My first impression of this Datavideo piece of equipment after it's high quality build which I've already mentioned during the review of our church digital video recorder is that the unit is very small considering it is a 5 channel video and 4 channel audio mixer with built-in 5 station intercomm, 17 inch multi-display LCD monitor for preview, program and individual camera monitoring.
The main reasons we bought this video directing station were it was affordable, had professional broadcast SDI HD inputs (which means we can use it with high end cameras, VTRs, chroma keyers, etc), was an all in one solution requiring just cameras and cables to go live and would cut our setup and breakdown times drastically.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be training our department members on the use of this equipment, and will be looking forward to increased productivity, as we will now have tally lights and full duplex intercomm systems as used by the professional TV crew.
Having used the Datavideo HS-2000 mobile video studio to record two of our sunday church services, I can say that the 17in multi-preview monitor is not as bad as I thought it might be, because the preview window is big enough to allow you to determine if the shot about to go live is framed properly and in focus.
Over the next couple of weeks I will let you know how we are getting on with the unit, and out transistion from SD to HD video production of our church service recordings.
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Datavideo HS-2000 user review
