Prince William County Public Schools, in the US, opted for a KUMO 1616 compact 16×16 3G-SDI router for signal management when it renovated its control room for producing live events.
Prince William County Public Schools, based in the US state of Virginia, invested in an AJA KUMO 1616 router for signal management when it renovated its control room for producing live school-board meetings and covering community events.
Senior communications and video systems specialist Marcos Salinas overhauled the control room with a renovation targeted at reducing staffing requirements for school board productions and its on-site technology footprint.
As part of the revamp, Salinas moved the office’s control room to a smaller space and purchased a range of gear that supported more automation. As the fly pack router was maxing out, he opted for the AJA KUMO 1616 compact 16×16 3G-SDI router for signal management. “It features BNC connectors configured so I can easily go in and change out cables when in a rush,” said Salinas. “The unit is whisper quiet and the KUMO CP control panel makes set-up and operation straightforward.”
For live events, the team modifies its flypack depending on the production needs or the venue’s physical layout. The core flypack typically includes cameras, four laptops, a production switcher and the KUMO 1616. On-site, in addition to feeding record decks and streaming encoders, the system needs to support feeds to downstage monitors and projection screens, and a monitor feed with a countdown clock for speakers – all of which run through the KUMO.
For on-site needs, the school-board meeting production system consists of five robotic cameras and multiple microphones. During an active production, all sources are mixed through a master switcher, fed through a closed caption encoder, and then output through scheduling and playout automation equipment to cable channels and a live stream.
The set-up includes several AJA Mini-Converters for SDI and DVI signal conversion needs, and an AJA Ki Pro Ultra 12G to record meetings in the Avid DNxHD format. “It’s one of three recording decks we have in place for redundancy,” said Salinas. “Since the sustained data rate when transferring footage is much faster with the Ki Pro Ultra 12G than our other recorders, and the signal quality is unparalleled, we’ve found it to be our go-to. It makes it easy to get up and running quickly for editing in Adobe Premiere Pro.”
Salinas is monitoring new technologies and workflow solutions to help his team work more efficiently while remote. “Seeing companies develop solutions that allow teams to do graphics and other functions remotely for live events has been amazing,” he said. “I’m continuing to watch developments in remote workflows and exploring emerging technologies like AR and VR.”
Reference : AVinteractive
