Because of its 16:9 infrastructure, the First Baptist Church of Woodstock’s new video system is upgradeable to high-definition.
Systems integrator Digital System Technology (DST) has played a primary role in the integration of a 16:9 SDI digital video infrastructure for the First Baptist Church of Woodstock, GA, northwest of Atlanta.
The church, which opened its doors in the fall, has relocated from its previous site to a new 7500-seat church built from the ground up. The digital video system is an essential part of the new structure.
The church produces a live Webcast of every Sunday service, viewed by up to 3000 people in 14 countries. The church also archives its Webcasts for later viewing. There are about 40,000 hits per month to the archive. DST was hired to integrate the entire video infrastructure up to the point where the Webcast leaves the church.
The upgrade places the church at the forefront of religious broadcasting and prepares it for possible television broadcasting in the future. Because of its 16:9 infrastructure, the video system is also upgradeable to high-definition.
DST's main focus was within the machine room (MVMR) and control room (MVCR). The MVMR consists of three rows of equipment racks: one row for camera controls and VTRs, one for terminal gear, and the third for equipment mainframes. A 64x64 Leitch Integrator digital routing system is the heart of MVMR. DST built it to 32x32 to allow for future expansion. The MVCR features two rows of consoles with a Sony monitor wall at the front of the room. The rear console is the CG area, which uses Inscriber systems for Webcast graphics and feeding scripts. The main console is composed of a Yamaha DM1000 audio mixer and two video switchers: a Ross Synergy-2 production switcher and an owner-furnished Sony DFS-700 house switcher for image magnification. DST added SDI cards to the Sony switcher.
Other integration work included a five-camera installation in the Shelter of Hope, the church's 7500 seating area. Four Hitachi D4000 digital cameras are situated throughout the area, and a pan/tilt zoom camera head was attached to the ceiling for overhead shots of the crowd and orchestra. Tie-lines were established between lighting control (LPCR) and MVCR to control signals sent to the projectors and QC images sent to the projection screens at the front of the church. DST also provided video monitors and reference, time code and word clock gear in several audio rooms for synchronizing video and audio.
For more information, visit www.dstech.com.
