AJA Ki Pro Plays A Key Role At 2011 Tribeca Film Festival

AJA Video Systems' Ki Pro tapeless recorder played a key role at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, handling digital playback of trailers and pre-show content for all 400 screenings in the festival's 18 theatres.
Host to 430,000 attendees, the Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) was held between April 20 and May 1 in New York City.
TFF Technical Director Karl Mehrer and his team were responsible for the receipt and QC of festival films (on film or in HDCAM format), coordinating technical upgrades and load-ins for the participating theatres, and the smooth operation of all screenings.
Mehrer also coordinated the playback of pre-show content and trailers - reels that contained one 32-minute clip that played while audiences were seated and as many as 30 different clips used for trailers and screen backgrounds during panel discussions.
In past years, this content was projected from film, DVD, HDCAM and other formats. Mehrer said: "I knew there was a digital solution out there that would make it easier to deliver this programming to the screen. Part of the trick was finding something that was easy for projectionists to integrate and use, that would give us high quality, and be flexible to handle last mount changes. Ki Pro was the perfect fit."
AJA Ki Pro is a tapeless recording device with flexible SD/HD-SDI, HDMI and analogue inputs and outputs, enabling it to both record and play back pristine 10-bit Apple ProRes digital files and interface with a range of professional video devices.
Mehreres Team created clip reels for each theatre on removable drives for each of their 18 AJA Ki Pros. The Ki Pros were installed in each of the theatres, connected to HD switchers, and fed pre-show content and trailers that were projected in high quality HD.
Mehrer said: "Ki Pro was a beautiful solution. It couldn't be easier to use. You just select a clip and press 'play'. It also gave us the flexibility to update content at the last minute; update a file on the drive and it's ready to be projected off Ki Pro in fantastic quality."
He added: "I was looking for something really simple and I found it. Other products can put content on a screen, but they fall short in other categories - they have a confusing UI, or it's difficult to update content, or maybe they don't output at high quality. Nothing came close to Ki Pro."
(KMcA)