AV Refresh

The centre recognised a need for an updated mobile recording rack. The current system was becoming less reliable as it aged so Bruno Siu, Head of Data & Video, QEII Live at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, set about building a new system from the ground up.

After coming up with a couple of designs it became clear that this was not the best way to go due to concerns over the long-term viability of the system and whether it would become outdated too quickly. It was at this point that Bruno turned to Strive AV to help deliver the solution required by the QEII Centre.

As Bruno explains: “I created drawings of what I wanted and shared them with Strive AV. We worked closely together to find the best solution to achieve my desired results.” 

The turning point came when Strive AV supplied a demo unit for Bruno and the centre, something that enabled them to really pin down what they wanted and what the system was capable of. The decision was taken to build a mobile recording rack capable of: 8 channels of simultaneous full HD recording, monitoring, independent audio I/O and provide feeds for live broadcast/webcast, featuring the Ki Pro Ultra Plus multi-channel HD Recorder 4K/UltraHD/2K/HD recorder and player from AJA.

As Bruno explains, being able to get hands on with a demo unit made a huge difference to the project: “Before I was able to demo the unit I thought the designs were complete, but getting the demo unit was absolutely vital. It provided answers for some questions we had and let us see how the unit would respond on the fly. We did a lot of testing.”

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS 

According to Bruno, challenges frequently cropped up during the project: “Every time we thought we were near the finish line, something would crop up. However, Strive AV were always quick to respond to queries and were very helpful throughout.”