http://www.obihai.com/docs/OBiPhoneDS.pdf

[mweaser]

Hunh?  No.  Why would you need to do that?

See these datasheets for supported CODECs:

OBi 200/202 ATAs:  http://www.obihai.com/docs/OBi200DS.pdf

OBi IP Phones:  http://www.obihai.com/docs/OBiPhoneDS.pdf

Well apparently on some voip phones you can get commercial codecs, so you can buy codecs , apparently commercial codecs are better than the free ones , some of the codecs have better compression and don't effect the sound quality, which i know that compression codecs,the sound quality can be effected.

[SteveInWA]

Um no, that's not accurate.  It's not a question of "free" vs. "commercial".  Some CODECs have patent licenses, and others are in the public domain.  That difference is not related to the quality of the CODECs.  The G.729 CODEC is an example of a licensed CODEC, and all OBi devices legally support that CODEC (Obihai has paid the license fee).  It's not very useful anymore, as it was originally used in the days when internet bandwidth was expensive and constrained.

If you are calling regular telephone numbers, the international-standard and license-free G.711 CODECs provide the best call quality that the PSTN can handle.

At this time, there are several competing wideband audio codecs; some public-domain and some patented.

See this table for a comprehensive list (including many that are not used in telephony):  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_audio_coding_formats

There is no point to using a wideband audio CODEC with an OBi ATA over the PTSN, since the telephones you could plug into the OBi's RJ-11 jack don't support wideband audio (also known as HD Voice), and the PSTN has a limited audio range.

If you want to make pure SIP VoIP calls from one SIP phone to another, the OBi IP phones support the wideband opus CODEC, and they have built-in HD audio amplifiers and microphone/speaker components.  Some Grandstream IP phones also support opus.

Opus is royalty-free and it is becoming the de-facto standard for wideband audio.

[mweaser]

Um no, that's not accurate.  It's not a question of "free" vs. "commercial".  Some CODECs have patent licenses, and others are in the public domain.  That difference is not related to the quality of the CODECs.  The G.729 CODEC is an example of a licensed CODEC, and all OBi devices legally support that CODEC (Obihai has paid the license fee).  It's not very useful anymore, as it was originally used in the days when internet bandwidth was expensive and constrained.

If you are calling regular telephone numbers, the international-standard and license-free G.711 CODECs provide the best call quality that the PSTN can handle.

At this time, there are several competing wideband audio codecs; some public-domain and some patented.

See this table for a comprehensive list (including many that are not used in telephony):  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_audio_coding_formats

There is no point to using a wideband audio CODEC with an OBi ATA over the PTSN, since the telephones you could plug into the OBi's RJ-11 jack don't support wideband audio (also known as HD Voice), and the PSTN has a limited audio range.

If you want to make pure SIP VoIP calls from one SIP phone to another, the OBi IP phones support the wideband opus CODEC, and they have built-in HD audio amplifiers and microphone/speaker components.  Some Grandstream IP phones also support opus.

Opus is royalty-free and it is becoming the de-facto standard for wideband audio.

But aren't there a few commercial codecs out there that you have to purchase? and don't they have some voip phones that you can purchase codecs for?

[SteveInWA]

No.  This is a non-issue.  VoIP phones from Obihai, Grandstream, Polycom, etc. all support the necessary CODECs to connect to each other.

[SteveInWA]

Perhaps you have seen one of the various SIP VoIP software telephone (softphone) apps, such as Counterpath X-Lite, Zoiper, or CSipSimple.  Because these are free apps, and the developers aren't making any money on them, they only include the license-free CODECs.  They then either sell "pro" versions of the apps, such as Counterpath Bria, or sell CODEC "packs" that include the licensed CODECs such as G.729 or AMR-WB/G.722.2.

These issues do not apply to hardware VoIP phones, which you need to buy.

[mweaser]

Perhaps you have seen one of the various SIP VoIP software telephone (softphone) apps, such as Counterpath X-Lite, Zoiper, or CSipSimple.  Because these are free apps, and the developers aren't making any money on them, they only include the license-free CODECs.  They then either sell "pro" versions of the apps, such as Counterpath Bria, or sell CODEC "packs" that include the licensed CODECs such as G.729 or AMR-WB/G.722.2.

These issues do not apply to hardware VoIP phones, which you need to buy.

Don't some commercial voip like magic jack or even Vonage that have there own voip device, don't some have there own codecs for there voip? Like i was reading online that people where asking what the codec was used and they refused to tell what the codec is.

[SteveInWA]

No.  Why are you flogging this issue to death?  It is totally irrelevant.  If you want to buy and use OBi products, they come with the necessary CODECs.