Cameras: News and Updates

(Wayne, NJ) JVC Professional Products Company, a division of JVC Americas Corp., announced that the Church of Champions in Houston recently purchased four GY-HM790U ProHD camcorders, along with a KM-H3000U production switcher and DT-V24G11Z 24-inch studio monitor. The new equipment is being used to webcast weekly sermons and other projects.

With its growing footprint – it has locations in Texas, Georgia, New Jersey, Colorado, and Hawaii – the 23-year-old Church of Champions felt it was time to replace its outdated SD system. "We needed a more sophisticated way to reach our members, so we decided it was time to make the logical switch from SD to HD," said David Grigsby, creative pastor at the Church of Champions.

The church produces live coverage of sermons on Sundays for its Web site, www.champ.tv. Three of the four GY-HM790U cameras, positioned on the left, right, and rear of the church, have full studio configurations. The fourth camera is a handheld unit used on and around the platform and altar. All four ProHD cameras are equipped with KA-M790G multicore studio modules.

Grigsby is pleased with the image quality of the HD cameras and the performance of the switcher. He said the new JVC system has greatly improved the video production of Sunday services, and he plans to produce more sophisticated projects. In fact, the church first used its new JVC system on Sept. 30 for its "Thinking Out Loud" webcast.

"It was an online roundtable discussion with pastors and ministry leaders from six other ministries, where we discussed various topics that dealt with church and ministry leadership," Grigsby explained. "We had roughly 600 viewers, most of whom were church leaders. The new JVC system worked flawlessly, and we are very pleased with what we felt was a successful first event."

Grigsby hopes to produce roughly six webcasts a year similar to the "Thinking Out Loud" event. The Church of Champions also plans to provide worship and sermons for other locations throughout the nation and the world, as it expands its multi-site capabilities. Other projects in the pipeline include coverage of the church's community groups, called Champions Life Groups, which meet every week in different locations around the area to discuss the Bible and Christianity. "We want to enable our members in different cities to join these groups virtually," Grigsby said. "We'd also like to do some electronic newsgathering."

An ideal solution for multicore or fiber-based facilities, the GY-HM790U offers an innovative modular design and a redesigned studio adapter sled. Its three, 1/3-inch progressive scan CCDs produce 1280x720 and 1920x1080 images, and its proprietary MPEG-2 encoder supports 1080i, 720p, and even SD (480i) for operations that have not yet made the move to HD. The compact, shoulder-mount camera is also an outstanding choice for ENG applications, with a dual card slot design that records to low-cost, non-proprietary SDHC solid-state media cards in ready-to-edit file formats (.MOV and .MP4) for major NLE systems.

Pictured: The Church of Champions in Houston recently purchased four JVC GY-HM790U ProHD camcorders, along with a KM-H3000U production switcher and DT-V24G11Z 24-inch studio monitor, which are being used for various broadcasts within its congregation.

Resources:

http://pro.jvc.com/