Roland V-1600HD Debuts At Ireland’s Top AV House

Pearl AV, Ireland’s leading audio, visual, lighting and technical production company, is the first customer to snap up the new V-1600HD Live Video Switcher from the Roland Systems Group.  Pearl’s new unit went out to work on the day it arrived, and, within weeks, has become an integral element of the company’s HD platform.

“Our visuals department are delighted to welcome the V-1600 to our HD product range,” says Pearl’s MD and founder Frank White. “The mixer integrates perfectly with our existing HD projection stocks; we were the first company in Ireland to purchase HD 18K lumen projectors, and now, with the V-1600HD, we can offer true HD vision mixing seamlessly from source right through to our hi-brite screens.”

TheYouth Citizenship Awards, produced as a TV programme starring guest performers Jedward, provided a solid test for the V-1600HD in its first few weeks.  Pearl’s production team, led by Technical Director Paul Caverly, was using the unit to mix all the HD visuals for the evening,  and to drive the three large screens, a 23’x 13’ central screen and two smaller 12’ x 7’ models on either side.

“This Roland unit allows us to mix and blend and send out numerous outputs in HD,” explains Caverly, who admires the V-1600HD’s simple unfussy ergonomics.  “It’s an ideal choice for our operations which have now moved to the HD end of the market.”

Frank White echoes this view: “The Roland machine has hit the ground running, and is already our preferred choice for HD mixing. Our edit department now outputs HD as standard so clients can really see the difference in their own branding and logos. Pearl AV is constantly searching for new products to enhance its existing high standards, and we are delighted the V-1600HD is achieving this for us.”

The V-1600HD Live Video Switcher is suited to any live event or installation that requires a high channel count and the ability to accept a variety of video input formats out of the box.  It enhances any presentation by being able to drive more than one screen with different visuals on each, and can mix camera and video playback sources on one screen while directing presentation software to another.

The V-1600HD features a built-in preview monitor, a convenient monitoring solution when external monitors are not available. Sixteen inputs provide connectivity to HD/SD-SDI, DVI-D/HDMI, RGB, Component, S-video, and composite formats – as well as still images assignable via USB memory. 14 mixing channels provide built-in scalers and frame syncs for seamless mixing regardless of resolution or format.

The V-1600HD supports an incredible variety of system design and creative production options for live or fixed installation applications. Dual independent multi-format outputs provide innovative multi-screen output options including the ability to SPAN the mixer output to two projectors with edge-blend in the centre. In AUX mode, the outputs can be set to different resolutions, ideal for sending the program out to a record feed.

The Multi-Zoom feature can be enabled when one camera is daisy-chained to multiple inputs via thru connectors. The scaler for each input can zoom into any position in the video image giving the appearance that additional cameras are connected – a virtual multi-camera environment. Additional effects include a down stream keyer (DSK), a composite Keyer, Picture-in-Picture and multiple transitions.