This will be the last equipment post for a bit because I have other exciting things to share with you that still deal with HD but more on the construction end of things!

Here is the switcher!

Panasonic AV-HS450

It has many many features…too many to post here…but I will try…



Key Features (Standard Equipment)

• Built-in dual-display Multi-Viewer lets you display up to 20 different images on two monitors (up to 16 on one screen)




• MultiViewer windows can be assigned to any outputs and offer with easy control of labels and borders, Preview (green) and Program (red) Tally Indicators




• Four independent AUX busses, with mix transitions to AUX 1, also offers a clean feed with layer selection for IMAG, Webcasts and other applications




• 16 HD/SD-SDI Inputs standard. HD/SD (format depends on switcher system setting)




• 4 HD/SD-SDI outputs standar. (format depends on switcher system setting)




• 2 DVI-D outputs standard (scalable to 1920×1200) for display of MultiViewers (or other outputs) with large flat panel monitors or projectors.




• Switchable frame-synchronizers on all inputs ensure reliable, glitch-free switching, even with asynchronous sources




• Color correction adjustments (with 6-axis matrix) standard on eight inputs, for precise image matching of different sources




• Switchable up-conversion standard on four inputs – for easy integration of legacy sources




• Wide range of high-quality 3D digital effects (2 channels) for creative versatility




• One upstream and two downstream keyers, super-clean chroma keyer employing Primatte® algorithms




• 10 shot memories and 10 PinP memories with timed transitions, for streamlined operation




• Six User programmable function buttons – for customized workflow




• The switcher supports HD (1080/59.94i, 1080/50i, 1080/24Psf,* 1080/23.98Psf,* 720/59.94p and 720/50p) and SD (480/59.94i and 576/50i) formats




• SD card slot for graphics import/export and saving of all system settings




• Ethernet port for PC graphics transfer with auto sizing software and alpha channel support




• 4 Frame Memories for rapid access to stills and graphics




• Direct Control of one Panasonic pan/tilt/zoom camera via RS-422 remote port, with storage and recall of up to 10 presets per camera.




• Expanded control of up to five Panasonic pan/tilt/zoom camera (with source/control switching) when used with AW-series controller, storage and recall of 10 presets per camera.




• Two I/O option slots for expansion to 20 inputs or 10 outputs using AV-HS04M series cards.




• Dual RS-422 ports for editor, pan-tilt, expansion panel control and machine communication




• Tally/GPI with Preview and Program Tally




• Genlock with Blackburst or TRI input, plus switchable frame syncs for easy systemization




• Dual redundant power supplies. (2) A.C. for mainframe, (2) 12V DC for control panel (AC adapters also included.)




• Compact, two-rack size mainframe, perfect for mobile or studio use




• Control Panel: weight – 8.6 pounds; dimensions: approx. 22″ W x 3-1/2″ H x 11-13/16″ D

Now that I’ve completely overwhelmed you with technical stuff and what not, you can check out the brochure that has pictures and shows you more about these features visually than I can post here!

Here is the link.

We’ve started gutting the Control Room and framing the screens, I will be showing pictures of that process soon! If you are wanting to get involved and help, let me know, I will see what I can do but I’m trying to do everything during the day so I don’t have to stay late hours, but if people do want to help and they can’t until the evenings then I can move my work schedule around to make maybe an evening or two available.

I’m getting really excited and nervous! I hope you are too =)

• Mainframe: weight – approx. 21.6 pounds; dimensions: 19″ W x 3-1/2″ H x 18-1/2″ D

Sorry about last two days…been hectic around the office…now where were we…oh ya! Big Guns!

This guy is most impressive! He is our center screen projector and he can hold quite the punch. It’s the DP Titan 1080p-700, packs a 10k Lumens brightness, to give you an example our current projectors are 4k Lumens. It’s is a 3-Chip DLP projector that has just a really crisp look to it when you are watching blu-rays!

This by far is my favorite piece in our entire setup mainly because it will be one of those “WOW” factors when people walk in and see the screen and see just how detailed and crisp it looks!

I will go ahead and reveal the side screen projectors since I missed the past two days…

This is DP E-vision series projector and it does 6k Lumens for the side screens, now it doesn’t need the power of lumens like the center screen since it’s going to be in a fully enclosed room, so the brightness will actually match that of the center screen. Of course at 6k it will be brighter than our current side screens and have the same crispness as the Titan, mainly because it is a DLP Darkchip projector. Digital projectors have come a long way and they are now the leaders in being able to represent a picture quality that outdoes the regular LCD projectors.

All the projectors are going to be ceiling mounted so that they cannot be affected by human touch, unless you grab a lift or a ladder to clean filters and such.

On a side note we’ve already started receiving items this past week and we will continue to receives items all the way through September. This is something to seriously pray about as a few things we were not expecting to be back ordered are back ordered, if we don’t get the items in September then that puts the installation smack in the middle of Judgement House! We really would like to install and tweak anything that needs tweaking in the first week of October, so then we would have the HD equipment available for all of Judgement House’s videos and such. This is going to require serious prayer! I’m getting nervous and I’m sure Billy is thinking about Judgement House also and we really would like to install first of October if not sooner!

Well let’s get into some of the meat and potatoes of this system. The new camera that will be replacing our stationary one is a Hitachi zHD5000.

