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Family Harvest Church Expands Its Media Services While Preparing for an HD Future with Blackmagic Design


fhcchurchavWhat started in 1981 as a 23 person weekly Bible study above a local bank is now the 2,500 member Family Harvest Church (FHC). Based in Tinley Park, IL, FHC is a multiracial, multi generational and nondenominational church that prides itself on using technology to keep the community informed and connected, as well as gain new members.

“We have a volunteer based system, and a lot of the members who grew up in the church are now part of the staff,” said Dustin Blay, FHC’s media department director. “The younger generation helps keep the church relevant, up to date and attract a younger crowd.”

“The son of our senior pastor is very involved with our social media, and we have a lot of staff that are his age,” added Robert Kelm, FHC’s media and IT systems engineer. “We strive to take that interest and channel it into forwarding the church and the church’s vision.”

With a television show, online videos, live streaming and an A/V system that routes services to two main screens in the service hall, as well as more than 20 additional sources throughout the church, FHC is able to share its mission with the community. And the technology that makes it all possible includes Blackmagic Design’s ATEM
2 M/E Production Switcher, ATEM 1 M/E Broadcast Panel, HyperDeck Studio Pro and HyperDeck Shuttle SSD recorders, two SmartView Duo monitors, SmartView HD monitor, Compact Videohub router and numerous Mini Converters and Broadcast Converters.

 

Equipment Overhaul

FHC’s first foray into media began with televised services. Originally shot in Betacam SP, FHC eventually moved to tape based DVCAM, but faced problems transferring the tape to its computers. What’s more, if they recorded the service directly to a computer and there was a glitch or the machine crashed, the broadcast quality recording was lost.

“We weren’t going to spend $30 per service per tape to record on Betacam SP, and we weren’t using every single service for television,” said Robert. “Our only immediate backup was an old DVD recorder, but the consumer level quality showed.”

“Because we have to be conscious of costs, we’ve been working with handed down equipment for the past few years,” said Dustin. “But, we were putting band aids on failing equipment, and the repair costs were hurting our budget.”

At the same time FHC was considering an equipment upgrade, the church also wanted to expand its media services to include online videos and live streaming, as well as prepare its workflow for the future by ensuring it was HD ready.

 

Broadcasting Its Message

“We researched various solutions, and Blackmagic Design was the obvious answer,” said Robert. “We got a quote from a broadcast integration company and a mid range quote from our old equipment supplier before turning in our Blackmagic system specifications. Blackmagic allowed us to do everything we wanted within our budget, and the project was approved immediately. Within a week, the 12 to 20 year old equipment was gone, and we were up and running with Blackmagic Design.”

According to Robert, the revamp included backup for FHC’s analog recording system and going tapeless, though the team use Broadcast Converters in conjunction with a Betacam SP deck and DVCAM deck for television stations that cannot accept digital files. The television program is shot in a House of Worship style, intermixed with additional footage, edited in QuickTime ProRes and exported into H.264 for archives. “We can edit the show straight from the ProRes files that the HyperDeck Studio Pro generates without having to do multiple conversions to generate a usable copy. It eliminates steps and saves us time,” he said.

The entire setup is connected via a Compact Videohub, which routes the cameras and display computers to the ATEM 2 M/E Production Switcher. While a live feed of the service is broadcast on two main screens in the service hall, more than 20 additional feeds are broadcast throughout the church, including the pastor’s office, foyer, café, gymnasium, overflow room and chapel. The ATEM also feeds to the audio and graphic teams and is recorded on a HyperDeck Studio Pro, while HyperDeck Shuttles record directly to a computer if backup recording is needed.

“Our services are sent live to screens around the building and streamed live online, so there’s no room for error. Our previous switcher was notorious for delaying live cuts, often up to a five frame delay,” said Dustin. “Now we do downstream keying with lower third worship lyrics, and the ATEM allows us to be on key and incredibly fast with it. It keeps everything in time. It gives us such amazing control over isolating feeds and sending different programming to different locations, while seamlessly adding graphics and looping.”

When live streaming the services online, FHC finds the ATEM 2 M/E Production Switcher’s SuperSource feature invaluable. SuperSource is a completely separate five layer switcher with the power of four picture in picture DVEs and four keyers connected as an ATEM video input.

“We use SuperSource almost every single service. We can feed an upper left corner slide with donation instructions, while the lower right runs the program video coming off the ATEM 2 M/E Production Switcher,” said Robert.

“We have a large online audience and want them to feel like they are part of the service. Previously, we would cut to a graphic, and that’s all our online viewers could see. SuperSource allows us to continue to stream the service online, while cutting to different graphics in the service hall,” said Dustin. “The flexibility is amazing.”

 

A Seamless Workflow Provides Hands On Experience

The ATEM 2 M/E Production Switcher’s built in multi view feature eliminated the need for an entire bank of monitors, as it allows 10 channels of video to be displayed on a single SDI or HDMI television or monitor. “The volunteers use the multi view on the ATEM 1 M/E, and I use the ATEM 2 M/E with another multi view above them, so I can monitor recorders and check SuperSource without interfering with what they are directing,” said Robert.

Both Robert and Dustin agree that the switch to ATEM was seamless for all the volunteers. The entire media department consists of 23 volunteers, with seven regulars in the control room in various stages of higher level training. While either Robert or Dustin usually stand in the control room to ensure everything runs smoothly, the volunteers are able to direct the shows entirely by themselves.

“Not only was the transition to the new workflow seamless, but Blackmagic Design converted us from analog to SDI, and we eliminated unnecessary analog cables runs. For example, now we can embed two channels of audio into the SDI line and send it that way,” said Robert. “Our infrastructure is also now HD ready, where as before it was ‘make do with what you had.’ Once we have HD cameras, all I have to do is determine which HD standard we want to go with, flip a few switches on the ATEM and record in HD.

“We want to keep improving the quality of our television program,” continued Robert. “We didn’t announce that we installed the new equipment, and during the first service with it, volunteers who weren’t working asked if we had just gone HD because the quality is that good now.”

 

About Family Harvest Church

At FHC, our mission is to proclaim Christ to all by purpose driven discipleship, while achieving the goal of biblical transformation.

Over the years, the locations and names have changed, but God’s faithfulness to this congregation has remained the same. Tens of thousands of lives have been impacted through Pastor Robb and Linda, the staff and hundreds of ministry volunteers who faithfully pour their lives into others. What began as a small Bible study, more than 30 years ago, has impacted generations of believers.

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