Daniel Willis of AV Technik, pictured with the Roland XS-83H 8-In x 3-Out Multi-Format AV Matrix Switcher.

After more than a decade on the road with major touring artists and as a house audio engineer at the legendary Irving Plaza/Fillmore music venue in New York City, Daniel Willis established AV Technik, a full-service AV firm in his hometown of South Portland, Maine, where he’s been serving clients ranging from music artists to corporate conferences to live events that require the kind of high-end technical support he was able to consistently provide in his previous career. Willis picks his tools carefully, and that’s why he picked the Roland XS-83H 8-In x 3-Out Multi-Format AV Matrix Switcher as his main AV switcher.

“It does a lot of things and it does them all well,” says Willis. “Features like being able to divide a single screen into three sections — that can work for a number of applications, from music to corporate events. For instance, I can put IMAG in one, a PowerPoint presentation in another and closed-captioning in a bottom third.”

Willis says features such as integrated HD Base-T allows him to keep HD video on a Cat-5 cable end to end, from source to projector, which he says is important for the film festival he works with. “The HDCP compatibility has been a lifesaver in some situations,” he remarks. “We also use it as back-up scaler for video walls. We have 144 tiles of 3-mm-pitch LED for video, and it does a great job of scaling for that. Additionally, it mixes audio, so we can run a whole bunch of sources with HDMI-embedded audio on it and the video guy can manage the audio easily. To top it off, it has wireless iPad control” — via the XS-80 Remote — “and can be controlled from PC or Mac.” Willis is likewise impressed by the fact that the XS-83H is as at-home with installed AV as it is with live-event projects. “There are not many AV products that can do that,” he says. “It’s become an important tool in our toolbox.”

The Roland XS Series is part of the new line of Multi-Format Matrix Switchers designed for fixed installations requiring high-quality integrated video and audio conversion and switching. Version 3.0 introduces powerful new features for live events and enhanced audio matrixing. The series offers single-unit solutions for total control of video and audio that are flexible enough to meet the diverse needs of live presentations, events, classrooms and conference rooms.