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Since the pandemic forced churches to prioritize streaming, technical production teams have found themselves adopting IP-based video workflows on some level, whether they felt ready or not. And while few would argue that IP video is the future, how organizations choose to make the migration has a significant impact on how successful they will be.
Recently, Church.Design writer Carolyn Heinze spoke with a number of IP video solutions providers to gain insight on what factors need to be taken into consideration before churches make this transition.
Do you have the bandwidth?
One of the challenges associated with IP video is that, many times, it’s being distributed across networks with restricted bandwidths. “We’re dealing with general-purpose networks––they’re not actually designed for video, they’re designed for data communications,” says Graham Sharp, CEO at Broadcast Pix, a live video broadcast and streaming solutions provider headquartered in Chelmsford, Mass. “I have to heavily compress the data, and then I have to chop it up into little bits such that they will go down through my protocol stack, across my IP network, and up the other side. That means I introduce latency, or I need a lot more processing power. These are the things that you’ve got to think about.”
Broadcast Pix endeavors to do a lot of the thinking for its users by offering tools that don’t require in-depth IP networking skills. ChurchPix, an all-in-one production solution, includes two IP cameras, PC hardware, an IP switch, up to three NDI inputs, a library of stills, clips and templates, and audio inputs that support any Windows Audio device (including NDI, Dante, and external USB converters).
Still, Sharp underlines the need for church techs to gain a decent understanding of some basic IP video concepts, such as how signals travel through the protocol stack. He notes that it’s important to understand the difference between TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), UDP (User Datagram Protocol), and RTP or RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol), and he also urges techs to learn about the difference between the SMPTE 2110, SMPTE 2022 and NDI protocols.
“The power of video over IP is only realized when the network can handle the workload.”
Barbara Spicek, President and General Manager, NewTek Global, San Antonio, TX
Barbara Spicek, president and general manager at NewTek Global, an IP video solutions developer headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, encourages churches migrating to an IP video workflow to invest in their networks. “Compared to the cost of dedicated video equipment, it is much more affordable to seek out higher quality equipment like routers and switches,” she says. “The power of video over IP is only realized when the network can handle the workload.” She adds that Ethernet cables are considerably less expensive than HDMI cables, and are capable of sending and receiving multiple video and audio signals.
IP ups creativity and scalability
Spicek points out that IP-based solutions give church production teams more creative options than dedicated video equipment. “IP-based workflows offer more creative flexibility by providing access to new storytelling tools,” she says. “In modern productions, sources like presentations, video playback, graphics, and remote guests are all coming from computers. These can be easily added to a production network using free or low-cost tools which are readily available today.” She cites the NDI Screen Capture tool, an app that allows for screen-sharing over the network, enabling users to incorporate elements like PowerPoint presentations into a production. Spicek adds that NDI also offers tools (some free) that connect remote presenters or participants via video conferencing platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
Eric Chang, vice president of marketing at TVU Networks, a developer of IP-based live video solutions headquartered in Mountain View, California, notes that IP offers a number of benefits over traditional, on-premise workflows, including the need for fewer personnel. With IP enabling switching, mixing, and graphics generation in the cloud, production teams needn’t be tied to a specific physical location. “The right solution will also allow a church to scale easily and cost-effectively as it needs to grow,” he says. Operators can run productions via their computers in combination with an IP encoder, IP camera, and a transmitter; he points to the TVU Anywhere mobile app as one transmission solution.
Chang notes that TVU’s philosophy focuses on designing tools that don’t require users to have extensive IP video knowledge in order to get started. Its solutions are accessible via a standard web browser and internet connection. “Church staff or volunteers can collaborate virtually with multiple participants in remote locations, produce a live service in real time with multiple cameras, and automatically share the video online via social media, CDN [Content Delivery Network] or website,” he explains.
“It shouldn’t be one or the other, where suddenly tomorrow you change everything to IP. It should be a hybrid, and then you migrate."
Satoshi Kanemura, President, FOR-A, Cypress, CA
FOR-A, a broadcast and production equipment manufacturer headquartered in Cypress, California, takes what President Satoshi Kanemura calls a “step-by-step approach” to helping churches transition to IP video. “It shouldn’t be one or the other, where suddenly tomorrow you change everything to IP,” he says. “It should be a hybrid, and then you migrate. That’s what we’re offering right now.”
FOR-A’s house of worship package includes the FOR-A HVS-490 HANABI video production switcher, Variant Systems Group’s Envivo Studio production suite (which includes a live switcher, internal keyer, and will drive multiple venue screens for IMAG), ClassX content creation and graphics playout, an ODYSSEY Insight video server, and EDA Series delay units and FA-9600 multi-signal processor.
“With what we’re offering now, we are focusing on remote production,” Kanemura says. “Because of COVID, there is some possibility that the operator has to do the production from home. If he can bring the switcher control panel home and connect it to the processor at the church via IP, he can do all of the switching, or use the keyer, from his house. It’s easy.”
Last spring, Panasonic introduced Kairos, an open architecture, IT/IP video processing platform for live video switching. One of its key features: “virtually unlimited” Mixed Effects (ME) scalability, eliminating the hardware-associated cost of adding more MEs when required, and facilitating reconfigurations as production needs change and evolve. “With Kairos, you’re just building outputs with multiple layers, and those layers can have transitions, so there’s not this increasing cost as you’re adding unique outputs,” explains Michael Bergeron, senior category owner, advanced technology, video production at Panasonic. “I can feed multiple screens within the sanctuary, I can have multiple streaming feeds, and I’m just limited by the processing power of what I can produce.” The new Kairos Core 1000, an update to the Kairos Core 100, offers increased video processing capacity.
Wide open flexibility
Bergeron says that when it comes to IP video, designers' clients can allow themselves to, almost literally, think outside of the box––no longer must they think in terms of one linear broadcast feed. “When you are sending it in IP and streaming out, it’s not a huge leap to send multiple versions of that, and it’s possible for you to send custom versions depending on what the ultimate destination is, such as multiple languages or different captioning,” he says. “You’ve got a lot more flexibility [and] you’re not constrained like you would be with a linear broadcast. If you think that way, you’ll be able to take better advantage of the fact that you’re streaming rather than broadcasting.”
