
The Rebel Fleet Envisions Powerful Video Assist, DIT, and Dailies Workflows with AJA Gear
Brie Clayton March 24, 2023
0 Comments
As high-resolution, high dynamic range (HDR) workflows have continued to evolve in recent years, innovative video assist, DIT, and dailies solutions offered by companies like The Rebel Fleet have become essential. Founded in 2015 in Auckland, New Zealand, The Rebel Fleet provides these services across New Zealand, Australia, and the Asia Pacific region and recently expanded its offering to include post production in New Zealand. Its clients span high-profile episodic, film, and commercial productions. Clients typically approach The Rebel Fleet for custom workflow solutions, often with a specific camera in mind. Its team then works closely with each client to develop a custom pipeline and deploys a host of AJA gear to envision solutions that align with their unique production environment, budget, crew sizes, DP and director visions, studio requirements, and more.
The kit behind the design
The Rebel Fleet team depends on gear like AJA KUMO 1616 and KUMO 3232 routers, the KUMO Control Panel, and AJA Mini-Converters to build on-set video assist and DIT workflows for clients. Company CEO Mike Urban shared, AJA KUMO routers and Mini-Converters are built so great and offer solid warranties, which are paramount in the fast-paced environments we work in. We need equipment we can trust, and the AJA kit gives us peace of mind.
QTAKE software is also central to The Rebel Fleet's video assist service offering. It integrates seamlessly with AJA KUMO routers through the KUMO's network interface. The team can quickly and easily establish predefined router settings, so if a client wants all the monitors to display playback or live footage, they can preconfigure it, load it up with their Stream Deck, and changes are reflected across the routers. According to Urban, this provides a massive advantage over making changes manually. He shared, Being able to bring all this control into the network ecosystem of the rig via KUMO gives our clients more free time to try out fancy ideas. I also love that KUMO routers run off 12-volt batteries.
When working with clients, The Rebel Fleet occasionally deploys a custom flypack affectionately dubbed the Danny Box after the team member who built it. Typically placed on set, it is housed in a Pelican Case and features two AJA HD SDI splitters, two camera inputs, and four camera outputs. According to Urban, the setup supports clients looking to distribute a feed to more monitors or extend a signal because the SDI BNC run is longer than 100M. He said, Knowing we've got reliable equipment from AJA inside the box that we can literally just drop on set and will work without fail is amazing.
Managing HDR on set and beyond
As HDR continues to play a more prominent role on set, The Rebel Fleet is deploying more HDR gear across projects, including the AJA FS-HDR and AJA HDR Image Analyzer. Paired with Colorfront, these tools help ensure its client's desired look stays consistent as footage moves from acquisition through dailies. HDR equipment costs remain a key hurdle to broader adoption of full HDR workflows, which is where tools like AJA FS-HDR have been great. We can easily convert between SDR and HDR and retain a high-quality image, Urban explained.
When The Rebel Fleet deploys monitors on set, the FS-HDR gives its team the confidence that they're displaying HDR correctly if they receive a log signal from the camera. Depending upon client needs, they can then route different paths to HDR or SDR. Compatibility with Pomfort Livegrade Pro also enables them to use the device as a dynamic LUT box. HDR Image Analyzer then allows Urban's team to monitor HDR on set with scopes that match what it's seeing in Colorfront. He added, With FS-HDR, we get one rack-mounted device that does everything we could possibly imagine. HDR Image Analyzer also allows us to look at the scopes when monitoring, which is huge for ensuring consistency in dailies.
Related COW News
March 20, 2023Hash Pixel Saves Time and Money in Production with AJA GearFounded in 2020, Hash Pixel develops and implements workflows for streaming and
March 14, 2023Coralbay.tv Delivers Hybrid Cloud Playout Solution with AJA BRIDGE NDI 3GCloud playout is quickly gaining favor among broadcasters and content providers, making
Building a workflow for HDR finishing on set
With on-set HDR finishing always a part of the plan forone of The Rebel Fleet's latest projects, the ability to easily switch between SDR and HDR in the dailies pipeline proved crucial. DPs and other stakeholders needed to know what the HDR looked like during high light or outdoor scenes with high dynamic range, and with every shot effectively a VFX shot, metadata was key. Starting from the cameras - ARRI ALEXA LF cameras with DNA and other smart lenses - The Rebel Fleet designed the workflow so all the metadata from the camera and the lens through the on-set pipeline could be easily read.
AJA FS-HDR could read all the metadata we brought into the DIT cart. We could then combine it with the notes and information the DIT created for whatever needed to be passed down to the pipeline and marry it with the information coming from QTAKE. We were then able to give the team on set the ability to add metadata directly to a live database for viewing on iPads and other devices, explained Urban.
All that information ultimately served dailies through Colorfront before making its way into editorial. This color-consistent pipeline meant that editorial could start working faster. The team worked in the same HDR color space (P3-D65) in post production that they'd monitored on set.
The Rebel Fleet CEO Mike Urban
I/O was another important consideration on the project, f
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
15/11/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The Walt Disney Company and YouTube TV have reached a new multi-year distribution agreement, ending a carriage dispute that had blacked out ABC,...
15/11/2025
PLYMOUTH, Wis. A group of about 20 TV technology vendors supporting NextGen TV are wrapping up their ATSC 3.0 Interop here at Heartland Video Systems headquarte...
15/11/2025
NEW YORK NBCUniversal has announced that it will be launching NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), a 24/7 linear network featuring a wide range of marquee sporting event...
15/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has released an updated agenda for its Open Meeting on Thursday, November 20, 2025, which is scheduled to comme...
15/11/2025
JERSEY CITY, N.J. OpenVault has released new data showing that DOCSIS 3.1 and higher services are driving significant across-the-board increases in speed and co...
