Lawo, actively working to help customers develop innovative technical workflows to keep operations running during lockdown, has announced that Caracol is using its remote solutions and online communication software.
Remote production has been a core piece of Lawo’s IP solutions for years, the company notes, thanks to involvement worldwide with TV and streaming productions of major sports or cultural events around the world. Now, remote FAT (Factory Acceptance Testing), training and equipment demonstrations are a part of the portfolio as well.
Caracol, a private Colombian media company which operates television and radio stations, purchased a 48-fader mc²56 mixing console with Dallis frame for its news studio, another mc²56 for its new OB van, and a mc²36 console for its Studio 10 facility.
Caracol safety protocols during the pandemic require that the company’s engineers be able to monitor and meter critical audio signals from home, so the company contacted Lawo for a solution. Lawo engineer Daniel Egea demonstrated remote monitoring solutions for Caracol engineers via two possible monitoring methods – one employing Lawo AoIP Stream Monitor software, and a second using RƎLAY VPB software. Both solutions use RAVENNA/AES67 connectivity to monitor the mc² consoles.
“The question for us was, how can the engineers both listen to, and meter, the audio signals while not on site?” said Egea.
The solution was an infrastructure that allowed the mc² console core to supply its audio signals to a facility computer.
Audio signals were supplied to the streaming network via the Ravenna card in the core and collected from the network on a PC using AoIP Stream Monitor or RƎLAY VPB software. By accessing this computer via Teamviewer or Remote Desktop through a second NIC, Caracol engineers can now conveniently monitor the most important signals from home. This setup is claimed to offer a very flexible monitoring situation and to have simple, intuitive GUIs to quickly create a suitable monitoring overview.
Since the demonstration of both setups met Caracol’s requirements, explains Lawo, both software packages will be configured for long-term tests, and eventually will be a permanent part of Caracol’s studio installation.
Lawo’s solutions are ideally suited for customer-oriented services, according to Jesús Lozano, CEO of Lawo solutions partner Videoelec.
“The Corona pandemic has certainly pushed the advancement of remote infrastructures, but Lawo has placed much importance on developing products and solutions for remote purposes for years,” he said. “Now we can use them not only for production but also, under adverse circumstances like the pandemic, for keeping project timetables and delivery schedules, and for enabling customers to remain on-air or in production.”
Camilo Peñuela, Sound Manager at Caracol TV, said: “With this solution we can save considerable costs — and we have a friendly and reliable remote tool to keep our sound under control at all times. Not only can we ensure our audio quality standards, we can access our audio network in seconds to check the status of any stream. This is just one more example of why Lawo is an excellent company to partner with.”
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