Firstly, Cooke explains that as new media platforms emerge, older ones adapt rather than disappear. Television has continuously adjusted and found its place alongside digital platforms, ensuring its viability. Television’s wide reach is evident in its ability to broadcast major events like the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards, demonstrating its power in reaching a broad spectrum of viewers.

Additionally, television is accessible to diverse audiences and demographics. Many people inadvertently discover religious programming while channel surfing, leading to transformative experiences. This accessibility makes television an effective evangelism tool.

Cooke also highlights the perceived credibility of broadcast television. Despite growing polarization and bias, TV is often seen as a more authoritative and reliable source of information compared to other media. This credibility helps religious content gain viewers’ trust, particularly during emergencies and crises.

Television provides a communal viewing experience, with traditional broadcast and cable TV still having core channels that a majority of the audience watches. This shared experience fosters a sense of togetherness and enhances the impact of religious programming. Moreover, the multisensory appeal of television—combining visuals, spoken word, and music—creates engaging and memorable experiences that resonate deeply with viewers.

In conclusion, Cooke asserts that television is far from obsolete and remains a potent tool for pastors seeking to amplify their evangelism strategy. Its remarkable reach, perceived credibility, communal nature, and multimedia capabilities make it a compelling choice for sharing a message of hope with a diverse and widespread audience.

Read the full article by Phil Cooke for Church Production HERE

Mark Hanna from Church Production gives his review of the HuddleCamHD Pro webcams. Check out some highlights from his review.

“When it comes to the I/O, the ePTZ has some exciting options. There are two versions of this camera; one has superspeed USB 3.0 and HDMI ports and the other has a Standard USB and NDI port. If you already have an IP video infrastructure, adding the ePTZ via NDI is an excellent option because the camera can be controlled by mobile apps or production software like OBS, Wirecast, vMix, TriCaster, Livestream Studio, MimoLive, and hardware controllers such as Crestron, Extron, PTZOptics IP Joystick, and Elgato StreamDeck. If you don’t have the infrastructure for it, simply use the USB version. Both feature a beamforming directional microphone array for capturing audio.”

Mark Hanna

“In conclusion, many churches have revamped and made serious changes to go to an online-only format. Some churches are currently streaming with whatever consumer camera they were able to beg, borrow, or steal from the congregation. In that case, being able to use a professional quality webcam like the HuddleCamHD ePTZ, right into OBS, offers a significant upgrade with less moving parts. Also, being able to switch through a few different shots during a worship service using just one camera raises the overall production value of your webstream. Even without having volunteers available, the EPTZ can do almost all the work using the auto-reframing feature.”

Mark Hanna

“Before the quarantine, I would never have suggested that a church’s tech team use the webcam for their online streaming. That said, I think with everyone attending online meetings, the expectations for online video have changed and become more forgiving. As a result, a full-featured webcam might be the right tool for the job–and with the starting price of $329, the HuddleCamHD 4k ePTZ could be a cost-effective solution that can raise the production of webstream without breaking the bank or sacrificing quality.”

Mark Hanna

Check out the full review here!

Learn more about HuddleCamHD here!

HighTechHowTo shares their review to church streaming with the YoloLiv YoloBox

Our Church’s set up using YoloBox and 2 Canon Vixia HR800 cameras for live streaming church services. Very easy to use for church volunteers. All-in one alliance requires no complicated software or computers.

HighTechHowTo

Check out the video on YouTube here!

Learn more about YoloLiv here!

The best thing about new technology is how it can free up a leader’s time and headspace, allowing directors to focus more on the mission and less on the tools. One of the most exciting areas of recent tech arts innovation is in the world of video switchers, which continue to pack new features and to promise more value than ever before. As tech directors consider the benefits a new switcher could bring to their ministry, here are some of the features they should be on the lookout for.

Taking control

At the heart of any video switcher is the promise of convenience and control. One of the most inconvenient aspects of broadcast systems, however, has traditionally been the expensive and proprietary means of connection between cameras, switchers and projectors. “When we think about how video systems have been run in the past, they’ve required coax or SDI cabling to connect the camera to the switcher, and that connection is limited to the reach of that cable,” says Will Waters, director of IP strategy and workflow engineering at NewTek.

