GMO’s Remote Studio 1

Blog :: 07 November 2011

I was in Indianapolis last week to install a new chapter into GMO’s use of video — our first-ever remote studio. The basic idea is to create a video feed so that the staff there can join live webcasts that originate in our Silicon Valley studio. It’s kind of like a satellite feed… but without the satellite, or the six- or seven-figure equipment budget.

Like most video projects, this required a balance between quality, application, and affordability. While we are ultimately distributing the video via webcasts and Skype calls, I wanted to make sure we could get a good looking picture with decent sound. Even with a simple webcam, a little bit of lighting and a decent microphone go a long ways to improving things… here, I went just a bit further.

With the help of my Indianapolis co-worker Aaron, the installation involved:

There’s also a Mac Mini in our studio that acts as a decoder for the video signal, and a phone line will allow whoever is on camera at the remote end to hear what’s happening in the studio. The video will be fed from the Indianapolis office via a T1 line to our studio here, processed, and then sent to our live streaming provider.
Like most things, I saw a few things afterwards that I could have done differently. But I was quite happy when everything came on for the first time and worked! I’m looking forward to seeing how this works with our next webcast. And, if this works out well… I imagine we’ll be doing something like this in other GMO office locations too.
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