There are many features of this camera but the main thing to look at is the size of it’s lens. This camera is a 2/3″ lens, basically the bigger the lens the better the picture quality will be. We were originally looking at a 1/3″ lens due to budget size but this guy came out and saved the day!

The other major aspect of this camera, besides being an HD camera, is the Fujinon lens we are throwing on it. Similar to what we have now one of these cameras will have a different lens than the other. One will have a 22x lens and the others will have a 20x lens. The 22x lens has an extender meaning that at any point it can double the distance digitally, making it a 44x lens (now it doesn’t actually calculate to 44 but I’m no mathematician and lens mathematics make me head hurt!). In other words with all of our cameras we will be able to get tighter shots and increase our depth of field action, one camera will have the capability to count the hairs in Lance’s nose!

The camera does come with a viewfinder that is 5″, it is though black and white, in order to save cost we had to go with the black and white version. You will have the capability to press a button and look at your viewfinder to see what’s being shown on the screens. Also the clearcom is built into the camera so your talkback/volume control will be on your hand rails.

One cool aspect of the camera that some of you “neat freaks” will like is only one cable comes out of the camera to connect up in the control room and that’s a single fiber cable per camera, so the thickness compared to what we have currently is about 1/10th the size!

I forgot one thing I need to add -

We will have 3 total stationary and 2 mobile. There is a spot for a fourth camera and we have enough cabling to run a cable to that fourth spot so if we wanted to move one camera over before a service all we need to do is roll the camera over and connect and you’re done.

I know I’ve already hinted at this but I wanted to give the out lay of how the screens will work…if this is repetitive to some of you, I apologize but this will be the post that will have the details laid out in one location.

We will be having a three screen setup. Two sides and one center. The sides will be 16ft x 9ft and the center will be 10ft x 17ft.

Currently the side screens are made out of 3″ glass and therefore they have no where to go and we can do nothing with them except destroy them! That’s right we will be putting tarps down taking a fork lift and destroying those screens. The far side of the outcropping wall will be chopped to extend the new screen outwards so we can reach the 16ft width. The new screen is fabric and we have a small concern about the fabric moving with the flow of air in our room. To counter that it will be very tight on a frame system that can be adjusted every now and then to make sure it stays taught.

The center screen as I said before here will be pretty big compared to the side screens but will have a frame that is attached to a pully system that is attached to a silent garage door opener that we can lift out of the way all with the push of a button, and no not a garage door button, the entire projector system will be tied into a control system that can he handled through a touchscreen panel.

Once the screens change it will be a drastic difference in quality, even if we were to keep our current cameras the new screens will be crisper, brighter, and overall awesome!

This is something that we just changed in the past 36 hours! We’ve decided to go with a software company called Softron to do our recording of our services.

We were going to have three Panasonic P2 Decks (similar to the DV Decks we have now but tapeless), instead we will be getting only one of those and using Moverecorder from Softron to record the services…

How does this work?

Well Sarah’s Mac in her office will be upgraded and a new card will be installed. Wires will be ran to her office and the software installed in her office. With this software we can set schedules to do automatic recording so that at 9:15am it automatically starts recording the signals we are sending it. No more having to press the Play/Record button on the DV Deck and it has some other awesome features that when we get to the point of using them, I’ll give more info on!

=)

In our upgrade we will be doing a three screen setup. Basically we will be upgrading the side screens (more on this later) and adding a center screen again. We used to have a tiny center screen about 4 years ago, this screen though will be bigger in size than the side screens.

The center screen will be done by Stewart Filmscreen probably one of the leaders in filmscreen technology and has been one of the best in this field for many years. The screen size will be 10ft x 17ft-9in, that makes it 20ft-4.5in diag.

It will be about 12ft above the stage floor and about 12ft forward from the back wall and centered to the stage. Having a screen this size in the center will make lighting tricky but the design company we are using is going to help us with lighting quite a bit when we install everything.

One of the exciting things about this screen, besides it being big and awesome, is the ability to mix sets with graphics. You might think that having this screen would hamper doing big sets, on the contrary; one major thing you could do is make a big set and goes into the screen some and fill in the rest graphically. It would be like adding a backdrop to a Hollywood set. Does this make sense? It will just be ONE awesome use of this screen. Oh and for you real skeptics out there about incorporating a set into the screen, well…we did add the feature of it being able to fold back into the ceiling!

I’ll reveal the awesome projector we are using for this soon…

There are many things that we have been missing in our current system that maybe at one time we had but of course through time things die and since I’e known that we were working on an HD solution, it’s one of those “Do you spend the money now?” type of arguments.

Well one major thing has been our Scopes! Waveform and Vectorscope.

Our mobile cameras (HPX170) have them built in, while that’s great for when we are in the field when we are in the auditorium we we need something more robust and encompassing of all cameras and sources. Enter the blackmagic ultrascope.

In the picture above it shows the pocket ultrascope, we will be getting the full blown ultrascope which is a PCI-E card that goes into a PC. The picture I really want you to look at is behind that hand there. It shows you your waveform, vectorscope, rgb waveform, histogram, audio levels, and a preview of what your monitoring.

RGB Waveform

Waveform Alignment

Vectorscope

Histogram

Audio Levels

Source Preview with Timecode

With this very handy multi test tool, we will be able to make sure that our iris and colors are dead on for every shot we take!

I know this may seem like on of those boring tools in our HD environment, but when you get to see it and learn what it’s telling you, it’s really awesome and interesting to learn how the camera is picking up light and color!