WHY USE GREEN-GO INTERCOM? By Mike Reay, Product Manager Awareness of the multi award-winning Green-GO digital intercom system has grown enormously in the UK over the last year. Every day we talk to customers who are looking for new ways to create better intercom system designs that will ultimately improve the quality of their productions.
What should you expect from an intercom system? •C lear audio - you shouldn’t be wasting brain power trying to decipher what was just said. That applies to both wired and wireless beltpacks. • L ow latency – you know how irritating the delay on mobile phone networks can be… • L ow noise – for conferences and theatre work where instructions are sometimes whispered •A decent headphone amplifier that won’t fall over when things get a bit noisier and that will drive your favourite headsets including those using an electret mic. • Enough intercom channels for more complex shows (uniquely, our devices can each store 32 channels for instant access) •R obust interfacing to classic analogue and digital matrix comms, broadcast cameras (via their CCUs), to walkie-talkies (extremely useful), to PA systems for announcements, to IEM transmitters for presenters and to show relay systems for dressing rooms and the green room. • I t should work over existing data networks without slowing or crashing the system
By designing out the eye wateringly expensive central matrix that most digital systems use, Green-GO removed the possibility of a single point of failure, while also making the system affordable. To replace the central matrix, each individual user station or interface holds in memory the complete system configuration with all the settings. In the unlikely event of a device being damaged, there is no domino effect, so the rest of the system will continue working and it takes only a few moments to introduce a replacement unit to the network, copy the system configuration and pull in the User settings. Audio quality is high, system latency is low (12ms, so no lip-sync problems) and Green-GO can be configured to be as simple or as complex as the job demands – from 2 to 3000 users… At its simplest, all you need is a PoE switch (to provide the data network and power) and 2 x wired beltpacks. A couple of headsets will also come in handy. Remove the beltpacks from their boxes, plug them into the PoE switch and they will find each other and communicate because they will each have the default factory configuration.
• It should be easy to set fixed or dynamically assigned IP addresses on your intercom devices to accommodate different ways of working. • Systems should be easy to configure to suit new events OK, Green-GO can do all that….what else are customers looking for? Along with the technical competence of any potential intercom system, value for money always has a notable influence when people are comparing the features and performance on offer from the leading manufacturers. This is where Green-GO’s choice of operating system has advantages for the customer. 38 | Source Material by Canford
Call UK sales on +44(0)191 418 1122 or email sales@canford.co.uk
One of the most frequently asked questions is ‘how far can Green-GO travel before a signal boost is required’? Typical distances are: Standard CAT5E cable with solid conductors
95m (5 metres for patch cables)
Canford CAT5EF flexible cable with stranded conductors
75m (5 metres for patch cables)
Multimode Fibre OM3
300m
Multimode Fibre OM4
550m
Single mode Fibre OS1
The BridgeX can also be configured to enable ‘remote users’. When set to Remote Connection mode, a single Green-GO beltpack or other device in a remote location (with no local BridgeX), can connect over the internet to a LAN port of the local BridgeX. In this mode, the device simply becomes another user on the system and has access to all available intercom channels.
GREEN-GO BRIDGE REMOTE CONNECTION OF DEVICE •A user anywhere in the world • Becomes a full member of the local Green-GO network
20km
GG-Device
Bridge
Active Side
Passive Side
For greater distances or local routed connections, you can ‘bridge’ over the internet using a BridgeX interface. The Green-GO BridgeX is a 4 port network bridge interface, intended to connect up to four remote locations to a local Green-GO intercom network. Each of the four connection ports can function in Group or Remote User mode. In ‘Group’ mode, two separate and independent Green-GO intercom networks, each with its own BridgeX interface, will be linked together over the internet or local routed office network. Using one data stream, the audio and optional ‘Call’ signals will be transported from one Green-GO network to the other. This setup will create a single intercom group that is common to two sites.
LAN/WAN
Green-GO
Providing you have a good internet connection at both locations, once you are on the internet, you can talk to colleagues in most areas of the world. The audio quality from the remote bridged system is similar to that of the local system and latency is typically too low to notice. If you want more information on bridging remote sites over the internet, we are preparing an in-depth article which will be posted on our website www.canford.co.uk. If you have other Green-GO questions, drop us a line to greengo@canford.co.uk
To increase the number of groups, use more of the four available data streams.
GREEN-GO BRIDGE SHARE A GROUP BETWEEN TWO NETWORKS • Create one large party line shared on locations • Green-GO systems can have different configurations
Green-GO
Bridge
Bridge
Active Side
Passive Side
LAN/WAN
Call International sales on +44(0)191 418 1133 or email international@canford.co.uk
Green-GO
Source Material by Canford | 39