A new purpose-built video studio in Rotterdam for the Erasmus University has adopted ‘flip teaching’, installing comprehensive video tutorial, web lecture and online learning facilities in house. A dedicated A/V studio forms part of the Media Support Centre, which is the central knowledge point for audiovisual services and communication technology. Key to its operation is a Roland VR-50HD multi-format A/V mixer.
The ‘flipped classroom’ is a form of blended learning that provides students with content online watching video lectures away from the classroom, allowing class time to be used by teaching staff for personal instruction instead of lecturing. The VR-50HD integrates an audio mixer, video switcher, multi-viewer touch screen and USB video/audio streaming into a standalone device, and provides a multi format solution for capture, recording and streaming content in the education market.
Several main features of the VR-50HD made it attractive to the university. The green screen functionality of the chroma key was imperative, as most of the videos are filmed with a presenter in front of the screen and backgrounds added in postproduction. Additionally, the interface and ‘touch-of-a-button’ operation make it easy to operate for all employees of the centre, regardless of technical competence. (The intuitive design of the VR-50HD places dedicated audio faders for the audio mixer on the left and simple touch screen for selecting the video switcher on the right making it easy to get working straight away without any specialist knowledge). Staff have to be brought up to speed very quickly with new technology at the university, and the VR-50HD eliminated the need for peripheral devices.
Finally, the VR-50HD’s support for 3G/HD/SD SDI, HDMI, RGB/component, and composite video inputs up to 1080p (3G SDI) mean that it can handle all the variables of inputs on the equipment used in different recording set-ups. An additional value is that the VR-50HD is easily operated by a single person.
The VR-50HD is used primarily by the staff at Erasmus for capturing video lectures, promotional videos and software tutorials for different faculties which are then edited and added to the university’s bespoke media asset management system (MAM) called Mediasite. This provides a library of assets which can then be used for smooth streaming, downloading or for reference by staff and students.
The studio location where the video is created is set up as a professional studio, with a full lighting and sound system. A laptop is used by the presenter and is connected to the VR-50HD HDMI input and using the green screen functionality of the VR-50HD, most videos are created with the presenter in front of the camera using a PowerPoint presentation from which they might run video or show slides. An HD camera is connected to the VR-50HD via HDMI to record each presentation live in high definition. The HDMI outputs of the VR-50HD are connected to a Blackmagic HyperDeck Pro recorder with two hard drives and also to a second PC for backup. The chroma image key is used to add the logos for branding each presentation; these are individual and preset so it is easy to recall the branding for different faculties or presenters at the touch of a button. The PinP feature of the VR-50HD is used so that the presenter can be seen in the corner of the full screen if required. After the video is captured, it is edited to add credits, starting slides or additional branding.
‘The scheme is new and the studio has already proved very popular especially with several faculties such as the Erasmus School of Law and the Erasmus School of Economics. We know that video learning is going to be the next big thing and we feel that we are totally prepared with our new facility. The VR-50HD gives us the HD/multi format capability for a professional production and delivers great results every time’, says Ramon Bovenlander from the Media Support Center at Erasmus University.
