Sound Devices Releases Astral v8.20 Firmware

Sound Devices announces the introduction of Astral v8.20 - an expansive set of feature upgrades for the Astral Wireless Product range. Astral v8.20 introduces over-the-air firmware updates, frequency exclusive regions, a whip antenna length tool, Sound Devices' patent-pending TV-Channel Finder, and a wide range of web app usability enhancements. For more information and to download Astral v8.20, visit: www.sounddevices.com/download/.

Sound Devices Astral Wireless is an all-in-one RF toolkit designed to address every aspect of wireless operations in location sound, live sound, and fixed installations. The new v8.20 adds several new features that make Astral Wireless even more versatile and powerful than ever before.

These features include Multiple Astral Outpost Network support that allows ARX16 and ARX32 to connect to up to eight outputs for seamless command and control of transmitters across extended NexLink coverage, a new TV Channel Finder feature that automatically detects and displays TV channels to avoid assigning frequencies within the 6-8MHz bandwidth, a new Whip Antenna Length menu that allows users to instantly know the necessary length of a whip antenna by frequency range, and several quality-of-life improvements to the web app for the RTSA and Receiver Channel View.

"Sound Devices is committed to delivering not only Global RF solutions, but also making RF workflows for RF engineers easier and more robust," says Sound Devices VP of sales Andy "Baggy" Robinson. "The Astral Wireless series is the most full-featured RF toolkit ever created for the wireless professional and v8.20 greatly expands its ability to deliver in the most critical situations. We're incredibly proud of what we're able to offer, and are eager to see RF engineers around the world push these new features to the limits of what they can achieve."

New Features include support for simultaneous NexLink communication via multiple Astral Outposts; new firmware update menu, including the ability to wirelessly update Astral transmitter firmware; frequency exclusion regions -- the ability to exclude specified frequency ranges from the AutoAssign and manual assign process; TV Channel Finder algorithm for detecting and displaying 6MHz, 7MHz, or 8MHz TV channels in the RTSA and Scan Views; many improvements on the Web App; new Whip Antenna Length tool -- select a frequency range to display a real-size graphic to assist in cutting whip antennas to the correct length.