Crestron Electronics counts on Pearl-2 to reach a global audience

Crestron Electronics delivers industry-leading integrated control solutions that enable people to control smart appliances at home and in the workplace.

When the global tech integration company built a new 4K video studio, they needed a reliable live streaming hardware encoder to broadcast to internal and external partners worldwide without compromising video quality.

Our customers and our partners rely on us to have the best-quality products and systems that just work every time.

Video: a cornerstone of how Crestron does business

Crestron’s headquarters are a modern marvel of integrated research, development, manufacturing, and marketing. Their US headquarters includes everything the company needs to conceptualize, prototype, manufacture, and market new products. That space now includes a new video studio that gives employees the means to easily create content for both external and internal audiences.

Josh Stene, Crestron’s marketing VP, says keeping all members of the company’s globally distributed sales team informed is key to success. “We have offices and Crestron personnel on staff everywhere. We want to make sure that we explain what our solutions are all about so they feel comfortable providing those solutions to customers.”

“We make over 4,500 client-facing SKUs,” says Daniel Savatteri, manager of Crestron’s sales, strategy, and communications. ”It’s really important to make sure that we can focus the sales team on either new features or new products.”

Screen capture snag

During a live stream, Crestron planned to highlight new product features to their global sales team but ran into the limits of what their existing studio hardware could do.

Equipment meant to broadcast a host’s computer screen to viewers could not capture in full HD, leaving both parties frustrated. With hundreds of viewers watching, the experience pushed the Crestron team to look for a solution.

“You had 500 people that, while they were very enthusiastic about the content, couldn’t see the detail they required,” Stene says. “Everybody said, ‘I couldn’t see the PC capture,’ and that was a very negative checkmark.”

“The last thing we want is technical difficulties when we’re trying to create a message for the viewers and the sales team,” Savatteri adds.

The last thing we want is technical difficulties when we’re trying to create a message for the viewers and the sales team.

At Crestron, reliability is king

Companies like Microsoft and LG rely on Crestron systems to control everything from the smart lights in their office spaces, to scheduling and video systems for conference rooms.

“Our customers and our partners rely on us to have the best-quality products and systems that just work every time,” says Sarah Beggs, global marketing director of commercial AV at Crestron.

When it came to finding a solution for their screen capture problem, Crestron was looking for the same level of reliability.

Crestron finds Pearl-2

“We had to find a solution that would capture that detail encoded in a way that they could see what they needed to see. And so we started our search and we came across the Epiphan Pearl,” says Stene. Epiphan’s Pearl-2 now has a permanent place in Crestron’s studio.

Epiphan Pearl really has changed the game for us in how we do video in our studio here at Crestron.

“Epiphan Pearl has allowed us now to really encode at quality – to either record it or cast across the
web or social media and see every piece of detail. It really has changed the game for us in how we do video in our studio here at Crestron,” Stene says.

Crestron gives Pearl high marks for both ease of use and reliability.

“As well as technology that’s easy to understand by the end-user. I found it very easy and reliable,” says Jenna Schneider, who manages and creates content for Crestron’s social media.

“A well-produced video looks simple. And having the correct hardware is what allows you to do that,” adds Savatteri.

Equipment like Epiphan’s is extremely valuable – knowing that it’s reliable, it’s consistent.

Crestron digital marketing director Andrea Silva agrees, saying, “Equipment like Epiphan’s is extremely valuable – knowing that it’s reliable, it’s consistent. I’m not worried that I’m going to be in a live broadcast, and there’s no audio or you know something goes wrong with it. It’s really enabled me to feel more comfortable to kind of take more of a risk and pushing that kind of content out.”

The future of video at Crestron

Crestron plans to scale up video operations as more staff become familiar with the studio and demand for video increases.

“I can’t actually emphasize how important video content is to what I do specifically in the digital space,” says Silva.

“There’s a statistic that says by 2021, 80 percent of all Internet content is going to be video content. I see Crestron utilizing our new studio to be part of that 80 percent of the content,” she adds.

With that increased demand, Crestron intends for the studio to be open for any team members interested in creating content-not just dedicated video staff. Pearl-2’s ease of use and intuitive user interface make the device perfectly suited to the task.

“There’s less prep work, says Savatteri. “It’s really just turning some switches to get the studio up and running, and let’s do this video.”

“Our goal is to create thumb-stopping content. The average user scrolls through 300 feet of content a day. And we want to make sure that we’re able to stop that user and make sure that they’re looking at our video,” Schneider says.

By 2021, 80 percent of all Internet content is going to be video content. I see Crestron utilizing our new studio to be part of that 80 percent of the content.

For Crestron, Pearl-2 delivers reliable results in an easy-to-use format. As Crestron produces more and more video content, the team knows Pearl-2 is equipment they can count on.