Over the last few months we’ve all been encouraged to come up with new, innovative ways to continue to support our partners, customers and industry remotely.

Last month Calrec Support conducted a fully-remote commissioning of two brand new Type R radio studios for Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) in a fully AoIP environment. This was done directly from the UK with help from Calrec’s local distribution partner in Hong Kong, Jolly Pro Audio.

“The RTHK commissioning was a relatively complex AoIP setup,” says Steve Gligorovic, Calrec’s Senior Customer Support Engineer (pictured above). “We were remotely connected to 2 x AoIP switches (for primary and secondary connections) and 2 x Type R cores. We then configured 8 x Type R IO boxes (4 x AES and 4 x Analogue), 2 x third-party MADI boxes, a dedicated PTP grandmaster clock (plus a redundant spare), 2 x PTP switches (primary and secondary) and several POE switches, including software upgrades to almost everything.

“The Type R surfaces are flexible so each studio has minimal hardware which will cover all RTHK’s requirements. Each studio has 3 x fader panels and 4 x flexible Large Soft Panels which can be programmed to be whatever the customer needs them to be, on the fly.”

The commissioning also required a SMPTE standard firmware update across the entire network.

“Over the last few months we’ve all been reassessing how to adapt to evolving circumstances,” adds Steve. “We’ve also been able to perform a full network update for nine Calrec Type R consoles in a studio complex in South America.

“We’ve proved that by adapting communication methods and having great local support for all the physical plugging that you can’t do remotely, we can still support customers to the same level that they have always enjoyed.”

Looking for a Remote Working Solution?

Recent events have accelerated thinking and stretched our systems. Remote broadcasting has undergone a huge shift and has evolved into remote working and virtualization.

At Calrec, we’ve been working remotely with customers for a long time to create and maintain live broadcasts safely and reliably, but virtualization has since taken on a new pattern. Broadcasters all over the world have been using Calrec’s remote and virtual products to stay on-air by connecting to hardware from remote locations, using portable hardware in remote locations, and making integrated use of station automation systems.

We Can Help.

Calrec Assist is a browser-based interface application which creates a virtual console environment, ideally suited to remote working.

Calrec Assist runs in a web browser on Mac, Windows, and Linux devices, giving comprehensive control for Calrec’s RP1 remote production core, the VP2 Virtual production engine, Calrec’s Type R IP core and other Calrec production consoles. It is cost-effective, saves on space and is flexible, making it ideally suited to remote working.

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