AJA allows you to bring the vertigo of the 'King of Hammers 2015' to the whole world

For the fourth consecutive year, independent producer Dan Campbell-Lloyd returned to the desert to capture and broadcast in high definition, powered by AJA, the action of this dizzying test to more than 400,000 online viewers.

More than 60,000 spectators came to the Johnson Valley in California to witness King of Hammers (KOH), the most important off-road race in history. During the event, 430 Ultra4Racing teams traversed more than 200 kilometers of rugged terrain in an attempt to win the 2015 KOH champion title, although only 17 crossed the finish line.

For the fourth year in a row, independent producer Dan Campbell-Lloyd returned to the desert to capture and stream the action in high definition to more than 400,000 online viewers. To achieve this, the team at its production company Hammerking, made up of 25 people, implemented a robust live production workflow that included, among other equipment, AJA Io XT, KUMO, Ki Pro Mini, Hi5-Plus, HA5-Plus, V2Digital, UDC and HD10MD3.

Campbell-Lloyd acknowledges that "AJA allows us to deploy a really impressive workflow that without it we would not have been able to do what we did. AJA's technology has allowed us to deliver a very fresh, professional and impressive broadcast. It is also worth noting that working with the AJA team is also fantastic. You couldn't find a more helpful working group in the industry."

The Campbell-Lloyd team captured live images for webcasting and two streams to a Jumbotron using cameras. Sony EX3 and NEX-F100 with fixed lenses Canon. They also used Teradek H.264 encoders Blackmagic, Hi5-Plus 3G-SDI to HDMI and HA5-Plus HDMI to 3G-SDI mini converters to send signals back to the set.

AJA mini-converters were able to withstand the rigorous conditions in the Johnson Valley. As Campbell-Lloyd acknowledges, "AJA mini converters are the glue that binds all of our equipment together. We couldn't function without them. They are also incredibly reliable. I can install one on board a Utility Terrain Vehicle or next to a microwave link on top of a mountain and know that it will continue to work perfectly even in dust, rain, sleet and snow."

The broadcast also carried the signal to jumbotrons and social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook, as well as for storage for later DVD editing. Using RED and Sony FS-700 cameras, the Shotover Aerial Stability System and AJA Ki Pro Minis on two helicopters, the team recorded aerial footage of the race in Apple ProRes 422.

The files were handed over to the editing team as soon as the helicopters landed to refuel. The team immediately used Final Cut Pro on an iMac, and connected the AJA XT Io systems via Thunderbolt for ingest and playout. The final broadcast is routed from an AJA Kumo to a TriCaster 850EX system for live streaming to jumbotrons and webcast. In this workflow, the team was also able to load all the spots and pre-edited clips into the timeline and send it directly to the show.

Campbell-Lloyd highlights that "IoXT makes it very simple to carry out live streaming, recording and playback in one step. I loved that we could do it all in the middle of nowhere, without needing an extra operator. Kumo was also very important for us on this project, because we were able to route the sources coming from around twenty cameras, to the broadcast and the jumbotrons."