Project Overview
I was tasked with designing, planning and installing a new video system for a building that hosted live productions. They were looking for something simple enough to be ran by a couple production assistants, but also had enough capability if they wanted to have more complex productions.
Approach & Plan
Current System
The current system did have some of the infrastructure in place, but much of it would have to be replaced with newer equipment to support newer tech. The current system was not something I could rely on successfully.
New System
I had asked the stakeholders what they wanted to achieve as their main goal, and was given a couple requirements:
The new system needed to have at least 3 cameras and a wide angle that could be piped to the green room or used in the production.
It needed a front projector that could be bright enough with all stage lights on.
It needed a rear screen that could bet set up as a separate feed for productions that had a main speaker.
It needed screens in the green room, and secondary prep areas off the main stage.
It needed to be future-proofed in case they needed to make upgrades to any part of the system, they wouldn’t need to tear out major portions of the system. One upgrade they wanted to make was making sure the rear screen could display something different that the front, as well as being able to have separate feeds for the green room and other prep rooms.
They needed to be able to record productions and multi-cast to various streaming services if they were to do a live production. The recordings also need a storage solution that would allow them to store videos for at least 2 years of productions.
Because of the complexity, I came up with a diagram that would show all incoming and outgoing signals, along with signal types, and cable types, along with cost of this and some other system designs in case they wanted a different design. They liked the plan and decided to move forward.
Deployment
Before I arrived to install, I had contractors install all the cables to all the termination locations. Since I was using CAT-6 and SDI cable, it allowed me to make sure the system was future-proofed. I also purchased all the materials required and had them shipped to the location in preparation for installation.
Once there, I was able to install all required cameras, projectors, TVs, conversion systems, and networking to all the required locations. Because the cameras could be run with a network address, I required the system to be on its own V-LAN and maintain static IP addresses to make sure the system didn’t have any IP conflict issues and could limit ingress to set IP addresses to ensure security. I was also able to build the desktop system used for recording and live streaming with the specs required to complete both recording and live streaming. I was also able to set up all video recording size and streaming templates to ensure the people running the system could run with little training if needed. Because of the plan and pre-purchase, the installation only took a few days and was completed in time for their next production.
Change Management
I made sure the changes and setup were well documented in case further changes needed to be made. I put it in a notebook that included where all converters, cables runs, connection directions and other important aspects of the setup. It also included backups of all the presets and documentation on how to load the presets in case they needed to start from scratch again. I also included Q&A’s in case there were some issues with the system that may occur seldomly.
Test and Validation
Once installed, I ran through my list of test requirements that included:
camera movement
projector color and visibility with the lights
audio recording (live AV usually has delays that need to be compensated in the video system)
live multicasting
green room AV
rear screen video
Once tested and validated, I stayed around for one production event and was able to make some final adjustments before leaving.
Collaboration & Continuous Changes
Because of the documentation and setup, there was only one case which needed further clarification, otherwise the production assistants were able to set up and run the system for their future productions as planned.
Final Results
The final result was a successful deployment that required little further troubleshooting and is still running several years later with no reported issues.
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