Hive Central user guide

Open Hive Central and sign in

Enter your User Name and Password and click Sign In. Admins land on Dispatch with the full sidebar; operators see Dispatch only.

First time? Sign in with the default administrator account: user name admin, password admin. Then change the password on the Users page.

If the server can't be reached you see "Could not reach the backend service" and a Backend connection settings link. Use it to point this computer at the Hive Central host (see Server).

Name the workspace

Open Zones. Type the venue name in the Workspace box (up to 64 characters) and click Save.

Add your zones

Click Add Zone (+), type the zone name and press Enter or the tick. Repeat for each area. Drag a zone's header to change the order.

• New devices always arrive in the Default zone. You can rename Default, but not delete it.
• To rename or delete a zone, hover its card and click the pencil. A zone can only be deleted once no SmartHive or CASTER is assigned to it.

Discover devices on the network

Click Discover next to Available Devices. Hive Central scans the network for 15 seconds, and devices appear as they are found. Hover a row and click the bulb to make that device blink so you can locate it.

Select the rows you want (click, or click and drag across several) and click Add to Workspace. New devices go into the Default zone.

Or add a device by IP address

If discovery is blocked on your network, click Add Device (+) next to Connected Devices and type the device's IPv4 address. Hive Central contacts it and shows the Device Type (SmartHive or CASTER) and its ID. Click Add.

Name each device and choose its zone

In Connected Devices, click the Name field and type a name people will recognise, such as its location. Press Enter to save. Pick the zone from the Zone drop-down on the same row.

Moving a SmartHive changes RTX slot numbers. A hive moved to another zone goes to the end of that zone, and the hives after it are renumbered. Check the SmartHive page afterwards.

Change a SmartHive's network settings

Select one online SmartHive. The right-hand panel opens. Under Network Configuration, turn DHCP off to enter a static IP, Netmask and Gateway, then click Apply. Hive Central warns you if the address is already used by another hive.

Switching a hive to DHCP removes it from the workspace, because its address will change. Discover it and add it again once it has its new address.

The Device Actions panel below offers Blink, Update Firmware (see Firmware), Load License (one CASTER, see Licences), Reboot (one online device) and Remove, which takes the selected devices out of the workspace after you confirm.

Drag hives into the order they stand in the room

Open SmartHive. Each zone is a column. Drag a card by its handle to move it up or down. The slot ranges update straight away. Hives can only be reordered within their zone; use the Zone column in Inventory to move one to another zone.

Click a card to select it. A selected hive blinks its LED so you can find it on site. Shift and drag selects several cards.

Add a stream

Click Add Stream (+). A new row opens:

Use the pencil or bin at the end of a row to edit or delete a stream. Deleting removes it from all groups.

Create a stream group and choose its zones

Stream groups are what operators work with in Dispatch. Each group is one choice on the Dispatch panel: its Group Name is the name the operator selects, and its Zones decide in which zones that choice is offered. When a group is dispatched to an RTX, the streams in the group are loaded to the device and decide what the visitor can listen to.

Click Add Group (+) next to Dispatch Stream Groups. Enter a Group Name that operators will recognise, e.g. Hall 5 or Meeting Rooms 1-4-6 (letters, numbers, spaces, _ and -, up to 30 characters). Pick the Zones where it should be offered, and click Save.

Zones decide who sees the group. A group with no zone is offered in every zone. Give each group a zone if operators should only see the choices for their area.

The number of streams you put in a group (next step) sets how the RTX behaves:

Secure streams work in both modes. Password-protected streams can be part of a stream lock or list lock group. Their access is loaded to the RTX together with the group, so authorised visitors hear secure streams seamlessly, without entering a password.

Drag streams into the group

Drag a stream by its handle (≡) onto a group card and drop it when "Drop to add to group" appears. Streams join at the end of the list, which is the order the RTX offers them in.

To reorder or remove streams, hover the group card and click Edit group (pencil). You can then rename the group, change its zones, drag streams into a new order and remove them with the bin. A dual-mono stream appears as two rows, so a group can offer just one of its channels. Save with the tick. The red button in the corner deletes the group but keeps its streams.

Changing a stream updates every group that uses it. Receivers that already have one of those groups are flagged as out of date. Apply the group to them again from the RTX page or through Dispatch.

Click Edit

Click Edit. A blue banner confirms you are editing and the Pending Changes panel opens on the right. While you edit, other stations see the page read-only.

