High School Centralizes Video Control Room With NDI and Connect Spark
By Jim Bask
Weighing only seven ounces, the NewTek Connect Spark is revolutionizing the video production workflow for the Louis Riel Arts & Technology Centre (ATC) Broadcast Media Program, one of the trade skills taught at this vocational high school in Winnipeg, Canada. In fact, Spark is the most revolutionary solution this budget-conscious school has come across since, well, NDI® itself.
It all started when Kenneth Plaetinck—Instructor for ATC’s Broadcast Media Program—wanted to be able to do live remote multi-camera video production at sporting events taking place at other high schools across the Louis Riel school division from a centralized control room. After all, when winter in Manitoba brings subfreezing temperatures, it’s not pleasant to have to pack-up road cases full of video gear onto a trailer to get them to remote production sites.
The first step to making this dream a reality was to implement NDI, NewTek’s IP video-driven networking technology. The second phase, now underway, involves deploying four small Connect Spark devices, which convert camera signals from HD-SDI or HDMI to NDI so they can be sent over the network.
The NDI/Connect Spark combo enables them to reduce their remote production kit from hundreds of items—packed in several road cases—down to just four cameras, tripods, and mics.
Through ingenuity, Plaetinck and the school division’s IT team found a way to break through many layers of technical challenges to design an optimal networking solution that dramatically streamlines their remote production workflow…[continue reading]