Prosound Conference Systems adopt Bluefish444 for Resolume live event display and adapt to streaming live events with vMix
27 November, 2020
Prosound Conference Systems is an AV rental and live events company based in Serbia, primarily catering to the conference and corporate events market. Prosound have been trading for over 10 years and own enough AV equipment and have the in-house technical expertise to conduct more than 10 simultaneous live events in a day. They have achieved this by not only recruiting the best specialists for the job, but also by keeping up with the latest technologies for their clients. Prosound ensures that the equipment they use is both of a high quality and flexible enough so that it can be used for a range of different workflows.
More than two years ago, Prosound began researching innovative new solutions to play video and graphic content to a range of display equipment, including multi-projector setups and custom LED screen sets, for live event production. Prosound wanted a flexible solution to integrate SDI camera feeds into live production equipment, and the ability to record multiple channels from SDI sources. The solution needed to integrate with vMix and Resolume live production software, as they were Prosound’s preferred brands for live event production.
vMix is a popular software video mixer and switcher, which can be used for both local video mixing, or more commonly, for live streaming that enables publishing live productions directly to online streaming platforms and social media. Resolume is a live video mixing software package, primarily used worldwide for high quality performances from VJ-ing to AV shows and stadium concerts. Both are compatible with all Bluefish444 Epoch & KRONOS video cards.
After extensive research, Uros Vasiljevic, AV Manager for Prosound, decided to purchase Epoch | 4K Supernova S+ cards to integrate into a Xeon-based HP Z8 workstation. Uros went with the Supernova S+ video cards because they provided the flexibility of having input and output on a single card and support from SD/HD to 4K/UHD SDI. The Supernova S+ specifications meant that Prosound could deploy immediately for their current workflows knowing that the system would continue to be deployed as their workflows evolved to 4K. Importantly, Bluefish’s video card offerings were certified with vMix and Resolume software, so Prosound initially expected and later confirmed that they’d be able to use their preferred software without any integration problems.
“The thing we liked about the solutions from Bluefish is that when we were researching, their website recommended specific workstations, thunderbolt enclosures and supported software; including vMix and Resolume,” says Uros. “This signalled to us that the cards must have been actually tested with this equipment and software, so that eliminated a lot of the background research for us.”
Prosound initially used the Supernova S+ cards to integrate their SDI camera feeds and other video content into different compositions within vMix and Resolume. They would then use a switcher or mixer to output to the required destination, such as large LED screens or projectors.
Supernova S+ features four independent BNCs, which can be configured as four inputs, four outputs, or two inputs and two outputs. Prosound could use the same cards for a number of different workflows, providing a great value proposition. This flexibility became vital when the pandemic hit in 2020 because the majority of events were moved online. This changed the way the audience consumed live video and made a big impact on the technical requirements of staging live events.
By utilising the four input configuration for the Supernova S+ cards, Prosound was able to continue to use the same Bluefish-powered HP Z8 workstation during the pandemic for multi-channel acquisition. As the pandemic forced Prosound to work in a mostly online environment, they used the four Bluefish SDI inputs to capture directly from cameras or from their video graphics solutions. These live video feeds are used in vMix and Resolume software to create dynamic and creative visuals, with the final output sent to a streaming platform.
“The pandemic obviously made things a bit difficult for us in terms of having to adapt to an evolving situation. Having an uncertain future makes it difficult to make any plans or to know what we’ll be dealing with in a month or years’ time,” comments Uros. “We’re happy that the Bluefish video cards made it easy for us to adapt to an online environment so that we could continue to provide our clients with a high quality service.”
Over the time that Prosound has owned their Supernova S+ cards, Uros notes that they have had very little issue with them. “Once everything was set up, we haven’t had to touch anything other than to change the I/O configuration as needed, and haven’t encountered any issues with input compatibility either,” Uros notes. “The communication from Bluefish has always been very responsive and the team is always willing to help when we’ve needed it. That being said, once the cards are installed, the day-to-day operation of the cards couldn’t be simpler.”
With the future looking like remote production of live events will be here for some time, Uros says that Prosound is researching some other innovative solutions to help add value for their clients. Prosound have shown an interest in adopting Bluefish’s IngeSTore multi-channel production recorder supporting Edit-While-Record, OBS, and Zoom conferencing software.
Uros is investigating if Prosound will integrate the Supernova S+ cards into Thunderbolt enclosures, making acquisition more flexible and portable. With Bluefish having certified all of their video cards with popular Thunderbolt expansion chassis manufacturers, Prosound need only choose from the Bluefish website the right brand for them, already knowing the video cards and expansion chassis have been thoroughly tested.
