Duck, Duck, No Goose

Why ducks? Well, duck restaurants happen to abound in Beijing, where our Clear-Com China office is located. Each one of our Clear-Com offices around the world has its own unique culture and we thought it might be interesting for you to learn more about our China office!

Our China Office is located in the Chaoyang District in Beijing, China. We opened there on January 1, 2012 and have had a growing presence there since! Chaoyang is a massive district containing Beijing's Central Business District.

Peking duck (yum!) restaurants are plentiful in this area. Hotpot is another major speciality. Hotpot involves dipping meat, seafood or vegetables into a pot of boiling soup to cook it before eating it.

Photo Credit: chinatourguide.com

Photo Credit: foodnetwork.com

China Central Television Station (CCTV), the national TV station of China and a Clear-Com user is located in this vicinity.  Beijing TV is also another media outlet that utilizes our systems here.

Some of the major attractions include the National Stadium at Olympic Park, Dongyue Temple, and the Art Museum of the Beijing Fine Art Academy.

Photo Credit: Topchinatours.net

Photo Credit: drben.net

Learn more about our Clear-Com office and the key staff at that location in our press release: Clear-Com Opens New Office in China

Intercom Solutions for Today's Broadcasters (Video)

Bob Boster, Clear-Com's President, discusses the Clear-Com solutions for today's broadcasters in this video created by Medien Bulletin at the NAB show.

Who are the Lucky Winners?

Photo Credit: blogcdn

Clear-Com’s free headset giveaway at NAB was met with great success! After getting an exciting demo of one of our new products and filling out a short entry form, participants were automatically entered to win. One winner was drawn every hour from the first day of the show to the very last. Thank you to all who entered!

Here are the lucky winners of Clear-Com’s CC-27 headset:

Monday

Chris Barber
Douglas Clark
Alan Wilbarg
Tim Stoffel
Geoff Costello
Jason Young
Ben Shipman
Howard Kirsch
 

Tuesday

Terry Longordo
Anna Mayo
Kevin Brokers
Johannah Caley
Thomas Hormuth Jr.
Dave Costanza

Wednesday

Kirk Miles
Phillip Drake
Gary Holley
Tony Del Fiacco
David Lind
Alonso Plicett
Brian Granaghan
 

Thursday

Jamie Reynu
Charlie Crea
Matt Pippin
Richard Ekstrom

The winners were also announced on Clear-Com’s Twitter page: @clearcomsystem
Winners that did not pick up the headset at our Clear-Com booth will have it shipped to their address.

Highlights from NAB 2012

The Clear-Com Team

When we say that the NAB Show just keeps getting busier, we really mean it. Clear-Com’s booth at C8008 had an overflow of people visiting. It was quite exciting to connect with our users, fans, and Partners from all over the world.

We had a Clear-Com press conference during the first day of the show, drawing the interest of near two dozen editors. Bob Boster spoke on the extensive use of our Clear-Com systems for an upcoming, large-scaled summer event.

Clear-Com's Press Conference

We showcased many new products this year including the following:

V-Series Rotary Panel: Enjoy the advantages of existing V-Series panels in rotary form, with the added benefits of easier and faster audio level adjustments for intercom mixing and IFB assignments.

>Product Information
>Press Release

E-MADI Card: Offering the highest density MADI connection in an intercom platform, each E-MADI card provides up to 64 bi-directional channels of audio between the Eclipse intercom matrix and any AES10 compatible device.

>Product Information
>Press Release

Tempest2400 with Seamless Roaming: Tempest wireless users can effortlessly roam through an expansive production area, comprising up to 16 different zones, with continuous and reliable coverage.

>Product Information
>Press Release

Tempest2400 MasterBelt: Discover a mobile base station with most of the capabilities and power of the rack-mount Tempest BaseStation packaged into a compact, portable and easy-to-deploy beltpack.

>Product Information
>Press Release

HelixNet Partyline: The world’s first networked partyline to transmit all digital audio with four channels, plus program and power on a single, shielded twisted-pair cable, without any interference.

