In the age of social media and prolific digital devices, video is a powerful communication medium for houses of worship, as they explore new ways to engage and evolve with their communities. Video is being used to display worship lyrics, underscore sermon themes, deliver announcements during services, and share the worship experience with online audiences. Auburn Grace Community Church (AGCC), a vibrant church in Auburn, California, has woven video into nearly every aspect of its operations, with an emphasis on live streaming. Spearheading the effort, AGCC Media Director Alan Koshiyama established a live stream workflow using AJA KONA 4 and Io 4K for audio/video I/O.

“We live in a media-driven culture, making video essential for any house of worship. Video is your first chance to make an impression on potential members and can improve your connection with existing members; it also allows you to share sermons and events with those who can’t attend, such as elderly, ill or traveling members,” shared Koshiyama. “There’s growing demand for high quality video during services and through social platforms, which is why we’re investing in gear like the KONA 4 and Io 4K. It helps us bring more relevant and visually compelling live content to members across different platforms.”

AGCC’s facility houses a video production booth outfitted with live streaming hardware and software that is used for in-house AV and YouTube live streams. A Sony® DSLR captures live HD footage of each Sunday service. The feed is output via HDMI and converted to SDI by an AJA HA5-Plus Mini-Converter and input into an AJA KONA 4 audio and video I/O card installed on a Microsoft® Windows computer. Using vMix live streaming software, the live feed is then broadcast to YouTube, and archived. For remote event streaming, Koshiyama relies on a similar setup comprising a DSLR, Apple® MacBook Pro®, Thunderbolt 2-equipped AJA Io 4K for I/O, and vMix streaming software.

Sharing his experiences with KONA 4 and Io 4K, Koshiyama said, “AJA is the Mercedes Benz of technology in our industry. Every piece of kit they make is rock solid and easy to use, so I’m always confident I won’t run into any issues when live streaming. KONA 4 and Io 4K just work, so we never waste time troubleshooting, and if I’m ever in a bind, I know AJA’s support team will go above and beyond to help me out.”

AGCC’s live streaming team consists of volunteers, most of whom don’t have technical or video production backgrounds, so having intuitive gear in place that doesn’t require intense training is advantageous. “We work with a lot of volunteers who have never touched this sort of equipment before, so the gear itself needs to be reliable, and easy enough to use that you don’t need an engineering degree to figure it out,” Koshiyama shared. “AJA kit is that for us, and inspires volunteers to get involved, because a lot of them want to get their hands on high quality production equipment for experience.”

Although AGCC is just beginning to dip its toes into broadcast quality production with HD live streams, Koshiyama will continue to explore how his team can bring even higher quality content to audiences, with an eye on 4K/UltraHD and HDR. As he continues to expand the church’s workflow, scalable tools are an important consideration. “We’re a small church with a modest AV budget, so the fact that AJA makes broadcast grade production gear at a price that’s accessible to us is amazing. We may be working in HD now, but we’re just getting started, so it’s nice to know that we can grow with our AJA gear; it supports our current HD needs, but leaves room to easily make the switch to 4K in the future.”

With AGCC’s live streaming workflow evolving rapidly, Koshiyama is also considering an investment in AJA RovoCams. “RovoCams would allow us to easily stream multiple UltraHD views to our audiences and give us a broadcast grade setup that could open up new doors to host and streaming larger conferences and events,” he said.

About AJA Video Systems, Inc.

Since 1993, AJA Video has been a leading manufacturer of video interface technologies, converters, digital video recording solutions and professional cameras, bringing high quality, cost effective products to the professional broadcast, video and postproduction markets. AJA products are designed and assembled at our facilities in Grass Valley, California, and sold through an extensive sales channel of resellers and systems integrators around the world. For further information, please see our website at www.aja.com.