URSA Broadcast and ATEM 4 M E Broadcast Studio 4K Installed at NOW Church

Blackmagic Design today announced that Ocala, Florida-based NOW Church has installed an URSA Broadcast professional broadcast camera, ATEM 4 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K live production switcher and ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel hardware control panel. The products will be used to help capture 4K footage of NOW Church’s high energy worship and concert like productions, as well as interviews, video announcements, and music segments viewed by its global audience.
Best known for its creativity and stewardship, NOW Church is a fast growing multicultural Christian church located in Ocala, Florida. With its active local congregation and international reach, the church’s weekly Sunday sermons and other events are aired via local Florida broadcasters, as well as online through its broadcast quality online campus that’s viewed in more than 125 countries.
Ricky Perinchief of Proton Global Media Group installed the URSA Broadcast, ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel, and ATEM 4 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K at NOW Church and helped integrate the system to accompany its existing workflow that included URSA Mini Pro, Micro Studio Camera 4K, Blackmagic Studio Camera, and other ATEM production switchers. The URSA Broadcast with a Video Assist 4K and the URSA Mini Pro with an URSA Studio Viewfinder act as the main cameras, alongside five Micro Studio Camera 4Ks that are set up around the church to capture all angles of the pastor and band for sermons, concerts and other church events. Two of the Micro Studio Camera 4Ks are wireless, including one on a track on the ceiling controlled by a remote control chassis, and one on a DJI Ronin M Stabilizer.
The cameras are fed into the ATEM 4 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K, two via wireless transmitters, with the ATEM located 120 feet away from the main stage. All of the outputs of the switcher are fed into a Smart Videohub 20x20 and routed to the return camera outputs and campus televisions in the pastor’s study, the nursery, and the church lobby. The team also uses two HyperDeck Studio Pros to record the program output and a clean feed output to use for B-roll.
“We are very impressed with the URSA Broadcast,” said Ricky. “The full length of the zoom range is awesome. We use it with two different HD B4 lenses, and there’s no softness on the edges. We are able to use the entire zoom ratio even at F1.7. I think that opens up a whole other market of churches. Even those that aren’t lit properly for broadcast, with this camera they would be able to gain down the lens at F1.7 to give them the brightness they need. We’re very happy with the camera’s native 2/3” sensor and the abundance of buttons and switches. Whether you’re in the studio world or ENG world doing remote work, this camera has everything you need, and the price point is unbeatable.”
Using the ATEM 4 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K to switch the camera feeds has allowed NOW Church to be more flexible than ever before. “In the church world having something that is more versatile, like the ATEM 4 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K, is great,” said Ricky. “Our clients use the different M/Es for things like broadcast, IMAG and in house projection. Having the ability to do more with different feeds for different places is a very cool option. It is very easy to go between the M/Es on the ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel, because everything is laid out so well.”
In addition to operating during the weekly sermons on Sundays, NOW Church’s control room doubles as a recording studio during the week. By using the ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel to control the ATEM 4 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K, Ricky has streamlined the switching process during broadcasts, as well as the process of converting the control room to a recording studio. The panel’s mobility and power over Ethernet allow his team to easily move the setup between rooms.
“We love the T-bar, the shortcuts with the macros and how everything is laid out on the panel,” said Ricky. “It’s very user friendly and everything is where it needs to be. For the church world, having something at this price point is huge. For the functionality it has, I think it’s a no brainer. Then when our broadcast is over, we can easily move the ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel from the desk in the control room to a separate engineering room. That way, everything stays on the network and we only have that one cable to plug in for the panel, which gives us everything we need. It’s super lightweight and well built. This would also be a great feature for mobile trucks, or other control rooms like ours that are multi-purpose.”
He continued, “We also have Micro Studio Camera 4Ks at various points in the room, and beingable to have the ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel control the PTZ type functions of the pan and tilt heads for these cameras is incredible. I think macros are where it’s headed in the industry. With this panel, that’s easy to do.”
Ricky concluded by saying, “What these products do is give the user options with their price points and 12G-SDI features. You can have SDI across the board. You can convert SDI to HDMI if needed. You can do 4K now or in the future. Blackmagic Design really connects the dots and gets what people need. That’s a huge plus for churches, especially those run by volunteers. To have everything talk to each other, to be able to recall your template and have everything snap back to the way it was, to load your graphics, to get your DSKs programmed, to get your cameras colored and matched up the way they need to be, and then have it snap back with one button is great. Blackmagic Design takes the guess work out of it.”