Eight-time Emmy Award-nominated PBS series “Antiques Roadshow” used 11 of its AJA Video Ki Pro tapeless recording devices to capture Season 15 of the series, which premiered Jan. 3. This marks the first season that “Antiques Roadshow” will be using a tapeless workflow.
In its previous three seasons, “Antiques Roadshow” shot HD 1080i and captured on videotape, recording to HDCAM decks. Moving toward a file-based workflow, the show opted to capture digitally with AJA Ki Pro. Ki Pro is a portable tapeless device that records native Apple ProRes 422 QuickTime media, which editors could access directly in their Apple Final Cut Pro or Avid Media Composer systems.
Systems integrator Rule Boston Camera worked closely with “Antiques Roadshow” to develop and support the AJA workflow for Season 15.
For Season 15, the show shot with four HD 1080i cameras feeding into four Ki Pros housed in a mobile unit (a fifth Ki Pro captured the line cut). The crew shot for 10 to 12 hours straight, stopping only to change drives. Five more Ki Pros were used for backup, and one remained at WGBH’s editing suite back in Boston and was used to reformat drives for the next city’s shoot.
