Award winning photographers Eye Jogia Photography choose the Roland VR-4HD to build a first-class AV experience at their London consultation rooms—and futureproof their business at the same time.

For London based luxury global wedding photographer Eye Jogia Photography, the quality of the customer experience has to be the same high standard as their multi award winning visuals. So, when Covid restrictions prevented potential and existing clients visiting their showroom, Sanjay Jogia, together with wife and business partner Roshni - set out to find an online audio-visual solution that would enable them to continue to provide the ‘6-star’ customer journey on which their reputation is built.

Eye Jogia have always been advocates of using the most cutting-edge products and technology to underpin their photographic skill. However, with the need to find a way in which to address the immediate issues that faced the weddings industry, came a realisation that the future would be different, and the company would need to be technically ready to adapt to change. At this point, Global Distribution, one of Eye Jogia’s preferred suppliers, came in to offer their help and expertise. The answer was a dedicated audio-visual setup with the Roland VR-4HD HD Video Switcher at its heart.

The problem…
Before Covid, a face-to-face consultation at the stunning Eye Jogia showroom in Harrow on the Hill, would give clients a full audiovisual and hospitality experience, allowing them to look at, listen to and touch examples of work in a luxurious environment. Now the consultations had to be done online and one of the issues that Eye Jogia faced was how to do this remotely without losing the warmth and the welcome of a personal touch.

As Sanjay Jogia explains, ‘Despite the (Covid) restrictions, we were not willing to compromise on the quality of our consultations—we had to find a way to bring clients into our world. A standard video call was too 2D, we wanted to provide something more engaging; to be dynamic and give the client the same depth of experience that they would receive on a visit to the showroom—or as close as possible under the circumstances,’’

The solution…
The VR-4HD with its enhanced audio, video and visual control, elevated the now virtual consultations to the highest quality—just as a client of Eye Jogia would expect. In addition, with its built in USB3.0 web streaming and recording capabilities, the VR-4HD would be ideally suited to use as the hub for the hybrid events of the future.

‘The VR-4HD is the core, the setup would not work without it. It allows us to deliver a dynamic, high quality consultation, to bring all the audio and visual components of our work together and make it easy to switch between visuals or move to different areas in a seamless way so that the client doesn’t notice the tech behind it.’

The showroom…
The fully networked Eye Jogia showroom has the compact VR-4HD positioned on a workstation where it controls all the elements of the impressive audio-visual setup that includes Canon cameras in every room, a Hollyland wireless video transmission system and Tethertools D-Tap batteries for power. This manageable—and moveable - setup is acting almost like a small TV broadcast studio and can adapt for any size or complexity of video consultation or workshop.

A virtual consultation begins with meeting Sanjay and Roshni with cameras focussed in on the couple, working through the initial build up and storytelling including sharing a presentation through the DVD player in the studio running through the VR-4HD. There is great attention to every audio and visual detail, with polarising filters added to cameras focussed on examples of photography and audio levels set just right.

The flexibility of the VR-4HD brings another dimension to the consultation though, as using wireless radio mics and transmitters, and the strategically placed cameras, all running through the VR-4HD, the showroom is ‘brought to life’ virtually.

‘The fact that the client can see our workspace and showroom, see us walking around in it makes them realise that we mean business.’

The setup…
The Hollyland SYSCOM421 wireless video receiver unit is connected to the HDMI inputs on the VR-4HD, with each wireless transmitter connected to each of the Canon cameras (the VR-4HD allows up to 4 feeds), such as the Canon 1DX Mark II that is positioned on the desk next to the VR-4HD. A wireless mic receiver is connected to the XLR on the side of the VR-4HD, Sanjay and Roshni wear radio mics so that they can move around the showroom during the consultation and ensure that the high-quality audio is maintained. The Hollyland system, Sanjay comments, is ‘very clever’ actually transmitting and receiving audio as well as video, handling all 4 signals—sending the feed out into the back of the VR-4HD. The channels on the VR-4HD are set to match the channels of the transmitter which means the source can be changed by just tapping on the VR-4HD touchscreen display.

‘It (using the touchscreen on the VR-4HD) feels more intuitive than just remembering - and if anything is connected and mapped out incorrectly, I can always see the feed I actually want to see which is obviously a good thing.’

The ability to simultaneously switch video with the push of a button and adjust audio with the push of a fader on the VR-4HD is invaluable and puts all essential features at their fingertips. The built-in multi-view screen is also a touch screen interface for accessing set-up parameters, making it extremely easy to adjust picture-in-picture settings by dragging the inset window onto the screen.

‘If you are playing a video on screen as part of a consultation, then being able to control the sound and the quality of it through the VR-4HD is very handy - as are features like equalising sound levels and frequencies. To be able to shape the sound of microphones, being able to adjust the delay between the audio and video all in the VR-4HD is proving very useful.’

