Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

AJA T-TAP for underbolt-enabled Workflows Now Available

01/01/2013

AJA Ki Pro Rack Rocks For Elton John

null

Six-time Grammy winner Elton John is currently headlining a three-year gig at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. His show, "The Million Dollar Piano," is reportedly named for his new piano which took manufacturer Yamaha four years to build. Several times a week, John spends two hours dazzling audiences with hit after hit accompanied by his trademark flair, and recently, one of Johns performances was recorded for a DVD release of the legends chartoppers.

Freelance film and video editor Claude Shires was tasked with designing the workflow to capture the performance. To do so, he employed AJAs Ki Pro and two newly released Ki Pro Rack tapeless recorders.

"We have had great success using our Ki Pros and the addition of the dedicated Super Out status overlay on both Ki Pro and Ki Pro Rack is a huge benefit for technology directors accustomed to working with tape who always want complete assurance that were actually recording. Having the Super Out gives them that added confidence," said Shires. "The Ki Pro Racks 1RU form factor is also great and makes it really easy to install."

An expert in tapeless workflows, Shires is a go-to resource for companies looking to digitally capture live events. Just in the past year, he has worked on eleven television specials featuring the likes of Joan Rivers, Snoop Dogg, Bobcat Goldthwaite and Rita Rudner through LOL Productions, using Ki Pros on each production.

"The distance between the different sectors of production and postproduction keep getting shorter as technologies improve," said Shires. "I love working with Ki Pro because, as an editor, it gets me footage in the best way possible - Quicktime files straight from the source. I have complete control of footage acquisition with Ki Pro and it goes right into my SAN which provides a direct to edit workflow."

Ten cameras and a line cut were used to shoot "The Million Dollar Piano" show with eight Ki Pros and two Ki Pro Racks recording media. The equipment was wired into a mobile production truck provided by Sweetwater in Los Angeles, and tested before departing for Las Vegas. Upon arrival, a tech rehearsal was conducted including a hard record test to make sure the video out on the Ki Pro and Ki Pro Rack units was routing to the appropriate monitors. Once that was complete, Shires oversaw the talent rehearsal with John which was captured for cutaway footage. Finally, the full performance was recorded with a live audience the next day.

"Before Ki Pro, we would have had to use ten HDCAM decks and a haul of tape stock. Since the performance runs about two hours, a massive tape change would have been required towards the end of the show - not an ideal scenario," Shires explained. "Ki Pros have made things so much easier and cost effective. The units are substantially less expensive than HDCAM decks, you dont have to spend hours digitizing footage or managing tape stock, and you dont have to worry about changing tapes since the entire two hour performance fits on a single Ki Pro drive."

Shires backs up every show using a six terabyte Thunderbolt RAID, in addition to duplicating copies of Ki Pro source files for clients. The majority of editing for "The Million Dollar Piano" DVD is being conducted by Yamahas Nashville-based in-house team using Final Cut Pro, but Shires is able to consult on the edit remotely by accessing the identical media and transferring timelines back and forth.

"Some people are nervous a digital workflow isnt as secure as using tape," Shires said. "In my opinion, using tapeless decks is a no-brainer as the benefits far outweigh any risks. Knowledge is power and knowing how to incorporate the Ki Pro and other AJA technologies is a huge advantage to any production."

About AJA Video Systems, Inc.

Since 1993, AJA Video has been a leading manufacturer of high-quality and cost-effective digital video interface, conversion, acquisition and desktop solutions supporting the professional broadcast and post- production markets. With headquarters in Grass Valley, California, AJA maintains an extensive sales channel of dealers and systems integrators around the world. For further information visit http://www.aja.com.
LINK: http://www.aja.com/en/articles/25/...
See more stories from aja

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 ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

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

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

02/06/2026

BTL Laboratory becomes Taiwan's first test house with a CTIA Certification compliant OTA test system by Rohde & Schwarz

BTL Laboratory becomes Taiwan's first test house with a CTIA Certification c...

02/06/2026

Cobalt Digital to Showcase End-to-End IPMX Ecosystem at InfoComm 2026, Making ST 2110 Easy for Pro AV

blueCORE standalone processors headline solutions designed to simplify the trans...

02/06/2026

Monetizing the Archive: How Cantemo's JIT Playback Eliminates the Proxy Bottleneck

If you've kept up with this article series, you know by now where to start w...

02/06/2026

Calrec Scales ImPulseV for Greater Choice in Virtualised Workflows

With new DSP configurations and flexible licensing options, Calrec is removing the barriers to virtualised audio, giving broadcasters the freedom to scale produ...

02/06/2026

Marketing Architects Expands Relationship With Nielsen To Include Integration of Media Data Engine on a National Level

The TV agency was one of the earliest adopters of Nielsen's local television...

02/06/2026

Riedel Networks Taps Gudrun Scharler as CEO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

02/06/2026

Grass Valley Enables Sky News Australia s Cloud-First New...

Grass Valley today announced that Australian News Channel (ANC), operator of Sky News Australia, has deployed Grass Valley AMPP to transform its newsroom produc...

02/06/2026

STUDIO TECHNOLOGIES INTRODUCES NEW MODEL 385 MIC INTERCOM...

