A look at what’s on the hi-def horizon
Today, television viewers' demand for HD content ranges beyond sports, the nightly news, and popular prime time programs, and the amount of HD content available increases daily as broadcasters strive to meet this demand. Within the past couple of years, leading religious broadcasters and production facilities also have made significant investments in HD production.
Trinity Broadcast Network (TBN) is among the religious-broadcasting leaders making this transition. TBN has built HD production facilities in multiple locations for its own programs so that shows taped across the country will meet the same high standard when broadcast on the network's soon-to-be-launched HD channel, TBN HD. TBN's commitment to HD gives other religious broadcasters added incentive to invest in HD: Many of their programs are aired on TBN, and they need to be prepared to provide HD content by the time the new channel hits the air.
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Crystal Cathedral of Garden Grove, California is one notable production facility that has upgraded from SD to HD, changing out all of its production equipment and moving to virtually tapeless operations. Shown here, the Avid machine room. |
Crystal Cathedral, located in Garden Grove, California is one notable production facility that has upgraded to HD, changing out all of its production equipment and moving to operations that are virtually tapeless. Through this upgrade, Crystal Cathedral not only shifted from SD to HD, but also implemented more streamlined and sophisticated handling of media in a time-saving production workflow without adding to the expense of the upgrade.
"Because we're a ministry, we faced some budgetary constraints in updating our production facilities," says Jim Penner, executive producer of the Crystal Cathedral Ministries "Hour of Power" series for the past eight years. "However, we knew that the time had come to update our analog facilities to either digital or HD systems, and we chose to take the leap all at once to HD. The cost differential wasn't that great, and in three or four years, we'll be right where we need to be as the rest of the market catches up."
HD Everywhere
While the larger religious networks and broadcasters have led the move to HD, the transition affects church production across all types and sizes of worship facilities. By the end of 2006, there were 27.7 million HDTV homes in the United States, with a sixth of all homes having at least one HDTV display. The high rate of HDTV adoption by consumers presents broadcasters with a quickly growing audience of viewers clamoring for HD content. Almost every major television market now has a local station that is currently producing and broadcasting local news in HD or will be in the very near future. As viewers become accustomed to this new standard for video and audio quality, their own standards rise.
It may not seem all that important to get a talking-heads show or interview-based program into HD, but the reality is that HD will soon be the norm. Thus, any content that isn't produced in HD is going to look relatively cheap. Viewers who, in the next couple of years, become accustomed to the look of HD will notice that SD content looks flat and dull in comparison. And this will be true whether they're at home, at their in-laws' place, or at church.
Benny Hinn Ministries recently upgraded its Aliso Viejo, California facilities to HD, understanding that the shift would play a critical role in the continued success of its worldwide broadcasts.
"We've always seen our ministry's program, 'This Is Your Day,' as an industry leader in terms of quality of production, and we decided that an HD plan was essential if we were to maintain that leadership," says Truett Hancock, vice president of television operations at Benny Hinn Ministries. "We believe our ability to provide programming in HD will translate to more interested viewers, which in turn will translate to a greater interest in the ministry element of our television shows. HD catches the eye of those who otherwise might not have looked twice."
A high perceived production value is important to viewers, whether watching from the sofa or at the worship center. Houses of worship will benefit from exploring HD options now. While SD equipment will continue its valuable role in engaging church members in the service, the next two or three years will see HD becoming the more popular standard. Fortunately for facilities looking into HD, there are many more affordable HD cameras and studio equipment available now than ever before.
Early HD Planning
In starting the HD planning process, facility engineers need to take advantage of their colleagues' experiences, asking around at other churches and worship sites, even sending representatives to conferences and trade shows such as WFX, NRB, or NAB. A lot of facilities are looking into the possibilities and potential of HD, and valuable lessons can be learned from others' efforts and successes.
Because facilities can get into the HD production environment for not much more than SD, it's the clear choice for those looking to build something new or upgrade outdated production gear. It's a matter of return on investment. Those who don't opt for HD production systems will only get a couple of years' use out of them. The investment in HD provides longer-term utility and value.