“Being able to move into the IT world with cheaper cabling means we can distribute signal around a facility in ways that we haven’t been able to before. Traditionally, lighting, sound and video have needed their own systems that have very rigid requirements. You can now tie all of these systems together and make things easier for volunteers,” Waters notes.

Another area of transformative growth in video switching has also been in the new way operators can take control more easily, and with more freedom, than ever before. “Control integration has been growing,” shares Christian Delfino, director of global strategic product marketing at Roland. “How can you control the switcher or automation from a third-party touch panel? Or, conversely, how can the switcher control the cameras remotely? Automating the operations, allowing a single-button push by a volunteer to control a bunch of different screens, is a big part of where things are going…read more

My primary goal with every church congregation I work with is simple: enhance the worship experience.

I want members to walk away from worship feeling like they’ve worshipped God. I want the people who work in the control room to walk in, confident in their abilities to deliver video and audio to the congregation with no mistakes….

…Bottom line: using technology to deliver audio and video to people in worship needs to improve the experience of worshipping God, not distract from it.

To that end, my #1 suggestion to improve the current worship experience in most churches is to use a piece of software called ProPresenter. Made by RenewedVision, ProPresenter is designed for churches, giving you the ability to QUICKLY display song lyrics, slides, Bible verses and more….read more

In the nine years I’ve spent in my current role as production director [at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Ala.], I’ve learned some tips and tricks that can be applied to any video directing situation in any church. Regardless of the goal of the finished product, I feel that if a live video director can focus on these simple ideas, it will help improve the end product.

1-Use consistent terminology

Few things are more confusing for a camera operator than to hear a mix of different words, or to hear certain words used interchangeably.

Since many ops will have to make quick decisions and movements in the moment, a director should keep his communication as clear and simple as possible to thus allow for quick reactions without a camera op having to do much thinking or deciphering.

Zoom in/out, push in/pull out, pan right/left, tilt up/down, and rack in/out are also standard camera directing terms. Ensure that you’re not mixing and matching the language and are communicating clearly what you want the ops to do. If need be, review your directing terminology with the ops before the show begins so they have a clear understanding of how you’ll be giving direction.

2-Understand some camera basics

While it’s not a requirement that a good director have previously been a camera operator, it can certainly help. Often, if an op has a problem during a service or show, the first line of defense is to get on intercom and tell the director what’s happening.

In those moments, the director has the ability to give quick coaching and instruction to the op about how to fix the problem. Dim monitors, quiet intercom headsets, sticky focus controls, shaky tripod heads, and stuck extenders (or lens doublers) are all common problems that could be encountered during a live event.

If a director has at least a basic understanding of how the camera works, he or she can provide quick instruction to try and help the op fix things, while also buying time to track down someone else who can run to the camera position and assist.

3-Take notes during rehearsal

The director, not the camera ops, is ultimately responsible for the quality of the camera cut. After all, the cameras are simply moving at the discretion of the director, who bears the responsibility for telling the story of what’s happening on stage….read more

A directing mistake sparked Grace Church to develop a video philosophy. The result is a common language to communicate what success looks like to the staff and volunteer video team.

I made a mistake during a rehearsal one weekend — a mistake that changed the course of how we use live video at Grace Church. In the moment, I was sure I was going to have to explain the mistake to my superiors. To my surprise my superiors saw the mistake and loved it, asking me if we could do it on an ongoing basis. Needless to say I was a bit shocked. The mistake ultimately turned into a launching point, the beginning of a process to establish a common language to be able to communicate clearly what success means to our staff and volunteer video team. The Grace Church “Way of Production” for video was born.

In late summer of 2008 we opened a new auditorium. The new space is unique in that it has 270 degrees of seating and about 400-600 seats sit behind the front center speaking position. Our congregation and team was familiar with IMAG as we used it in our old space for the message and other special elements. The big difference was we would be using it for the whole service, something we had never done before.

