Northview Church services are held in a 2,100-seat auditorium that represents one of Indiana’s most advanced AV facilities. The room is outfitted for 5.1 surround sound and features a massive lighting infrastructure with intelligent lights. Spanning the back wall, an 80-foot-wide and 30-foot-tall Christie projection screen provides a stunning backdrop that can transform the stage into just about any kind of environment. Every week, we use this phenomenal technology to create an unusually dynamic and immersive worship experience.
Our creativity with technology and our problem-solving capabilities have made Northview Church a strong site for testing the latest equipment, and we’ve developed a close relationship with the Matrox Video Products Group through which we use and provide feedback on new products. Often these products, such as the Convert DVI Plus HD-SDI scan converter, become essential to our operations. This was true once again when we got our hands on the Matrox MC-100 dual SDI to HDMI mini converter. In fact, shortly after delivery, the MC-100 proved to be yet another invaluable addition to our workflow.
We were having a major issue in that our CG computer was losing sync with the rest of the system; when we’d switch to it, our projection system would flash to black. We had shifted over a very expensive piece of equipment to fix the problem, but we needed that gear for the extra cameras we’d be using on stage for our holiday service. We rewired the projection system with the MC-100 in line with it, between the signal router and our dual projectors, and the box solved our problem instantly, providing the time-base correction required.
Everyday Challenges
Some of the cameras we use for filming custom videos lack genlock—when we want to use these cameras on stage we need to lock them to the rest of the video system. The MC-100 solves this problem for us, too. Because the box has two inputs and two outputs, with the ability to route any one to any other, we are able to send the program signal into one input and then route a camera feed into the other. We’ve configured the unit to grab the genlock from another camera’s genlocked feed fed into one input and the unlocked camera into other input, and we’re set. Problem solved. Since then, we’ve added two more of the Matrox MC-100s to support additional cameras.
All-SDI Infrastructure
We have an all-SDI infrastructure at Northview, and the MC-100 is an inexpensive box that lets us feed SDI from our video room to affordable consumer-grade monitors and/or flat screens with DVI or HDMI inputs. We use these screens, connected via the MC-100, for off-stage monitoring during our productions, as well as for convenient signal testing and monitoring throughout our facility. Because the Matrox box has dual inputs, we can run two different video streams into the box while we’re monitoring a live production and switch between the program and static camera as needed with a simple button press.
In our production studio, we film a lot of special elements that we incorporate into our services. The MC-100 has come in handy there, as well. The portable cameras in the studio output SDI video, and the conversion performed by the Matrox box allows whoever is directing to sit behind a few consumer-brand LCD monitors rather than more costly true SDI monitors.
As we continue to develop innovative programming for our services, I’m confident that we’ll find many additional uses for the Matrox converter. We’re already imagining the types of 3D productions we might take on—and how the MC-100’s 3D processing capabilities will support them.
Shaun Miller serves as technical director at Northview Church located in Carmel, Indiana.
KEY ELEMENTS FOR THE END-USER
ROI: “For the price, the MC-100 is an amazing little box. Because it’s self-contained and doesn’t require any external software or system to run it, it’s essentially bulletproof.”
Versatility: “We move the three systems around our facility, using them in all different sorts of things. What makes the MC-100 box so cool is that even with all that we’ve done with it, we haven’t even scratched the surface of its capabilities and uses.”
INFO
Christie Digital: christiedigital.com
Matrox: matrox.com
Northview Church: northviewchurch.org
