In the cloud, or on your own server
The same talkback, run two ways: by us in the cloud, for events and remote crews; or by you on a Mac or Windows PC, for a permanent install on your own network.
ON Comms Cloud
For events and remote crews
yourname.
- No firewall to touch. Everyone connects out to your site, from any network: a truck on somebody else’s internet, a hotel, 4G.
- Crew anywhere in the world. Camera operators, commentators and producers at different venues, or at home.
- Nothing to look after. We run the server and back it up every night.
- Tally and desk audio through two small apps on a computer at the venue: ON Comms Tally for the vision mixer, ON Comms Bridge for the sound desk or Dante.
Licensed by the week, the month, or for good.
ON Comms Server
For permanent installs
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- No internet needed. Phones on the venue Wi-Fi and computers on the wired network connect straight to it.
- The shortest path. The audio stays on your network, with no trip out to the internet and back.
- Nothing else to install. It reads the ATEM, vMix or TSL tally and carries the desk audio itself.
- Your audio never leaves the building, unless you open the port for crew outside it.
One Mac or Windows PC, licensed with a key.
Side by side
| What | ON Comms Cloud | ON Comms Server |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Events and remote crews: camera operators anywhere, crews across venues, a truck on internet you don’t control | A permanent install: a facility, a studio, a theatre, a truck |
| Runs on | Our servers, at yourname.oncommstalkback.com | One Mac (macOS 13.5 or later) or one 64-bit Windows 10 (1809 or later) or Windows 11 PC, on your network |
| Internet | Everyone needs it | Not needed by anyone on your network. The server checks its licence in once a week, and runs for 30 days without the internet |
| Firewall | Nothing to open: networks that block UDP get through over TCP or a relay, by themselves | One port, TCP and UDP (26670 unless you choose another), and only if crew join from outside |
| Latency | Your crew’s internet, there and back | Your own network: the shortest path |
| Camera tally | The ON Comms Tally app on a computer at the venue | Built in: Blackmagic ATEM, vMix and TSL UMD |
| Sound desk or Dante | The ON Comms Bridge app on a computer at the venue | Built in: Core Audio on a Mac, WASAPI on Windows |
| Mic test lines | Yes: each person hears their own voice back before the show | Not yet |
| Finding it | Your address, typed once | Its address on your network; the iPhone app finds it by name |
| Looked after by | Us: backed up every night, sealed with AES-256-GCM | You: it updates itself from a signed feed when an admin says so |
| Licence | By the week, the month, or for good | A key |
The same in both
Crew and admins use the same things on either.
- The talk panel, and the iPhone, Android, Mac and Windows apps.
- Partylines, priority lines, private calls and reply keys.
- Camera tally on every operator’s screen, and desk audio on any line.
- Stream Deck keys through Bitfocus Companion.
- Audio encrypted with AES-256-GCM, and every panel showing the cipher its connection negotiated.
- Admin in a browser: who is on air, how good their link is, and an events log.
- The whole setup saved to a file sealed with a passphrase, and restored anywhere.
Which one?
Ask where the crew will be, and for how long. The network planner works out the bandwidth for either.
The cloud, when
- the show is an event, not a fixture;
- the crew are spread across venues, countries or their homes;
- you are on a network you cannot change — a truck on somebody else’s internet, a hotel;
- you would rather not look after a server.
Your own server, when
- it is a permanent install: a facility, a studio, a theatre, a truck;
- everyone is on one network, on Wi-Fi or wired;
- the venue has no internet, or none you can count on;
- you want the shortest audio path, and nothing else to install;
- your policy says the audio stays on site.
See it on your own show.
We’ll walk your engineers through ON Comms on a call — your gallery, your network, your questions.