Choose a stream for each CASTER

Click the Stream cell and pick a stream from your catalogue. Type to search. Choosing a stream sets the broadcast name, type (stereo, dual mono or timecode) and password together, so the CASTER always matches what the receivers expect. You can also rename a CASTER and turn Broadcast on or off in the same row.

Check the pending changes and Apply

Each changed CASTER gets a card listing its changes as "from → to". Use the round arrow on a card to discard that CASTER's changes, or Discard at the bottom to drop them all. When you're ready, click Apply.

Hive Central updates the CASTERs one after another: standalone CASTERs first, then masters, then their extenders. Each CASTER restarts briefly to take its new settings. Abort stops the remaining updates.

If a CASTER fails, its card offers Retry and Skip. Pressing Continue after a failed or aborted run discards the changes that weren't applied.

Group CASTERs as master and extenders

Group CASTERs to share the audio of one master CASTER with other CASTERs, its extenders, and so extend the coverage range. By default the extenders also share the master's stream (broadcast name, type and password), so listeners hear one broadcast across the whole area. You can override this per extender when needed.

In edit mode, drag one standalone CASTER onto another: the one you drop onto becomes the master and the dragged one its extender. Drop onto a group to add another extender, or drag an extender out and drop it on "Drop here to make standalone" to remove it. A master with extenders can't be dragged; remove its extenders first.

• By default, changing the master's stream updates its extenders too.
• To override, choose a different stream in the extender's Stream cell in edit mode. The extender keeps the master's audio but broadcasts under its own stream.
• CASTER XD units can't be grouped.
• Grouping changes appear as tasks in Pending Changes and take effect when you Apply.

Restore settings changed outside Hive Central

Hive Central compares each CASTER with the settings you applied. If someone changed a CASTER elsewhere, for example on its own web page, a red banner shows how many CASTERs "drifted from saved settings", and the Status column says why (for example Config mismatch or Firmware outdated).

Click Fix all, then Restore. The saved settings are staged as pending changes; click Apply to send them. Hive Central opens Fix all by itself if you click Edit while a CASTER has drifted.

Open a CASTER's details

Click a CASTER's row to see all of its settings: serial number, IP and MAC address, model and firmware at the top, then tabs:

• Broadcast: stream, type, broadcast on/off, passphrase, and for masters the Audio Sharing transport (Multicast or Unicast) and multicast address.
• Audio: input gain for IN 1 and IN 2 (−12 to +40 dB) with mute and Link Channels, Mix Mono, AGC, high-pass and low-pass filters, and audio quality (16 kHz / 32 kbps, 24 kHz / 48 kbps or 48 kHz / 96 kbps).
• Radio: TX power and, on CASTER X and XD, internal or external antenna. You are responsible for setting TX power in line with local regulations.
• LEDs: On, Off or Audio indicator, plus Blink.
• Timecode: offsets per timecode program, shown only for timecode broadcasts.

The settings can be changed here while you are in edit mode; changes join the Pending Changes list like any other. On CASTER XD the audio input and sharing controls are left out because audio comes from Dante.

Click the QR icon next to the stream to show a QR code that joins the broadcast; Copy or Download it for signage. Reboot restarts the CASTER after you confirm; its broadcast stops for a moment.

Find and select devices

Open Filter Devices in the right-hand panel to narrow the list by zone, slot ID (e.g. 1-5,10,20-25), battery range, status, serial number, licence, firmware, tour, stream or language. Click rows to select them, or click and drag to select a range. Select next N RTX jumps to the next block of the same size, handy when programming devices in batches.

Assign a stream group, tour and language

Open Configure Devices. Choose the Stream group; if you use tours, choose the Tour and the Tour Language, which lists that tour's languages. Click Apply.

Apply sets every field. A field left at None clears what the device had before, so choose both the stream group and the tour when a device needs both.

The selected RTX show updating while they receive the settings, then the Stream, Tour and Language columns fill in. A confirmation appears only if some devices will be skipped, for example because they are offline, need a firmware update, or don't have the licence a tour needs (Duplex+ or Full).

Set the broadcast name of an RTX in TX mode

An RTX in TX mode broadcasts under the name of the RTX stream in its stream group. That name is what visitors see when they choose the guide's broadcast.

1. On the Streams page, create a stream of type RTX and give it the broadcast name, e.g. Guide One. Leave Password empty.
2. Create a stream group that contains only that RTX stream, e.g. Guide One Mic, and give it the zones where the guide works. Transmitters are only offered groups with a single RTX stream.
3. On the RTX page, click Transmitters and select the RTX.
4. Open Configure Devices, choose the group under Stream and click Apply.

