Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Simple Thought Productions Streams Rare Flower Blooms with AJA HELO

29/06/2022

Simple Thought Productions Streams Rare Flower Blooms with AJA HELO

Brie Clayton June 28, 2022

0 Comments

There's a live stream for nearly everything today from high school sports matches to the International Space Station, cat shelters, and even rare plant blooms like that of the Amorphophallus titanum. Commonly known as the corpse flower, the endangered plant takes up to ten years to cultivate in captivity. In blooming, it can grow up to 6 inches a day, and emits an unforgettable putrid scent. Public interest in watching these rare blooms online has grown in recent years, and botanical gardens and university greenhouses have risen to the occasion with live bloom broadcasts. Simple Thought Productions recently produced a live corpse flower bloom stream on YouTube for Rollins College in Florida using a camera and an AJA HELO H.264 streaming and recording device.

Rollins College Greenhouse Manager Alan Chryst obtained the college's first corpse plant seedling in 2004, and its first bloom took place over a decade later. Having successfully streamed the first event, Simple Thought Productions was asked to return ahead of two anticipated April 2022 blooms at the college. Always up for a challenge, Simple Thought Productions Founder Josh Chesarek was thrilled to take on the job. Evolving his approach for the previous stream, he opted to build his workflow for the project with AJA HELO at the core.

It's not every day as a video production pro that you're asked to capture a live feed of a plant that grows upwards of six feet in under a week and unleashes a scent so rancid that it reminds you of roadkill roasting on a hot summer day, he said. The environmental conditions also made it a fun challenge. We had to figure out the right gear to withstand incredibly hot, humid, and wet greenhouse conditions, and AJA HELO proved just the right fit.

Prior to the bloom, Chesarek positioned the camera and HELO within proper view of the corpse flower and encased the gear in a large plastic bag to prevent water damage from damp greenhouse conditions. With the camera connected to HELO over SDI and HELO connected to Ethernet and a power source, Chesarek could easily stop and start the 1080p YouTube live stream remotely.

He shared, I chose HELO because I've used it in production and felt confident it could manage the job. During the previous bloom, we used other encoders, which would go offline randomly, and interrupt the stream, so I'd have to stop what I was doing and drive in to reboot the encoder. This time around we had more than 10,000 viewers tune in without interruption, thanks in large part to HELO.

Even when running 237 consecutive hours in a 90-degree, humid climate, the stream ran smoothly - a feat that impressed even Chesarek. He explained, I kept thinking the camera or HELO might die, but neither skipped a beat, even when baking inside the greenhouse for nine days. It was great!

When Simple Thought Productions isn't streaming stinky plant blooms, Chesarek and team can be found producing live local Division 2 sports matches, esports competitions, and events for the city of Orlando. Looking to the future, they're exploring 4K production. To the untrained eye, the differences between 1080p, and 4K are not easily distinguishable, and most live events today are streamed in 720p. That said, we're seeing more interest in higher resolution production, especially in sports, Chesarek added. Even if a match isn't streamed in 4K, some clients are requesting 4K recordings for replay review, the ability to pan and scan, and more. We can easily shoot in 4K, mixing the footage with graphics and sound and hand it over to HELO in 1080p60 for HD streaming.

Whatever the production, Chesarek advocates constantly researching gear. He concluded, I can spend hours sweeping Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit for gear advice, recommendations, and reviews, but I also make a point to get out and talk to professionals and vendors where possible; it's a strategy that's paid off and one that led me to HELO. In talking to vendors specifically, you can also get an idea of how receptive they are to feedback, and that's what I like about AJA. They truly listen to users and iterate the technology to align with customer needs whether through software and firmware updates or new products.

###

Enjoying the news? Sign up now for the Creative COW Newsletter!

Sign up for the Creative COW newsletter and get weekly updates on industry news, forum highlights, inspirational tutorials, tips, burning questions, and more! Receive bulletins from the largest, longest-running community dedicated to supporting professionals working in film, video, and audio.

Enter your email address, a first and last name, and let us know what you'd like to see more of in the message!

