Thomson Grass Valley Indigo AV Mixer Supports Inspirational Effort

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Thomson Grass Valley Indigo AV Mixer Supports Inspirational Effort

November 27, 2007

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Grass Valley Indigo

When the Rolling Hills Christian Church built its new 1,500 seat auditorium in El Dorado Hills, Calif., it was designed with audio and video (A/V) production in mind. The church, which began eight years ago initially rented space in the local high school gymnasium, is now the largest religious facility serving this fast-growing community. At the heart of its AV support is the new Thomson Grass Valley™ Indigo™ AV Mixer.

In 2001, the church occupied a 600-seat facility and earlier this year opened the new building, which not only hosts weekend services, but is also used for outside events such as dances, music, and theatrical concerts as well as motivational speaking engagements.

An impressive complement of A/V support includes fiber-optic cabling, 15 strategically located junction boxes for power and A/V signals (VGA, S-Video, and CAT-5), and three large video screens to the left, right, and center above the stage at the front of the main auditorium. This often includes motion backgrounds and graphics on the center and image magnification (IMAG) on the sides. On occasion, they will send video playback to all three screens.

The church’s digital video complement includes three Sony video cameras, several wireless microphones, and the Indigo AV Mixer, which handles video, high-resolution computer images, and audio control in a single compact unit.

Both the new and old facilities are interconnected by bi-directional fiber cabling enabling events to be telecast in both locations should extra large crowds warrant it.

“As we outgrew the old facility and before we had completed construction on the new place we were transmitting signals via microwave to a local movie theater,” said Kirt Shearer, technical director at Rolling Hills Christian Church. “So the idea of using leading-edge technology to help with our services is something we are well versed in.”

After using another production switcher but finding it cumbersome and hard to use, Shearer experimented with the Grass Valley Indigo system and has never looked back. The affordable price and easily accessible features of the Indigo system, along with its flexibility to be configured in a number of ways for different productions proved to be a perfect fit.

“We were looking for several features and functions that were only found on much more expensive units when we came upon the Indigo which is made for facilities like ours,” said Shearer. “It’s more than just mixing audio and video. We want to be able to mix and match a lot of different types of signals, including PowerPoint and computer graphics, into a single production. The Indigo makes this very easy. I was thrilled to see a switcher with this much capability at this price point.”

The three screens at the front of the large auditorium (16:9 center and 4:3 on the sides) are displayed through a Barco FSR presentation switcher that handles all of the live backgrounds, still images, and IMAG feeds capturing what’s going on during a live service. The Indigo serves as the main production switcher that mixes the live signals, IMAG images, video playback, and audio for the auditorium, as well as to the in-house feed which is displayed on monitors outside of the main auditorium and the older facility. The operator of the Barco switcher takes the feeds from the Indigo for display on the side screens.

The Indigo mixer also handles signals coming from computers and DVD players inside the facility’s video and lighting control room, located at the rear of the auditorium. The Indigo’s built-in E-MEM™ flash memory cache helps the staff save settings for specific events and recall them with ease. This makes it easy for the church’s volunteer operators to work the Indigo mixer with confidence.

“A big part of our success with the Indigo is that we can have someone operate the switcher without much training,” said Shearer. “That’s a huge advantage for us as the staff for each service changes on a regular basis.”

The Indigo system’s multiple inputs and keyers allow Shearer and his team to reduce the amount of layering and shifting to other channels to make room for new inputs. The unit’s digital video effects, audio mixer, and intuitive interface for navigating through and accessing the Indigo system’s features are also a plus.

“Unlike other AV mixers, the Indigo has an extremely well-designed operating system in that you can get to whatever you need to quickly and without learning another language,” added Shearer. “It really makes sense to everyone here who uses it.”

Going forward, the church is building an adjacent edit room, where the Indigo system will be used for the posting of pre-taped videos, promos, and other types of programming — both for the church and for its outside clients.

The Indigo mixer also includes DVI inputs and the ability to output HD signals, which the Rolling Hills Church plans to make extensive use of in the near future.

“Using video in the services certainly has made a difference in the way we present our services and how the members of our congregation absorb the messages we are trying to convey,” said Shearer. “We haven’t had a technical problem since we turned it on and have been very happy with its performance. It has been flawless, and members of our congregation have noticed a difference in our services.”

That’s made everyone involved with the church and the new facility very happy.