- As technology has developed, events have evolved from offline to online to hybrid.
- STV Visuals looks to Roland to provide the solution for the ever-changing environment.
- The company uses the V-600UHD, V-1HD, and XS-1HD to accomplish its goals.
For the past 17 years, STV Visuals has been at the forefront of multi-disciplinary production, completing thousands of shows and earning a reputation for passion and professionalism. What started as a hobby for Ivo Slaats is now more than a job. He is a full-time visual storyteller with clients ranging from the corporate fashion world to Eurovision and festivals.
VJ Beginnings
Slaats started using Roland for his video production. At that time, he was typical of many VJs. He used the V-4 and the V-8 video mixers, as well as the Roland CG-8 visual synthesizer. 12 years ago he purchased one of the first Roland V-800HD multi-format video switcher units.
“I started as a VJ, but over time I got more focussed on non-music events such as corporate and fashion. Today, we have very diverse clients,” explains Slaats. “But back in the day, I was mainly doing small club shows with the analog V-4 mixer,” he says. “The venues were smaller, but the video mixing was more vivid, more abstract. From day one, it has been about content creation, using Roland mixers as the central piece to distribute the content.” For Slaat, it’s always been about the joy of the process. “The fun part with the SD mixers was that you could manipulate your signal, which is technically impossible with a digital signal suite nowadays.”
From day one, it has been about content creation, using Roland mixers as the central piece to distribute the content.
Present Tense
Fast forward to 2022. Slaats now has a lineup of Roland mixers on hand at STV. Their collection includes smaller products such as the V-1HD video switcher, XS-1HD matrix switchers, and the V-1600HD live video switcher. Most recently, they added the 4K-capable V-600UHD multi-format video switcher. As technology developed, events evolved from offline to online to hybrid. Plus, clients’ expectations are higher. Slaats looks to Roland to provide the solution to the ever-changing environment.
“The most exciting part was when we started, there was no LED or digital signal,” he recalls. “So, that has been the biggest change and is still evolving as LED screens get a higher resolution. Back then, we thought HD would be a few years from us. We had the same thoughts on 4K a few years ago,” he says. “I still remember asking if there would be a 4K mixer soon. Luckily enough, the V-600HD 4K mixer came just in time.” He watched as resolutions kept improving. “Now we have lots of shows which are two or three times 4K. There can still be processing or switching problems. You’re always looking for good hardware to help you distribute signals from A to B.”
As technology developed, events evolved from offline to online to hybrid. Plus, clients' expectations are higher. Slaats looks to Roland to provide the solution to the ever-changing environment.
Festival Life
One of the major projects for STV Visuals each year is the Extrema Outdoor Festival in Belgium. Postponed due to COVID, the festival finally got underway in September 2021. It attracted around 55,000 festivalgoers to experience the best house and techno acts across seven stages. Slaats took charge of the mainstage. STV used the full 4K capabilities of the V-600UHD to handle the high-resolution output to multiple LED walls and the number of inputs coming into the mixer. Slaats and STV have been involved in Extrema, working closely with the organizers to inject visual production that will “amaze, stimulate, and surprise.”
Return to the Mainstage
In June 2022, Extrema celebrated its 10th anniversary. Fittingly, Slaats and his team again took the helm on the mainstage. The bar was set extremely high, with more than 100 artists over the three days, 65,000 festivalgoers, stunning visual effects, and superb stage designs. Slaats, his team, and Extrema had to create something spectacular. Once again, Slaats looked to Roland to deliver. They chose the 4K V-600UHD as a central hub, switching between sources and using the AUX bus as a secondary output. Most importantly, it provided a high-quality, high-resolution switcher that could be relied upon at the event.
Slaats and STV have been involved in Extrema, working closely with the organizers to inject visual production that will "amaze, stimulate, and surprise."
Multiple Applications
The V-600UHD has four HDMI 2.0 and two 12G SDI inputs. This is perfect for events requiring several computer and video playback sources with IMAG camera support. Each input independently supports input and scaling of HD, Full HD, UHD 4K, and DCI 4K, as well as PC resolutions from UXGA to DCI 4K without the need for converters. AUX destination switching makes it easy to include down-stage confidence monitors. And the configurable multi-view monitor lets users see all their sources, programs, and previews at a glance. Each output also supports downscaling to Full HD for outputting to streaming encoders or other HD-equipped destination displays.
Ambitious Creative Vision
For applications where pixel widths exceed the HD format’s 1920 pixels, the V-600UHD’s support for DCI Cinema 4K Resolution can switch content to display images up to 4096 pixels wide, fulfilling the creative vision of ambitious event designers. The V-600UHD offers incredibly high-quality dot-by-dot output scaling that allows you to directly connect to an LED display controller at the exact pixel dimensions without the extra expense and increased latency of a dedicated scaling processor.
“Roland mixers are still one of the best in this game,” Slaat says. “The color space they use and the 4:4:4 processing, which many mixers still don’t have. 4:2:2 is not enough for 10-bit LED screens. You see the color difference, blurriness, and color profiles. For many shows, this just won’t work.”