To rename the broadcast later, edit the name of the RTX stream on the Streams page, then apply the group to the transmitter again. The same groups are offered in Dispatch when you choose Transmitter.

No password on RTX transmitters yet. A password for an RTX in TX mode is currently not supported; it will be added in a future release. Leave the Password field of RTX streams empty.

Device actions

With devices selected, open Device Actions:

• Blink lights the selected RTX for the blink period set in Settings, so you can pick them out of the hive. Click Stop to end it early.
• Update Firmware installs the recommended RTX firmware (see Firmware updates).
• License loads or revokes RTX licences (see Licences).
• Reboot restarts the selected RTX.

Update Firmware and Reboot start straight away, without a confirmation step. Check your selection first.

RTX licences

On the RTX page, select the devices, open Device Actions, click License, then Load License and choose the .lic file.

The License Details window shows the licence name, the Issued, Used, Available and Required counts, and each selected device with its current licence. Click Apply. Hive Central issues the licences, uploads them and restarts each device; progress is shown per device, and Close ends the process.

The RTX licence levels are Experience, Experience+, Duplex, Duplex+ and Full. Tours need Duplex+ or Full. To take licences back, use Revoke Licenses with the same file.

Wrong file? If the file is for another device type, Hive Central says so and offers Choose another file.

CASTER licences

In Inventory, select one CASTER and click Load License in Device Actions. The License column shows CASTER or CASTER-S. The CASTER restarts for about ten seconds when a licence is applied.

Hive Central Pro licence

Settings → About shows the Hive Central version, whether the Pro licence is active, and the RTX, SmartHive and CASTER firmware versions this release installs. If Pro isn't active yet, click Load License and choose the Hive Central .lic file you received.

The Pro licence belongs to one computer. If Hive Central moves to a new computer, that computer needs its own Pro licence. Your workspace moves with a backup (see Workspace).

SmartHives and CASTERs: from Inventory

Select the devices in Connected Devices and click Update Firmware. Status changes to Pending upgrade and then Upgrading, and the button counts "Upgrading X of Y".

• Devices are updated one at a time. Hive Central waits for each one to come back before starting the next; if one doesn't, the remaining updates are cancelled and those devices are marked.
• If every selected device is already current, the button reads Force Update and asks before re-installing, because devices restart and audio stops briefly.
• CASTERs must be online to be updated.

RTX: from the RTX page

Select the RTX, open Device Actions and click Update Firmware. Their Status goes from pending to upgrading with a percentage, then resetting and back to online. Leave the RTX docked until they are back online.

Open Tours and click Create Tour

In the sidebar, choose Tours. The table lists every tour with its default language, languages, number of exhibits and zones. Hover the + button next to the page title: it expands to Create Tour. Click it.

Name the tour and choose its zones

Type a Tour Name (up to 50 characters; each tour name must be unique). Under Zones, open the list and tick the zones where this tour should be offered. A new tour starts in the Default zone: tick your own zone and untick Default if you don't use it. At least one zone is required.

Choose your content folder

Click the Choose your content folder box and select the folder that holds the tour's MP3 files. Hive Central remembers each file by its path inside this folder, so keep the folder where it is, or reselect it here if you move it.

Streams only? A tour made only of stream exhibits (step 7) does not need a content folder. Without a folder, the File option for new exhibits is greyed out.

Set the default language and add languages

The Default Language is the one every exhibit must have. It is also the fallback: if a visitor's language has no recording for an exhibit, the RTX plays the default-language recording instead.

• Click the + under Languages, type to search, and pick a language. Repeat for each language.
• To remove a language, click the small × on its flag. Its recordings are removed from all exhibits.
• To change the default, click the Default Language button and choose one of the added languages.

Add the exhibits

In the lower panel, type an exhibit name, choose its type and click Add exhibit (or press Enter). Add exhibits in the order visitors will meet them.

• File — a recorded MP3 per language, played from the RTX microSD card.
• Stream — a live Auracast broadcast the RTX tunes to at this exhibit (step 7).

Check the type before you add. The File / Stream choice can't be changed on an existing exhibit; remove the exhibit and add it again instead.

Each exhibit becomes a row in the exhibit–language matrix, with one column per language. Click an exhibit name to rename it, drag the handle ≡ to reorder, or use the bin to remove it.

Assign a recording to each cell

Click a cell to open Select Audio File, type part of the file name, and click the file. Start with the default-language column, then fill the others.

