Tony Martinez, Chief Communication Officer at the City of Aurora, Illinois, provides an overview of their upgraded council chambers, conference rooms, control room, and studio recording space. With the help of Key Code Media, the city now boasts state-of-the-art AV systems that have significantly enhanced community engagement and operational efficiency.
The City of Aurora, located in Illinois, recently embarked on a comprehensive upgrade of their audio/video (AV) systems, encompassing the council chambers, conference rooms, control room, and studio space. Key Code Media provided all the new equipment design and integration services, transforming the city’s approach to public meetings and community broadcasting.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the city began hosting meetings over Zoom, which significantly increased community engagement. This experience was a eureka moment for the city communication team to begin investing in more professional live production and broadcast equipment to maintain and enhance this level of engagement.
The City Council chambers is primarily used for City Council Meetings but also accommodates various council sub-committee board meetings. Additionally, it hosts public engagement programming, including education workshops and award ceremonies, and meetings for the 35 boards and commissions appointed by the city council and mayor. The City wanted to find a way to upgrade production systems to enhance community programming on ACTV and social media platforms like YouTube and Facebook.
Key Code Media’s Kevin Bruce and Brian Allegretti were instrumental in the project’s success. The City of Aurora had many questions, especially given the shift from a traditional SDI design from another integrator. The modern, flexible, and cost-effective solution provided by Key Code Media not only met but exceeded the city’s needs, saving approximately $600,000 compared to other vendors.
– Tony Martinez, Chief Communication Officer at the City of Aurora
Scope of the Project / Summary
The council chambers is nearly 100 years old, and was not originally set up for video production, necessitating a complete refresh of the building. Additionally, the ACTV studio, previously located in a parking garage, needed to be moved into the main city building. The project also required a multi-camera setup to facilitate live streaming.
One of the significant challenges was executing the project without disrupting City Council meetings or community broadcasts. This required a temporary relocation of the council chambers to another floor within the building, equipped with all necessary AV and production tools.
The Key Phases of the Project
- Control Room Move & Refresh: The first phase involved moving the control room from its previous location to the main city building. This control room serves as the hub for all AV signals, making it crucial for the operation of the entire system.
- Temporary Council Chambers Setup: The second phase was the build-out of a temporary council chamber on the 5th floor, ensuring continuity of meetings during the construction of the permanent chambers on the 2nd floor.
- TV Studio Build: The third phase involved setting up the TV studio with cameras, audio, and lighting equipment.
- Main Council Chamber Renovation: The final phase was the renovation of the main council chamber, integrating all new systems and ensuring seamless operation.
Council Chamber Refresh
The council chamber underwent a total remodel to meet live production needs and security standards. Previous equipment, including unreliable monitors and microphones, were replaced with new PTZ cameras, monitors, display monitors for the audience and staff, microphones, and electronic public comment timers.
At the core of the solution is a Crestron AV infrastructure, allowing full control of all displays, microphones, and AV signals throughout the facility via a single programmed touch screen panel. This system has greatly improved the efficiency of council meetings.
TV Studio and Control Room Relocation & Upgrade
The TV studio and control room were moved from the parking garage down the block to the 5th floor of the main city building. The control room, now the main hub for all AV signals, includes:
- Vizrt TriCaster 2 Elite: Chosen for its NDI capabilities and all-in-one features, it handles live productions, camera switching, and audio.
- Castus: Used for playout, allowing the city to broadcast on ACTV and stream on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch.
- LiveU: For remote production, covering events like local high school basketball games, the state of the city address, parades, and community activities.
The studio space includes a green screen, projector, lighting, microphones, and cameras supporting recordings and podcasts.
IP-Based NDI and Crestron Infrastructure
The Crestron is used for AV control of audio and video signals in the council chamber and in various other conference rooms, overflow rooms, and other AV signals in the facility.
“We always wanted to make the rooms as flexible as possible. For example, I want to be able to put a piece of content on all the monitors in the council chamber. Creston makes it possible to route any signal from our program to a variety of display types located throughout the building.”– Tony Martinez, Chief Communication Officer at the City of Aurora
In conjunction with Crestron, IP-Based NDI protocol standardizes video and audio signals over standard network cables, reducing the need for extensive SDI cabling and routing of video-related cables and enhancing control over the entire production environment. This setup allows any NDI ethernet-connected camera on the network to be pulled into any production, significantly improving flexibility.
There was a huge reduction in cable needs, which led to a more flexible way to control all elements of the production. A preset setting in the TriCaster could be setup for the studio, assigning difference cameras and microphones located to the studio space. Another session could be setup to control meetings in the council chamber, accessing and controlling the PTZ cameras and audio in that space for recording or live streaming. Any NDI ethernet connected camera on the network can now be pulled into any production making things a lot easier.
While the City of Aurora IT Department had initial security concerns about the NDI solution, Key Code Media proposed a dedicated NDI subnet network. This solution separated the NDI components from traditional IT traffic, making it a secure solution for their team.
Conclusion
The City of Aurora’s upgraded AV systems have significantly enhanced their ability to engage with the community, streamline operations, and broadcast professional-quality content. The collaboration with Key Code Media has resulted in a modern, flexible, and efficient setup that will serve the city’s needs for years to come.
