Technologies from AJA Video Systems are speeding HD production at the both Ohio State University and the University of Oklahoma.
OSU is using AJA’s Kona and Io HD products in connection with program production for the Big Ten Network and WOSU Public Media. A total of four programs are being produced and include footage captured in various formats including Sony HDCAM, XDCAM HD and contribution material from a variety of sources.
The executive producer for the school’s video programming, Kevin Theessen, says that due to this variety of formats typically experienced, having ready access to conversion technology makes all the difference.
“Because we work with so many different formats including DV, HDV, AVCHD, HDCAM, and in the case of an episode that centered around a researcher working on an ice floe in Alaska, even Webcam, among others, Io HD is key to our workflow,” Theessen said. “My favorite thing about the Io HD is its versatility—there’s rarely a format that I can’t up-convert for our shows. It’s sweet that we can get such high quality versions for so many different formats coming out of Io HD.”
The University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication relies on AJA’s Xena product for streaming student-produced programming from the school’s TV4OU Web site.
“Our entire facility is SDI/AES, which means we can provide a higher quality delivery based on the interface provided by the Xena card,” said George Lynn Franklin, station manager and A/V production instructor at the school. “We’ve been very pleased with the picture and audio quality, but what was pivotal to our decision to purchase the Xena card was its ability to work with Windows Media Encoder, which is the cornerstone of our streaming capabilities. And, the fact that footage can be viewed on both platforms—Macs and PCs—makes it crucial to our Web strategy.”
Franklin said that the thrust of the program at the school’s program was in providing students with “real-world, hands-on” experience in audio and video production and that this included exposure to equipment and technologies likely to be encountered in commercial audio and video enterprises.
