In a previous article about starting a video ministry, I mentioned that you need at least 2 video cameras if you are considering recording your church services either for TV or an online podcast, and in this article, I would like to explain why you need this as your basic minimum church video equipment, and have included some visual examples to illustrate the point.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 Says 'Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might', so I believe if you are going to do anything you should do it with excellence. If the only reason for video recording your church services is to allow homebound members the ability to have an idea what goes on in their absence, then it might be okay to use a single camera video equipment but you've got to remember that any DVD produced is a representation of the ministry, so single camera church video production will not cut it especially with secular people who are used to watching good quality programmes on TV.
Have a look at the church video clip below, it was recorded using a single camera during a training session for our media department members.
The first thing you will notice about single church video camera recordings of a live service is that you only get one point of view, and even though we've tried to make the video interesting by varying the size of the shots of the subject (something that not a lot of people do during their church recordings using one camera without distracting the viewer), it will be hard to keep the attention of a non church person for the full lenght a 45 minute sermon.
Now lets look at another video recording, this time created with a 2 camera setup switched via a simple 2 channel church video mixer.
With 2 cameras, a video mixer and a good director, our video production is taken to a new level! You get to see audience reactions to the preacher's sermon (and not just the back of heads as in the first clip), you can offer the viewer different shots of the minister without them seeing a distracting zooming motion, and on the whole a richer experience and more polished production which will have a better chance of holding the attention or a secular viewer. I know which video I would prefer to watch for a full hour.
So spend a few more dollars on getting the right church video equipment, and don't rush in TV or video production!
Additional Reading
Datavideo digital video recorder.
Cheap HD video mixer.
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Church Video Equipment - Know how to use it
It doesn't matter how cheap or expensive your church video equipment is, or what budget you have spent to acquire your video systems, will only get the best out of your church camera, video mixer or DVD recording system if you fully know its capabilities, and are able to harness those features to fufill your video ministry's requirements.
I've seen many church TV broadcasts aired where the camera equipment have not been white balanced, running on auto focus or haven't been setup properly. You shouldn't rush to get your video products into the public domain before you've had the proper training, fully mastered the equipment, as your broadcasts are a reflection of your ministry.
Simple things like setting up a camera tripod, making sure that it is level and that any pan and tilting drag is configured correctly for the individual operator all contribute to the final TV product, not to talk of knowing how to get a good audio feed into your multi channel church video mixer!
It takes some time from you getting your new church video equipment to when your volunteers will be able to operate it skillfully, so as a church Pastor don't put undue pressure for immediate results after releasing the budget to the media deparment.
As a video media department volunteer, you should start by reading your equipment's manual, as you never know what hidden gems you might find. Your cheap church video mixer might have a chroma overlay function that could allow you superimpose song lyrics over the pictures being projected onto the screen, or maybe the HDV camcorder you've bought has manual focus which you never knew about until you read the instructions.
So before you request a new video camera from your church bishop, make sure you are getting the best out of all the church equipment you have access to now.
I've seen many church TV broadcasts aired where the camera equipment have not been white balanced, running on auto focus or haven't been setup properly. You shouldn't rush to get your video products into the public domain before you've had the proper training, fully mastered the equipment, as your broadcasts are a reflection of your ministry.
Simple things like setting up a camera tripod, making sure that it is level and that any pan and tilting drag is configured correctly for the individual operator all contribute to the final TV product, not to talk of knowing how to get a good audio feed into your multi channel church video mixer!
It takes some time from you getting your new church video equipment to when your volunteers will be able to operate it skillfully, so as a church Pastor don't put undue pressure for immediate results after releasing the budget to the media deparment.
As a video media department volunteer, you should start by reading your equipment's manual, as you never know what hidden gems you might find. Your cheap church video mixer might have a chroma overlay function that could allow you superimpose song lyrics over the pictures being projected onto the screen, or maybe the HDV camcorder you've bought has manual focus which you never knew about until you read the instructions.
So before you request a new video camera from your church bishop, make sure you are getting the best out of all the church equipment you have access to now.
Monday, 9 February 2009
Connecting church camera to mixer inc pictures
This post will show you how to connect a church video camera to a 2 channel cheap video mixer, and will most likely be helpful to those of you just starting a video ministry or media department.
For the purpose of this exercise, I will be using two Sony PD170 DV cameras which will be connected to the 2 channel CMX07 video mixer using S-Video for one connection and composite for the second connection.
It is important that you understand the specifications of the church video equipment that you will be connecting together otherwise if the hardware is not compatible then it will not be possible to interface them. The CMX-07 video mixer supports both the NTSC and PAL TV systems, so can be used with cameras in the US or Europe out of the box, and accepts video imputs via either composite or S-Video connections.
