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5.0.A SWCSR 04-22-2021Sherburne Wright Cable Commission Equipment and Technology Report April 19, 2021 Council Chamber Presentation System Upgrades Since our last meeting, many of the cities asked for help making their conference rooms easier to use with programs like WebEx, Zoom, Go to Meeting or Microsoft Teams. After much R&D, we found a combination of equipment to upgrade the camera, microphone and speakers while also adding the ability to use a wireless signal to send the signal from a laptop or PC to the room monitor. We also were able to use the same equipment to bring the remote camera signal back into the PC. The Camera, Microphone and speaker system is made by LogiTech and the wireless Fob system is made by Barco. Elk River Meeting Rooms Pictured below are the microphone, camera controller and wireless Fob for the new systems. Њ These systems are extremely easy to use and we have received very good reviews in the cities that they are installed in. So far we have installed these in Delano, Elk River, Buffalo, Monticello, Big Lake and Rockford. Portable Remote Meeting Cart We created a portable "Zoom Room" on a cart that is being used in the city of Elk River. This cart has a camera, speakers, microphone system and 85" monitor all mounted on a movable cart. It uses the Fob system shown above and is designed to be used with laptops. AV Equipment for use by the Commission Cities Frequently cities will ask us to assist with events they are holding. We have provided sound systems, projectors, cord covers and many other pieces of AV equipment for community events. We have compiled most of the equipment on a list which I'm attaching to this report. It's just there as a reminder that we are the cities AV Club and you can call us if you have a special onetime equipment need. Ћ Drive In Movies Covid pretty much decimated our Movie in the Park plans last summer. We have adapted though and can now offer a Drive In Movie experience. We were able to design and procure equipment that allows us to broadcast the movie audio to car radios in FM stereo. This technology will allow us to keep people in their cars for the majority of the event. We held 2 successful Drive In Movies in Big Lake and Buffalo. We rear project the movie so that cars can park in front of the screen. We assisted the cities in marking off the parking areas so that parking vehicles was easier. If your city wants to try a Drive IN Movie please contact Jackson and we will be happy to meet with you to find a suitable location. Big Lake Drive In Movie Commission Vehicle Part of producing programs or setting up for events involves hauling equipment to the location in one of our 10 cities. Since we lost use of the truck we have been looking for another vehicle that has room to store and transport the electronic equipment we use. We found out from Gina that the Big Lake Police were selling one of their vehicles. Reliable used cars have been hard to find lately and so we jumped at the chance. The Commission Executive Committee met and after reviewing the information, voted to approve the purchase of the 2014 Ford Explorer. It has 115,840 miles on it and we were able to purchase it for $8500. We have had a vehicle decal created for it from Vital Signs in Delano and we are scheduled to have that applied to the doors next week. We are also working on a vehicle use policy. Monticello has provided us a copy of their policy to use as a template. If your city has a vehicle use policy, please share it with us as we develop one for the commission. We will bring the policy back to the full commission for approval once we are finished. Ќ 2014 Ford Explorer Transitions Former Mayor Don Orrock - Former Mayor Butch Amundsen - Audra Etzel Former Mayor Don Orrock Don passed away on January 11, 2021. He was a Cable Commissioner and long time Council member and Mayor of Big Lake. Staff and volunteers knew him best from Spud Fest and as one of the announcers of the Big Lake Parade. He will be missed. Former Mayor Forrest "Butch" Amundsen Butch was the Mayor of Cokato for 9 years and council member for 19 years. Staff and volunteers knew him best from his years helping us with the Movie in the Park and the Corn Carnival. It won't seem like the Corn Carnival without him. Audra Etzel Audra Etzel worked in Rockford for many years until recently taking a job with Osseo. She attended several commission meetings but staff and volunteers know her most from helping us with the Movie in the Park. We wish her luck in her new position. Ѝ Movie in the Park and City Event Schedule I'm sending a calendar in a separate email to city staff that is involved with planning Movie in the Park events. We also have some city celebration dates listed as well. We ask you to please double check this to make sure we haven't missed any of your requests. Please email both Jackson and myself if you have any corrections or additions. Drone Certification The Commission has received numerous requests by a number of our members to have footage taken in their city with a video production drone. Rules for drone use are very restrictive now for safety and privacy reasons. City users must become licensed and pass a certification test. Jackson and the production team in Elk River (Jake and Micaela) have all signed up for the drone training. Jake and Micaela have passed their tests and are waiting for their license in the mail. Jackson is in the middle of training and hopes to have his certification soon. The Commission and Elk River each have a DJI Mavic II Pro drone. We are in the process of registering these with the FAA and the State of Minnesota. Tina has been working on a drone use policy for Elk River and the Commission that ties in with federal and state law. We have