After nine months in the new space I was frustrated and could not identify why. As a video team we were producing a solid product but it was inconsistent and was missing something from week to week. After approaching my worship arts pastor, we made our first step towards clarity by selecting 8-12 person focus group. We intentionally invited people with different video backgrounds and ended up with a nice cross section. We had professional television news anchors and staff, video production artists and people with no background in video at all. We asked the group to commit to a four-week period and asked them fill out a questionnaire during the service they attended as well as participate in a group review lunch on the fourth weekend….read more

1. DaCast (30-day free trial is offered in the article below)
2. Streamingchurch.tv
3. Sunday Streams
4. ChristianWorldMedia
5. TruthCasting
6. MyChurchWebsite.com
7. Livestream

Epiphan Pearl 2 Live Streaming, Switching & Recording system

Now through 2/28/18 if you are making a purchase for use at a House of Worship, you can save $500 off any Epiphan Pearl 2. Order must be accompanied by a HOW purchase order or be shipped to a qualifying institution.

From DaCast.com

….This blog will review and rank seven of the most popular and affordable live streaming services for churches and other places of worship. We’ll base our comparison on the features of each unique platform. Our goal is to give you the information and tools you need to decide which, if any, of these live streaming services will best suit your church and congregation….

….As you saw above, there are many viable live streaming services with church-specific features. These live streaming services enable churches and other places of worship of all sizes to stream and broadcast content to members, both new and long-term. Now that you know more about the top seven live streaming services for churches, we hope you feel better equipped to make the best decision for you and congregation.

We recommend that you pay close attention to the CDN when making your decision. A good quality CDN (like Akamai) helps to ensure the best performance during your live stream.

We also know from experience that 24/7 customer support is essential for live events streamed over the weekend and after business hours….[continue reading the full article]

Preparation is an essential step in making sure you are ready to send your services live to devices.

Over the past nine months, I have had the opportunity to learn about how to best livestream through trial and error, researching, and being a member of various Facebook groups, as well as attending great annual conferences like WFX, held two months ago in Dallas.

When I began this journey, I had the naive notion that we could plug in a camera, feed in an audio connection, hook it all up to our cable connection, and then we would be set.

What I found is that there are a lot of variables within each step that need to be accounted for.

One of the quickest things that I learned is that not all connections are the same. The vast majority reading this will be from areas outside of major metropolitan areas, where internet speeds are likely not fiber. In our case, we have once cable provider who is not among the big three, and business connections are expensive and slow. Our connection was stated to be 5mbps upload speed, but the actual results were much lower.

Since data is key to a successful stream, we started looking at options. Around that time, we were blessed to have a new visitor arrive who is the vice president of a company who pioneered data delivery through a series of towers in our region. We were shortly thereafter provided by that company with a 20mbps connection, though we are capable of accessing a 300mbps connection, if needed. The unique factor about our newest provider is that the connection is symmetrical, so it features the same upload and download speed. Having 20mbps upload fits our needs at Lighthouse of Hope Church in Cumberland, Maryland.

Once our bandwidth was addressed, the next step in the process was to look at the actual production.

Over the last few months, a number of amazing products have been announced and released to help ease the technical difficulty in streaming for those working in houses of worship. These include products from NewTek, Blackmagic Design with their ATEM HD switcher, Sling Studio from DISH Networks, and vMix Production Studio.

With the recent announcement of Network Device Interface technology, or NDI, from NewTek, the products that take advantage of that standard are poised to gain market share quickly. NDI has been around for many years, and it initially was more commonly referred to as IP Video….[continue reading]

The set-up consisted of four PTZ cameras located throughout the sanctuary, allowing every event to be shot from multiple angles and capture unique aspects of every ceremony. The cameras feed into a switcher located in an adjacent computer room, where a deacon or volunteer can pan, tilt, and zoom each camera, and switch to provide the best shot for the viewer. The output of this switcher is sent to a nearby encoder, which was intended to easily push the video to the web.

However, due to disruptions in the video caused by switching, the video encoder would freeze and stall, causing streaming to fail. There were also complications around streaming protocols, preventing them from using multiple platforms, and limited them in reaching more people. With Easter—a major holiday in the Coptic calendar—approaching, the church decided that they needed a better, more reliable solution after a year of working around their current limitations.

Ishak learned about the new Monarch LCS, a dedicated H.264 encoder originally designed for lecture capture, offering high quality streaming, and production capabilities. The Monarch’s built-in frame synchronizers allowed it to correct the signal issues due to switching, ensuring uninterrupted streaming. Working with the existing HDMI switcher, the LCS also offered the freedom to transition to an SDI input if needed….[continue reading]