"hot", telling them to zoom in a little, get a different shot, etc. That will be distracting to your other members.2) He/She'll be listening to sound quality quite frequently to make sure that it's not over-driving,if the signal is loud enough, etc. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference in the signal cominginto a headset and what's in the room. Keep in mind, that if you're not getting good quality audiotapes, you need to work on it. You'll be getting the same quality sound on your videos as well.There are several different ways to place cameras. One is for Camera 1 to be in the back of thechurch next to the center isle. Camera 2 could be at the back right corner of the church, andCamera 3 could be "partially hidden" behind the piano/organ or at the corner of the stage. Thisway, you can get two different views of what's going on on-stage, and with the front camera, youcan get audience shots, or a profile shot of the soloist or minister. With live switching, you willeliminate the need for editing. (unless your live camera gets a shot of the floor that you don'tlike) For the bad shots, record tapes in your cameras for emergencies so that you can do someinsert editing. After you finish editing, you can re-use them for the next service. For editingdown to a thirty minute slot, you'll need two VCR decks and a controller, or you can get acomputer set up as a non-linear editor. If this is the option you want to choose, you'll need lots of hard disk space. You'll get about 5 minutes of video per gig of hard drive space. Make sure thatyou talk to people who are using the system that you are thinking about getting to see how theylike it. Ask how many times it crashes on them. If you're on a tight budget, you can delete one of the cameras to add another VCR. Let's talk about upgrades to the equipment above. First, I'dsuggest upgrading from the S-VHS recorder to a Sony DSR-30 DVCam deck. With S-VHS,you've got an analog format, and with the new DV formats, it's digital. You can make copies, doediting, etc, and you can stay in the digital realm. You'll definitely see a difference. If you havelong services, DVCam records on a 184 minute tape, where DVCPRO records on a 126 minutetape. Also with the DSR-30 at about $4000, you can insert edit and you have jog-shuttlecapabilities, where the DVCPRO equivalent runs about $6K for a player and $8K for therecorder. "Where can we get this equipment?" you might ask. For starters, go to your localmagazine store and look for video magazines. You'll find ads in the back. Some mail-order companies that I've used are Columbia Audio/Video, and B&H Photo/Video. With mail-order companies, don't expect to ask very many questions; they are there to take orders. Give themmodel numbers and your credit card number. The other option is video supply houses. A coupleare Technical Industries; MCSI www.TechInd.com or www.MCSINET.com and Clark Powellwww.clark-powell.com. As far as extended warranties, I've personally spent over $100,000 onvideo equipment over the past 12 years, and with the exception of the 4 pieces that I fried andone that I dropped, only one piece needed to be returned for service. I've only had to spend about$2000 for equipment repairs. That might be because I've got a praying wife, but I don't know... If you'll notice, I started out on the list at about $11K, but I added another VCR and controller (another $1900) and a non-linear editor (about another $10K). Then I started talking aboutupgrades. Video is an expensive habit. I started out with all that I thought I needed a few yearsago with $20,000, and I kept adding on. Oh, I forgot, You'll need to provide duplicates for your congregation. You'll need a distribution amplifier (3x radio shack; $29.95, or 10x Elite Video;$499.95), and a bank of VCRs; (decent ones for $129.95 each). Did I mention that it's anexpensive habit?
Leave a Comment