Click an assigned cell to Play file, Change file or Delete file. Click a flag in the column header to play that language's whole tour in order, with fallbacks, in the player at the bottom of the page.

Set up stream exhibits

For a Stream exhibit, click each language cell and enter the Stream Name of the Auracast broadcast the RTX should tune to, exactly as it is broadcast. Add the Password if the stream is encrypted, then click Save. Stream exhibits show a radio icon in the name column.

Add NFC triggers (optional)

An NFC trigger starts an exhibit when the visitor taps the RTX on the exhibit's NFC tag. Click Set NFC tag… in the exhibit's row, enter the tag value, and press Ctrl+Enter (⌘+Enter on Mac) or click the tick to save. Esc cancels.

Timecode. If your site runs a timecode stream (for example a film synchronised to a show controller), pick it in the exhibit's Timecode column and enter its timecode ID (0–49). Leave it at None otherwise.

Review and save

While anything blocks saving, a red Error badge appears next to the header buttons; hover it to see what is missing. When the badge is gone, click Save Tour. Cancel changes returns the form to its last saved state.

After saving, you return to the Tours list. Click a tour's name or the pencil to edit it later.

Export the tours to the RTX microSD cards

RTX play tour recordings from their microSD card. Export Tours converts every recording to LC3, the format the RTX plays, and writes them in the folder layout the RTX expects.

On the Tours page, hover the export button at the top right to see a summary, then click it. Export always includes every tour in the list, and every tour needs a content folder.

Choose the destination and copy to each card

Click Export Tours in the dialog and choose the destination: the microSD card itself, or a folder on your computer. The progress indicator shows the conversion; Hive Central asks before it overwrites existing files.

Copy the exported contents to the root of every RTX microSD card, keeping the folder structure exactly as exported.

Changed a recording? Export again and update the cards. Dispatch sends the tour's playlist to the RTX, but the audio itself always comes from the card.

Choose the zone and the number of devices

Open Dispatch at the top of the sidebar. Pick the zone from the drop-down under the title, keep Receiver selected (or choose Transmitter for guide microphones, see TX broadcast name), and key in how many RTX units you need on the keypad. The bar at the bottom shows how many devices are available in the zone.

Select the stream, the tour and the language

Choose a stream group under Select a Stream (or keep None), then the tour under Select a Tour. Only stream groups and tours assigned to the selected zone are listed. Skip the tour if visitors only need the streams. Select Language then shows the tour's languages with the default preselected; choose the visitor's language.

A summary card appears on the right with the stream group, the tour, the language flag and the number of receivers. To prepare several groups at once, for example four French and six German visitors, click + on the card and set up the next group.

Click GO and collect the lit receivers

Click GO. The card shows Applying while Hive Central programs the receivers through the SmartHive. Each receiver in the group lights its status LED in the group's colour, the first group in green, and the same slots light up in the Collect Your Devices view.

When the card shows the tick (4/4), hand the lit receivers to the visitors; they start in French with the Museum Highlights tour. Click Start over to prepare the next group.

Fewer receivers than requested? Dispatch uses only RTX units that are online, docked in the zone, carry the Duplex+ or Full licence and have enough charge. Dock more charged receivers, or check the licence column on the RTX page.

Add a user

Open Users and click Add User. Enter a username and password, choose the role, and for an operator choose the zones they work in. Save with the tick.

• Admins always have all zones.
• Edit a user with the pencil to change their password, role or zones. An operator's new zones apply the next time they sign in.
• At least one Admin must remain, so the last Admin can't be deleted.

General

Min battery marks RTX below this charge as low battery. Critical battery is the lowest charge Dispatch will still hand out when not enough devices are above the minimum. Blink period is how long devices blink when you click Blink. Click Save.

Workspace: backups, import, export and reset

Type an optional label and click Create Backup before big changes. Each backup can be inspected, downloaded, restored or deleted. Export Workspace saves a backup file you can keep elsewhere or open on another computer with Import Workspace. Reset Workspace clears everything after two confirmations and can't be undone.

Backups are stored on the computer that runs the Hive Central server.

Server: one host, several stations

On the main computer keep Host — run the server on this machine (port 4200 unless you need another). On other computers choose Connect — join a server running on another machine, enter the host's address, for example http://192.168.1.100:4200, click Test, then Apply. Hive Central reloads and asks you to sign in again.

Appearance

Choose the colour theme, background, light or dark mode and panel transparency for this station. Reset to default brings back the standard look.