>Product Information
>Press Release

CC-300 and CC-400 Headsets: Single- or double-ear headsets with flexible design, excellent noise attenuation and superior comfort.
>Product Information
>Press Release

 

Check Termination on the Clear-Com Partyline

How do you check termination on the Clear-Com partyline?

Measure the resistance between pins 1 and 3 on one channel XLR connector on the rear of the unit. Proper termination would measure approximately 4KΩ. A very high channel resistance means the channel is not terminated. Channel resistance of 2KΩ indicates a double-termination. If a double-termination is indicated, locate the other terminated power supply or main station and set its termination to "off".

Repeat this step for the other channels.

NAB 2012 Partner Meeting

Clear-Com Annual NAB Partner Meeting

We had our NAB Partner meeting at the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel on Sunday, April 15th.

We had a full continental breakfast and gave updates on our most recent company news and the latest information on our new products. We also provided an exclusive and early demo of our new Clear-Com offerings. Over 100 Clear-Com Partners from more than 50 companies joined us! Thank you to everyone who was there!

Bob Boster, Clear-Com President, gives corporate updates.

Product Manager discusses HelixNet Partyline highlights.

 Product Management gives overview of new products featured at NAB.

Someone Worth Knowing

Bob Boster, our Clear-Com President as of 2012, is definitely someone worth knowing. With his solid understanding of Clear-Com customers, products and our markets, he has led our company to great success. Lighting and Sound America interviewed Bob Boster on the challenges of his position and what’s next for Clear-Com. The article, People Worth Knowing, discusses Clear-Com’s goals as well as Boster’s experience with Clear-Com since the age of seven!

Here is the full interview with Bob Boster from the Lighting and Sound America publication's March 2012 issue: People Worth Knowing

Here is the full press release documenting Bob’s professional experience in the industry:

Clear-Com Names Bob Boster as Company's New President

HME DX210 Review (Video)

Richelle Thompson also gives a very thorough product review of the Clear-Com HME DX210 on Theatreface. Here are some excerpts:

-"downloaded a PDF from Clear-Com, getting the packs "Registered" - or assigned frequencies and ready to use, was quite literally a simple "push of a button""

-"I was also impressed that the base station can handle up to 16 hands free units in "full duplex mode."

-"I am in love with the all-in-one unit. Not only does it take away the problem of two components per stage op, it also gets rid of that pesky cable that fly ops like to accidentally yank and/or break and/or pull right out of the pack. I don't know how many times I've had some poor crew guy or girl come up to me with a destroyed headset cable in hand afraid I'm going to yell at him/her. (I don't yell - though I have been known to whine a little.) This unit knocks that problem right out of the ballpark."

Read the full article here: Clear-Com HME DX210 Wireless Headset System

Watch a video about our HME DX210 system as well:

Punk'd with Justin Bieber

MTV’S “Punk’d”, the groundbreaking hidden camera series, is utilizing Clear-Com’s Eclipse-PiCo digital matrix intercom, V-Series user control panels and Encore partyline along with the Optocore interfaces V3R-FX-INTERCOM and X6R-FX-INTERCOM, for the production of the all new season airing March 29 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. In the first episode of season nine, Justin Bieber punks Taylor Swift, Rob Dyrdek, Sean Kingston and Miley Cyrus.


Read the full press release here: No Joke: MTV's Punk'd Pulls Off Punks with Clear-Com

Watch the full episode here:

Get More: Punk'd, Full Episodes

I wonder what brand of headsets are being worn by a famous celebrity here. Can you guess?  

Want to Win? Here's Your Chance!

Clear-Com is going to be exhibiting at the 2012 NAB show in Las Vegas, CA!

Booth #C8008

April 16th-19th

Las Vegas Convention Center

Las Vegas, CA

We’re offering you a chance to win a FREE Clear-Com headset. In fact, we’ll be drawing names every hour so the odds are in your favor.

How to win? Just follow these two easy steps.

Step 1: Download form here. Fill it out and give it to one of our Clear-Com staff.

