A lot of tech directors and churches struggle with this question because the technology is changing so rapidly it’s hard to make the decision to purchase thousands of dollars of equipment. You want to be a good steward and purchase wisely, but you also want the most bang for you buck. Below, I offer some guidance and things to think about and discuss with leadership that will hopefully help you with this quandary.
Case Study: Updating the Sanctuary Tech [part 2]
Below is a description of how Fort Bragg Seventh-day Adventist Church went from a system with some components dating back 30 years to a new easier-to-use and highly capable and integrated AV system.
Last week we ended with the sound system being installed and functional by the end of week 1. On Sunday I decided to move across the building to the fellowship hall where we planned to install a 70-volt in-ceiling speaker system, a 50″ LED TV on the wall, and the remnants of the Sanctuary sound system would be re-purposed to drive the new small AV system.
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Blackmagic Design Television Studio & Scalers
In a recent installation project for a church, I learned a very valuable lesson about the Blackmagic Design Television Studio video switcher (BMD TVS) and how it interacts with scalers and other equipment.
The TVS expects either 720p or 1080i/p video content and it’s extremely specific about what it accepts or doesn’t accept. For example, if you are trying to feed a 1366×720 signal from a scaler to the TVS, it will not be able to compensate for the difference (720p HD is 1280×720). It will simply display a black screen. Likewise, if you are feeding a 1920x108060p signal, it won’t be able to compensate because it’s expecting 1920×1080/59.94p.
[Read more…] about Blackmagic Design Television Studio & Scalers
Case Study: Updating The Sanctuary Tech [part 1]
Below is a description of how Fort Bragg Seventh-day Adventist Church went from a system with some components dating back 30 years to a new easier-to-use and highly capable and integrated AV system.
When I visited the church earlier this year, I was dumbfounded at what I saw; a small niche had been built into the wall of the sanctuary and this is what constituted the tech area (see image below). It was made clear that this system was out of date when they acquired it and it’s been limping along ever since. It was painfully clear that a new integrated system would be needed. The church as a body was motivated and eager to upgrade and while it did take several weeks to design the exact system they would need, once it was proposed, the church board approved it immediately and the equipment was ordered.
[Read more…] about Case Study: Updating The Sanctuary Tech [part 1]
A Perfect Match: Projectors and Screens
Have you ever worked with a projector in any capacity? Sometimes we get the perfect setup, but other times we have to go buy new equipment to get better results. In our Google+ community, we are asked almost every week some kind of question about a combination of projector and screen combinations.
We want to help you out with this process by getting the best solution for you.
What Kind Of Leader Are You?
I was recently playing laser tag and my wife and I had a plan to go to high ground as soon as we entered the arena. Upon the start of the game, she headed off in the completely wrong direction and I tried to re-direct her by taking a more direct route and telling her to “follow me.” We ended up in the wrong corner and both got confused and she, quite angrily, spat out, “You’re a horrible leader.” The statement only frustrated me at the time, but it’s been festering for a few days now and it’s made me really question; what makes a good leader and how do I measure up?