When the Calvary Cathedral of Praise recently relocated to a larger house of worship in the Kensington section of Brooklyn, the church installed a comprehensive presentation system featuring Sony projectors, monitors and color video cameras.

”Because of the size and design of our new facility,” says Osbourn Ross, Calvary’s chief financial officer, “it made sense to go high-tech, enabling us to offer full multimedia capabilities that bring the congregation even closer together.”

MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATIONS

Ross, a former electronics salesman, says he specifically chose the Sony VPL-FX50 projectors because of their “excellent” overall picture quality, “extreme brightness” and throw capabilities, adding that they met the church’s technological and budget requirements.

Sony’s three-panel LCD projector features brightness of 3,500 ANSI lumens, XGA resolution, four-times digital zoom, an RGB enhancer for crisp image reproduction, digital keystone adjustment and a variety of inputs (including DTV, HDTV and DVI-I for digital/analog signals), a PCMCI slot for network connectivity and a 10 Base-T Ethernet connection. Sony recently introduced the VPL-FX51 SuperSmart projector, the company’s next generation system, which raises the brightness level to 5,200 ANSI lumens. (ANSI lumens is a measuring method developed for the American National Standards Institute.)

Calvary uses the projectors to display full multimedia presentations- ”virtually anything that can be generated from a computer or a VCR to PowerPoint® slides,” Ross says.

During services, the projectors display words to songs and hymns (via a popular software program built specifically for religious institutions), video clips from previous services or special events, images of the reverend and/or other speakers on the pulpit, and members of the congregation worshiping.

The projectors are also used to display 30-second promotional clips of upcoming events—an element that Ross says “grabs the attention of our congregants the most.”

IMPROVED COMMUNICATION

Calvary also features six Sony monitors—two of which are situated on the pulpit enabling pastors and the choir to view what’s being projected on the adjacent screens. The other monitors are strategically placed in the church’s lower balcony. A monitor in the church lobby displays the previous week’s services.

Calvary also uses two PVM-14N5U professional broadcast monitors in an editing suite, where production of video clips and the pulpit to capture the congregation worshiping, Ross says.

Ross remotely controls the video cameras, which offer high resolution, powerful picture contrast controls and pristine color reproduction in a compact case with inconspicuous footprint.

The church records its Sunday service and uses a popular video-editing program to compile the footage onto VHS tapes for distribution to homebound parishioners. The tapes are also available for check out. In addition to traditional church services, the cameras are used to capture special events and gatherings, such as baptisms and weddings, says Ross.

“The cameras are a very important part of our ability to maintain close contact with our congregants,” he explains.

A BROADER VISION

The installation of the integrated projection system is the church’s first step toward branching out into other multimedia services that extend beyond the house of worship, says Ross.

“We have a broader vision within the church that includes the use of technology to create compelling content that we can share with our congregants,” he adds.

The church is building a web site at www.ccpny.org, where it hopes to begin streaming video of its services, special events and gatherings.