.grecaptcha-badge{visibility:hidden}.meow-contact-form .meow-contact-form__header{display:flex;margin-bottom:10px}.meow-contact-form .meow-contact-form__header .meow-contact-form__header__content{flex:1;display:flex;flex-direction:column;justify-content:center}.meow-contact-form .meow-contact-form__header .meow-contact-form__header--image--left{margin-right:10px}.meow-contact-form .meow-contact-form__header .meow-contact-form__header--image--right{margin-left:10px}.meow-contact-form--editor input{color:gray}.meow-contact-form--default{font-size:18px}.meow-contact-form--default input:not([type=submit]),.meow-contact-form--default textarea{width:100%}.meow-contact-form--default input[type=submit]{padding:10px 40px;font-size:18px;line-height:18px}.meow-contact-form--default .meow-contact-form__info{margin-top:-10px;margin-bottom:10px;font-size:14px}.meow-contact-form--default .meow-contact-form-message{font-style:italic}.meow-contact-form--default .meow-contact-form__group{margin-bottom:15px;font-si
LINK: https://creativecow.net/simple-thought-productions-streams-rare-flower...
See more stories from creativecow

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

26/02/2026

Space42 Reports Full-Year 2025 Earnings and returns to Quarterly Growth

Final quarter revenues increase 7% year-on-year, with accelerating momentum in the second half Space Services grows revenues by 6% year-on-year and records hig...

25/02/2026

Record Global Audiences Announced as Olympic Baton Passes to French Alps 2030

With the Olympic Flag officially handed over to the organisers of the next Winter Games and the baton passed from Milano Cortina 2026 to French Alps 2030, the I...

25/02/2026

BBC Shrinks IBC Footprint as Remote Production Takes Center Stage

From a studio overlooking the Dolomites to workflows routed through Milan and into Salford, the BBC delivered a lean and mean operation for its Winter Games c...

25/02/2026

Making the Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Winter Olympics Production Work, From Monitoring to Transmission to Comms

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Sports is managing a huge network of channels acros...

25/02/2026

How Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Used XR to Bring the Peaks of the Dolomites Into View

From its base in the northern Italian town of Cortina, Warner Bros. Discovery (W...

25/02/2026

New AWS Elemental Inference' Offers AI-Powered, Real-Time Vertical-Video Conversion

In addition to 16:9-to-9:16 intelligent cropping for live video, Inference autom...

25/02/2026

Netflix To Livestream Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao Rematch on Sept. 19 From Sphere

Longtime rivals Floyd Money Mayweather Jr. (50-0, 27 KOs) and Manny PacMan P...

25/02/2026

Portland Fire, Thorns Announce Landmark Broadcast Partnership with Gray Media's FOX 12 Plus

The WNBA's Portland Fire and NWSL's Portland Thorns announce a groundbre...

25/02/2026

NHL, Cosm Install C360 10.5K Capture Systems at the League's Arenas

Multi-angle coverage, on-demand access to ultra-high-resolution video are provided for replays and clips across multiple distribution channels The NHL and Cosm...

25/02/2026

SVG Sit-Down: Cosm's Devin Poolman and Evan Wimer on Installing 10.5K C360 Cameras at All 32 NHL Venues

The implementation standardizes an integrated workflow connecting ultra-high-res...

25/02/2026

Hangin' With the Hornets: Enjoy Basketball Goes Behind the Scenes at NBA Charlotte Franchise

Targeting a younger audience, creator-led network's Access Granted series hi...

25/02/2026

Orlando Magic Jump Into ST 2110 With New Production-Control Room at Kia Center

Alpha, the project's systems integrator, assisted in the workflow transformation Tipping off the second half of the 2025-26 home schedule against the Houst...

25/02/2026

OCVIBE and Global Digital Display Firm Daktronics Announce Technology Partnership

OCVIBE, the 100-acre mixed-use development transforming the area surrounding Hon...

25/02/2026

Level Up Your Playlists' Transitions With Smart Reorder

It's never been easier to customize your Spotify listening experience. Last year, we introduced more control over the way your playlist sounds, giving Premi...

25/02/2026

Who's Going to Lead Hip-Hop's Next Generation? Vote Now on Spotify

Hip-hop thrives on constant reinvention, with bold voices and fearless experimentation continually pushing the genre's boundaries. Every era brings new lead...

25/02/2026

Keeping America's Space Watchtower Sharp: US and Australia Work to Advance Critical Telescope Capacity

L3Harris technicians recently completed a major mirror refurbishment for the U.S...

25/02/2026

Nielsen Utilizes Scarborough To Introduce 200+ New, Advanced Audience Segments Via Nielsen ONE

This new offering helps solve for the need to move beyond traditional audience d...

25/02/2026

Samsung taps Gracenote to supercharge range of AI initiatives

Gold-standard Gracenote content metadata will power Samsung's LLM-enabled entertainment search discovery experiences and more NEW YORK February 25, 202...

25/02/2026

Afrobeats Icon Tiwa Savage Joins Forces with Berklee to Empower African Talent

Afrobeats Icon Tiwa Savage Joins Forces with Berklee to Empower African Talent In collaboration with Berklee Global, the Tiwa Savage Music Foundation will hos...

