The Integration Guide to Houses of Worship - June 2019 SCN

MAGAZINE

THE INTEGRATION GUIDE TO

HOUSES OF WORSHIP SPONSORED BY

ABSEN • KANEXPRO • LYNTEC • OPTOMA PROCO • TOA ELECTRONICS • VADDIO • VITEC

IMAGE COURTESY OF IDIBRI

A SUPPLEMENT TO

HOUSES OF WORSHIP

BUSINESS

CONTENT

VP/Content Creation Anthony Savona Content Director Megan A. Dutta, megan.dutta@futurenet.com Content Manager Katie Makal, katie.makal@futurenet.com Contributor Caroline Heinze Managing Design Director Nicole Cobban Production Manager Fred Vega A DV E R T I S I N G S A L E S

VP/Market Expert, AV/Consumer Electronics, Education & Pro Audio Adam Goldstein, adam.goldstein@futurenet.com, 212-378-0465 IMAGE COURTESY OF IDIBRI

Managing Director/Senior Vice President Christine Shaw Chief Revenue Officer Luke Edson

HOW’S HoW DOING? Trends in Church AV

Chief Marketing Officer Wendy Lissau Head of Production US & UK Mark Constance FUTURE US, INC.

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By Carolyn Heinze For several decades now, contemporary houses of worship have been applying AV technology to engage their congregations. Their varied programming—high-energy musical performances combined with the spoken word—and multi-site models present a demanding audiovisual environment for AV designers and integrators, as well as the church engineers and technicians tasked with producing high-performance services that don’t distract from the message. What does this mean for AV designers and integrators working for houses of worship? Here’s what we’ve discovered.

HEARING IS BELIEVING While technologies evolve, people continue to go to church for the same reason they’ve always gone to church: to listen to the message, whether it’s delivered in the form of a sermon or a musical production. “What’s consistent across [all churches] is quality audio: everybody wants to be able to hear,” said JB Bowling, director of sales and marketing at Clark, an audiovisual design and integration firm headquartered in Atlanta, GA. “They want to be able to understand the spoken word and hear whatever the music is for that style of organization. As you move into more contemporary churches, they want even top end, but more than that, they want extremely even low end, and tight low end that is impactful.”

One innovation starting to make its way into the religious market is immersive sound, although, according to Bowling, it’s still early. “[There] is interest from a lot of people,” he said, “[but] I would say that for the majority of our big, contemporary organizations, they’re still interested in the really big impact, high power that a big stereo system brings.”

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BUSINESS HOUSES OF WORSHIP LET THERE BE LIGHT Luke Jordan, PMP, CTS-I, account manager at Electro Acoustics, noted that ambient light is an architectural feature within worship centers these days––something that didn’t exist in the “black box” sanctuaries of the ’90s, where the house was black during services. Ambient light enables congregants to interact with one another and build community. Because projected image quality is compromised in environments with a lot of ambient light, churches are adopting LED video walls instead of installing projectors. “With an LED video wall, I can put it right next to a big window, crank up the brightness, and it doesn’t take away from the worship experience,” Jordan said.

“The ability to work in a bright, naturally lit room has made a huge difference, and it fits the architectural trend.”

It also makes more financial sense in many cases, Bowling noted. “The way pricing has been changing over even just the last year, once you’re looking at a certain size screen for your space, LED has really become more cost-effective in some scenarios than projection,” he said. “It’s a better image, it’s better contrast, it’s got better brightness—there are all of those positives that go along with an LED wall.”

“LED continues to become more ubiquitous,” said Jason

McKelvey, senior consultant at Idibri. “It’s almost assumed that we’ll specify [LED video walls] for new construction and renovations. If there are windows involved, you’re going to struggle with projection.”

That’s not to say that projection isn’t an option. Jordan said that for budget-constrained houses of worship, projection systems are still a viable solution, provided that church clients understand that projectors won’t perform as well as an LED video wall against strong ambient light. He noted, however, that advances in ambient light-rejecting screens help to mitigate this problem: “There are manufacturers coming out with slate-colored screen material, so not only does it reject ambient light, but because it has a darker surface, it helps with contrast ratio, and so we are able to have a better viewing experience,” he said.

BROADCAST BUFFET Bowling observed that the word “broadcast” is increasingly, well, broad when applied to churches; no longer is the term reserved for houses of worship whose services are transmitted via regional or even national television networks. The idea of broadcast “has been reduced to sending your service—the images, the audio, the video—to another location,” he said.

BUSINESS HOUSES OF WORSHIP “That could be online streaming, online archiving, [sending the service] to another campus, or just [via] a TV system” inside the church. That said, there are varying levels of broadcast quality, and designers and integrators can assist churches in identifying what their specific goals and needs are in this realm.

