Press release from Videocraft
According to Videocraft NSW State Manager Andy Liell their recent HD installation for the C3 Church Sydney was one of their most inventive yet. Liell said, “We were approached by Kristian Anderson of Musikwerks to come up with a full HD broadcast solution for C3 Church. It was going to be a challenging project that required maximum emphasis on quality and cost effectiveness.”
C3 Church Sydney holds seven weekend services across their three Sydney locations and their technical upgrade involved being able to record and broadcast sermons from their Oxford Falls campus in high definition.
Kristian Anderson said, “TV production has always been part of C3 Church’s vision. They produce their own TV show which airs around the world and their services often feature a large visual media component. The idea for the HD upgrade had been around for a while but was cost prohibitive. When Andy (Liell) and James (Taylor) floated the idea of using Sony HDW-750P cameras with Protech adapters, HD suddenly became a real possibility. It certainly wasn’t conventional but it had a lot of potential to bring HD acquisition back into the realm of affordability. Working closely with Andy and his team we were able to up the spec from three cameras to four and expand the scope of the upgrade to include a full control room re-fit – something that was not originally thought possible for the money available so the client was very happy.”
Liell continued, “C3 Church were familiar with using SD broadcast studio cameras so, from a workflow perspective, the challenge was to supply them with SD ‘style’ cameras that were HD without them having to spend HD money! That being the case we proposed a solution that was based around the Protech camera adapter system which turns Sony HD camcorders into a full studio camera chain including CCU, comms, tallys and return video. The Protech camera adapter system also uses the same SMPTE fibre camera cables used with Sony’s HD studio camera system, providing easy integration when additional equipment needs to be brought in, and future proofing if the client ever decides to upgrade the cameras.”
With the control room 300 metres from the auditorium Videocraft employed the services of QVR Communications to run eight cables through a long courtyard.
Liell added, “We ran twice as many cables as were initially required to allow easy future expansion. QVR did a great job at the C3 Church installation with a very challenging underground cable run.”
Videocraft’s Protech camera adapter solution was paired with ex-rental Sony HDW-750P HDCAM camcorders giving C3 Church high quality studio camera heads and also camcorders for their field production requirements.
Liell added, “This system significantly increased the versatility and efficiency of C3 Church’s production capabilities – in essence we supplied them two solutions for the price of one, thereby keeping the costs down and the quality at the required level.”
Videocraft’s full HD production solution also included a Panasonic AV-HS450AE 16 SDI input HD switcher with 4 SDI outputs, 2 DVI outputs and dual-screen multi-viewer, Sony FWDS46H1 46” displays, a Blackmagic 16×16 Micro Video Hub, ClearCom Eclipse PiCo digital comms matrix with four remote panels and full integrated camera comms and a Blackmagic UltraScope for C3 Church’s Technical Director.
Liell said, “The system was designed by our MD James Taylor and he also ensured it connected and integrated with the three existing Final Cut suites on the C3 Church campus.”
C3 Church’s Technical Director Simon Ashby said, “We were very impressed with Videocraft’s solution and the lateral thinking behind the design. The fact that we now have the flexibility of a studio camera that can also do field production in a universally accepted broadcast HD format is a big plus. It was also very cost effective with alternative solutions from other suppliers being quoted at nearly three times Videocraft’s price. We really are delighted with Videocraft’s design and installation. It’s clever, great value for money and the picture quality we now achieve is far superior to what we had before.”