25/02/2026

Wowza Names Jon Corley as Chief Innovation Officer

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/02/2026

Milan Cortina Winter Olympics U.S. Viewing Best Since 2014

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/02/2026

When It Comes to the Upper C-Band, Wireless Carriers Want More

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/02/2026

ASG Elevates Jody Boatwright to Chief Strategy Officer

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/02/2026

Study: Premium Video Ads Outperform YouTube

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/02/2026

TelevisaUnivision's ViX Streamer Achieves Profitability

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/02/2026

Arch Platform Technologies and Wacom Announce Strategic I...

Arch Platform Technologies, a leading platform for creating and managing cloud workstation infrastructure, and Wacom, the world's leading manufacturer of in...

25/02/2026

Transform live video for mobile audiences with AWS Elemen...

Today, AWS is announcing AWS Elemental Inference, a fully managed AI service that automatically transforms and maximizes live and on-demand video broadcasts to ...

25/02/2026

TeleTicino Brings Remote Guests to Air With Precision Usi...

As the only private television broadcaster serving Italian-speaking Switzerland, TeleTicino has long been committed to delivering authoritative, locally focused...

25/02/2026

Magyar Telekom Shapes The Digital Future With Consistent Performance - Magyar Telekom's Q4 and full year 2025 results

In 2025, Magyar Telekom continued the consistent execution of its long-term stra...

25/02/2026

Mix Tapes to Video Call Dates

Joe Wilkinson and Joe Marler reunite for a tongue-in-cheek campaign exploring the hilarious extremes of modern loveWednesday 25 February 2026 Mix Tapes to Vide...

25/02/2026

Netflix Releases Exclusive Video and First Images From 'Brazil 70 - The Third Star'

Back to All News Netflix Releases Exclusive Video and First Images From Brazil ...

25/02/2026

Alcom Elevates Headend Video Service with Harmonic to Drive Growth

Harmonic's XOS Advanced Media Processor Leverages AI-Powered Encoding to Deliver Exceptional Video Quality to Alcom Customers SAN JOSE, Calif. - Feb. 25, 2...

24/02/2026

TNDV Supports Passion Conference 2026 with Cinematic Live Production Workflow

TNDV, a division of Live Media Group, delivered broadcast and live event product services for Passion 2026, marking the company's 17th year supporting the a...

24/02/2026

Seattle Kraken, TEGNA Announce Multi-Year TV Extension

Ryan Schaber has had a front row seat to both the dynamics behind the Kraken's now-extended broadcast affiliation with TEGNA and its impact on the broader s...

24/02/2026

Whoopi Goldberg's All Women's Sports Network Debuts Live Boxing

All Women's Sports Network (AWSN) announces the debut of women's professional boxing on its fast-growing television platform in partnership with Hall of...

24/02/2026

NFL and StatusPRO Expand Partnership with New Rights, Renewed Gaming License

The NFL and StatusPRO, a sports entertainment and technology company that combines AI and performance data with emerging technology to create experiential conte...

24/02/2026

Pro League Network Expands to 24/7 Programming with Connected TV Channel on Prime Video and LG

Pro League Network (PLN), a next-generation sports media and entertainment compa...

24/02/2026

Sportel Asia Set to Bring World Together

Sportel Asia returns to Singapore for the first time since 2018 on March 24-25 and Agn s Marsan, Executive Director of SPORTEL Asia, says the return to Singapor...

24/02/2026

Join ARRI's Webinar: Sports Cinematographer Domenick Satterberg's Game Day Playbook for Sports Shooters

Join ARRI for a conversation and Q&A with Sports Cinematographer Domenick Satter...

24/02/2026

U.S. Soccer Extends Agreement with Veritone to Monetize Archive Footage Using AI-Powered Content Licensing

Veritone, Inc announces a renewal of its agreement with U.S. Soccer to license a...

24/02/2026

SVG in Indy: NCAA's Natalie Steger on Producing Championship Broadcasts, Embracing Technology

Commitment to innovation at network, conference, and institutional levels have i...

24/02/2026

Braves To Launch New BravesVision' Regional Sports Network

The new RSN, which will produce 140+ games a year, arrives after the Braves exited Main Street Sports and FanDuel Sports Network earlier this month....

24/02/2026

2027 Sundance Film Festival To Take Place January 21-31 in Boulder, Colorado

Official Venues Unveiled for Festival's Milestone Colorado Debut in 2027...

24/02/2026

Spotify and Liquid Death Bring Music to the Afterlife With the Eternal Playlist Urn and Playlist Generator

Life needs music. So does the afterlife. That's why Spotify has partnered wi...