Case Study: Martinique is Unique — AREC and Bosch are Perfect Fit

Dear ADENA Partners, our case study this month comes from the sunny and exotic island of Martinique. With the support of our distributor Sidev and system integrator Caritel (a company of Infodom Group), the council of Ville du Gros-Morne has successfully added an AREC speaker tracking solution to their existing Bosch DCN-CCU2 conferencing system and other equipment. Read on to discover how the system works, the benefits it brings, and more in the full case study below.

Gros-Morne, located in the geographical heart of Martinique, is the second largest municipality on the island. It is also the least densely populated, with vast areas covered by expansive forests. As a primarily rural community, residents often need to travel considerable distances using various forms of transport, which limits their ability to participate actively in the political life of the municipality.

In an effort to improve this situation and keep the community better informed about its decisions, the municipal council decided to begin livestreaming its meetings. Officials turned to one of Martinique’s most reputable system integrators — our partner, Infodom — and tasked them with creating a solution that was both highly cost-effective and versatile. The system needed to offer speaker tracking, support multiple cameras, enable dynamic switching between them, and provide reliable recording and streaming functionality.

To ensure the solution met the client's budget requirements, elements of the existing conference system were retained—for example, the original Bosch DCN-CCU2 discussion system and its various types of microphones. This system, along with many others, is compatible with our speaker tracking station, the DS-4CU, which Infodom used to fulfil most of the project’s key requirements.

DS-4CU (VA1) Speaker Tracking Front

DS-4CU (VA1) Speaker Tracking Back

Our DS-4CU can process up to four video sources simultaneously—including computer content, camera video streams, and more—into custom video layouts. In addition, it supports overlay and background images, with storage for up to 254 files of each type, allowing every speaker to be displayed with their own nameplate. The DS-4CU combines these layouts and images into unique visual arrangements for each speaker. When a microphone is activated, the system automatically displays the corresponding layout and toggles user-configured PTZ presets on cameras to show the active speaker. This fully automated process ensures that councillors can remain focused on their discussions without any technical distractions. 

One of the DS-4CU’s video outputs was converted from HDMI to USB and used as a webcam input on a dedicated recording and streaming computer, which broadcasts the council meetings live on YouTube. You can see an example of such a stream here: Diffusion en direct de VILLE DU GROS-MORNE.

Thanks to the efforts of Infodom and Sidev, Gros-Morne municipality now benefits from a fully automated speaker tracking solution, making political life more transparent and accessible for its community. Does your council still not have speaker tracking? Contact us at www.a-dena.com and let's discuss how we can change this!

Case Study: AREC + Televic, the formula for every successful council

Dear ADENA Partners, in this case study, we review how Rochford Council in the UK successfully uses the AREC DS-4CU together with the Televic Confidea discussion system. Thanks to the efforts of our distributor, Tukans, and system integrator, Nuway, Rochford Council now embodies its “Simpler, clearer, faster” slogan in every council meeting, increasing transparency and improving public outreach. Learn more about how the systems work below and watch the system in action on the Council’s YouTube channel.

Rochford Council is a governmental institution responsible for district services and providing information for the Rochford district. This includes plans for local economic development, tourism, housing, jobs, and many other matters. The council’s workload necessitates frequent meetings and debates, which, until recently, were streamed with a single camera. 

While the streams did make the meetings publicly visible, they only conveyed the bare minimum. Important parts of the proceedings, such as computer-shared content and diagrams, could not be displayed, and it was not possible to focus on active speakers without manual control of the camera. Consequently, the council decided to look for a way to improve its streaming setup, and thanks to the efforts of our distributor, Tukans, and system integrator, Nuway, found that the AREC DS-4CU was exactly what they needed.

DS-4CU Speaker Tracking Station

The DS-4CU is a speaker-tracking station that supports up to four video sources connected by HDMI, VGA, or network. It is integrated with a variety of popular discussion systems on the market, including Audio-Technica, Shure, Bosch, Televic, and others. The station can select a customisable layout with multiple video sources, switch overlays and backgrounds, and control PTZ movement of each connected camera uniquely for every speaker in a fully automatic mode. The combination of these features allows Rochford Council to clearly display the current speaker, switch to opposite cameras to display councillors on the other side of the chambers, and show various computer content as part of the livestream. 

Televic Confidea

Our station is used together with the Televic Confidea, a bespoke and robust discussion system for councils. It ensures that every speaker is clearly heard and comes with a multitude of features tailored to council meetings, such as voting, RFID authentication, and more, which Rochford Council uses in every meeting.

The council has joined the long list of successful meeting transformation projects accomplished with AREC, and you can see the results on its YouTube channel. Is your council also looking for a solution to improve recording, streaming, and conferencing processes? Reach out to us at www.a-dena.com, and we will be happy to arrange a discussion to show why AREC is the right solution.

Case Study: AREC KL-3T Helps to Create an Oasis of Transparency in Manchester Council

Dear ADENA Partners, this time we focus on Trafford Council in the UK and how it uses AREC products to ensure transparency and access to livestreams for local residents. The project, completed with our distributor Tukans and system integrator GVAV, demonstrates how AREC KL-3T stations make it simple for governmental institutions to reach all of their constituents day after day.

Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority of Trafford Borough in Greater Manchester. It is an organisation responsible for a variety of administrative processes in Trafford, such as setting the levels of council taxes, monitoring the health service, education, social care, and more. The council performs these duties through meetings, which must be recorded and streamed for transparency. 

However, the original system in place for this was not performing as well as the council had hoped, as it was not easy to initiate and monitor the recording and livestream processes. The council started looking for solutions that could improve these and other aspects of meeting production, and our distributor Tukans, along with the system integrator GVAV, offered a complete solution that fully satisfied the council's needs.

The proposed solution was based on the AREC KL-3T Media Stations. These devices can combine up to 3 video sources with audio inputs into a single channel for recording and streaming. The stations also record these video sources separately at the same time, creating material for post-editing and independent viewing. The mixed video created by the Media Station can feature custom overlays and backgrounds, including logos of the organisations, titles of the speakers, advertisements, or other information. 

KL-3T Media Station

The KL-3T model is a particularly good fit for councils, as it features an inbuilt interactive display that shows what the device is recording and streaming at all times. It also comes with a GUI that can be used to control all key features of the device with a single touch. This means that anyone, even without an IT or AV background, can record and livestream without any other hardware or software, thereby helping to save the budget.. Moreover, thanks to the inbuilt control and preview display, the stations are very portable and can be moved to different council rooms as needed.

The council uses Angekis PTZ cameras to capture the speakers from different angles. These cameras are automatically displaying the active speaker thanks to the Televic Confero CAM solution, which is connected to the station and generates names and titles of those speakers. The Televic Confidea G4 Discussion System is used to capture audio, with its central unit connected to the Media Station as an audio input.

The solution created for the Trafford Council simplified the production of council recordings to the point of automation — exactly what the council wanted! It is used to great success to ensure public access to all council’s meetings, which can be watched live on the Trafford Council YouTube channel. Alternatively, take a look at the stream from the council’s chambers - one of the locations where Trafford Council is using AREC devices.

Is your local council providing the same level of transparency? Reach out to us at www.a-dena.com and let’s discuss how we can improve their setup with the AREC Media Capture System.