‘Sometimes ‘out the box’, because the video feed is wireless, there is a very slight latency video delay. So being able to adjust the video delay—not the audio delay—has allowed me to make sure that it is properly lip synced - but being able to adjust this with the VR-4HD makes a massive difference. The breadth of adjustment is amazing and allows us to deliver new levels of accuracy.’

The VR-4HD RCS (Remote Control Software) application for Mac or PC with remote control via USB connection has also proven to have a number of benefits at Eye Jogia, especially the option to use it to send a still image to the VR-4HD.

‘This (the RCS) is good for making adjustments on the fly and changing the output fade, and it also allows us to store our logo on so I can have it there on screen at the beginning of the presentation - or if I have a glitch I can cut to that logo image.’

Atomos Ninja V HDMI monitor/recorders are used to record video direct from the camera sensors for certain scenarios. Even though it is possible to record the stream directly from the VR-4HD to the computer, recording each feed to each Atomos mean that they can be edited individually.

‘Whereas previously, if there was a delay in meeting clients face to face, this would ‘blunt’ the experience and affect expectations - with the VR-4HD we can deliver a far superior online journey. The audio-visual solution and the creative options we have, allow us to deliver slick, robust and informative consultations. In fact, some clients have commented that our virtual consultation is better than some in-person ones they’ve experienced!”

Adapting as an online workshop
Sanjay is also hosting photography and printing workshops for Canon, streamed live from his showroom to different audiences all over the world. The VR-4HD again acts as the hub of the audiovisual setup for the workshop. The ability to show the output from multiple cameras and switch between them quickly and easily is paramount. The PinP feature is particularly useful here as Sanjay can, for example, share his screen to show himself working on Photoshop, and at the same time show the printer working.

A camera with a large ring light is set up to focus on the finished prints so they can be critiqued by the group. A field monitor on a camera pointing forward (so he can see exactly what the audience can see), and one camera pointing down at a table showing the Canon printer—using a polarising filter on the lens to enhance the visual that extra touch—are all fed through the VR-4HD.

The future
Like many companies, Eye Jogia are looking forward to being able to get back to doing what they do best. There will be challenges but Sanjay sees this as an opportunity for the company to diversify into new areas, especially livestreaming, as events take on a hybrid nature. In fact, plans were in place for Eye Jogia to do this before Covid came along.

‘We wanted to start livestreaming over 10 years ago, but the technology was not as reliable, as robust nor as accessible—now there is a noticeable increase in functionality and quality. If a company is going to invest in livestreaming, there has to be a justification for it—and delivering a better quality audio and video experience is that justification because it influences the client’s perception of what we do in the right direction. Investing in products such as the VR-4HD allow us to deliver the best results for our client and expands the possibilities of what can be achieved. For example, we could now add in the use of ambient mics at a ceremony. They can be dotted around the space and the director can fade in audio where he needs to, from the guests to the official—this never existed before in a practical and affordable way.

‘There is a need to be dynamic—in the future, livestreaming needs to be as much like this as possible—allowing us to pick up and move, without long cables or signal degradation. Using cameras on a gimble also keeps the great cinematic effect that we need to capture in livestreaming, otherwise it becomes very static.’

One thing is certain, whatever the wedding and events industry looks like in the future, Eye Jogia are ready and waiting.

The VR-4HD…
Designed with single-person operation in mind, the VR-4HD enables easy switching and mixing of sound and video using advanced video and audio Digital Signal Processing (DSP) with intuitive hardware controls, faders, buttons and a touch screen interface. This compact ‘all in one’ HD studio takes the place of multiple AV hardware, perfect for the workspace or studio setup such as Eye Jogia where space and aesthetics need to be considered. Integrating a digital audio mixer, video switcher, multi-viewer touch screen and USB video/audio streaming interface into a stand-alone device the VR-4HD is used to control all the variables for the consultation.

The VR-4HD includes DSK (Downstream Keying), Picture-in-Picture (PinP), Split and Quad compositing effects ideal for creating news style broadcasts and corporate presentation content. The DSK function is great for overlaying titles, song lyrics or logos onto incoming video sources that can be switched in the background while text or images remain displayed. The DSK supports both Luminance Keying (Black / White) and Chroma Keying (Blue / Green) for compositing two videos in one screen using Picture-in-Picture, or for using the split function - ideal for seminars and presentations.

Recording or webcasting from the VR-4HD is easily achieved by connecting to a PC or Mac using the built-in USB 3.0 connection. Up to Full 1080p uncompressed resolution can be output from the VR-4HD. The VR-4HD embeds the audio mix with the video program and delivers at the selected resolution.

The free VR Video Capture application for Mac and PC provides an easy and effective way to capture uncompressed video with high resolution audio. The VR Video Capture application can also capture compressed video for easy and immediate delivery of content to online video sites or internal corporate servers.