ark.commentary

Fair-code free for internal use Self-hosted

From the commentator's browser to your control room.

An invite link, a USB microphone, and the audio reaches your control room at broadcast latency. On your own infrastructure, deployed in 30 minutes.

GitHub ↗ Documentation
  • In production at IENA, Avenches
  • 750+ tests, CI quality gate
  • Fair-code
  • v2.x

01

  1. 1 / 3

    The invite link

    The control room creates the event and sends the commentator a link. No account, no software to install.

  2. 2 / 3

    Browser + USB mic

    The commentator opens the kiosk in a Chromium browser (Chrome, Edge, Brave), plugs in a USB microphone and talks. Program return (PGM) and talkback built in.

  3. 3 / 3

    Audio in the control room

    The feed arrives at low latency over WebRTC (LiveKit). The studio tracks presence, EBU PPM levels and on-air state in real time.

02

  • Broadcast audio quality

    Opus RED against packet loss, DTX disabled — silence stays signal — and no destructive noise suppression on the mic.

  • EBU PPM metering

    EBU ballistics, peak-hold and clip latch — levels you can trust, not a visual gimmick.

  • Hybrid talkback

    Hold to talk, quick tap to latch. Control room and commentator talk off air.

  • Program return (PGM)

    Full-screen program video behind the controls, with live resolution, fps and bitrate.

  • No-account invites

    A password-protected, expiring link. The commentator installs nothing, signs up for nothing.

  • TOTP 2FA

    Two-factor authentication with recovery codes and rate limiting for operators.

  • Live bitrate changes

    The Opus bitrate applies on air, with no audio cut.

  • FR · EN · DE

    Complete interface in three languages, translation parity checked at build time.

  • WebRTC transport

    Audio reaches the control room at low latency (LiveKit), without the lag of video calls. The kiosk runs on a Chromium browser.

03

Versus proprietary SaaS

vMix Call, Comrex…
  • Public, auditable code
  • Self-hosted — your data stays with you
  • No surprise pricing, no per-commentator licensing
  • No single-vendor dependency

Versus video-call workarounds

Discord, Zoom…
  • Opus RED — redundancy against packet loss
  • DTX off — silence is still signal
  • No destructive noise suppression
  • EBU PPM metering, controlled latency

04

ark.commentary is released under the fair-code Sustainable Use License. A docker compose file and a domain are all it takes — follow the install guide and your control room is ready.

Install guide

05

The company

ark.commentary is built by ark.swiss Sàrl, a Swiss software company in St-Légier (VD). The product was born from a real production need and runs today at the Institut Équestre National Avenches (IENA Sàrl).

Discover ark.swiss ↗

Contributing

The code is public (fair-code). Field reports, issues and pull requests are welcome — read the contribution guide before your first PR.

Open an issue ↗ Contribution guide ↗