CREATION
September 2017
Bexel and
explore.org
thrill nature fans
Bexel, an NEP Broadcast Services
Company, is working with philan-
thropic media organisation explore.
org to stream “never-before-seen”
live video and audio from some of
the world’s most remote and exotic
locations.
After a successful first de-
ployment in northern Manitoba,
Canada, where Bexel’s specialty
low-light-optimised camera system
captured “stunning footage” of
the aurora borealis at night, Bexel
has deployed custom-designed
systems at nine other explore.org
sites, with another 25 planned for
this year.
Designed to be controlled
remotely from anywhere in the
world, Bexel’s camera systems
give explore.org’s volunteer re-
mote operators the tools they
need to provide viewers with an
unprecedented glimpse into the
natural world, said Bexel.
Given the unique circumstances
at each explore.org site, Bexel’s
custom HD and 4K/Ultra HD (UHD)
camera systems ensure that “rivet-
ing, clear footage” will be available
in even the most extreme condi-
tions, the company added.
25
AJA simplifies church’s live
broadcasts across 16 campuses
Founded in 2001, Church of the
Highlands has 16 campuses across
Alabama, USA. With an average
attendance of 40,000 members
for its Sunday service, the church
also records an additional 10,000
members tuning in live online.
To reach out to members both
in-person and online, Church of
the Highlands leverages a robust
video workflow to broadcast live
worships and enhances live pres-
entations at its main broadcast
campus while recording all services
at its other campuses throughout
the state.
The church’s weekend service
is shot on three Sony HDC-2400
studio cameras on a tripod, with
one on a jib positioned house left,
and a Canon XF205 camera placed
on a 15ft dolly track positioned
house right.
In addition to the 55-inch
touchscreen monitor that runs the
presentation content on stage, a
confidence monitor is set up at the
front of the stage for the speaker
to refer to notes or lyrics. Each side
of the stage is also equipped with
for handling signal
a 24ft screen with
conversion when we
rear projection, and
have to manipulate
a LED wall across the
frame rate or format.”
back of the stage to
Additionally, he
provide scenic back-
has installed multiple
grounds and video
KUMO SDI routers
playbacks.
to route feeds from
The church’s tech-
different venues to
nology infrastructure
broadcast online and
also comprises a
to other campuses,
range of AJA equip- Besides serving members in-person during its weekly Sunday service,
ment, including Ki Church of the Highlands also serves some of its 10,000 members online, alongside FiDO fibre
converters for long
Pro, Ki Pro Ultra and Ki with the support of AJA Video Systems’ solutions.
cable runs, and the
Pro Rack digital video
to capture the programme feed,
ROI scan converters to scale output
recorders, FS1 and FS2 framesyncs
and ISO capture different camera
from computers into its graph-
and converters, KUMO routers,
shots and graphics, which are then
ics systems, as well as dozens of
FiDO fibre converters, mini-con-
recorded to six Ki Pro Racks 1RU
mini-converters to manage signal
verters and ROI (region-of-interest)
rack-mounted recorders.
conversion from SDI to HDMI and
scan converters.
Furthermore, Firesheets has
vice versa.
Justin Firesheets, production
also employed two FS1 and one
Firesheets concluded: “We’ve
director for Church of the High-
FS2 to embed multiple channels of
always been impressed with the
lands, has deployed between 30
audio from the broadcast campus.
quality, durability and flexibility of
and 35 Ki Pro Racks and Ki Pro
Firesheets explained: “At the
AJA gear, which is why we use so
Ultra recorders system-wide as the
main campus, we have five services
much of it. It’s easy to use, which
primary devices for recording all
every Sunday plus smaller events
is crucial for a live environment.
services, giving each campus the
throughout the week, and all of
Everyone from staff to volunteers
option to playback a pre-recorded
those are captured on some com-
can manage the AJA gear, and we
service.
bination of Ki Pro Rack/Ultra units.
typically don’t have to worry about
The main broadcast campus is
The FS products are really great
any failure points.”
equipped with two Ki Pro Ultras
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