The broadcast industry is going through huge infrastructure changes, and much of the discussion is around the move from proprietary infrastructures, like Calrec’s Hydra2, to IP networks.

There are pros and cons with either option – but broadcasters don’t need to choose between the two. In fact, there are countless other options.

Broadcasters need not choose one or the other. Calrec is helping many broadcasters leverage their existing equipment to benefit from the efficiencies of an IP domain. Most broadcasters are still using proprietary systems where they have made major investments, but that doesn’t mean they can’t benefit from the efficiencies of IP at the same time.

There are good reasons why many broadcasters might want to keep their proprietary networks – these infrastructures are often intelligent, low latency, trusted, deterministic and discoverable. And they work!

Meanwhile, IP networks use COTS equipment, are video friendly and are bringing the broadcast community together in a shared vision of the future. There are clear benefits. Calrec has a number of products which can help link a Hydra2 network to an IP network – Calrec equipment can sit on an IP network and all Calrec equipment can sit on a proprietary Hydra2 network. Or any combination of the two.

Calrec H2 IP Gateway unit
Calrec's H2 IP Gateway

Calrec’s H2-IP Gateway provides an interface between a Hydra2 network and an AoIP network. It awards an extra control level that allows audio labels to be passed in both directions between the two networks along with control data.

This gives Hydra2 users the ability to control gain of Calrec AoIP mic inputs, and AoIP users can control gain of Hydra2 mic inputs.

The H2-IP Gateway is SMPTE 2110/AES67-compatible and expands Calrec’s range of AoIP solutions.

The 1U gateway can pass either 256 or 512 channels of audio in each direction and multiple gateways can be used to increase capacity or to connect with multiple networks. For full hardware redundancy additional units can be deployed as backups.

Contact us for advice on moving to IP