Connecting church camera using S-Video cable
You should always use the highest quality recording format for your church video recording system even if you are only providing DVDs to congregation members, and as S-Video is of a higher quality than composite, then this should be your first option for connecting your camera or camcorder to the video mixer if available.
The pictures below shows the Video connectors on the Sony PD170 camera and the CMX07 2 channel video mixer, the S-Video connectors are the multi-pin black connecting points.
The connections on the Sony PD170 camera are bi-directional and therefore can be used as either inputs or outputs, while the connections on the CMX-07 mixer are clearly marked as either inputs or outputs, the inputs are where we plug the cameras in.
You can order S-Video cables to connect your cameras online, or buy them from local electronic shops like Radio Shack, try and keep your cable lengths as short as possible, and you might see a drop in picture quality in you use lengths over 20 or 30 metres.
The picture below shows the S-Video connection made on our PD170 church camcorder.
The other end of the cable is connected to the CMX-07 video mixer below.
Connecting church video equipment using composite phono plugs
The yellow RCA phono connection in the picture below is the composite socket for connecting the Sony camera to an output source.
You should plug in a high quality cable (siver or gold plug) in to the RCA phono socket as shown below.
The advice given above about cable lengths also applies to your composite connections, and should be routed to the church video mixer via the shortest possible route. The other end of the cable goes into the yellow input port on the CMX-07 mixer as shown below.
The yellow cable below the silver plug in the picture above is used to connect our MacBook Pro computer to the video mixer.
As a church video director operating the vision mixer, you need to be able to be able to see the shots being provided by the camera operators as you switch between cameras to produce the live recording of your church service or the pastor's sermon.
The CMX07 video mixer has 4 monitor outputs even though you can only cut 2 sources at a time.
Some of the monitor outputs are shown in the picture below.
Plug your video monitors in these phono connections so you can see what the camera operator sees.
The video directors view of the preview monitors.
The church video mixer connected, with audio from the sound team.
If you have any queries or questions do leave a comment, and I will try my best to help you get your church video mixer and cameras connected.
More Reading
Need a cheap HD live video switcher.
Connecting Sony cameras to datavideo HS-2000 HD Mixer.
For the purpose of this exercise, I will be using two Sony PD170 DV cameras which will be connected to the 2 channel CMX07 video mixer using S-Video for one connection and composite for the second connection.
Camera and Video Mixer Formats
It is important that you understand the specifications of the church video equipment that you will be connecting together otherwise if the hardware is not compatible then it will not be possible to interface them. The CMX-07 video mixer supports both the NTSC and PAL TV systems, so can be used with cameras in the US or Europe out of the box, and accepts video imputs via either composite or S-Video connections.
Connecting church camera using S-Video cable
You should always use the highest quality recording format for your church video recording system even if you are only providing DVDs to congregation members, and as S-Video is of a higher quality than composite, then this should be your first option for connecting your camera or camcorder to the video mixer if available.
The pictures below shows the Video connectors on the Sony PD170 camera and the CMX07 2 channel video mixer, the S-Video connectors are the multi-pin black connecting points.
The connections on the Sony PD170 camera are bi-directional and therefore can be used as either inputs or outputs, while the connections on the CMX-07 mixer are clearly marked as either inputs or outputs, the inputs are where we plug the cameras in.
You can order S-Video cables to connect your cameras online, or buy them from local electronic shops like Radio Shack, try and keep your cable lengths as short as possible, and you might see a drop in picture quality in you use lengths over 20 or 30 metres.
The picture below shows the S-Video connection made on our PD170 church camcorder.
The other end of the cable is connected to the CMX-07 video mixer below.
Connecting church video equipment using composite phono plugs
The yellow RCA phono connection in the picture below is the composite socket for connecting the Sony camera to an output source.
You should plug in a high quality cable (siver or gold plug) in to the RCA phono socket as shown below.
The advice given above about cable lengths also applies to your composite connections, and should be routed to the church video mixer via the shortest possible route. The other end of the cable goes into the yellow input port on the CMX-07 mixer as shown below.
The yellow cable below the silver plug in the picture above is used to connect our MacBook Pro computer to the video mixer.
Monitoring your camera inputs
As a church video director operating the vision mixer, you need to be able to be able to see the shots being provided by the camera operators as you switch between cameras to produce the live recording of your church service or the pastor's sermon.
The CMX07 video mixer has 4 monitor outputs even though you can only cut 2 sources at a time.
Some of the monitor outputs are shown in the picture below.
Plug your video monitors in these phono connections so you can see what the camera operator sees.
The video directors view of the preview monitors.
The church video mixer connected, with audio from the sound team.
If you have any queries or questions do leave a comment, and I will try my best to help you get your church video mixer and cameras connected.
More Reading
Need a cheap HD live video switcher.
Connecting Sony cameras to datavideo HS-2000 HD Mixer.
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