Answers to church tech questions on if Pro6 is right for us, live streaming sync, HDMI problems, & tricaster for churches
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Join the conversation; leave a comment below the video, or hit me up on Twitter (@PaulAlanClif)On today’s ChurchTechCast.com Q & A, answers to church tech questions on if Pro6 is right for us, live streaming sync, HDMI problems, & tricaster for churches
Here are the latest questions:
Jim Castleman via email
Hi, Paul–I’m a pastor of a small church that is going to be losing our main music guy this coming year. I need to be able to import music (hymns and praise-type songs) and project them onto a screen. I’ve used Powerpoint for projecting words on the screen but am looking for something that will make the synchronization easier and the whole production process less time-consuming. I’ve done as much research as I can on-line and have watched your videos, but most of them don’t seem to answer the basic question: is this the right program for us? I would need to get some Mac’s and then purchase the program and whatever else would be necessary. I obviously don’t want to make the investment if this is going to be over-kill.
Whadda ya think?
Thanks,
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Answer:
ProPresenter is going to be the easiest and most powerful option. There’s free worship software, like OpenLP or OpenSong that you can try, but if ease is what you’re looking for, they may or many not work for you. I’d try them on a current computer first and if they work, go for it. If you find you need more, then go on and get Pro6. I don’t think you’ll regret it.
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Todd Wise via email
Hello Paul,I am the media director at our church. We live stream services, bible studies and etc. For the past month I have noticed that the video and audio are not in sync. Could this be due to an upload speed issue with our ISP? We currently have 4mb of upload speed. I have also noticed that when I view the stream from my phone using the wifi it tends to buffer a lot but when I use my cellular 4g data it doesn’t have that issue. Would you let me know if there might be a solution to this issue? Members in the sanctuary are using the wifi as well as our church administration.
Thank You
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Answer:
I’m assuming that when you use 4G and it works fine, everything else is the same. If so, I’d look at your internet. Either others are using it and using up some of your bandwidth (do a test when no one is around to see if it behaves the same) or you’re not getting the speed you’re supposed to.
I guess it’s possible your encoder isn’t set up correctly, too. If you’re trying to send a 5mbps signal instead of the 200-1000kbps you need, that could cause it too.
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Jay Long in response to my article “VGA, DVI, or HDMI: How to Connect Your Church Projector” on Churchm.ag
I am hoping someone can help me with our church projector problem. We have a ceiling mounted projector that is about 150 ft (cable run) from the media booth. I have been using HDMI over CAT6 with sender/receiver balun units. It worked consistently for about 8 months with a problem and recently the projector would not recognize the signal. I replaced the balun units but it still would not work. I swapped out the projector with another one we had and it worked for about two weeks and now the same problem. CAT6 cable checks out perfectly so I am stumped. I was thinking about running direct HDMI fiber to correct the problem but have been reading about SD HDI cable. The problem is that we are using a Datavideo SE 500 switcher with an RCA to HDMI converter. I would love to get rid of all of the points of failure at the converters. Pastor might be willing to approve an upgrade to a digital switcher (Datavideo SE 700). The problem is that we have an RCA input coming from camera and another one from the computer. Any ideas?
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Answer:
I’ve heard about problems with baluns that SDI just doesn’t have.
With that said, remember that “just barely works” looks identical to “works perfectly” with digital. So, it could be a slight loss of signal at the computer that was just enough to cause problems at the projector. You haven’t actually traded out the cat6, so I’d try a short-leash test bypassing the current cat6 to see if that helps.
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guitarguts666 on YouTube in response to my video “Using Propresenter as a video switcher and why that’s not a good idea”
Buy a TriCaster if you want to do Church Video Production switching and good HD-SDI cameras, whether they are robotic ala-Panasonic or JVC that can do POE+ for power and control. Minimal TriCaster would be a TC410. In order to have low latency and good lipsync and the ability to IMAG to a screen live with the pastor or choir if needed. Or a TC460 or above all have Genlock ability so do Panasonic AW-HE130 robotic broadcast grade cameras are the best. You then keep the video delay below 1frame on output. This way if you have to hit a projector remember you’re going to add a another frame of delay to the signal if you use a scaling switcher. You need to be under 3 frames in order to have a perfect lip sync otherwise you’ll never be able to use a live switched camera on a projector in sanctuary. If you hang a camera upside-down then you’re adding a frame of delay for the chip to flip the image. so keep all this in mind.
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Answer:
I’ve got to disagree with the Tricaster. Any switcher that’s basically a windows box will have the same troubles–viruses, updates the break stuff, etc. In that case, why not just go with wirecast and a computer of your choosing?! I’d rather go with dedicated hardware like either a Panasonic (model escapes me now, but it’s an HD-SDI switcher) or one of the ATEM line by BMD. You’re right about latency, though.
Also, keep in mind that the point of this video was that certain churches were already trying to use Pro5 as a switcher, so I showed why NOT to do it.
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About this show:
This show is meant to help church techies the world over get their questions answered. Paul Alan Clifford specializes in video, graphic design, social media, new media, and the web. If there is something you want to know that’s outside these areas of expertise, given some time, he’ll do his best to find the answer from other experts he knows.
If you do tech at your church or you use computers to advance your church’s mission, this show is for you.
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