LOS ANGELES—Lumens has provided extensive live television coverage worldwide for 12 years. We serve a wide variety of clients and events and deal with a multiplicity of signal types in setting up these remote broadcasts.
We were in the market for a new production switcher that would allow us to accommodate a variety of video inputs and have the flexibility to mix them for a single screen or multiple screens. Additionally, we often need to output a custom video aspect ratio to LED walls that don’t conform to standard sizes.
Grand Davis operates the Roland V-1600HD production switcher. We also sought out a switcher that could provide scaling on its inputs as well as on the output. Also on our list of requirements, we wanted something that was relatively easy to rent, as we are often in situations where we need two or three switchers for one client. We found just about everything we were seeking in the Roland V-1600HD. It provides a lot of power in a small package and is packed with features that meet our live production needs and client demands.
HAVE TO BE READY FOR ANYTHING
One of the ongoing musical festivals we’re responsible for covering is the 2012 Red Bull Thre3Style competition. We’re asked to mix in camera sources, computers, and sometimes SD and HD SDI video. In addition, the regional battle venues for the Thre3Style competition are a challenge themselves, as we never know what kind of video format we will be dealing with.
We’ve found that the Roland V-1600HD is the perfect switcher for this application. It serves as the main front-of-house video switcherr, providing magnified images, titling of each performer, real-time stats from a computer, and finally text over graphics for the winner of each regional competition.
The V-1600HD’s flexible scaling features are very important in our live productions, as they provide pixel-accurate scaling on each input that lets us match the output resolutions of LED video walls. Before we acquired the V-1600HD, such LED wall projects required a scaler/image processor in addition to the switcher. This added latency, drove up costs, required additional hook-ups, and is an item that’s not always available. The V-1600HD’s built-in pixel-accurate scaling has simplified our workload by giving the video mixer operator complete control over such image requirements. This has improved the quality of our work and reduced our overall production costs.
EASY TO LEARN AND USE
Additionally, the V-1600HD is very self-explanatory, intuitive, and simple to use device. We’ve found that beginners can figure out just about everything they need to know without having to open the manual.
We’ve also found that the V-1600HD is so popular for such production applications, if I have to hire outside operators for a production, most are already very familiar with the switcher’s operation and feature set. We are very pleased with the performance of the V-1600HD and can’t wait to get our hands on the new V-800HD from Roland to add to our production tool kit.
Grant Davis is principle owner of Lumens and has operated the company for the past 12 years. He may be contacted at grant@vjculture.com.
For additional information, contact Roland Systems Group at 800-380-2580 or visit www.rolandsystemsgroup.com.
