When we think about blending multiple screens across front-of-house displays, like integrating IMAG with LED wall graphics and video, one of the words that comes to mind is hassle. Even with powerful programs like ProPresenter and Resolume, production directors and creative managers are usually boxed in by the constraints of the software as well as the hardware that powers it. Yes, you can take a little time and build impressive displays with those programs, but what if you don’t have the time? Or rather, what if you didn’t need to take the time? What if, in real-time, you could drag and drop not only separate images and videos, but whole programs themselves as well as live video feeds anywhere on your FOH displays, and play them all simultaneously? Oh, and all through one machine?
Enter the Pixera Four Media Server. Thanks to Pixera, Church Production sent a unit to Shaun Miller, the Production Director at Rolling Hills Church in Franklin, Tennessee, and he was immediately impressed.
“Honestly, it opened up a whole new world for us. The possibilities really do become almost endless if you if you really want to go that far. It just gives you so many more options to be creative with video content,” Miller says.
“The Pixera Four that we evaluated was an incredible machine. It had the ability to take fiber video in and out, SDI video in and out, HDMI video in and out, and Display Port in and out, all via PCI cards that are, are locked in it. If you were a gaming nerd, this would be your dream machine. The capabilities are almost endless just since it's completely customizable,” he adds.
The church is heavily reliant on video as an element of its worship services. The main center screen is forty feet wide and is comprised of a three-projector edge blend. Two additional side screens are off-stage left and right.
Adding the Pixera Four to the workflow at Rolling Hills was seamless. “Coming from a previous church with a different media server, I was skeptical going in. I know how difficult media servers can be.” This was different though. “They had me scheduled to do a phone call with a tech to get me started, but I had it up and running in no time – long before that call was supposed to happen. It was that easy.” Miller says.
“The blending I was able to do on the main center screen was amazing. But then on top of that, I could also bring in our side screens. For example, we could start a piece of video content on one screen and have it run all the way around the room. That's the power of a media server. In our current setup, if we want to make a change, we have to send it to an editor and have them do an edit and send us an MP4. But using Pixera we can make those changes in real time. It really opens up the possibilities of what you can do and where you can go with it. And it takes your creative team and unboxes them from the limits of current technology.
The Pixera Four is fully rack-mountable, so it can fit with any current display system rack, or it can live like a PC on a desk. The chassis is a bit of Goldilocks—not too big, not too small; just right. “We found a
home for it real quick,” Miller says. “I love that they’ve branded it. You turn it on, the Pixera logo lights up on the front of the case. I mean, come on. That’s just… that’s a little extra. I love it when a company can do that.”
The Pixera four has received the Church Production Road Test Certification. Learn more here.
This is all just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the power that Pixera has packed into this machine. The company highlights just what this machine can do and how well it can fit into your workflow:
- Compact with a depth of only 46cm, perfect for installations
- Uncompressed 8K (4:4:4) 60fps content playback
- AMD Performance CPU and 128GB RAM
- Great ROI for XR and installations
- Available with 2 or 4 outputs
- Redundant power supply
- Up to 61TB storage with 20GB/s available
- Dual 25Gbit/s network available
It also has separate PCI slots for SDI, HDMI, DisplayPort, and fiber. “There is something, I mean—it won’t do VGA, but who’s doing that? You know, the abilities of it are really almost endless…” Miller adds.
Take the next few minutes with Church Production’s Marcel Patillo and Shaun Miller to learn just how good the Pixera Four really is, and how it can fit into your church’s workflow, no matter your size or visual needs.