Bowling believes that the bigger trend––or question––in this area is 4K. He acknowledges that while he receives many inquiries about 4K, in his experience, churches have been slow to adopt this technology. “They’re not interested in 4K because of all of the extra storage and bandwidth requirements that go into a 4K system,” he said. “When 90 percent of what they do is shown on a big screen in a room, you don’t necessarily see the benefit of 4K on a big LED wall or a big projection system because the resolution of that screen is lower than 4K. We’re still not in a place where we’re leading with 4K solutions in broadcast—not in the church world, at least.”

DREAM STREAM It’s also necessary for AV designers and integrators to inform churches about the human resources required to produce a quality stream. Jordan points out that a church that is new to streaming will discover pretty quickly that it’s not possible for

their FOH operator to divide his or her time between mixing the live production and monitoring the audio for the stream, for example. “When you add cameras, when you add video interfaces to send content to [a streaming platform], you also need to add a second console and have a second trained operator mixing that recording or stream in order to guarantee the quality of what’s going out,” he said.

“There’s a big push to do online church and to have a campus on this online platform,” Bowling said. “Creating an engaging experience for something like this [requires] a bit more of an investment.” This investment should involve a medium-level broadcast system composed of multiple cameras that can capture services and deliver a quality experience to remote viewers, he said. Beyond the technology requirements, he added, churches struggle with why they’re getting into streaming in the first place: “Sometimes in the rush to get something online so we can get more people watching, we forget about community. There’s not a right answer to this yet, but I come into a lot of questions about what engagement looks like, what the online campus looks like, pretty frequently.”

Carolyn Heinze is a freelance writer/editor.

HOUSES OF WORSHIP VITEC HOUSE OF WORSHIP MULTISITE VIDEO STREAMING SOLUTION Using VITEC’s House of Worship Multisite Video Streaming Solution, HOWs can stream synchronized, low-latency HD video feeds to every campus. The solution bundles Ace encoders and decoders featuring HEVC bandwidth-efficient compression with stream protection protocol to ensure pristine video. It integrates Renewed Vision’s four-channel ProVideoServer HD video server, which enables facilities to record multiple camera feeds, with timecode and multichannel audio, and play them back to all satellite campuses at any time.

OPTOMA PROSCENE ZU1050 Built for long-lasting performance and maximum adaptability, the Optoma ZU1050 is a carefully designed 10,000-lumen WUXGA laser projector with MultiColor laser technology that delivers brightness and reliability to large professional venues. Combined with a long-lasting laser light source and multiple installation features—including motorized lens shift, built-in edge blending and warping, and multiple I/O options—the ZU1050 is a cost-efficient, low-maintenance option for house of worship spaces.

PRODUCTS

PRODUCTS HOUSES OF WORSHIP VADDIO ROBOSHOT ELITE SERIES CAMERAS RoboSHOT Elite Series PTZ cameras from Vaddio offer HD-quality video, incredible contrast, and silky-smooth pan-tilt-zoon motion. Designed with a 1/2.5-type Exmor CMOS image sensor, RoboSHOT Elite cameras deliver 8.5 megapixels of 1080p/60 video and powerful image signal processing, resulting in excellent light-gathering capabilities and HD image quality. PoE+ powered for easy installation. RTSP and RTMP streaming options. Available in 12x or 30x zoom with flexible output options.

ABSEN N PLUS SERIES Absen’s new N Plus Series features both front and rear installation that is convenient and easy to install in any location. Absen’s N Plus Series is ideal for today’s retail, casino, house of worship, and transportation environments. Available in 3mm, 4mm, and 5mm, the series offers a cutting-edge, lightweight aluminum die-cast cabinet design for easy installation and creative application, as well as smart remote monitoring and diagnostic for real-time performance tracking and failure detection.

KANEXPRO 4K HDBASET 8X8 MATRIX SWITCHER WITH AUDIO MATRIX The KanexPro HDBaseT 8x8 Matrix Switcher with Audio Matrix (MX-HDBT8X818G) features independent audio routing, regardless of video. Featuring ultra-fast switching with instant display, the MX-HDBT8X818G incorporates HDBaseT technology to deliver pristine 4K/60 Hz with HDR 10 and Dolby Vision. The matrix switcher includes eight HDMI inputs to six HDBaseT outputs with two local HDMI outputs to enable switching and extending of HDR and Dolby Vision content with digital audio to multiple zones with simplified control.

