Video Switching inside our major Convention Centres

There's no disguising this - it's unashamedly a "feelgood" story for us at Roland Professional AV. However it feels like it's worth a mention, because its become clear that Roland AV switchers are independently and consistently being chosen to form the backbone of live video switching at convention centres across the country.

The final trigger for writing this article was a visit to the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre (PCEC) while they were in the middle of hosting a major medical convention. The conference had booked out every nook and cranny of this vast convention centre, so the video requirements were expansive to say the least. When I asked about which video switching hardware was in use (yes a loaded question), it was confirmed that seven of our V-160HD's, several V-800HDmk2's and even a couple of earlier legacy model Roland switchers were covering all the main bases, which included streaming and recording requirements.

AV Partners provide all in-house AV for the PCEC, and mentioned that they plan to add a further eight V-160HD's in the near future. Primarily because the 160 has the power and flexibility to cover anything from small meeting rooms to ballroom size events. Currently, they find themselves moving the existing 160's all over the convention centre on a weekly basis - more are needed to cut down on constant equipment relocation.

Naturally, its gratifying for us to see our latest model switchers being so expansively embraced at PCEC, but this visit reinforced the realization that convention centres right across the country have independently reached the same conclusion when deciding what their "workhorse" video hardware should be.

You will find V-160HD's, VR-120HD's (most recently) and our legacy model V-800HDmk2's forming the backbone of live video switching not only at PCEC, but also Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre and Cairns Convention Centre. (all of these venues are separately managed)

Our video switchers have firmly established themselves as an industry standard over the last 15 years or so, however I think there is something noteworthy about the huge variety and size of events convention centres find themselves hosting every week. The size of these venues is vast, and any investment in hardware is usually a large one. The video hardware they choose has to be the very best combination of power, flexibility, portability and reliability they can find. Happily for us, that has overwhelmingly turned out to be Roland.