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Crown Point Schools - Crown Point, IN

Crown Point Gains New Technologies for New Building.  Alpha Video Installs Top of the Line TV Studio for New Facility.

 

 

 

 

Crown Point High School in Crown Point, Indiana has a fresh start in more ways than one. The original building, built in the 1930’s, had been remodeled and upgraded several times.  While it was technology-rich for its age, the makeshift TV studio built by staff and students as an after-school activity finally outlived its useful life. And so, apparently, did the building itself.
Just this fall, Crown Point moved its high school into a brand new building after nearly 70 years in the old location.

 

George Tachtiris, audiovisual director and a teacher of video production at Crown Point, was placed in charge of outfitting the new TV studio.  His main goals were system flexibility coupled with special effects and graphics capabilities. “We wanted a system that would allow us to send a variety of broadcasts throughout the school,” explained George.

 

George then contacted an architect specializing in digital video technologies who designed their new system. The designs were released to several audio and video suppliers, and Alpha Video was selected as supplier of the necessary equipment
and installation services based on their winning combination of high quality and best value.

 

The professional installation team from Alpha Video installed a complete video headend system, TV studio, two portable production carts, two studio editing suites, eleven editing lab stations, classroom TV’s and VGA projectors with monitors that have provided exceptional technology solutions for the school’s diverse needs.

 

Phil Lang, Project Manager from Alpha Video led the team that completed the installation. “Crown Point opted for a broad range of video communications technology that made this project an exciting challenge. I was very proud of my team, as they implemented our coordination strategy to ensure that our work was successfully integrated with the overall construction plans. It is always interesting to see our customers’ facilities transformed by the latest technology innovations.”

 

“Students and faculty are really embracing our new studio,” said George. “Even though it is a top-of-the-line studio, it is very user-friendly, and that is extremely important to us. We are very happy with Alpha Video’s performance and the after-sales training and telephone support.  Faculty members from other schools see our studio and tell us they want what Alpha did for
us,” he said.

 

In the past, students dealt with a hodge-podge of equipment, and although it worked for them at the time, there was no room for expansion. The new facility was strategically designed to be completely upgradeable as technology continues to advance. Having this state of the art facility fills a very important need for Crown Point, as they have plans to produce a 30-minute cable show for the community, requiring higher quality broadcasting capabilities. “All of this means, of course, that we are raising our expectations of the students,” said George. “They know they need to take advantage of the better tools we have now and advance to more sophisticated broadcasting techniques.”

 

George and Linda Landgrebe, an English teacher he team-teaches with, are confident they will increase enrollment in the video production class as a result of the new installation.

 

Added Dodge, “Alpha Video really enjoys working on projects with innovative school districts such as Minnetonka. Sue is very technology savvy, and working with her was a very positive experience.  We feel it was a win-win situation.”

 

The project was completed in September of 2003.

Integrated Equipment List:

• Panasonic AW-E600 studio cameras and CCUs.
• Globecaster studio switcher with DDR.
• Tekskil Flatpanel teleprompters.
• Tightrope media distribution server.
• Portable production system with Panasonic
AG-DVX100 cameras.
• Matrox RTX-100 non-linear editing systems.
• Knox routing switcher.
• Mackie Pro audio mixers

 

Contact:

Leslie Parker

Alpha Video & Audio, Inc.

7711 Computer Ave

Edina, MN 55435

952.896.9898

lesliep@alphavideo.com

www.alphavideo.com