Case Study: Simulcast for Worship
Oct 18, 2011 11:37 AM
Elevation Church; Charlotte, N.C.
The Snell Kahuna multiformat HD/SD production switcher is playing an instrumental role at Elevation Church in Charlotte, N.C. The switcher is at the center of a point-to-point operation and enables the pastor’s sermon to be simulcast to all four of the church’s satellite locations with nearly 9,000 individuals in attendance each weekend.
Elevation Church Uses the Snell Kahuna Switcher for Simulcast
Elevation chose Kahuna for its new state-of-the-art digital production facility housed at the main campus in Charlotte. During a typical Sunday service, worship leaders and musicians at each of the four church campuses begin the service with songs and prayer. With all four bands kept in sync using a click track system, the pastor’s message is automatically simulcast to all four locations over a fiber IP link.
The Kahuna is used in three ways at Elevation: to switch the main camera output to the encoding and master control equipment for the point-to-point broadcast, to feed the IMAG system for projection to large screens at the Blakeney campus, and to provide a clean video feed to tape for editing into programs for later broadcast and also streaming to the Elevation’s website. Production engineers also use Kahuna for keying of graphics overlays including lower thirds, presenters’ names, scripture references, and song lyrics that are projected over the IMAG system. In addition, engineers have programmed Kahuna to provide live feeds of the service to perimeter displays throughout the building.
“Kahuna brings a great deal of flexibility to our system by enabling us to map specific keyers to specific M/E outputs as we see fit. On one occasion, we had a projector go out during a Saturday night service—and I was able to use Kahuna to switch to another output and resize the screen without affecting any other outputs on the switcher. In that case, the output flexibility was a lifesaver,” says Brian Poole, technical director. “Although we’re a 100 percent HD operation, Kahuna’s multiformat capabilities are still very useful for converting 720p to 1080i video to ensure the highest quality, consistent output.”
Snell Kahuna Switcher
Product at Work: Kahuna
The Snell Kahuna multiformat switcher is designed to meet the ever-increasing demands of live production and incorporates leading-edge technology for the seamless integration of SD, HD, and 1080p. Thanks to an advanced pixel-filtering technology called FormatFusion, Kahuna allows users to integrate any SD material such as handheld camera feeds or archives into HD productions without any upconversion.
