Sydney-based Shine Australia has delivered production and post-production on several popular TV series including The Voice Australia, MasterChef, Australia’s Top Model, The Renovators and more. Founded in 2010, the company is part of the Shine Group, one of the world’s fastest-growing media and entertainment creators, and is responsible for producing some of Australia’s highest-rated scripted and unscripted TV programs.

When Shine’s Technical Services Manager Nick Parker began plans to update the studio’s workflow to accommodate HD programing, he turned to AJA technology to help ease the process. “An increasing percentage of our shows needed to be in HD, so updating our hardware became a priority,” Parker said. “In the past, I’d used AJA KONA cards with Final Cut and had a good experience, so integrating AJA’s Io Express and Mini-Converters seemed like a natural progression. AJA really packs all of the functionality you need into quality products at an affordable price.”

Since transitioning from SD to HD, AJA has become an integral component of Shine’s workflow. To complete each production, its team banks on a pipeline comprising 43 AJA Io Express units, AJA Ki Pro Racks, more than 50 AJA Mini-Converters, as well as a multi-cam system, Avid^® Media Composer^®, an arsenal of desktop and laptop edit suites, and more. 43 Io Express units are connected to multiple Apple^® Mac Pro^® and Apple^® MacBook Pro^® workstations running Avid Media Composer – giving the team a high-quality, portable monitoring and mastering solution for post production. Ki Pro Racks are used to fulfill digital video recording needs, while several different AJA Mini-Converters fill the facility’s control and machine rooms to help manage conversions on multiple series.

“One of the great things about the Io Express is that we’re able to connect it to an HDTV via HDMI to a grade 1 10-bit broadcast monitor,” shared Parker. “We can do everything from one space and never have to purchase additional adaptors for any of our monitors.”

Shine also relies heavily on its AJA Mini-Converters to ensure that each file is delivered to production and post teams in the appropriate format. “They come in handy often,” Parker noted. “When we started work on MasterChef, we built a multi-cam system. Using our Mini-Converters, we were able to distribute videos from the different locations in the format we needed to our production and post systems.”

“AJA technology really works; it’s dependable. This is crucial in the fast paced, high-pressure environment that we work in. There is no time for second guessing hardware, and we never have to with our AJA gear. Their team has consistently given us the great service and support that we need to continue doing our jobs right,” he concluded.

The Workflow
43 AJA Io Express units are connected to multiple Apple® Mac Pro® and Apple® MacBook Pro® workstations running Avid® Media Composer. AJA Ki Pro Racks are tapped to address the studio’s digital recording needs and more than 50 AJA Mini-Converters are leveraged to handle all conversions.

About AJA Video Systems, Inc.
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 dealers and systems integrators around the world. For further information visit www.aja.com.

All trademarks, trade names, service marks, and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.