PROCO AoD I/O MODULES Built with uncomplicated designs and high-quality A/D and D/A converters, ProCo says its AoD I/O modules guarantee easy delivery of studio-quality, lowlatency audio delivered through the Dante network to any analog source or Dante network. The modules support 44.1, 48 and 96 kHz sampling rates and up to 24-bit depths. ProCo’s Dante-enabled interface solutions can be configured with Audinate’s free Dante Controller software. Users can automatically discover and configure device parameters such as device names, channel labels, signal routing, sample rates, and latency. Power is supplied through a standard Ethernet cable via a Power over Ethernet (PoE) capable network switch, or from a separate PoE injector circuit.

LYNTEC XTEND POWER CONTROL (XPC) SERIES LynTec’s XPC Series of remote relay modules extends the reach of the company’s relay panels and motorized circuit breakers. Installable anywhere equipment is located, they eliminate the expenses of bringing electricity back to the main panel. The family includes 20- and 30-amp relay modules, 20-amp and 80-amp rack sequencers, and the XPC controller, offering LynTec’s RPC control solution in a standalone 1RU enclosure.

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HOUSES OF WORSHIP

VIEWPOINTS

AT ISSUE

What is the one piece of advice you’d give integrators about house of worship technology?

BRYAN REKSTEN VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING, VITEC Integrators providing their house of worship clients with video streaming solutions should always consider the user experience.

This is particularly vital in the worship market, as volunteer staff make up a large part of the support available for most church video productions. The need for a high-quality, ultra-reliable video stream is now expected, which can be affected by human factors as much as the technology itself. VITEC specializes in engineering 100-percent on-premises hardware solutions that can be initially configured by the tech director and then easily operated by volunteers to deliver a reliable streaming experience week after week.

MANNY HERNANDEZ SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER, KANEXPRO When designing a house of worship system, it’s important to keep it simple—with functionality in mind. A motto to keep in mind is KISS: Keep It Simply Simple.

With today’s technology, it’s easy to create a robust, feature-rich solution that’s incredibly simple for the end user to manage. It’s more

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VIEWPOINTS HOUSES OF WORSHIP beneficial for the end user to have a single device that will manage a system, or enable the desired functionality, than to create a system that’s over-enhanced and complicates the end user’s experience.

PAUL CORDS DIRECTOR OF SALES, VADDIO When it comes to AV technology for houses of worship, an important consideration is ease of use. Since a church’s AV team typically consists of volunteers, they must be able to use the technology easily—without a lot of stress—to produce a consistent, reliable, professional production every Sunday. In addition, sourcing a church’s AV system from a single manufacturer is important, too, because it’s much easier for integrators and churches to get reliable support from a single source.

GARRETT WALKER OWNER/PARTNER, CROWN DESIGN GROUP FOR ABSEN Budget is always a factor when it comes to outfitting a house

of worship project, and rightly so— this is the hard-earned money of congregants who have given faithfully. But too often the budgets are created before the needs have been assessed. And the numbers dictate the quality of equipment instead of the scope of a project. It is our job as integrators to educate our clients about realistic expectations for accomplishing projects with excellence, and the funds required to do so. It is better to do less with more than more with less.

BRIAN SOTO HEAD OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT, OPTOMA TECHNOLOGIES Given the nature of most house of worship installations, integrators should ensure that their AV plans can accommodate both current and anticipated requirements

to minimize the need for disassembly and replacement.

Integrators should first determine their image and installation goals, and select their hardware accordingly based on light source, throw distance, display and installation features, and other factors to best maximize their investment. For selecting the right projector, integrators should choose models with high resolution and brightness, horizontal and vertical lens shift, built-in blending and warping, four-corner adjustment, and a variety of I/Os—such as the Optoma ProScene ZU1050.

EDDIE KEYS PRODUCT DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT, PROCO Integrators are the people in the trenches, and they know best—they have the experience, and dedication to keeping up with worship technology of today. From a manufacturer’s standpoint, we, too, have seen a huge change in the technology and trends, and have tried to stay on the cutting edge with adapting our industry to digital

cabling as well as AC-distro and lighting assemblies and interfaces.

MARK BISHOP PRESIDENT, LYNTEC Don’t skimp on power control.

As churches are spec’ing in more advanced audio, video, and lighting, integrators and their clients need to be concerned about having an equally robust power control system to manage those assets. An effective power management platform can automate sequencing boot-up and shut-down tasks for video wall displays and sensitive audio components to protect from damaging inrush. Integrators can create presets for powering on and off LED lighting fixtures, which protects the hardware from overheating and furthers the lifespan of your church’s lighting investment. It also simplifies the system for the end user—usually volunteer staff in most churches—literally making start-up as easy as pushing a button.

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