Church Productions
Video has become an important part of ministry.
Broadcast Pix switchers are great for putting religious services on cable TV or broadcast, since it's so easy for a solo operator to create a professional "broadcast TV" look with cameras, graphics, animations and clips. And many church installations include integrated camera control, giving the switcher operator complete control of robotic cameras.
Broadcast Pix switchers also are used extensively to project video onto a screen or screens inside the sanctuary. They are well suited for projection because, unlike other integrated live TV production systems that introduce several  frames of delay, Broadcast Pix has only 1 frame of delay through the systems even for video inside a picture-in-picture (DVE box), with genlocked cameras.
Churches and other houses of worship across the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Europe create broadcast quality live pictures on Broadcast Pix.
Broadcast Pix User Reports
ExperienceChurch.tv Delivers Powerful Messages with Broadcast Pix Slate 2100
ExperienceChurch.tv has dedicated itself to making church services exciting and meaningful. In keeping with that goal the church recently installed a Broadcast Pix Slate 2100 switcher as part of a large-scale media facilities upgrade led by Seattle-based systems integration company Advanced Broadcast Solutions.
The Broadcast Pix Slate 2100 system integrates a production switcher, production control panel, Inscriber CG, clip store, and multi-view monitoring, among other functions, in a single workstation-based system. ExperienceChurch.tv uses the Slate 2100 to videotape all of its services and provide image magnification to the large screen in the church’s auditorium. The church then streams the recordings of its services onto the Internet through its website, www.ExperienceChurch.tv.
ExperienceChurch.tv’s pastor, Dennis Cummins, firmly believes the addition of the Slate 2100 enhances church members’ experiences, pointing out that the church displays picture-in-picture images for the praise, worship, and musical portions of the service with separate graphics for the words.
“The nature of religious outreach these days has certainly changed since we first started,” Cummins says. “We strive to send our messages in a way that will inspire our congregation to become engaged and truly experience them. The Slate 2100 switcher lets us create and use intense graphics and 3-D animations easily and incorporate them into our weekend experiences.”
According to Cummins, the Slate 2100 provides a more reliable media platform for the church’s weekly services that also cuts production time and reduces equipment costs. The church previously used a PC-based system that would often crash in the middle of services. He says that the Slate 2100’s redundancy feature was “hugely important” to the church. The Slate 2100 offers a control panel connected to an intelligent breakout box or “iBoB” with both a network cable and a redundant serial cable. The serial control takes over and enables the operator to continue switching cameras on the rare occasion if the computer or network should ever go down.
 The Slate 2100 also comes standard with dual redundant power supplies for both the control panel and iBoB that automatically failover, as well as a backup SoftPanel that can take over all panel operations if the physical control panel is taken offline.
ExperienceChurch.tv’s media department regularly produces video vignettes called a “video illustrated point” or VIP.
Previously, up to 12 hours were spent shooting the VIP on location, logging the analog tapes, and editing down the final piece. When the old system would cause the VIP to crash or stutter during live services, the congregation would not get to see the VIP.
That meant a large part of communicating that Sunday’s message, in addition to the hours of work, would be lost. “The solid-state environment of the Slate 2100 means presenting the VIPs is now done with great confidence knowing that our work won’t be lost, and the point will be communicated,” Pastor Cummins says.
The process of streaming all of the church’s weekly services and VIPs onto its Website proved cumbersome before installing the Slate 2100. Exporting media content to the Web is now simplified and accelerated since all material remains digital. The video is now directly imported into Final Cut Pro for editing without losing any quality in the conversion process.
The ability to employ multi-view monitoring was another deciding factor in selecting the Slate 2100, vastly reducing equipment costs. A unique, popular feature on all Slate models is integrated monitoring that enables multiple, full-motion video images to be displayed on a single screen. The Slate 2100 includes that technology at no additional cost and provides much better feedback to the switcher operator, including tally, clip time countdown, clip and graphic names and thumbnails, and the contents of every source and keyer. The monitors can be shown on either a touchscreen, widescreen, or very large wall-mounted widescreen.
“Multi-view monitoring on a single LCD screen or plasma was originally going to cost us thousands,” Pastor Cummins says. “With the Slate product, it’s been a dream to be able to use one piece of equipment to fill that need.”
Since the Broadcast Pix Slate 2100 can be operated with a production switcher-style control panel or by using a keyboard and mouse interface, ExperienceChurch.tv opts to have a single operator run the unit during weekly services. For Pastor Cummins, features such as PixButtons that show the exact content on every source and key proved extremely helpful for ExperienceChurch.tv’s productions. The ease of use that the clearly marked labeling offers allowed the technical director to become confident and proficient with the unit fairly quickly. He added that Broadcast Pix training sessions were an enormous help.
