Panasonic Food Service and Retail Solutions Group announce the WX-CH455 HD3 headset firmware and settings software tool updates

Working with our customers and partners, we have evaluated and tested some additional areas of improvement with this unique headset. Adding these enhanced features, restaurants will appreciate substantial improved performance and overall satisfaction with the HD3 Headset.

Since the HD3 headset is completely compatible with both the Attune and the Attune II systems, this new update will benefit all Attune installations that are utilizing the HD3 headsets.

1) Headset DNR (Digital Noise Reduction) Sleep Mode is no longer available.

a. When the {TALK} button was pushed to allow the crew member to communicate with customer at the speaker post, the DNR (Digital Noise Reduction) would wake-up and begin to reduce the noise. This wake-up procedure could take 1 to 2 seconds. During this period, the out bound voice quality was being affected by producing a slight voice distortion. After this 1 to 2 seconds and the DNR was “awake”, the DNR was working properly.

b. By removing “DNR sleep mode”, this will eliminate the voice distortion for the “Wake-Up” procedure, helping to produce proper voice clarity, even under harsh restaurant level noise.

c. This is not an option that can be changed and therefore, does not have a changeable flag in the Setting Tool software. Panasonic and the customers that have tested this new feature have determined that the benefit (continuous and constant voice clarity) outweighed the negative (10 plus hours verses 12 hours of usable battery life).

2) “Talk-Back” feature is now optional.

a. The “Talk-Back” feature was introduced when Panasonic switched from analog to digital technology. Because the digital frequencies are so quiet, Panasonic added the “Talk-Back” feature to allow the crew member to hear their own voice in their headset. This helped the crew member to know that they were communicating with the speaker post properly. While this was a good feature, even with the previous WX-CH450” headsets, with the newer WX-CH455, this feature seems to lag the “Talk-Back” by a fraction of a second longer than previous versions of headsets. This lag is cause by the WX-CH455 headsets increased features and performance over the previous versions of headsets.

b. The new Setup Tool Software will allow the user to decide if they want to turn this feature on or off for each headset.

c. By default, this will be set to “Off”, as of the October product build date. For current product when updated with new firmware, the default will be set to “On”.

i. OFF: Does not output your microphone voice to your headset.

ii. ON: Outputs your microphone voice to your headset.

3) Increase headset to headset volume by 6 decibels.

a. As we progress with restaurant technology, we are finding the amount of noise within the kitchen is increasing so much, it is getting harder to hear each other. This also is a proven theory with the wireless headset systems. This knowledge has helped us create a new flag, within our settings tool, that will increase the volume between headsets by 6dBs. When this flag is enabled, all talking headsets will be louder to all listening headset by 6dBs.

b. By default, this feature is turned “Off”.

i. OFF: Sets the microphone volume of the headset to the volume at the time of shipment.

ii. +6dB: Raises the microphone volume of the headset by 6 dB from the volume at the time of shipment.

4) Talk/Page Auto Off Setting

a. This is not a new feature, but I feel this is a misunderstood and valuable feature that is not utilized as much as it should be. By detecting the motion of the headset, this feature can automatically turn communications off if the headset is left unattended for 10 minutes (talk or page).

b. Only four headsets can be in talk mode at one time and if there are more than four, the headset will not allow the next user to utilize the Talk or Page modes. This will help when a crew member takes off the headset and forgets to turn off Talk mode or Page mode.

c. By default, this feature is turned “Off”.

i. OFF: Communication (talk/page) is not ended automatically.

ii. ON: Ends communication if the headset is not moved for 10 minutes during communication (talk/page).

All files can be found on the FTP3.Panasonic.Com site under the folder “Resellers\All\WX-CH455\20180807 New Firmware and tool”. Please download all files and unzip the “Zipped” file to install the new Settings Tool Software.

1. DWCS2_PP_V1.05R00_US_BBIC_out.vch

a. WX-CH455 - BBIC firmware update file.

2. PGQP2550YAC1_WX-CH455_OI_en-fr.pdf

a. Operating Instructions All-in-One Headset Setting Tool manual.

3. PGQX2221XAC1_WX-CH455P_OI_en_cfr.pdf

a. Operating Instructions All-in-One Headset manual.

4. WX-CH455 Setting tool (1.0.2).zip

a. Setting Tool installation files.

If you are installing this software for the first time, please download the Setting Tool Operating Instructions Manual for installation requirements and instructions. They can be found on page 7.

If you already have the previous version of software installed, please uninstall the older version first. These instructions can also be found in the Setting Tool Operating Instructions Manual. This can be found on page 8.

1) Firmware Update

a. Update the BBIC file as instructed in the Setting Tool Operating Instruction Manual (pages 12 - 17). About 5 minutes to update headset.

b. Turn off headset.

c. Turn on headset.

d. Connect headset

e. Click the “RECEIVE” button.

f. Change settings as needed

g. Click the “SEND” button.

h. Disconnect headset and cycle the power to the headset again.