Theory of General Vaddio

Vaddio supplied Video Systems of the Carolinas with a complete HD/SD video solution for North Carolina State University’s Physics Education Research and Development lab.

"The purpose of the Physics Education Research and Development Lab is to evaluate all testing and teaching methods on how to better teach physics by observing student/evaluator interaction," explained Don Fisher, Systems Designer, CTS-D, for Video Systems of the Carolinas. "An audio/video recording is then sent to a central control room where all data is collected and stored."

The new state-of-the-art facility at NC State provides researchers numerous options when deciding how to record student interviews. Two rooms, Riddick 214/216 (See Figure 3), are dedicated to small researcher-student interviews with ceiling-mounted High Definition and Standard Definition cameras, including Vaddio’s DomeVIEW 70 system and a Vaddio Quick-Connect™ PRO Z700. The larger room, Riddick 222, is designed for researchers studying students interacting in a group setting and includes three DomeVIEW 70s as well as one Quick-Connect PRO Z700. All recorded video and audio data is then captured in the observation room, Riddick 220, by an array of Apple® Mac® mini’s and Mac Pros.

In the smaller interview rooms the researcher uses a hand-held remote for camera orientation. Vaddio’s ProductionVIEW™ Super Joystick provides camera control movement and camera presets to the larger room remotely from the observation room. Also located in the observation room are three Vaddio PreVIEW HD Dual 7.0 monitors that allow the researcher to view video feeds. The observation room allows researchers to watch live interviews and capture video/audio from any of the three rooms.

"Vaddio offers such a well-packaged system," says Fisher. "You get everything -- monitors, cameras, control. The communication connectivity with Cat. 5 cabling makes everything so simple to install from room to room. Having the ability to run control, video and power, especially power, over Cat. 5 sealed the deal for us."