Unlike many other large venues, churches typically don't have the budget, staff or infrastructure to handle the constant technological upgrades that most commercial venues their size would. As a result those of us in the church world have to find a way to stretch every penny we spend and every piece of technology we buy. For example, when you upgrade to that new HD-SDI video switcher, it may really improve the video quality in your auditorium, but might cause you problems throughout the rest of your building. At this point you can put SDI all through your building and update your TV's or you can use your existing TV's (as long as they have a tuner) that you probably have and cross- or down-convert your signal for RF distribution. If you do the math the RF distribution is going to be cheaper, especially if you already have TV's and more importantly signal path that you can use.
Contemporary Research makes a solution for this scenario, the QMOD-SDI 1.5 HD-SDI Modulator. This product has the potential to help you stretch your current investments when making capital upgrades, by allowing your HD-SDI signal to be easily distributed on an RF network. The modulator creates a high-definition 720p/ 1080i MPEG-2 stream for broadcasting over RF. It delivers a fully agile QAM 64/256 digital cable channel 2-135, and streams IPTV from the GigE Ethernet port giving you a couple of different options for delivery.
With a variety of connectors on the QMOD modulator, it accepts a variety of signals and formats including standard SDI, 3G SDI, and 60/30 Hz feeds from prosumer SDI sources on the SDI input. It also has one component input for 1080i, 720p, 480p, 480i video, one composite video input along with stereo, optical and coax audio inputs. The product will be available later this fall, so I didn't get to test this, but I assume this means that even if you are currently running an SD signal chain you should still be able to get signal distributed through this modulator. That way if you aren't to the point of having an HD-SDI or 3G-SDI production switcher you can distribute your current content with your current signal format, without fear of having to redo that work in a few years when you have made upgrades. No one appreciates future-proofing as much as church techies, and this solution definitely has the opportunity to be a good long term investment. It also has the option to upgrade later to full scaling and dual-channel operation, which is accomplished via upgrade key codes, insuring that this investment can meet your needs now and further down the road. Contemporary Research says the second channel offers HD Component allowing a church to add a cable feed or digital signage for a nominal investment.
Contemporary Research also looks to have nailed it with the variety of operational options including the front panel buttons and easy-to-use menus. However they didn't stop there, the QMOD-SDI 1.5 HD-SDI Modulator also has an on-board web page for setup and monitoring, and accepts control with IP Telnet commands. This offers options for control and control location, meaning you could position the unit almost anywhere in your building and control it from your control room or most any computer located on the same network.
While all this sounds good, using an RF modulator is not a silver bullet for distribution. There are some basic down sides to RF signal modulation that prevent it from being the best solution in all circumstances. One of the larger issues is latency. All RF modulators introduce some amount of latency. Based on what they are doing with the signal conversion, this is to be expected. Provided you are not in a location where you can see or hear the live event, a little bit of latency on the far side of a large building is not really an issue. However, if you run this signal to the TVs mounted right outside your worship center they will conflict and compete with the sound coming through the open doors.
The other real downside of RF modulators is picture loss. Effectively you are taking a signal that is too big to travel down this signal chain and making it small enough to fit. Something has to go and in most cases it's going to be picture quality due to the compression. In the case of the QMOD-SDI 1.5 HD-SDI Modulator from Contemporary Research, that compression is MPEG 2, which is the same compression used on your standard DVDs. This compression is still used industry wide for some over-the-air digital television and some satellite TV systems, making it a reliably known industry standard.
If you have been in your current building more than 10 years and you accounted for any signal distribution whatsoever during the build, then chances are good an RF modulator is going to be an easy way to extend the life of the network you already have. This should also give you the option to upgrade to the latest and greatest video system without fear of having to go back and retool your existing network. It also gives you the opportunity to reuse some legacy gear in TV's (as long as they have a tuner) that you might already have. All churches appreciate being able to stretch a dollar and with the Contemporary Research QMOD-SDI 1.5 HD-SDI Modulator you should be able to stretch it pretty far.
