As the pastoral staff of 121 Community Church in Grapevine, Texas, was planning the building of an entirely new worship space, a key infrastructure consideration was the need for significantly improved image magnification of its services. The church leadership desired a more immersive experience than provided by the prosumer-grade cameras used at its previous venue for Sunday services.
The solution chosen was two Panasonic AK-UC3000 4K/HD studio/field cameras in the church's new worship space, which now seats 900 congregants. (121 offers three identical worship services on Sundays at 9:15am, 11:00am, and 5:00pm.)
According to 121's Worship and Environments Minister Colton Price, “Our former A/V capabilities were modest at best, and in the new space we were committed to a broadcast-quality experience for our in-person and on-line worshipers. Our criteria included better sensors, better lensing options, CCU control and, most importantly, future-proofing with native 4K acquisition, all of which we found in the UC3000.”
“The UC3000s have been very easy for our 'all volunteer' operators to master,” Price adds.
“Our video producer Matt Coleman is able to fine tune color correction, iris and more from the control room via the AK-HRP1000 remote panel. Another benefit we've found is that the intercom system can come in through the camera over the same fiber cable.”
Price explains that the two UC3000s are installed on tripods in the back center of the space and the cameras are equipped with Fujinon 2/3” XA20SX8.5BRM ENG-style zoom lenses. Paired with Panasonic PT-RW930BU WXGA large-venue projectors, the UC3000s currently output 1080p, but Price notes the cameras' ability to “glide into 4K.”
He notes that simulated live streams of the worship services are broadcast daily at 10:00am, 3:00 pm and 7:00pm. Price says he intends to have the UC3000s double as production cameras to shoot congregant profiles, event promotions, web content and more.
121 Community Church has been operating out its new location since early April 2017. For more information , visit www.121cc.com.
Systems integrator Epic Resource Group (www.epicresourcegroup.com), specialists in live production systems for houses of worship, designed and built the infrastructure and A/V systems for 121 Community Church.
For more information about Panasonic professional video products, visit www.panasonic.com/broadcast or contact Panasonic at 877-803-8492.
