The theater at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy in Austin, Texas.

St. Michael’s Catholic Academy in Austin, Texas, needed to update its A/V production capabilities, which the 34-year-old high school did late last year, working with Austin-based A/V systems dealer and integrator Intelligent Lighting Services. They recommended that St. Michael’s choose the Roland V-60HD HD Video Switcher, which is now installed as the central hub in the school’s newly revamped production department.

“The Roland V-60HD switcher was the perfect choice for the school,” says Eric Bernstein, Co-Owner of Intelligent Lighting Services. “It’s incredibly simple and straightforward to operate, which you want in a school setting where most of the operators will be the students themselves as well as their teachers, but you’re not giving up any professional features or performance.” For instance, says Bernstein, routing and mixing on the V-60HD is highly automated: The HDMI multiview output enables viewing eight inputs, as well as program and preview, on a single monitor with audio level display. The unit enables live switching of HD and computer-video formats without requiring external scan converters. It supports up to eight inputs with four SDI and two HDMI, plus two still image files. The HDMI inputs support video and computer resolutions, allowing mixing of video and computer graphic formats. Two SDI and two HDMI-assignable outputs support program and preview, and auxiliary busses easily send discreet outputs to separate displays. End users can apply the multi-channel audio embed function to record eight discreet audio channels to an SDI video recorder to fix audio issues in later editing or separate multi-language audio sources post-event. In addition, audio auto-mixing automatically adjusts audio level, ensuring even levels for the room mix, recordings, or live streaming.

Roland V-60HD Multi-Format Video Switcher.

“Students can also run the V-60HD remotely through the LAN port using Roland’s Remote-Control Software from PC or Mac, which gives students and teachers a lot of flexibility,” Bernstein says. “We brought the school’s entire AV complement to the next level, for instance replacing their older conventional-lamp projector with a laser model, so we needed a high-definition switcher to match that – something that had a lot of features but would be appropriate for an educational setting. The Roland V-60HD met all criteria and then some.”

Ivan Klousia, Director of Theatre in the school’s Fine Arts Department, and who oversees all of St. Michael’s theatrical activities, says that the V-60HD has been an excellent fit for the school. “It’s made switching between multiple input sources, such as video and slide shows, so much easier and efficient, and we’ve only just scratched the surface with it,” he says.

Other departments within the school have also been using the V-60HD with similar outcomes. “We have a pretty robust film department here, and they’ve been using the switching capabilities and the ease with which it supports various formats to great effect,” he says. In addition, visiting presenters are happy to find a state-of-the-art switcher in the high school. Klousia notes that the school recently had Erik Weihenmayer, an American athlete, adventurer, author, activist and motivational speaker, and the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, as a guest speaker. “His team was able to plug right into the V-60HD and had Erik’s slides and video on the screen effortlessly,” he says. “It adds to the school’s prestige to have the kind of technology that can accommodate presentations like that.” Klousia says he’s looking forward to the summer break, when he’ll be able to delve deeper into the V-60HD’s capabilities. “I’m sure all of the students in the department will be able to master it in no time, too.”