InfoComm, the Information Communications show, invaded the Las Vegas convention center in June, bringing with it a plethora of new products and innovations geared towards information transmission and display. While not purely dedicated to the display technology sector, much of the buzz at this show does center on video displays, projectors and associated products. However, audio manufacturers exhibiting at the show were numerous, and lighting companies, while not as well represented, were also present. Here's a small sample of what we saw that piqued our interest at the show.
John Linden, integration manager at Creative Visions in Raleigh, North Carolina saw several new products he is excited about. The Renkus-Heinz CF and CFX series loudspeakers got his attention. Linden states, "Finally – a speaker made by a high-end manufacturer that hasn't had all the quality stripped from them."
Serious Magic debuted Ovation for PowerPoint, which augments PowerPoint's standard animations and transitions. Linden indicates this would be a "great way to add some additional glitz, or simply professionalism, to your presentations."
Kramer Electronics is a favorite of Linden. "They have added some very good switcher/scalers ideal for the church market," Linden says. "They have more small, problem-solver type boxes than almost anyone in the 'Kramer Tools' group, available at about half the cost of competing products."
Last (but not least) from Linden are the video projectors by Projectiondesign. Linden cites their high-quality images for the price point and reliability are two reasons why he appreciates the company and their product so much.
Anthony D. Coppedge, church media consultant based in Bedford, Texas is particularly impressed with the Thompson Grass Valley Turbo iDDR digital disk recorder. Coppedge states that "this digital disk recorder is a fantastic VCR-style device with instant cue and playback from the internal hard drives. It has two channels of output, enabling you to playback two different clips at the same time." Video is loaded into the device onto its hard drives, and once loaded is played back from those hard drives. Perfect cuing and instantaneous starting of the clips are two advantages of this device. For churches that are looking to take their video playback capability to a new level, this might be just the product they are looking for to make that happen.
Coppedge also is excited about the new FSR Eagle multi-scaler, multi-image, multi-program output switcher. The switcher provides true seamless dissolves, picture-in-picture and keying with fill dissolves. At $30,000, it's not inexpensive, but "is one of the first true production switcher-style scalers" for the church that needs this level of performance.
The Barco iCon H600 high-definition video projector caught Church Production Magazine's Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Brian Blackmore's attention, with its ability to display four video inputs simultaneously via picture-in-picture. An integrated display server and networking capability enable users to remote their desktops to the projector, or upload files to it as well.
Blackmore also appreciates Panasonic's DVCPRO P2 solid-state recordable media for their video cameras. Eliminating all moving parts from the recording device portion of the camera, video is recorded onto P2 cards, which are in the same physical configuration as a standard PCMCIA laptop computer card.
Dawn Henderson, Arts Director at Northwoods Community Church in Peoria, Illinois is excited about the creative possibilities in one product that was tucked far back into a corner of the show floor. Essentially a video projection screen generated out of fog, the unit drops an even sheet of fog from the underside of the unit, creating a "screen" that is 79-inches wide and 59-inches high. While not a large projection surface, the Fog Screen has numerous possibilities for adding fascinating effects to a service. Imagine having a unit suspended over the inside of the main entrance to your auditorium, and projecting a custom video of a person beckoning those in the atrium to enter the auditorium and take part in the service. Those entering the room would walk through the screen (and thus the person calling them in) as they enter the room. One can only imagine the uses those in the youth ministry would come up with. However, don't pull out your credit card yet. The Fog Screen representative at the show informed me that the unit sells for $100,000. Rental of the Fog Screen for special events is possible, however, eliminating the costly up-front investment. Check out the demonstration video on the company's web site.
Others were intrigued by Stardraw Control's control-over-IP software solution, enabling the end user or systems integrator to build control and monitoring programs for any device able to be interfaced to a network. A savvy church tech could custom design a control system that would run on any computer that supports Microsoft's .NET runtime system (including handheld computers with wireless networking) that would allow a technical director to monitor and control any device in the facility. Imagine getting a call on your cell phone from a volunteer having problems with a projector in the childrens' ministry area, and being able to pull out your Windows CE handheld device and check the status of that projector, and even change some settings on it – instantly.
In addition to the show exhibit hall, Church Production Magazine conducted their T3 Technical Training Tour, bringing together technical directors from around the country to hone their audio, video and lighting skills with veteran instructors Anthony D. Coppedge, Armando Fullwood and Greg Persinger. Students were able to learn from these three industry experts their techniques for using technology to support the communication of the gospel with excellence, learn team-building and leadership techniques, as well as take guided tours of the InfoComm show floor. The next T3 will be offered at WFX - Worship Facilities Conference and Expo in Nashville, Tennessee. See www.wfxweb.com for more information.
Quick Links| COMPANY: PRODUCT(S): QUICK-LINK: URL: |
Barco iCon H600 high-definition video projector (770) 218-3200 www.barco.com |
| COMPANY: PRODUCT(S): QUICK-LINK: URL: |
Church Production Magazine T3 Technical Training Tour and WFX conference and trade show (919) 677-4000 www.churchproduction.com |
| COMPANY: PRODUCT(S): QUICK-LINK: URL: |
Fog Screen Fog-based video screen (647) 294-8139 www.fogscreen.com |
| COMPANY: PRODUCT(S): QUICK-LINK: URL: |
FSR Eagle production switcher/scaler (800) 332-3771 www.fsrinc.com |
| COMPANY: PRODUCT(S): QUICK-LINK: URL: |
Kramer Electronics Kramer Tools product group (888) 275-6311 or (908) 735-0018 www.kramerelectronics.com |
| COMPANY: PRODUCT(S): QUICK-LINK: URL: |
Panasonic DVCPRO P2 solid-state media (800) 528-8601 www.panasonic.com |
| COMPANY: PRODUCT(S): QUICK-LINK: URL: |
Projectiondesign Video projectors (888) 588-1024 www.projectiondesign.com |
| COMPANY: PRODUCT(S): QUICK-LINK: URL: |
Renkus-Heinz CF and CFX series loudspeakers (949) 588-9997 www.renkus-heinz.com |
| COMPANY: PRODUCT(S): QUICK-LINK: URL: |
Serious Magic Ovation for PowerPoint (916) 985-8000 www.seriousmagic.com |
| COMPANY: PRODUCT(S): QUICK-LINK: URL: |
Stardraw Control Control and monitoring over IP software (866) 978-0906 or (212) 672-1855 www.stardraw.com |
| COMPANY: PRODUCT(S): QUICK-LINK: URL: |
Thompson Grass Valley Turbo iDDR digital disk recorder See website for regional distributor www.grassvalley.com |
Jim Kumorek is the Managing Editor of Church Production Magazine and Worship Facilities Magazine. He can be reached at jkumorek@churchproduction.com.