15/11/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has concluded an agreement with the Ohio Valley Conference ( OVC ) to broadcast OVC college basketball games across 20 Gray markets in five s...
15/11/2025
NEW BERN, N.C. Wheatstone has named company veteran Darrin Paley vice president of business accounts, effective immediately....
15/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Serves Up the Trailer for Dining with the Kapoors'...
14/11/2025
Op-Ed: The Automation Imperative - Why AI Is the Only Scalable Defense Against L...
14/11/2025
FutureSPORT 2025: Caretta Research on why streaming won't save broadcasters By Jo Ruddock
Monday, November 10, 2025 - 14:37
Print This Story
Caretta R...
14/11/2025
Daneysse Daniels, Emmy-Winning Production Manager and Beloved Teammate at TNT Sp...
14/11/2025
The NBA 2K League Returns as an Immersive Entertainment Ecosystem' With Non...
14/11/2025
Inaugural SVG LIVE! Conference Brings 250 Top Sports and Entertainment Producti...
14/11/2025
(L-R) Suzette Quintanilla, Isabel Castro, and Chris P rez attend the 2025 Sundan...
14/11/2025
This week, Casa Spotify lit up Las Vegas with an unforgettable celebration of Latin music and culture ahead of the 26th Annual Latin Grammy Awards. Hosted at th...
14/11/2025
Boston Conservatory Orchestra to Perform at Carnegie Hall for United Nations Gen...
14/11/2025
Berklee Alum Lewis Pickett Wins Record of the Year at Latin Grammy Awards Pickett, a 2009 graduate, was nominated six times across three categories at this ye...
14/11/2025
PLYMOUTH, Wisc. A group of about 20 TV technology vendors supporting NextGen TV are wrapping up their ATSC 3.0 Interop here at Heartland Video Services headquar...
14/11/2025
What if your idle operations centers, inactive cloud time, staff or you as a freelancer could start generating revenue tomorrow?
NECF Corporation today announc...
14/11/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, today announced that it has been recognized as a Major Player in the IDC MarketS...
14/11/2025
The recent ADAC RAVENOL 24h Race at Germany's legendary N rburgring circuit marked a milestone for live broadcast production, and Clear-Com played a pivota...
14/11/2025
Streaming tech companies M2A Media and Unified Streaming provided key software components that enabled the world's leading sports entertainment platform, DA...
14/11/2025
Lightware, an industry leader in signal management solutions, is strengthening its commitment to sustainability through a series of people-focused ESG (Environm...
14/11/2025
WASHINGTON As the federal government shut down comes to an end, the Federal Communications Commission has further extended some filing deadlines and issued some...
14/11/2025
STAMFORD, Conn. In the run-up to being spun off from Comcast, Versant has announced that USA Sports will be the new brand and division name for the company'...
14/11/2025
Friday 14 November 2025
Documentary short, Children No More, comes to Sky this December
Following its world premiere at DOC NYC yesterday, Sky today announces...
14/11/2025
Friday 14 November 2025
Sky to remain the home of Ryder Cup and DP World Tour through 2029
Sky and the DP World Tour have today announced a four-year partners...
14/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz redefines border security with comprehensive signals intelligenc...
14/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz, together with Samsung, first to validate 3GPP NR-NTN conformanc...
14/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the Trailer of City of Shadows
Entertainment
14 November 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
PREMIERING ON NETFLIX ...
14/11/2025
Today's AI workloads are data-intensive, requiring more scalable and afforda...
14/11/2025
The Late Late Toy Show blasts off!
RT launches The Late Late Toy Show's of...
14/11/2025
Scripps Research study reveals how uterine contractions are regulated by stretch and pressure during childbirth Molecular insights could lead to improved labor ...
13/11/2025
Versant Announces USA Sports as New Brand for Sports PortfolioBy SVG Staff
Thursday, November 13, 2025 - 6:15 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highli...
13/11/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Mike Szlamowicz, Assistant Athletics Director, Sport an...
13/11/2025
REMI Realities: Finding Success in Switching, Replay, Graphics, Commentary, and ...
13/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: E1's Laurence Boyd Shares the Tech Challenges of the 2025 Race...
13/11/2025
Versant's USA Sports Inks Five-Year Rights Deal With New Pac-12 ConferencePac-12 Enterprises will produce all USA Network games in partnership with USA Spor...
13/11/2025
NBCU To Launch New NBC Sports Network on Nov. 17By SVG Staff
Thursday, November 13, 2025 - 10:40 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
NBCUniv...
13/11/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Glenn Adamo, Artist of StorytellingBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Thursday, November 13, 2025 - 11:29 am
Pri...
13/11/2025
(L-R) Jessica Hargrave, Tig Notaro, Stef Willen, Ryan White, Megan Falley, and A...
13/11/2025
By Roni Jo Draper
My father was born and raised in the Yurok village of Weitpus, in what is now considered Northern California. There at the fork of the Klamat...
13/11/2025
At Spotify, we're always working to help creators earn, grow, and connect wi...
13/11/2025
This year, Spotify has introduced even more ways for users to take control of their listening experience. Whether you're refreshing your Discover Weekly wit...
13/11/2025
Today, Spotify is beginning to roll out a powerful new feature designed to help listeners jump back into stories they've put down, whether it's after a ...
13/11/2025
NASA and L3Harris conducted a full-duration RS-25 hot fire test Nov. 12 on the Fred Haise Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, ma...
13/11/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
13/11/2025
A groundbreaking new study by the BBC and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has found serious problems with news summaries generated by AI assistants....
13/11/2025
Luxembourg and Long Beach, CA, 12 November 2025 - SES, a leading space solutions company, announced today an extended multi-year, multi-launch services agreemen...