Churches looking at upgrading production systems for the sake of their services, rather than for regular TV broadcasts, tend to first spend a lot of money on their sound systems and then decide they want to move into video production, but without spending a lot of money. The initial goal may be to provide services on DVD or to viewers over the Internet. However, the natural inclination is to expand, and facility managers should be prepared for such growth.
What church members see on TV at home serves as the baseline standard by which they judge media displays elsewhere. When they go to church and know their offerings have helped to pay for the production and display systems, most people expect it to look as good as or better than the system they have at home.
Going HD Now
Why is now the right time to make an HD plan? The consumer market is moving toward HD saturation, while at the same time HD cameras are getting less expensive. Again, worship facilities don't have to make this investment immediately. More and more options become available by the day, and as HD becomes the de facto standard, facilities must look into building their own HD production capabilities.
The first consideration in planning for HD is whether to work in 720p or 1080i. Most broadcasters have chosen to go with 1080i, though the two formats often wind up looking the same. When content is being created for broadcast, then producing it in the same standard used by the broadcaster is the best bet. For internal productions or Web-based delivery, it's really up to the individual facility. Many worship facilities might be better served going with 720p to stay in the progressive realm for re-purposing to Web- or DVD-based distribution.
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Affordable HD cameras and studio equipment are becoming more readily available. While SD equipment is still valuable for church services, the next two or three years will place HD as the more popular standard. Photo by Brad Olander. |
A wide range of cameras and lenses are available for low-cost HD acquisition, and today's 1/3-inch cameras look a lot better than one might expect. As far as graphics go, most churches will find that they have a lot of 4:3 material that needs to be repurposed or recreated at a 16:9 aspect ratio in order to look acceptable on an HD display. While this part of moving to HD production may sound simple, it can be an extremely time-consuming process for those facilities with quite a store of 4:3 graphics.
It may be tempting to ignore the need to convert legacy graphics to 16:9, and it is common to get behind and wind up stretching and squeezing images to make them fit into live productions. Given the time and money invested in going HD, though, it is well worth the extra effort to make sure that the big opening of the new HD system isn't compromised by funny-looking versions of well-known graphics and images. Because this is a software-based process, the cost of upgrading images is much more time than money. The file size may be larger, but the cost to create graphics remains the same.
For those facilities considering a hardware-based character generator (CG), the costs are a bit higher. But even those systems are coming down in price. The real key is in using a 16:9 aspect ratio. Static images in SD will look OK in HD if they share the same aspect ratio.
During evaluation of HD formats, it is also important to look at editing options. For example, HDV cameras are very affordable, and virtually every major editing system now supports the format in one form or another. Affordable HD switchers also are on the market today, available from several different companies at price points not much more than SD switchers of the recent past.
The actual production workflow won't change that much with the shift to HD. Issues such as lighting can be a "gotcha," as the higher resolution provides much less leeway. The existing lighting system may be sufficient, but it will pay to explore HD lighting techniques to ensure that the stage or set really is shown in its best light. At any broadcast-oriented convention, whether targeted to religious broadcasters or not, there should be at least one seminar on lighting for HD. It is an important element in the quality of the overall production.
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HD production studio. Photo by Brad Olander. |
The higher resolution of HD also puts a greater emphasis on the stage or altar area. The typically wide design of these spaces in worship facilities is complemented by the widescreen format. It's a more natural image for the eye, as well. Nonetheless, it may take some practice and adjusting to compose shots for a 16:9 aspect ratio. The wider shot may show parts of the church that were never on-screen before, so the physical space also should be evaluated and prepared for HD filming.
HD or the Highway
While there are many benefits to working with newer HD technologies and equipment, the more significant achievement lies in meeting worshippers' expectations. It's not so much about getting ahead as it is about staying with the times-keeping church messages tied to the message rather than distracting them with tired technology.
The "wow" factor of HD images is rapidly becoming diluted by the rapid growth of available HD content. A corresponding rise in viewer standards is inevitable, and this change is already under way. Right now churches and other worship centers need to take HD production seriously, understand the new possibilities open to them, and focus on meeting the congregation's expectations with a new standard of media production.
Pat Thompson is vice-president of operations with TV Magic Inc., a broadcast and professional systems integration company, and has more than 20 years' experience in production, post-production, and systems integration. He can be reached at patt@TVMagic.tv.
