Lectrosonics Announces Release of Venue V5.1 Firmware

Lectrosonics, a manufacturer of wireless microphone systems and audio processing products, introduces the release of Version 5.1 firmware for the company's highly acclaimed Venue Wideband modular receiver system. The V5.1 firmware provides an important enhancement that the company says will be most beneficial to broadcast, location, and sound reinforcement professionals -- the capability of a "talkback" function compatible with the newly introduced HH handheld transmitter.

When the transmitter is set to talkback mode and the function is engaged (activated when the user presses the multi-function button on the HH transmitter), the audio will switch to a different, predetermined, XLR on the back panel of the receiver. This functionality enables the transmitter to control audio routing, which can be very useful for situations that require real time communication between talent, director, monitor engineer, or other band members. In order for the talkback functionality to operate on the venue receiver, at least one empty slot (and, thus, an associated unused XLR) is required in the mainframe.

If more than one receiver modules are installed upstream to the empty slot and set to talkback compatibility mode, they will share the next available empty slot as a talkback active output. In the event that multiple upstream receivers enter a talkback state at the same time, their audio will be mixed on the shared talkback output. Hence, it is possible to have multiple transmitters using a common talkback channel XLR.

Karl Winkler, director of business development at Lectrosonics, commented on the new V5.1 firmware offering, "We've received numerous requests over the years for this kind of talkback functionality on our handheld transmitter. With the new HH handheld, we felt it was the perfect time to incorporate this feature along with the corresponding setup in the Venue receiver. So far, the response has been really great."