The Origin at Penn State University
The one button studio concept was created at Penn State. The team there sought out to simplify video recording and assembled components to make that happen. They chose to share their plan and software with the world, so others could benefit as well. Read more at https://library.educause.edu/~/media/files/library/2016/5/eli7132.pdf
PSU faculty and students created a free app that runs on the MacOS platform. Their plan therefore utilizes a Mac computer running their app. Once a USB “record” button is pressed by the user, the app counts down 5 seconds and then begins recording. The app displays what is being recorded back to the user via a monitor connected to the Mac. To automate studio lighting, the app is configured to optionally work with Indigo Home Control Software.
A handful of bugs have been reported with connecting current versions of Mac OS, Indigo software, and Blackmagic software required for the capture device.
To assist DIY builders, an extensive equipment list and a 39 page setup guide have been published, along with workarounds for some of the known issues and considerations for sourcing alternatives for discontinued components. If you are interested in learning more, all of the details of the Penn State System can be found here.
The Start of One Button Studios at Revolution
Various Revolution Lightboard customers sought to build recording studios using the open source OBS plans published by Penn State. Ultimately their feedback included quite a bit of unexpected frustration about the process of sourcing required components & alternatives and working through the published plans & workarounds. After "finishing" the project the owners had a number of common feature requests and lingering performance concerns that they didn't have an avenue to address.
We set out to develop and provide a one stop shop, integrated one button studio solution with commercial reliability and turnkey simplicity that our customers came to expect of our brand.
The resulting patent pending Lightboard Control Center™ revolutionized the simplicity and functionality of self service recording and can be found on campuses around the world. One button startup and shutdown of the studio was combined with one button recording control and a variety of advanced features to interact with overlaid images/videos while recording or live streaming.
The proprietary Lightboard Control Center™ functionality is now included in all of our Lightboard Studio Packages.
Revolution One Button Studios with Real-Time Greenscreen Effects
After seeing the success of our integrated recording packages, customers asked us to do more. Our turnkey one button studio packages with real-time background effects via greenscreen (chroma-key) technology were born.
These studio packages come with all required electronics and a Windows computer integrated into a lockable cabinet for quick setup on site. All of the equipment is configured to power on to the ready-to-record state from the first time it is plugged in.
A variety of recording modes are available to replace the background behind the presenter with a variety of scenes or presentation slides as well as picture in picture overlay options. Browse the Revolution One Button Studio Packages.
