The Roland VR-50HD Multi Format AV Mixer has been chosen by Churchill College, Cambridge as the AV hub for their main lecture theatre that is used for academic lectures and college events as well as for commercial conferences and presentations.
The ability of the VR-50HD to deal with a variety of analogue or digital input devices (such as cameras, computers, iPads) and the different formats they output without the need for auxiliary equipment was an important factor in the specification. Additionally, the HD-SDI and HDMI output for HD recording equipment and USB 3.0 output making it simple to connect a computer and perform live streaming and recording made the VR-50HD the ideal choice.
‘We chose the Roland VR-50HD because it consolidated all the products we needed into the one unit and I’m really impressed that it saves me so much time in terms of setup and production. Just being able to live mix and get a good quality live mixed output saves hours. We were looking for a HD vision mixer that could also do streaming and the VR-50HD fitted our specification perfectly. Being able to stream directly from the VR-50HD has saved us money as we don’t need extra gear – the USB3.0 is super-fast and has worked beautifully. The composite inputs are also extremely useful as it means the VR-50HD is compatible with our older equipment such as cameras as well’.
The 300 seat theatre is usually set up with a presenter and panel at the front of the audience with presentations typically supplied in PowerPoint. Two Panasonic AGAC160 cameras are connected via HD-SDI, one camera is set to record a wide shot of the theatre whilst the other records a close up of the presenter. The RGB input on the VR-50HD is fed from the projector which scales the PowerPoint presentation as it comes. The still store feature is used for holding appropriately sized slides. On the VR-50HD, you can assign a still image (which can be imported from a USB flash drive) to the ‘Video Input’ button and work with it in the same way as video. Recording is done directly to an Atomos Samurai Blade via HDMI.
Live streaming of the events is distributed to ‘virtual delegates’ (people who are not physically present at the event or on the college site) and the video can also be relayed simultaneously to other rooms on site. This is easy to do with the VR-50HD using UStream or the college network. The recorded content needs to be high resolution video for the archive and this is achievable due to the HD quality of the VR-50HD. The audio is supplied by the in house PA system and the gate and compressor on the VR-50HD were described by a college representative as ‘an unexpected benefit’.
The compact footprint of the VR-50HD, including the bonus of a built in monitor also proved to be a major commercial advantage by increasing the revenue potential for each event. Previously the separate cameras, laptops and auxiliary devices had taken up a total of 8 seats worth of space in the theatre. Now with the ‘all in one’ VR-50HD the space required for the AV equipment has been halved, increasing the ‘per seat’ revenue for the venue.
‘Having all the things we need in a simple unit as opposed to the Frankensteins monster we had before has been the biggest benefit to us in using the VR-50HD. The fact that we have such a range of features in a small box is brilliant. Whether audio or video output, the fact that it is Roland makes it such good quality, we can’t go wrong.’
The VR-50HD integrates an audio mixer, video switcher, multi-viewer touch screen and USB video/audio streaming into a stand-alone device – delivering functionality that until now required a number of peripheral devices to accomplish. All digital video output connectors include embedded audio as well. This unique product adds HD/multi-format capability to the very popular VR Series that includes the Roland VR-5 and VR-3EX AV Mixers.
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