Teamspeak vs Flight Voice

[EzRyder 35]

 Just wondering why so many of the players use teamspeak instead of the Voice Chat built in to flight.

 

I used teamspeak some time back for FSX and it was OK but required a couple extra steps compared to Flight Voice.

 

I went ahead and downloaded teamspeak 3 (new to me) so I can join in on some flights like the Airport hops but I haven't installed it yet.

 

tia

[EzRyder 35]

OK got it installed and bookmarked msflights.jmainguy.com and it appears to work - I talked to someone so  ....

 

A question though, Do I need to change my keys in Flight?  I use a joystick button for 'Push to Talk' in Flight so - What happens if both teamspeak and Flight are mapped to the same key/button?

[Heimi 91]

Then they will hear you twice.

But you can choose "voice avtivation" in teamspeak. There is no need to assign a button to talk.

As soon as you start to talk teamspeak will activate the mic itself.

Just for info: Flight voice chat uses more bandwith then teamspeak. Therefore most player use teamspeak.

[F50ACE 1]

Yea, I've got 2 diff. PTT keys on my joystick.

[fryerlawrence 7]

@AirWayMan

 

What were the exact steps you took to install Team Speak?  Apparently my research didn't help me at all...lol :blink:

[EzRyder 35]

Downloaded TS client from here http://www.teamspeak.com/?page=downloads ran installer - then setup wizard - choose username and nickname

 

after this you can add msflights.jmainguy.com as a bookmark - select bookmark and your in 

 

on the left you will see 'channels'? (may be the wrong term) scroll down to 'Other Games' and/or 'Microsoft Flight Lobby' and look for F50ACE double click the channel you want

 

on the bottom you will see tabs to show the channels you selected and the channel you are in

 

I'm new to TS3 so just guessing but I did get it setup I think (and could talk to people in different channel) also F50ACE may not be running a server atm so that may not be there

[EzRyder 35]

BTW  I am in 'Microsoft Flight Lobby' right now (alone atm) so if anyone wants to try to make it work see if you can get to there   I'll park here for a couple hours

[FSMP 95]

My Mistake, did not realize it was the FLIGHT forum, and not the FSX forum. !!             Duhhhh

However, having taken considerable time to post the technical details below, I am reluctant to just delete it -- some may find it of interest ..

 

 

 

To answer the OP's question.


SHORT ANSWER

I believe some use TS instead of FSX's built in VOIP audio using the FSX radios, because they think the audio quality of the FSX VOIP is not good enough.

Teamspeak will can give Clearer Communication audio.



LONG (techie) ANSWER

FSX's built in VOIP request that a players Microphone levels be adjusted correctly, and that they speak Clearly.
The VOIP has limited Bandwidth, - most MP sessions have it set to 3.6Khz Bandwidth.

If your Microphone is not adjusted correctly, and you do not speak clearly, then this LOW bandwidth can make it difficult for other to understand what you are saying.

FSX provided 3 Bandwidth setting, 1.2Khz, 2.4 kHz, 3,6 kHz, and a massive 128 kHz

Remember, FSX was developed during time when many Internet users where still on Dialup (64k)
Hence the low Bandwidth options. The HIGH Bandwidth option (Totally Unrealistically Clear) could be used on Local Lan (10Mb or 100Mb) connections.

Now, this is the real shame :-
There was a 7.2 Khz option. available in the "version" of the Codec that MS Aces decided to use for FSX, but a coding error in using it with FSX, as well as a coding error in the actual Codec, caused it not to work at 7.3 kHz, the 7.2 kHz option was disabled and not made selectable in FSX.

This is really unfortunate, as a 7.2kHz bandwidth almost exactly matches the Real World Bandwidth of Aviation VHF communication radios, and would have provide a most realistic experience.

That being said, the popular 3.6 Khz option in FSX is quite usable, provided that Microphone levels are set correctly, and Pilot & ATC speak CLEARLY, ( as Real World Pilots and ATC tend to do in the real world ).

Using TS, and a higher Bandwidth, is a lot more forgiving, so many give up with FSX, and resort to TS.

This is fine, if everyone has TS. The advantage of the FSX VOIP is that every FSX user, has the FSX VOIP installed in FSX, so everyone has it.

The FSX VOIP system also can also be configured in FSX, to work with the COM radio frequencies.

By default, TS knows nothing about FSX radios, although there are FSX addons that can overcome this, and provide dynamic TS channels to match the frequencies that players are on, but this is yet another addon, to install, and enure is working correctly,

Now, in 2013, when most that use FSX over the Internet, have Broadband Connection, the 128K FSX VOIP option, is possible, and some MP sessions are using that, even though it gobbles up a lot of Bandwidth.
However, at about 10 times the bandwidth of TS, it is a real overkill, and unrealistically TOO Clear.

BTW: The above also applies to current version of P3D. I have NO IDEA what might change (improve) in later version of P3D (ie 2.0 upwards) - we will just have to wait an see
 

[Moe 6]

I can't find any of these "msflights.jmainguy.com" or "Microsoft Flight Lobby". I find plenty of FSX related channels but nothing related to flight.

 

Moe

[EzRyder 35]

 

after this you can add msflights.jmainguy.com as a bookmark - select bookmark and your in 

 

"msflights.jmainguy.com" is the server address you need to 'connect' to

 

the only thing you will find is the 'Microsoft Flight Lobby'  but likely nobody else is in it atm

[Orion 2]

Ah, thanks Geoff, that was an interesting read.  Glad you kept it.

[stonelance 136]

I think a lot of people just don't realize that Flight has built in voice chat support.

[Moe 6]

i've been all over the sim and i have yet to find where the voice chat is

Moe

[EzRyder 35]

Options --> Game Controls --> Keyboard

 

Voice Chat (All) - TAB

Voice Chat (Radio) - TAB + CTRL

 

You also have to set up Windows Live from the Main  Menu or use the Home Key

Settings on far right then Voice

 

Playback volume    Max  Far right

Recording volume   Max  Far right

Voice threshold       Min   Far left

[Moe 6]

Thanks. I will get that going tomorrow.

 

Moe