Church Video Equipment Upgrade

[Chad Pearson]

How many projectors do you have, and do they all show the same thing as each other? I would get the ATEM Production 4k instead of the TVS for 2 reasons. The TVS has no AUX output, use the AUX output to drive your projectors instead of a myriad of HDMI/VGA splitters. The TVS also has a non-standard audio input that won’t connect to most audio mixers without an expensive adapter/converter. The ATEM 4k has standard XLR inputs. The cost of the audio converter and HDMI/VGA splitters more than make up for the cost difference of the ATEM 4k (non-M/E version).

Also, it’s usually a good idea to put an SDI router like a Blackmagic VideoHub in between all of your sources / projectors and the ATEM. Doing that has saved me multiple times, and is also useful when you want to send a different signal out to a TV in the lobby for a special event, for example.

As for streaming, if price isn’t an object (a Teradek Bolt is fairly expensive) you could also get a Teradek Cube for live streaming directly to a streaming service like Livestream, Ustream, etc.

Burning DVD’s isn’t all that common anymore, probably because DVD’s are SD not HD, but there are a few with direct composite, S-video, and even an SDI input version. Otherwise most people capture using their computer (ie an H.264 recorder) or a solid state drive (Hyperdeck Studio) which creates files directly to a hard drive.

[Sherry Austin]

Thanks Chad! I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out!!

So our current set up in the main sanctuary consists of 2 projectors & large projector screens on the left & right on the room. There are also 2 flat screens on the left and right of the stage facing the congregation. There is one tv on the balcony of the media loft facing the stage – it acts as their foldback. The projectors and the stage tvs have the capability of showing the same things, but usually we have the projectors showing live camera – and the floor tvs showing a logo. Both will show lyrics/scriptures when need be.

VideoHub – THANK YOU. I’d totally forgotten about that!

My thought was to get rid of the dvd option altogether. It IS from a different time….and folks aren’t really beating down the door for it anyway. Now, if I opt to capture via computer, or use something like Hyperdeck studio – is there a fairly seamless way to post those files to our website…or would the files need to be converted first? (I know how to post a file, just wondering if there is an extra step coming directly from a recorder…)

[Chad Pearson]

If you record with the H.264 recorder the files will be in a compressed MP4 format which is the native format for YouTube and nearly all websites that host video, the downside is it’s not great for editing or post production. But if your intent is to post it as-is, that’s the fastest way to do it.

The Hyperdeck on the other hand is designed to capture much higher quality footage for editing in non-linear editor like Final Cut, Adobe Premier, Avid, etc. We also use a pair of Hyperdecks to play back at our second campus and the quality is excellent.

With the TV splits you have you may want to look into the ATEM 1 M/E 4K, it has 3 AUX outputs instead of 1, but is quite a bit more expensive.

[Sherry Austin]

Chad, I can’t even tell you how helpful you’ve been!

Thank you so much. Really.

Have a great night!!