“Rather than treat the LED videowall display as a video screen we see it as a giant digital canvas that we can throw anything on,” says Palmer. “The Ascender 48 takes all the inputs from the media server, playback machines, PowerPoint and Zoom machines and spits them out with chromakeys, PIPs, overlays, and stretched and amorphic elements. Our ATEM switchers are used for camera mixing and outputs on the live screen while the Ascender handles the backdrop screen.”
He explains that The Virtual Venue also uses the Ascender as a matrix to feed confidence monitors and green room monitors. “The Ascender is the hub of absolutely everything,” says Palmer.
The Ascender has “been fantastic” at performing both of those roles, he notes. “There’s no need to scratch our heads trying to figure out how to route things. We acquired the Ascender because of our relationship to Analog Way where we have direct access to their engineers. If we can’t speak directly to the people who make the gear, we don’t buy it,” Palmer says.
“The Ascender gives us the flexibility we need to deliver on a high level, to handle very demanding projects with a short lead time and a huge number of last-minute changes.”
