Grass Valley, CA - AJA Video Systems’ Ki Pro tapeless recorder played a key role at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, handling digital playback of trailers and pre-show content for all 400 screenings in the festival’s 18 theatres. Host to 430,000 attendees, the Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) was held April 20 through May 1 in New York City.

TFF Technical Director Karl Mehrer and his team were responsible for the receipt and QC of festival films (on film or in HDCAM format), coordinating technical upgrades and load-ins for the participating theatres, and the smooth operation of all screenings. Mehrer also coordinated the playback of pre-show content and trailers -- reels that contained one 32-minute clip that played while audiences were seated and as many as 30 different clips used for trailers and screen backgrounds during panel discussions.

In past years this content was projected from film, DVD, HDCAM and other formats. “I knew there was a digital solution out there that would be make it easier to deliver this programming to the screen,” said Mehrer. “Part of the trick was finding something that was easy for projectionists to integrate and use, that would give us high quality, and be flexible to handle last minute changes. Ki Pro was the perfect fit.”

AJA Ki Pro is a tapeless recording device with flexible SD/HD-SDI, HDMI and analog inputs and outputs, enabling it to both record and play back pristine 10-bit Apple ProRes digital files and interface with a range of professional video devices.

Mehrer’s team created clip reels for each theatre on removable drives for each of their 18 AJA Ki Pros. The Ki Pros were installed in each of the theatres, connected to HD switchers, and fed pre-show content and trailers that were projected in high quality HD.

“Ki Pro was a beautiful solution. It couldn’t be easier to use. You just select a clip and press ‘play.’ It also gave us the flexibility to update content at the last minute; update a file on the drive and it’s ready to be projected off Ki Pro in fantastic quality,” said Mehrer.

He added, “I was looking for something really simple and I found it. Other products can put content on a screen, but they fall short in other categories -- they have a confusing UI, or it’s difficult to update content, or maybe they don’t output at high quality. Nothing came close to Ki Pro.”

Since 1993, AJA Video has been a leading manufacturer of high-quality and cost-effective digital video interface, conversion, acquisition and desktop solutions supporting the professional broadcast and post- production markets. With headquarters in Grass Valley, California, AJA maintains an extensive sales channel of resellers and systems integrators around the world. For further information, please see our website www.aja.com.

Note: Image courtesy of the Tribeca Film Festival, by Karl Mehrer.