City of Victoria

Written by Max Gouette

“Our system was installed pre-Covid and there were a lot of questions about the back end of it. It was like a plate of spaghetti. We wanted a system that was fully documented from start to finish”

Eric Tschudi

IT Director at City of Victoria

The Challenge

Nestled between Lake Minnetonka and the fire department lies the City of Victoria’s city hall. Above the library was the city council chambers and their decaying AV system. Installed pre-covid, it was a collection of bandaid solutions that didn’t work for the council, the IT team managing it, nor the freelance producers that had to run the meetings’ broadcast on cable TV. They wanted a system that was easy to use, could run itself if need be, and had more clear audio and video. That’s when they called Z Systems to help design a system that fits their needs.

“With the AI functionality, in case one of our producers can’t make it, we can turn that on and just let it go.”

The Solution

The cornerstone of their new system is the Datavideo Voice Tracks system. This new design allows for PTZ cameras to automatically frame and track participants based on who is speaking into a specific microphone. This means that all 9 members that meet for the city council, can be captured by 3 Datavideo PTZ cameras. An additional PTZ camera was placed behind the dais to capture any guest speakers at a lectern, and a 5^th static camera was placed in the center of the room as a wide shot. We utilized Shure gooseneck microphones for their ease of use and sleek profile to accompany the Datavideo system. All audio signals end up in a Symetrix Radius DSP that allows for full control of volume and tone. In case they wanted manual control of the broadcast, we used a Datavideo video switcher and PTZ controller that allows a producer to manually manipulate the cameras and video stream. For users, we added an Atlona control system with 3 touch panels. This allows meeting participants and producers to control audio levels, control video distribution, and turn the TV’s in the room on and off. We also added buttons to turn off all AV systems in case they needed to use the room for a private meeting.

“I’ve given four people the overview of the room, and for the most part they’re off to the races and can run everything by themselves”