AREC and Dante in Universities, Companies, Courts, and more!

Dante, created by Audinate, is a network-based protocol for audio and video transmission. It has grown massively in popularity over the past years and has now become a leading standard in audio over ethernet transmission, adopted by hundreds of AV manufacturers.

Dante’s global popularity and ease of use make it an essential addition to AREC Media Stations. Its inclusion helps create even better AV systems for all sorts of projects by cutting installation times, reducing cabling work, and improving overall audio quality. Take, for example, a standard conference room.

With Dante, the connection between microphones and speakerphones on the conferencing table, wall speakers, other audio devices, and an AREC Media Station is accomplished with just a network cable. This reduces clutter, preserves audio quality, and makes it easy to change audio routing should the room configuration change. Furthermore, network connection makes it easier to position hardware far away from the room, leaving only the necessary devices inside.

And it is not just the conference rooms that can benefit. Consider a regular town hall.

Plenty of discussion systems that are commonly used in them work on Dante. They are the same discussion systems that are integrated with AREC for tracking. Take, for example, Televic Confidea. Each Confidea Flex G4 can be connected to a central unit, which can then be connected to AREC LS-110 for audio recording and to the DS-4CU for automatic speaker tracking, all of it by the network.

Likewise, in lecture halls, you can send audio from the ceiling and handheld microphones, combine it with captured cameras, and create engaging learning material. Dante will deliver the audio of your speakers in high quality, whereas the wireless nature of connection makes it possible for lecturers to focus on their task. To make this even more convenient for the user, consider using our IR and AI tracking cameras. They are designed to follow your speakers and active audience members, and work wirelessly, making an ideal pairing for Dante-enabled devices.

These are just some of the ways you can use Dante audio products with AREC. Would you like to know more about how you can use our products in your projects? Reach out to us at www.a-dena.com and we would be happy to discuss it with you!

ADENA Hack: How to hide the GUI on AREC stations?

Every AREC Media Station from versions 2.6 and newer comes with an inbuilt way to control it — the graphical user interface, shortened to GUI. We covered this interface in detail in the very first ADENA Hack, and mentioned additions to it in subsequent posts. GUI can be opened and closed easily by left-clicking anywhere away from it with a computer mouse or by touching on a USB-connected interactive display. You can also use the dedicated hide/show buttons in the corners of the GUI. Starting from firmware versions 2.11 and on stations with the MCU version 4.3 or 4.4, it is now also possible to completely disable the GUI until it is needed again. To do so, open the “Administrator” web page of your station, go to “Media I/O” -> “Display”. You will find two settings dedicated to this: “OSD Menu'' and “OSD Menu - Playback Video”. Toggling off “OSD Menu” will shut down the GUI until this option is toggled on. Toggling off only “OSD Menu - Playback Video” will keep the GUI, but remove the playback feature from it. If you want to keep the GUI available, but remove the ability for your operators to see previously recorded videos, make sure to toggle off this option.

As of May 2024, the option to completely disable the GUI is available on LS-2, LS-200, LS-300, LS-400, LS-410, LS-860 and KL-3T models, with plans to include it in LS-110 and LS-US2 in the coming months. Would you like to know more about this or other AREC Media Station features? Make sure to reach out to us at www.a-dena.com and we will be happy to arrange a call with you!

Case Study: Historical Italian community centre chooses AREC to produce events

Dear ADENA Partners, this time we are sharing a case study from Italy, from the Socio-Cultural Centre of Malpensata in Bergamo. Our distributor Prase, system integrator Airone Service and programming expert Francesco Salvadeo created a versatile media capture solution based on AREC LS-110, QSC control system, Epson, Shure, Atlona, Novastar, and a few other brands. Seamlessly working together, our products deliver a user-oriented interface that will help the community centre involve more of its residents in all of their events and activities.

The Socio-Cultural Centre (abbreviated CSC) of Malpensata is the beating heart of the Malpensata neighbourhood in Bergamo. The CSC features a library, an exhibition showcasing the history of the neighbourhood, theatre, health and senior centres, and thanks to its strategic location, community gathering halls where all kinds of events take place. It was not simple for the centre to share these events on social media as they were not equipped for media work, but this changed with the recent renovation of the building. Performed in two stages, this process helped increase the seating capacity of the centre, made it energy efficient, but most importantly, prepared it to host hybrid events. Thanks to the work of our partners, the centre is now using the AREC LS-110 Media Station to ensure that every event taking place can be recorded and streamed.

LS-110 is a 2-channel Media Station that packs a lot of features in a very compact size. It can simultaneously record and stream two video sources, such as computers, document cameras, network and standard cameras, and other devices. These video sources, as well as connected audio sources, are mixed into customisable layouts that give the user the ability to effectively communicate their message. Additionally, the Media Station can add logos, advertisements, backgrounds, and other graphical elements that increase the video quality and its value.

While the LS-110 is self-sufficient and features numerous convenient control options, it also shines bright when put together with other advanced AV products. For instance, in the CSC, a Shure microphone system delivers crystal-clear audio into the LS-110, capturing audio from the presenters and other speakers. Another important connection is between the LS-110 and the QSC Q-Sys Core 8 Flex. Thanks to the partner-developed control module, all of the key LS-110 features are available in freely customised interfaces, which are different for operators and presenters. This elevates the user experience, as the users only see the functions they require, such as control of the recording and streaming process, volume, layouts, camera presets, and controls of the projector and other devices.

With the new systems from us and other brands in place, the Malpensata community centre will become an even more attractive spot to host, record, and stream events. Is your local community centre due for an update? Contact us to schedule a demonstration of just the right system for it! 

Lastly, we would like to thank Prase Media Technologies, Airone Service and Francesco Salvadeo for continuously choosing AREC as the go to solution for media capturing and streaming tasks.