For more information, visit www.broadcastpix.com
For more information on ExperienceChurch.tv, read High Technology But Budget-Conscious, Experience Church shows the way for smaller houses of worship hoping to enter the multimedia age.
Focus on Houses of Worship: Upgrading a Rock ‘n’ Roll Church
Oct 1, 2008 By John W. DeWitt
(courtesy of svconline.com)
For Faith World, the right solution included a completely gutted and rebuilt control room with new flooring, walls, a console area that would house the Broadcast Pix Slate production switcher, a videowall with three Panasonic TH-42PH10UKA plasma screens, and two Avid Media Composers with Mojo SDIs. 
“We loaded them up heavily to be real strong [Adobe] After Effects machines,” Russell says. “I'm an After Effects guy, so to be able to build an animated key and slide that in live, that's really key. Whatever I think of to do, I can execute. All the built-in features of the switcher were great, because they let me do anything I want.”
For the entire story click here
Broadcast Pix Slate 1000 Switcher Enhances Worship Service Broadcasts at First Baptist Church of Texarcana
The Broadcast Pix™ Slate 1000 switcher, a live video production system, is now in used at the First Baptist Church of Texarkana, TX (FBC) for all its worship services. The unit powers FBC’s wide screen displays during services, enhancing the congregation’s experience every Sunday. Services are also broadcast locally on Texarkana’s KLFI-TV and KAQC-TV as well as KTAL-TV in Shreveport, Louisiana. Services are also seen nationally on religious networks such as The Church Channel and Family Net.
 FBC producer, Jay Budzilowski says the features of the Slate 1000 stood out among other switchers he studied for the church’s broadcast inventory. “The Slate 1000 gave us three keyers and its overall product quality was much higher than other switchers we considered,” said Budzilowski. “It was by far the best option for the price,.” FBC currently broadcasts in SDI but plans to upgrade to HD in a few years. The upgrade will be simplified since the Slate 1000 is completely HD ready.
PixButtons that show the exact content on every source and key proved helpful for FBC’s worship production. Budzilowski admitted he had little experience in using switchers before coming in contact with the Slate 1000 and appreciated the ease of use that the clearly marked labeling offers. He said he became confident with the unit after reading through its manual and considered most of its functionality to be self-explanatory.
During worship services, the Slate 1000 controls what appears on FBC’s two 16x9 wide screens at the front of the church. As many as 2,500 people fill the pews at FBC on Sundays, making the screens a critical part of services. The screens display song lyrics and other video segments that pertain to the pastoral messages. This aspect of production became significantly more streamlined by Slate 1000’s clip store functionality.
Prior to installing the Slate 1000, Budzilowski said producing video clips and getting them to run on screen was a complex and labor intensive process. “Edited segments in Final Cut Pro were burned to DVD. Then we had to hook the player to the switcher, cue the scene we wanted, pause it and press play at exactly the right moment,” Budzilowski explained. “It became a real headache, especially when there was more than one clip needed for services.” Now FBC producers can simply import multiple edited pieces into the Slate 1000 and play them on the fly. With the touch of a button, the right clip plays for the duration needed.
Broadcast Pix’s Slate 1000 enhances the congregation’s experience of performed music during worship services as well. Budzilowski said FBC previously used a Power Point format to display song lyrics and they had no ability to key the lyrics over moving video. Now they are able to key lyrics over edited video clips or shots of the choir. Church members need not look down at a hymnal to read song lyrics and can sing along with their heads held high.
“With the Slate 1000, we have much more flexibility to employ creative methods and make services more engaging for the church members,” Budzilowski explained. “After all, they’re here to attend church, not watch TV.”
Slate systems use a switcher on a computer card (patent pending), which is closely coupled to the included workstation’s clip store, still store and Inscriber CG. The computer display provides full motion monitoring of program, preview, and all cameras, so separate video monitors are no longer needed, but can still be added. The Slate 1000 can mix up to six digital and analog live video inputs with five graphic sources and two clip channels. It offers a control panel, clip store, a third keyer, chromakeys, and DVEs on each keyer for up to three picture-in-picture boxes. The panel intelligently presents all elements required for a professional broadcast. It retains the familiar layout of a traditional switcher, but its PixButtons™ have built-in displays that always show the exact content of every source and key, and it provides quick access to graphics, clips and even camera controls.
