Solutions from AJA Video Systems are helping to educate the next generation of media professionals and serving its newest media entrepreneurs. The company, a leading manufacturer of professional video interface and conversion solutions, announced that its KONA cards and Mini-Converters are a key part of the infrastructure of the broadcast facility, post-production suites, 3D lab and startup incubator facility at London’s Ravensbourne.

The alma mater of luminaries including fashion designers Stella McCartney and Bruce Oldfield, Ravensbourne combines traditional media/communications disciplines with digitally driven methods for design and digital media. The college is closely integrated with industry; enterprise and entrepreneurship are hardwired into each program of study.

In fall of 2010 Ravensbourne moved to a state-of-the-art building at Greenwich Peninsula and brand new facilities, including a full HDTV studio and digital post-production studio, and have begun developing their first 3D lab. The building also encompasses The Hub – Ravensbourne’s Enterprise and Innovation Centre, which gives startup design and broadcasting professionals access to production and post resources and expertise, as well as their own in-house media services company, >splintergroup<. AJA solutions are at the core of the college's real-world production, post and broadcast environments. Five AJA KONA LHi cards support the TV studio's Building4Media Fork production suite (ingest and playback system), capturing media from five record ports to the studio's Isilon server via a Cisco 10Gb network. Eleven more KONA LHi's support Apple Final Cut Pro and Avid offline, online and 'tutor' editing suites. The College also takes advantage of AJA's Control Panel software provided with the KONA cards that display settings before ingest and live, during capture. Ravensbourne uses AJA's HD5DA HD-SDI serial digital distribution amplifier to bridge long runs to the studio's machine room. Recently, Ravensbourne added AJA Hi5-3D Mini-Converters and GEN10's to use with 3D camera rigs in its new 3D lab, to enable simple 3D playback on consumer-grade monitors and projectors. It is also awaiting delivery of an AJA Ki Pro Mini tapeless recorder, which will be used to start-up production companies a portable, flexible tapeless workflow for on-set and in-the-field acquisition. In addition to supplying services to media entrepreneurs and business, >splintergroup< also acts as an employer for students and graduates. Liam Hayter, Production Technologies Manager for >splintergroup< at Ravensbourne, worked with his colleagues and TSL Integration to specify the broadcast, post and production needs of the College and build its cutting edge new facilities. "Ravensbourne is unashamedly vocational. We get our students ready for the real world. AJA KONA cards are a standard in professional broadcast and post environments because they are both flexible and incredibly reliable. That's the same reason we use them here." He added, "Previously most of our students were HDV/DV-based, and we want to make sure they're exposed to more than just FireWire-based workflows. With the AJA Control Panel software that comes with KONA they can visualize what the edit suite is doing and understand the workflow. They just boot it up and see at a glance if their settings are correct, or whether they need to adjust." "In setting up both the facilities and courses at Ravensbourne, we're always mindful of making students aware of where the industry has been and where it's going," said Hayter. "AJA gives us tools that work on both ends of that equation, helping them to understand basic video processes and work with the latest digital production and post workflows." www.rave.ac.uk
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