An ill father virtuallyattends his daughter’s wedding

A father bedridden with multiple sclerosis in his Oak Lawn home was nonetheless able to enjoy his daughter’s wedding thanks to the live-streaming of the ceremony and the reception by Midwest Digital Corporation

Chicago-based Midwest Visual, working with JB Video, customized a Soliton Zao H.265 encoder — a professional standard for data compression — to transform the audio and video footage of the event into digital information. That data was routed through a virtual private network in San Jose, CA, and delivered to the father’s bedside over a residential AT&T configuration.

According to Midwest Digital owner Brian Falatovich, the Soliton Zao was not only an essential to the operation, but also quite possibly the only technology capable of getting it done.

“The Soliton Zao system can of course give one of the best pictures from an encoder, but to accomplish a small workable signal for a nonstop 8 hours from a VPN was an amazing feat” he explains. “Even though the signal was not perfect, the H.265 grabbed what little it had and doubled the output.”

Falatovich ensured the picture and sound quality by using only two of the six 4G modems capable of operating with the Soliton Zao. He fine-tuned the footage in real time with an iPhone app controller while Soliton provided support from its San Jose location.

The job came to Midwest Digital Corporation by way of Joe Basiorka, co-owner of JB Video, who was familiar with Midwest Digital’s system and believed that the company could make it happen.

Falatovich was more than happy to oblige.

“Midwest Digital Corp, JB Video and Soliton made a father’s wish come true,” he says. “We are looking for more challenges like this.”