Step 2: Receive a demo of one of our new products from our Clear-Com staff. You are now entered to win!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Wrap-Up of March Tradeshows

Featured Tradeshow: USITT (Mar. 28^th-31^st)

Over 5,000 people attended the USITT Conference and Stage Expo this year in Long Beach, CA. The United States Institute for Theater Technology is an association for design, production and technology professionals in the performing arts and entertainment industry to connect, create and communicate their craft with each other. It has served the industry since 1960, effectively highlighting the work and dedication that goes into set design, lighting, costumes, sound, make-up and stage managing. USITT first launched its annual awards ceremony in 1995.

USITT is one of the tradeshows that Clear-Com has been attending for a long time now. This year, we were at Booth #530. We have also sponsored the USITT Young Designer Technician’s Award for Stage Management since 2001 and had the privilege of presenting it to David Beeler this year. Read more about it in our press release: Clear-Com Presents USITT Stage Management Award to CarnegieMellon Student.

Here’s an image of David Beeler receiving the award from Jaz Wray, Regional Sales Manager at Clear-Com:

We also showcased the Tempest900 and new headsets at USITT. We had a free Clear-Com headset giveaway. Here’s a picture of one of our lucky winners:

CABSAT (Feb. 28^th-Mar. 1^st)

CABSAT is the Middle East and Africa’s largest digital media and satellite expo. The event was held at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre with more than 750 companies from over 55 countries in attendance.

This year at CABSAT, Clear-Com demonstrated our IP and wireless intercom solutions in Hall Sheikh Saeed 3 Booth #S3-3. We exhibited our extensive portfolio of best-in-class wireless systems, including the Tempest2400, HME DX Series, and FreeSpeak. Designed with state-of-the-art technologies, these wireless intercoms provide high reliability, maximum flexibility and capabilities unlike any other. We also showed our Concert intercom-over-IP solution, which has been changing the landscape of productions by enabling cost-effective collaboration and global group communications of the highest quality and convenience.  

UAS Conference (Mar. 13^th –Mar. 15^th)

This was our first year exhibiting at the UAS Conference and we had a great time! We were at Booth #17.

The  UAS Conference, also known as Unmanned Aircraft Systems conference featured over 25 experts from the U.S. Congress, U.S. Navy, General Atomics, Honeywell and more.  The conference discussed the latest developments in unmanned aircraft vehicles along with emerging technologies for next generation VTOL UAS.

Did you know that Clear-Com is actually the leading choice for command and control, test and evaluation and training and simulation? It’s quite easy to find us in many unmanned aircraft facilities. We demonstrated our Encore partyline and Eclipse digital matrix as well as our broad selection of wireless intercoms and our Concert Intercom-over-IP solution.  Our headset giveaway was also a hit!


In March, we also exhibited at the China Content Broadcasting Network (CCBN) from Mar. 21st-23rd at the China International Exhibition Center in Beijing, China. Likewise, Clear-Com was present at  Prolight and Sound, the leading international fair of technologies and services for events, installation and production from May 21st-24th in Frankfurt, Germany.

13 Great Tips for First Time Matrix Intercom Users

http://www.clearcom.com/

1.       Don’t repeatedly push the buttons really fast or run your fingers up and down the control panel keys.

2.       Always use a high-quality surge protector/suppressor.

3.       Remember that if you have a key latched, then someone on the system can hear what you are saying.

4.       Even if you don’t have a key latched to a particular destination, someone may still be able to hear you via a partyline.

5.       If you don’t have any keys latched, someone might have a listen key to you and hear your conversations. (In short, if the mic is plugged in and the mic on switch is lit, you can still be heard by others so be careful what you say!)

6.       If using a headset, remember to remove it before moving away from a panel.

7.       Kill your talk key before taking off and set down your headset otherwise, an unpleasant sound will be produced.

8.       Try not to point the microphone towards the loudspeaker.

9.       Make sure you know what you are doing before you adjust local panel settings.

10.   On the Eclipse-PiCo digital matrix intercom, make sure the Tel-14 is installed above port 17.

11.   Recognize what the LEDs on the matrix mean as well as their flashing rate in a normal state of operation so that you can recognize if something goes awry.

12.   Familiarize yourself with the reset buttons so you know when and how to use them.

13.   Most important of all, read the manual! That will help a great deal!