If you’re a small house of worship hesitating to jump into the world of livestreaming your services – there’s never been a better time than now to take that leap of faith. Livestreaming has become easier and more affordable than ever before. QuickLink StudioPro is an easy-to-use and versatile multi-camera live production solution that is designed from the ground up to be easy to manage and use – even for volunteer workforces with little or no background in video production. StudioPro allows even small houses of worship to livestream their services, reach out beyond the sanctuary, increase service participation, and enhance fundraising activities using video to connect with congregants.
Although jam-packed with professional grade features used by traditional broadcasters, StudioPro is designed to allow novices with little or no background in multi-camera production to learn quickly and implement almost immediately. There are five key standout features that make StudioPro a great choice for houses of worship just getting started in livestreaming.
5 Key Features of QuickLink StudioPro that Make Livestreaming Easy
- Production Control
If you’re going to make the effort to livestream, you’ll want to send your program feed to as many digital platforms as you can and maximize your effort. Viewers today have the power to choose which platform they feel most comfortable with so it is important to use as many as possible. Accommodating varying screen sizes, applications, and other parameters is not a trifling task. StudioPro makes this easy to achieve. StudioPro will send a live program feed to various streaming services simultaneously while meeting the variety of requirements for each service. For example, congregations can livestream to YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and a webpage all at once while meeting the various specifications of each endpoint.
- Industry Leading One-Frame Delay
Perhaps in no other professional AV market is ‘frame delay’ more important than in the house of worship environment during a sermon. In a typical scenario, projecting the image of the live speaker on video boards in the same room in real time is the desired outcome and seemingly simple to achieve. Yet if there’s even a slight signal delay, it can cause such a visual distraction as being unusable. But if the delay is reduced down to an undetectable level, then it can potentially be very powerful. This has long been the goal when it comes to live video projection and many solutions simply lack the capability. StudioPro solves this problem with its industry-leading one-frame delay (1/30th of a second) between live and projected. More than any other software-based production switcher on the market, StudioPro’s one-frame delay makes it a very viable and ideal device for this particular environment and use case.
- Super Simple Remote Guest Integration
Another powerful feature built into StudioPro is QuickLink’s renowned StudioEdge remote control technology. StudioEdge provides the ability to integrate remote guests from wherever they may be to take worship services to dynamic new heights and faraway places.
StudioEdge incorporates every major video conferencing platform into the production including Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Skype. Users can also use StudioCall, QuickLink’s award-winning remote caller technology popular with many of the world’s top broadcasters. Remote video conferencing is particularly useful for highlighting missionary activities and church members working in remote locations supported in most cases by the generosity of the congregation. Giving congregants the ability to witness firsthand and see these good works in action during a live worship service can have a particularly powerful impact. StudioPro with StudioEdge built-in makes it possible and relatively simple to achieve.
There may even be two or more guests on at the same time, each using different platforms to connect with StudioPro. Remote contributors can also be run back-to-back from different platforms. It doesn’t matter which one, StudioPro can easily accommodate all major platforms.
- ‘Scenes’ Say Goodbye to M/E
One of the more complex and difficult to use, yet clearly powerful features of a traditional multi-camera switcher is the mix/effects bus, also known as the M/E. StudioPro replaces the M/E with a new and much-easier-to-use yet just as powerful feature called ‘Scenes.’ Being easier to use, Scenes are more likely to be implemented by a house of worship staff thereby being far more powerful than an unused M/E.
Scenes are much like presentation slides, such as those found in PowerPoint presentations, and require the same primary skill to develop. Think of Scenes as canvases that allow users to build up elements to create different views or shots. Scenes can be made up of one source or many sources depending on how complicated a canvas is and which method suits the workflow. Scenes are built up using different layers, similar to Adobe Photoshop.
- Capture Unlimited Devices
StudioPro also allows a wide variety of other peripheral items to be connected to the device whether physically or over the network. Effortlessly integrate unlimited cameras, microphones, pre-produced videos, NDI sources, graphics, as well as remote guests into the production. It can also pre-record interviews or other pieces to be played out into a livestream at the time of your choosing. With a wide range of options, the HoW production team now has access to capabilities traditionally used by professional broadcast outlets.
Newcomers to livestreaming are likely unaware of advancements like NDI – Network Device Interface. This protocol is used by an ever-increasing number of software and hardware-based companies and devices that allow video and audio signals to be shared over a network. For example, an NDI-capable camera can be plugged into a local area network. StudioPro, also an NDI-enabled device, will be able to detect and implement that video signal via the network without needing a traditional SDI or HDMI cable directly connecting the two devices. This opens up a wide range of options and possibilities limited only by your imagination.
For more information about QuickLink StudioPro, please visit QuickLink.tv.
About the author
Richard Rees is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of QuickLink, providers of award-winning video production solutions. Richard is a result-driven, self-motivated director with over 25 years of experience within the media, entertainment and broadcast industry. In early 2000, Richard established 4BN, the organization that provided the first transmission of the UK Parliament, revolutionary commentary of the UK Football League, and empowered the first live financial management web TV station. In 2003, Richard founded QuickLink, with the idea of building an encoder for BBC and ABC to cover the Iraq war. As QuickLink’s CEO for over 20 years, Richard has grown QuickLink to an award-winning industry powerhouse with over 800 customers.