Studio Technologies, a leading manufacturer of high-quality audio, video, and fiber-optic solutions, announces its new Model 385 Mic/Intercom Beltpack. The Mode...

02/06/2026

Gudrun Scharler Appointed CEO of Riedel Networks

The Riedel Group today announced the appointment of Gudrun Scharler as CEO of Riedel Networks. She succeeds Michael Martens, who has led Riedel Networks since 2...

02/06/2026

Magewell Levels-Up All-in-One Content Production with Lau...

More signals, higher quality, and outstanding ingest and streaming flexibility deliver professional results in a small, all-in-one footprint...

02/06/2026

Modena Showcases farmerswife at Mediatech 2026

farmerswife will be featured on the Modena Media & Entertainment stand at this year's Mediatech Africa 2026, giving visitors an opportunity to explore the l...

02/06/2026

PTZOptics showcases intelligent video ecosystem at InfoCo...

PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17 19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...

02/06/2026

Roku Launches the Roku Soccer Zone

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

02/06/2026

FCC Sets Deadlines for Comments in ABC License Renewals

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

02/06/2026

Studio Technologies Introduces Model 385 Beltpack

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

02/06/2026

Gerald Jerry Pierce, Architect of Modern Digital Cinema, Dies at 73

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

02/06/2026

Gudrun Scharler Appointed CEO of Riedel Networks

Wuppertal June 2, 2026 Gudrun Scharler Appointed CEO of Riedel Networks The Riedel Group today announced the appointment of Gudrun Scharler as CEO of Riedel N...

02/06/2026

Discover Your Next Book-to-Screen Obsession With Our New Dedicated Hub

Back to All News Discover Your Next Book-to-Screen Obsession With Our New Dedicated Hub Product 02 June 2026 Global Link copied to clipboard Dear most vor...

02/06/2026

New LinkedIn Data: 90% of C-Suite Leaders are Continuously ...

New LinkedIn Data: 90% of C-Suite Leaders are Continuously Building Skills to Lead in the AI Era Published on Jun 2, 2026 Categories: Data and insights Lin...

02/06/2026

Why TAG matters in digital advertising

Trust has become a commercial issue With global advertising spend forecast to exceed US$1 trillion this year*, the commercial consequences of weak governance co...

02/06/2026

RT is Supporting 12 Arts and Cultural Events all over Ireland this June

June sees Ireland's cultural calendar in full bloom, as RT Supporting the Arts showcases a vibrant and wide-ranging programme spanning music, theatre, visu...

02/06/2026

New seasons of The Traitors UK and US now available to stream on RT Player

After The Traitors Ireland launched in 2025, Irish audiences proved to have a taste for the global hit reality show. This Bank Holiday Monday fans can indulge e...

01/06/2026

CBS Sports UEFA Champions League Today Studio Show Heads to Budapest for Final as Transcontinental Popularity Grows

In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...

01/06/2026

AudioShake Launches End-to-End Copyright Compliance System for Mixed-Media Audio

Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music AudioShake has introdu...

01/06/2026

SVG Sit-Down: Stats Perform's Charles Kaplan on 30 Years of Opta, a Busy Summer of Soccer, What's Next

The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...

01/06/2026

Production Music Awards 2026

Category line-up & sponsors announced Photo: Paul Clarke The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...

01/06/2026

Evolve Nest Acoustics from Excite Audio

New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...

01/06/2026

IK Multimedia release Royal 45 Legends Signature Collection

Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...

01/06/2026

Scaler Music Carbon Electra 2

Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...

01/06/2026

SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026

SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026 1 June, 2026 Media releases SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...

01/06/2026

Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to Orbit

Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...

01/06/2026

ASG Advances Joe Marchitto to Western Regional CTO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/06/2026

Scripps Stations Go Dark on DirecTV

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/06/2026

MARSHALL ELECTRONICS POWERS SEAMLESS AV EXPERIENCES WITH...

Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...

01/06/2026

Adobe Announces Concept to Vector

Adobe Announces Concept to Vector Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026 0 Comments One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...

01/06/2026

Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio

Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio Brie Clayton June 1, 2026 0 Comments Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...

01/06/2026

U.S. Broadcasters Ready for Most Complex FIFA World Cup Ever

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/06/2026

Broadcasters Prepare for Nation's 250th Birthday Bash

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/06/2026

Broadcasters Reveal What Makes C-Band Alternatives Right for Them

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/06/2026

IAMT to Offer New Educational Sessions at InfoComm 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/06/2026

NewsNation Launches New Podcasting Studio and Podcasts

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/06/2026

KAULITZ & KAULITZ Season 3

Back to All News KAULITZ & KAULITZ Season 3 Entertainment 01 June 2026 GlobalGermany Link copied to clipboard Our favorite twins are back: streaming on Ne...

01/06/2026

SES Launches Multi-Orbit Satellite Connectivity on Mexico's Viva

Luxembourg, June 1, 2026 - SES, a leading space solutions company, and Viva, Mexico's ultra low-cost airline, launched fast and reliable multi-orbit satelli...

01/06/2026

NVIDIA Jetson Brings Agentic AI to the Physical World

Agentic AI is getting physical. At COMPUTEX on Tuesday, NVIDIA announced NVIDIA JetPack 7.2 and NVIDIA NemoClaw support on NVIDIA Jetson. JetPack 7.2 brings a...