With more than 25 years of experience, Event Technology Services has become a go-to name in productions ranging from corporate events to concerts in the greater Southern California region. Dave Swaffer, the company’s founder, has built a reputation by using and specifying equipment that he trusts. We caught up with him after a corporate event in Phoenix, AZ to discuss why he has adopted the Roland VC-1 Converter line as his primary tools for integration in any live production environment.

ETS specializes in corporate events and live production for a variety of clients, which requires his production equipment to support a variety of video connectors and types. Swaffer recently adopted the Roland VC-1 Video Converters because the digital video conversions are lossless and maintain the original signal unlike some other video converters. The VC-1 Video Converters can also embed and de-embed audio which is great for monitoring or pulling out audio for a separate broadcast or record feed. Additionally, the VC-1 Series supports 3G-SDI for higher quality displays and video sources. Swaffer reports that for the corporate event in Phoenix, most of the video cables throughout the facility were HD-SDI, which is great for longer cable runs and high quality video distribution. However, the video displays only had HDMI inputs making a converter necessary. The convenience of being able to use an HDMI cable and connect a VC-1-SH box on the other end, which converts HD-SDI to HDMI was critical. Although this is usually a simple conversion, ETS has found that this is not always the case.

Swaffer explains, “We’ve used brand name products in the past, but have never had the same success.” The ease-of-use, reliability, and “pristine” video quality are the traits he says pushed him to change to the VC-1 Video Converter Series.

The VC-1 Converters also allow Swaffer unique functionality to combat problems that arise in live event production. He says, “Things would pop-up where, someone would bring an iPad on stage for example, and we would have to make a run from stage to the video switcher at FOH. We simply put a VC-1-SC on stage, and that takes care of most any type of input and sends SDI to front of house.”

Audio embedding and de-embedding is another feature that ETS values when it comes to live production. Swaffer needed to get audio back to the green rooms, so he used the VC-1’s de-embed function to split out the audio stream from the existing SDI runs in the facility.

Just like any other craft, a video engineer has to be able to rely on their tools, and Swaffer reports he has peace-of-mind when it comes to Roland. The reliability and rich feature set found in the Roland V-800HD, the first video product purchased, influenced them to look at and purchase other video equipment including the VC-1 Series for their live productions. Swaffer concludes, “Frankly, after we started using the V-800HD, and loved the quality, it was kind of a no-brainer that other products coming out of Roland were going to give us that same quality.”

Event Technology Services www.etsprod.com