New Stake Conference AV Rack

[matthewdavis]

Thought I would share what the AV setup looks like for a new install. I have not yet been able to test the hardware, so the notes below are from the walk through with the installer.

Av rack

A few things if note

• Discrete audio outputs
• Discrete video outputs
• Yes the organ is finally there
• Chapel mix should be all chapel inputs, (minus choir see next bullet), roaming mic, sacrament, etc
• Choir - there are two xlr jacks on the podium, I've been told these two are direct lines to the xlr our in the av cabinet. As in they are not routed into the main audio channel in the building.
• The "webcast mix" channel, as I've been told, mix all the channels and allow for an single audio channel output
• The video switcher has an input which is nothing more than full screen church logo
• You can use the built in video switcher or bring your own av switcher
• There are HDMI outputs in the gym for extra video outputs for larger meetings.

This doesn't encompass all the other features the building has (touch screens in a lot of places, dimmable room lights, etc).

Hope that gives some assurances that the church has heard the frustrations and new builds are considering new technology.

[brad_p]

This is good info. It looks similar to several years old setup I've seen in another stake center, but more compact. Webcast mix XLR out is new. I like that. The HDMI and audio in are really nice for setting up a "screaming toddler" room so parents can still watch and hear the meeting elsewhere in the chapel.

My stake is currently in process of upgrading its AV system to what I assume is just like this. I've got a few questions about it:

• My biggest worry is that the broadcaster ends up in this small room while everyone else is in the chapel enjoying their meeting. The assistant is away from his or her family, busy watching the camera, moving it, adjusting audio inputs, etc. Usually the room is hot. Anybody come up with a good solution here?
• I've heard the Extron HDMI switcher tends to leave distracting big white "HDMI 3" labels on screen when it is used. Does anyone know if that's still the case? I know the stake center I mentioned above bought their own HDMI switcher and installed that to avoid this issue, and they're letting the church supplied Extron switcher gather dust.
• We've found it necessary to have a condenser mic in each chapel for hymns. Directional mics just don't pick up hymns good at all. I'm assuming we could tap into one of the choir mics XLR lines for this as it's a direct line? Does anyone know if it has phantom power of if we need to buy our own mixer and supply our own?

[matthewdavis]

I just ran a few tests confirming my comments above.

• The webcast mix is truly a mix of all inputs.
• Choir XLR output is a direct line to the XLR inputs in the 'choir pit'

To answer Brad's earlier comment

• The room is small. When I went in today, they were testing HVAC through the whole building, so the inside temp was ~85 already, so the room was a bit hotter. I'll probably keep the door open. There's also not much room to sit. Its not ideal. I heard of some using a remote desktop tool to manage the laptop sitting in the room. I may try that but it requires me to have 2 laptops (again not ideal).
• There were no labels on the video feed when I tested each of the video inputs using the Extron switcher.
• The choir port is a direct line from input -> AV closet. The choir XLR jack does not get piped into the chapel. And I has phantom power.

HTH

[brad_p]

This really helps us plan out our current AV upgrade. Thank you. The stake I'm comparing against has webmix XLR *input* (to their old Teredek) and yours has a webmix XLR *output*, which I find interesting.

I just ran a few tests confirming my comments above.

• The webcast mix is truly a mix of all inputs.
• Choir XLR output is a direct line to the XLR inputs in the 'choir pit'

...

And I has phantom power

A couple of items for clarification?

Are the choir lines true independent feeds, or are the choir lines really mixed into webmix XLR output. It sounds like the choir lines aren't true independent lines. They get phantom power, and they are mixed into the webcast mix? But since the two choir lines aren't mixed into the chapel room, we can use them nicely for broadcasting purposes. Is that right?

I heard of some using a remote desktop tool to manage the laptop sitting in the room. I may try that but it requires me to have 2 laptops (again not ideal).

Ya, I worked with a couple of other stake tech assistants on this issue on what they all think is best. At the moment we're leaning toward a broadcasting laptop placed on shelf in the rack, and then a remoting laptop or remoting tablet while we sit in the chapel.

The reason we opted away from a single laptop is the effort needed to make it work. A single laptop would need the following in the chapel:

• Ethernet
• HDMI output 1 fed from the rack out to chapel
• HDMI output 2 fed from the rack out to chapel
• 3.5mm audio output 1 jack (pulpit), fed from rack and into a mixer and out to chapel
• 3.5mm audio output 2 jack (choir line 1), fed from rack and into a mixer and out to chapel
• 3.5mm audio output 3 jack (choir line 2), fed from rack and into a mixer and out to chapel
• RTS-232 serial in (or USB in), to feed into the PTZ camera control on the rack

Ya, that's doable. But that's an awful lot of jacks and a lot of wires to run back and forth to the rack. I could simplify this down by having just 1 HDMI and 2 audio sources. But even then, the laptop will need the ability to mix all this together, such as through OBS or a separate hardware mixer nearby.

We've lately found that if you have a good OBS setup and you remote in, we can sit with our families in a normal pew anywhere in the chapel. We're tempted to just simply ask the stake for a new tablet capable of remoting in. Then we'd just buy a shelf on the rack and put the laptop on the rack We also think we'd buy one distinct mixer per audio line (so three small mixers in total). Then we can easily prep each line's volume before the meeting. During the meeting we use the laptop to mix all three audio lines together during the meeting. We can also change around HDMI inputs. We can run a PTZ camera control tool as that's also right there on the rack. We'd stay out of that hot media rack room and only go in during broadcasting only if a special need arises.