also contacted the insurance carrier for the commission to make sure we have the required insurance. DJI Mavic II Pro Drone TriCaster Upgrades The Newtek TriCaster is the device that acts as the heart in all our City Council Control Rooms. It is a virtual Swiss Army knife of AV production equipment. It acts as a video switcher to select which camera or video source the viewing audience sees. It also produces the titles and graphics such as agenda topics. It acts as a backup recorder and provides redundancy if the DVD recorder Ў or the VieBit recorder experience problems. It also produces synchronization between cameras and our computer inputs. The TriCaster was created by Newtek to combine many devices that if purchased separately would be prohibitively expensive. Many cities and production houses use it. The TriCaster comes in many versions from the smaller units used by the cities all the way to units used in NBA and NHL arenas. (The Timberwolves and Wild use them). They have become an industry standard device. The Commission purchased their first TriCaster in 2007. Many of the units in use currently are beginning to reach their end of service dates. The factory has told me that we can no longer get repairs done after May 1st, 2021. The unit in Watertown has developed issues. One of the circuit boards is having intermittent issues to the point that it's no longer reliable. I have procured a backup unit to install into Watertown and I hope to have it working before their next meeting on Monday April 26th. This is a temporary fix though and we will need to replace the unit this year. The current breed of TriCasters use network based technology to transmit signals from cameras. This is the future for a lot of video devices. This means that the 4 cameras in Watertown will also need to be replaced to become compatible. I am working on pulling together quotes for replacing the Watertown TriCaster and cameras. I am estimating that the new model TriCaster will cost around $10,995. There are 2 types of cameras that I'm arranging to test. The Sony model costs $2,799 each and the NewTek Camera costs $2,195 each. The Sony has a better picture quality. We are looking at an approximate cost of around $19,400 with the NewTek cameras or $23,000 with the Sony Cameras. By comparison the current TriCaster system and cameras in Watertown cost just under $30,000 when it was new. I'll be back at the next meeting with a request to upgrade the Watertown system along with one or two other cities. By then I'll have the price quotes available. We need to start replacing these systems to prevent future problems. Converter Exchanges Charter has actively reached out to us to ask that we start replacing the cable converters in each city. They want us to present a list of the converters, one city at a time. I'll be reaching out to you to set this exchange up. I'll need to update the inventory of the current converters. Charter Office Џ Charter/Spectrum relocated their office to Waite Park. It's much harder to replace faulty equipment since they don't have an office in Buffalo anymore. The new address is 110 2nd Street South, Waite Park. Spectrum office in Waite Park Monticello Warehouse Monticello has a workout room that they call the Warehouse. recently we helped them install some new cutting edge virtual workout technology. The system uses an iPad were residents can choose from a selection of workouts that will then appear on a projection screen in the room. Each workout class is led by an instructor from the Les Mills group. The system is unique and really fun to watch and I'm sure it's fun to use as well. Jackson recently created a promo video for the system which I'm sure he will mention next. Monticello Warehouse Virtual Workout system А Elk River Edit Suite Elk River added a new part time employee this year to cover city meetings and also produce programming. Her name is Macaela Strand. She has a strong graphics background and also recently became certified in Drone use. We recently built a second edit system so that both production employees can work on projects simultaneously. Given Micaela's strong graphics background we added a special drawing tablet to the edit system that she uses. She has shown us some amazing animation and graphics that she's using in Elk River productions. New Elk River employee Micaela Strand with graphic tablet Inside a Samsung TV We recently had to have a Samsung tech come out to Monticello to repair a brand new 85" Samsung QLED monitor that was damaged in shipping. Most people have never seen what's inside a big screen TV. There are really only 2 components. There is the main processor or computer that controls most of the functions that connects to the screen surface. There is also the IR emitter module that works with the TV remote. It's pretty amazing to see that the insides aren't filled with parts. Б Cokato Streaming Request Cokato has asked for the ability to live stream their meetings. The cities that currently have this capability are Elk River, Buffalo, Monticello, Big Lake and Delano. All the commission cities have Video on Demand capability. We use Leightronix to provide hosting for Video on Demand and Live Streaming via the VieBit system. All the commission cities have a link on their city websites that directs residents to the VieBit site where they can watch replays of city meetings and other programming. There are 2 costs associated with adding Live Streaming to the Video on Demand page. First an IncodeX Vier streaming encoder needs to be purchased for a onetime fee of $4,995. Then there is a subscription fee of $1,788.00 per year for hosting. Action Requested: Approve Cokato Request to purchase an IncodeX Vier for a onetime charge of $4,995.00. 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