Sterling Event Group Streamlines Live Event Productions With AJA

Live event productions only happen once, which is why real-time monitoring and redundant recording are crucial to the workflows that power them.

They're a key consideration for Sterling Event Group (Sterling), one of the UK's leading technical event production and rental outfits, as they provide sound, lighting, video, sets, stages, and other live event production services to clients across corporate, private, public, sporting, and live music event productions in the UK and overseas. When working on a project like the British Small Animal Veterinary Association’s (BSAVA) Congress in Manchester, which wrapped in late March, Sterling Head of Vision Joseph Timmons often leverages AJA Ki Pro GO and Ki Pro Ultra 12G recorders to meet this need.

"Ki Pro GO has become our hardware of choice for HD video recording because we can record synchronised, multi-channel video with flexible encoding settings, which is hugely beneficial," he explained. "The fact that we can also use ‘off the shelf’ media and Ki Pro GO generates compact clip file sizes means our clients can access footage immediately after an event finishes. It vastly reduces the hours we’d otherwise spend collecting and transferring event footage to our client, especially when producing an event like BSAVA."

A multi-space conference and exhibition, BSAVA brought together veterinary professionals from across Britain. Throughout the event, Sterling was tasked with producing sessions in small breakout spaces, as well as larger-scale panels and talks in 1000-seat halls. Timmons tapped AJA Ki Pro GOs to record live footage in H.264 and content from nine separate event spaces to a centralized NAS drive using the network (SMB) recording feature. The setup eliminated the need to collect and distribute physical media from each space, and Timmons was able to deliver footage immediately to off-site editors. With the latest firmware update for the device, his team was also able to remotely monitor all live event videos in real time, providing an extra layer of quality control. Built-in Ki Pro GO support for redundant recording to USB media also provided the team with a physical backup should the need arise.

"We're a fan of Ki Pro technology overall, be it the Ki Pro GO for an event like BSAVA or the Ki Pro Ultra 12G, when the client may be working with 4K/UltraHD," Timmons added. "These devices are so reliable and deliver high-quality video, two of the most important features we could ask for. It’s also important to have variable recording settings like these devices offer so that our team can adapt to the requirements of a particular project.

"As for the future, Sterling has grown considerably over the last several years and plans to continue scaling to accommodate new growth. As it does, Timmons is paying close attention to trends like AV over IP and higher resolution workflows, especially with demand for both steadily increasing amongst its client base." He concluded: "Whilst we still see live event signal flow predominantly running in HD, the demand for 4K/UltraHD is increasing, and AV over IP is going to help facilitate improved transmission of high-bandwidth standards while providing interoperability, versatility, and reliability. Resisting complacency is one of our key tenets, so as we evolve, we plan to continue using technology that meets our high standards, like the Ki Pros."

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