Case Study: Enhancing Transparency — Kirkkonummi Municipality Chooses AREC Systems

Dear ADENA Partners, in this case study we are looking at a municipality in Finland that has started using AREC systems to stream council meetings. This project was carried out by our partner F-Musiikki and system integrator ATEA, who helped the institution choose the LS-400 Media Station for all their media needs.

The Kirkkonummi municipality is committed to being open and meeting the needs of its residents in all its communications. They manage various social media accounts and regularly share updates, news, and events on their website. To make information more accessible, the municipality decided to improve their live streaming capabilities by using professional AV equipment that can be automated, making the production process simpler and cost-effective.

For this purpose, the municipality chose the AREC LS-400 Media Station. This model can handle up to 4 video sources at the same time. Users can connect computers, network and conference cameras, document cameras, phones, and more to it. The station can arrange these devices into preconfigured and custom video layouts for recording and streaming. These video layouts can also be enhanced with custom logos and backgrounds to make the videos more visually appealing or to display important information. The station can simultaneously record a video layout and individual video sources, additionally providing the institution with materials for post-editing. Lastly, the station has the capability to display a particular video source on a local display or projector while simultaneously recording and streaming a different video layout.

One of the main benefits of the LS-400 is its user-friendly approach to recording and streaming. This device can be controlled using a standard computer mouse or touchscreen, through RS-232 and TCP control panels, via its own web interface, cloud service, mobile devices, and more. It's also possible to schedule recordings, streams, and backups, which is incredibly convenient for council meetings. Municipalities can easily integrate their event calendar with the station, allowing it to manage media processes automatically. As a result, the station can replace the need for a live crew, significantly reducing recording and streaming costs.

With the station in use, Kirkkonummi municipality has improved its communication by delivering clearer messages without requiring an operator's assistance. Discover how your organisation can streamline and automate media production with AREC on our website at www.a-dena.com. We're available for live chat support and welcome any questions, so please don't hesitate to get in touch!

Case Study: Polish Court Interrogation Room Equipped with AREC to Help Children

Dear ADENA Partners, we would like to share an interesting case study from a District Court in Dąbrowa Górnicza, Poland. Our distributor Kontel and system integrator OST-Engineer equipped a special interrogation room with the AREC Media Capture System. This system is used to accurately capture and save interrogations of minors in a comfortable environment. Learn more about this solution below.

These days, Polish courts use what are called ‘Blue Rooms’. These are specially designed, friendly interrogation rooms for minors that are typically created outside of the main courtroom. The functions and equipment are necessary for such rooms are defined in Polish law. For example, the rooms must have a one-sided glass window to separate the prosecutors and defence lawyers from the interrogated child, but have the technical means for voice communication between them and the judge and psychologist conducting the interrogation. These rooms must have recording capabilities for audio and video, and capture the behaviour and expressions of interrogated children from every angle. Thanks to the efforts of our partners Kontel and OST-Engineer, the district court realised that AREC Media Capture System is the ideal solution for such rooms.

To capture the interrogation from every angle, the court is using a CI-21H PTZ network camera and two CI-303 static cameras. These cameras offer professional Full HD image quality and optical zoom, ensuring that the interrogation image is clear in every position. The operator controls the CI-21H and follows the child’s movements, while the static cameras with their 103° wide-angle field of view ensure that no details are left behind. The three cameras are recorded on an LS-300 Media Station, which mixes them in a single video and simultaneously records them separately for post-examination. The Media Station also uses ClearOne microphones as inputs: in the interrogation room, a 360° ceiling microphone collects all audio and removes unnecessary noise, whereas, on the other side of the window, the prosecution and defence address their questions through a gooseneck microphone. The whole system blends seamlessly in the environment: our cameras are mounted on brackets on the walls and are connected to the Media Station via network. The station itself is located behind one-way glass, ensuring that it does not disrupt the room design.

The court officials found the system reliable and very easy to use. Piotr Pałys, Head of the IT Section / IT Systems Administrator at the District Court in Dąbrowa Górnicza, commented that after some time from the implementation of the AREC solution, the system works perfectly and provides high-quality process material. The system ensures that children do not have to be interrogated several times and speeds up the court process significantly.

Is your local court looking for audiovisual systems to improve its media production? Contact us at www.a-dena.com and we will find the right solution for your project needs.

Case Study: AREC and Bosch Integration - Belgian Council Experience

Dear ADENA Partners, our case study this month is about one of the common applications of AREC Media Capture System for governments. With assistance from our distributor SANEL and integrator Avadis, the City Council of Leuze-en-Hainaut in Belgium introduced live streaming of municipal debates to the public.

Leuze-en-Hainaut is a quiet city and municipality in Wallonia. Despite its size, the city has a booming industrial zone Leuze-Europe, which is powered by many green energy projects that are taking place in the area. Leuze-en-Hainaut achieved this thanks to a number of factors, with one of the primary reasons being their strong local government. Building on that point, and to spread information and involve the local community in the municipal development plans, the city council decided to procure professional recording and streaming AV systems. AREC proved to be the most user-friendly option and combined functions of many devices, making it the best choice.

The council got AREC LS-200 and DS-4CU stations. LS-200 is a 2-channel Media Station that is able to record two different video channels at the same time and mix them with connected audio sources. These video sources can come from literally anywhere - computers, cameras, network sources, and more.

For the purpose of council meeting streams, one of the sources is a laptop with presentation content, whereas the other source is AREC DS-4CU Speaker Tracking Station. It allows users to automatically track active speakers using any of the integrated microphone congress systems. For the Leuze-en-Hainaut city council, that means Bosch CCS 1000D. Whenever a Bosch microphone is activated, one of the connected 4 AVer network PTZ cameras starts tracking the speaker. DS-4CU automatically changes camera layouts, overlay, and background graphics, all at the same time. You can see this effect yourself if you watch one of the sessions that the council published on their Facebook page.

Streaming council debates is just one of the many applications that AREC has for the government sector. Are you or your customers looking to create or upgrade recording and streaming abilities? Talk to us at a-dena.com and we will help you find the right solution!