Andy Canales, a veteran influencer in the live staging industry, has been putting Analog Way’s LivePremier line of modular, scalable multi-screen presentation systems and videowall processors designed for high-end staging through its paces. Canales heads San Diego, CA-based Canales Video, where he performs high-resolution screen control and switching, primarily for a high-profile roster of software-development companies staging corporate events for 5,000-10,000 attendees.
“In 30 years in the business I have worked with every video processing system on the market,” he says. “I was one of the first to transition to high-resolution scalers with the industry’s legacy systems and have worked with Analog Way products starting with the Ascender.”
Prior to the COVID pandemic, Canales was invited to tour the Analog Way facility in France where he provided input and insight to the engineers developing new systems. Post-COVID, he traveled to Analog Way’s US headquarters and was introduced to the LivePremier line, the new product range to which he had contributed his thoughts in France. He attended a master class in operating the systems and received LivePremier certification.
Then Canales began to put the Aquilon RS4 4K/8K multi-screen presentation system and videowall processor to work in real-world environments. “I’ve used it on three major corporate events, and it has done a great job,” he reports. “As with anything new, there has been a learning curve, but the RS4 has worked very well.”
“The product line’s chip processing and scaling is phenomenal. This system is very well made, and reliability is key in live staging. I’ve been pounding on the unit, and it just holds up. Software updates come faster than I’ve ever seen with two new releases within the last few months. I’ve got a direct line to Analog Way’s core people, and their response has been great — they are the only company offering that kind of feedback today.”
Canales says he finds LivePremier’s workflow a lot faster and easier and praises the presets and control of multiple layers and inputs simultaneously. “Analog Way has always had the best EDID management in the business, and now EDID management on every input and output is built in,” he notes. “Dante is built in too, and that’s a big leap in audio that everyone will love. LivePremier is so flexible and gives you so much bang for the buck.”
Although Canales typically rents the gear he needs for each job or has specified equipment provided by the client, he’s considering investing in the top-of-the-line Aquilon RS6, a 4K/8K/16K multi-screen presentation system and videowall processor with 32 4K inputs and 20 4K outputs.
“I usually pick and choose what will work best, but for the first time I’m thinking about buying a system of my own,” he says. “The RS6 has no limits and can handle jobs of any size. It will enable me to say ’yes’ to anything.”
Further information from Analog Way: www.analogway.com
