THIS PAGE IS AN EXPLANATION OF OUR LIVE STREAMING AUDIO/VIDEO SYSTEM by Dave Norment
During the pandemic, Pastor Cyril Johnston and I met with the deacons of the church to propose a system where we could offer our worship services live on Facebook and recorded replays on YouTube. This system would be especially useful during periods of time when the church had to stop in-person worship due to COVID protocall. Following this meeting, I was directed to obtain estimates for installing such a system. I contacted a reputable company near Huntington, Creative Audio/Visual Group, to obtain technical guidance and cost estimates. Creative installed the outstanding system at the First United Methodist Church across the street. I informed Creative of what my/our requirements would be for the system and they provided an estimate that could be amended depending on how elaborate a system we eventually would receive congregational approval for.
Another meeting was held with the deacons and the layout and cost of the system was discussed. The most desirable system was approved, which included three fully remote controlled high definition cameras located at three prime locations around the sanctuary. Additional lighting was also approved that would be necessary for proper television illumination. During a quarterly church business meeting, the entire project was presented to the congregation for approval. We received full approval during this meeting to proceed with the purchase and installation of the equipment.
Once the many boxes of equipment arrived, Ransom Hackett, Drew Daugherty and myself began running camera cables throughout the building and mounting the cameras to the wall in the sanctuary. Amanda and I also started assembling tables in the balcony area to hold the equipment. Relocating the existing audio equipment came next, followed by setting up of the new video equipment and computers. A few weeks later, Creative Audio/Visual Group arrived at the church to run cables for the new spot lights and to ceiling mount the equipment. They also connected other cables and began the process of getting all the video equipment up and running. Test live-streaming and recording began. All necessary adjustments were made. We were extremely pleased to present out first official live stream of our worship service on Facebook, on Easter Morning, 2021. A recording was also made for YouTube viewing later that day.
A basic run-down of out equipment consists of three PTZ Optics high definition remote controlled cameras, a joystick controller for the cameras, a Blackmagic video switcher, a AJA HELO live streaming/recording interface, HP graphics computer, three high output LED spotlights, remote control for the spotlights, a Peavy audio console.
My experience and work history includes: electrical engineering in the radio and television broadcast industry, on-air operations in radio and TV, chief bench technician at a video production facility and assistant chief engineer with a radio station owned by United Broadcasting Corp.
Our tech team consists of Amanda Norment (video/cameras), Scarlett Schaub (video/cameras), Ray Berger (audio), and myself (crew chief).