Main Street Baptist Church
Main Street Baptist in Hattiesburg, Mississippi has been broadcasting services on NBC affiliate WDAM since 1964. The church purchased Broadcast Pix unit # 3 in 2003, and has used it for two years. “Our Church was heavily damaged in hurricane Katrina. While most of our equipment was dead from water damage and power surges, we were very pleased when 2 of our 4 cameras and our Broadcast Pix Switcher came online. Armed with two cameras and the ability to switch and add tittles we went on the air live. I am very proud of our broadcast and the fa oct that Broadcast Pix has been a large part of makingur ministry look its very best. Thank You Broadcast Pix!” Mike Boucher, Chief Engineer, Main Street Baptist Church, Hattiesburg, MS.
Baptist Temple of Kansas City
Baptist Temple of Kansas City has a Broadcast Pix switcher to streamline its video production workflow and improve the image quality for its broadcast television projects. Broadcast Pix is the only production switchers on the market  with a built-in Inscriber character generator, four-hour clip store and monitoring. It replaces a 15-year old production switcher and offers Baptist Temple of Kansas City far more production flexibility in a single, integrated production system at a fraction of the cost.
Baptist Temple of Kansas City, with more than 30 of years of local broadcast TV experience, produces a weekly Sunday morning program on local MyNetworkTV affiliate KSMO-TV (terrestrial Channel 62) that is also seen on regional cable outlets. The facility also produces Spanish language programming for a local cable access channel and Christian Television Network International (CTNI), which uplinks the program via satellite from Florida. The facility also expects to use Broadcast Pix for digital and HDTV productions in the future, and is currently investigating webcasting opportunities.
Tom Talbert, Executive Producer and Director of Video Productions, Baptist Temple of Kansas City, said that the Broadcast Pix design far outpaced the competition in cost, learning curve and footprint, while also offering more production elements than the facility has typically used in past productions.
“We attended NAB2006 with the sole intention of purchasing a switcher, and frankly, the Broadcast Pix digital switcher blew the competition away by far,” said Talbert. “We saved at least $10,000-$15,000 on the switcher alone, and that is not counting the numerous traditional production elements that the system includes for free. Another major appeal was the learning curve. Our goal was to find a system that was both in our budget and easy to learn for ourselves and our volunteers. Broadcast Pix allowed us to achieve these goals while also preparing us for an HD future.”
Baptist Temple of Kansas City currently uses four JVC GY-DV550 analog cameras, and will soon connect a fifth camera. Ron Parker, Director of Media Technical Services for Baptist Temple Kansas City, selected Broadcast Pix because it is ideal for an anticipated technical expansion.
“When we started researching switchers we weren’t necessarily looking to incorporate graphics and still stores,” said Parker. “We historically have not incorporated many graphical elements in our productions, and when we did, it was in the post-production process. After looking at Broadcast Pix, these built-in production elements made it well worth the investment.”
Parker added that the setup process was quick and easy. “This system is designed so that even the least technical-savvy minded can simply follow the directions and be up and running within a few hours, and the simple layout of the switcher allows the operator to immediately gain complete control of the production.”
Application Note - Church Service to Cable TV
 This church in California has an integrated live and post production studio. Each Sunday they capture their 10am 65 minute service with their Broadcast Pix. It’s recorded directly into their non-linear editor and also to tape and DVD for back up. Then in post production the NLE trims out the announcements and other material to fit it into the 58 minute slot needed for broadcast on television the following Sunday to viewers at home at 10am (8am during football season).
On most Sunday’s, the Broadcast Pix System is run by one operator, who then also does the trimming on the NLE. On an especially big Sunday a second operator usually volunteers to help, so the Broadcast Pix system has dual monitor support and an extra soft-panel. The assistant manages the graphics, including adding new CG title pages for the frequent guests on these days.
The cameras are converted to digital near the camera. Two cameras are on pan-tilt heads, and the camera control software is used to control their position and lens from the Broadcast Pix panel.
Church to TV Configuration
This church in California has an integrated live and post production studio. Each Sunday they capture their 10am 65 minute service with their Broadcast Pix. It’s recorded directly into their non-linear editor and also to tape and DVD for back up. Then in post production the NLE trims out the announcements and other material to fit it into the 58 minute slot needed for broadcast on television the following Sunday to viewers at home at 10am (8am during football season).
On most Sunday’s, the Broadcast Pix System is run by one operator, who then also does the trimming on the NLE. On an especially big Sunday a second operator usually volunteers to help, so the Broadcast Pix system has dual monitor support and an extra soft-panel. The assistant manages the graphics, including adding new CG title pages for the frequent guests on these days.
The cameras are converted to digital near the camera. Two cameras are on pan-tilt heads, and the camera control software is used to control their position and lens from the Broadcast Pix panel.
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The Broadcast Pix Slate 2100 provided absolutely everything we needed, making it a hands-down winner.