New Setup Need Recommendations

[alexmcg]

My church is wanting to upgrade our video system. Hoping to get ideas from people on what they would purchase. Lets say budget A is 15k and budget B is 30k.

Details:
10x zoom is needed.
Looking for a 3 camera setup.
Must have HD-SDI.
Sound will be multitrack recorded off the digital board.
Will be live broadcast over ustream.
Production room will be 125 feet away from the closet camera and 160 feet away from the farthest.

So what would you do with each budget?

[tdangelo]

Alexmcg,

What are your needs if any to feed projectors? I-mag? Lyrics/Graphics?

What is your post production work-flow if any?

[alexmcg]

Thanks for the question Tom. No need to feed the projectors that system is already setup and live video won't be displayed. I want the ability to record right out of the switcher as well as have each camera recorded (if this is done at camera level that's fine).

[alexmcg]

Here's my list now.

Camera:
Canon XF300 - $6000 x3Canare HD-SDI Cable 150' - $220 x2
Canare HD-SDI Cable 175' - $250 x1
VariZoom VZRock Variable-Rocker - $205 x3
Tripod & Head - Budgeting $300 x2 (already have 1) Recommendations?

Production room:
Blackmagic Design ATEM 1 M/E Production Switcher: $2370
Multiview & Preview Monitors - Budgeting $300 x2
MacPro - $2500
Monitors for MacPro - Recommendations?
USB 3.0 Card for MacPro - $50
Final Cut Pro - Already Have

Need communication tools producer/operator - Recommendations?

Hoping to find a camera arouund 3k by the end of this.

Have I missed anything?

[tdangelo]

Alex,

I admit that I would have a very hard time staying within your budget.

As everyone’s needs are a little different I would personally be looking at camera systems which can be upgraded at some point in the future via the camera manufacturer or a third party system to full CCU control. As such, the finite budget is very important but also the migration path for upgrades in the future are equally important.

Along that vein, I would look at the Sony PMWEX3 (or similar) as it would give me HDSDI output, gen-lock, paintbox, timecode, and interchangeable lenses. In the future, this camera can easily be coupled with a Telecast Copperhead system to allow full CCU control including tally, return video, comms and audio back and forth (as well as the items listed above, HDSDI output, gen-lock, paintbox and timecode).

In very rough numbers, a one camera system with paint box control, tripod, rear controls, rear monitoring, Panasonic switcher, etc., I see falling around $28K.

This should roughly include:

Panasonic AV-HS400A Compact Live Multi-Format SD/HD-SDI Switcher
42"-50" flat panel monitor as monitor wall

Camera Chain:
Sony PMW-EX3 XDCAM EX HD Camcorder (without SxS Card)
Sony RMB-750 Remote Control Unit
Sony RMB150100US Cable for Sony RMB-150 100 Meter (328 Ft)
SmallHD 5.6" monitor
Israeli Arm
Varizoom or Bebob Rear zoom/focus
Bogen/Manfrotto pan/tilt head & tripod

Adding the second camera and shadding gear would bring the grand total to $55K. This would add:

Blackmagic Design Micro Videohub
HDSDI Waveform monitor
17" LCD monitor

Plus a second of the Camera Chain of:
Sony PMW-EX3 XDCAM EX HD Camcorder (without SxS Card)
Sony RMB-750 Remote Control Unit
Sony RMB150100US Cable for Sony RMB-150 100 Meter (328 Ft)
SmallHD 5.6" monitor
Israeli Arm
Varizoom or Bebob Rear zoom/focus
Bogen/Manfrotto pan/tilt head & tripod

The third camera would bring this up to $73K. This would add:

A third of the Camera Chain of:
Sony PMW-EX3 XDCAM EX HD Camcorder (without SxS Card)
Sony RMB-750 Remote Control Unit
Sony RMB150100US Cable for Sony RMB-150 100 Meter (328 Ft)
SmallHD 5.6" monitor
Israeli Arm
Varizoom or Bebob Rear zoom/focus
Bogen/Manfrotto pan/tilt head & tripod

[petereit]

Seriously consider building your own HD-SDI cables. It's so easy a PASTOR can do it! (LOL! Love you Pastor Steve!!) But it can save you a BUNCH of $$$ and there's nothing like having the flexibility of building EXACTLY the cable length you need.

Even at your higher budget, you're going to have to get creative with your gear and how you run it. For example, remote camera control units and multi-core cabling to each camera is probably going to get pushed to "Phase 2". (LOL! We've been looking forward to "Phase 2" for about 3 years now.)

Concentrate on kitting out your camera positions first. Obviously, you want the best cameras you can afford, but it's just as important (some would even say MORE important) that you mount them on high-quality fluid heads and rock-solid tripods, with high-quality remote zoom and focus controls. I would also add high-quality LCD monitors for your camera operator to pull focus, but the built-in "flyout" monitors with focus peaking features are getting better and better. (I've been spoiled with our SmallHD DP1x heads-up monitors, so I've become quite a snob.)

I'm not going to go as far as recommend the new BlackMagic Cinema Camera -- I haven't put my hands on one. BUT! For the price and features, it certainly bears some consideration! HD-SDI plus built-in SSD drive slot makes for dead-simple camera ISO recording. (Camera ISO recording means you're recording everything each camera shoots seperately, in case you royally flub a live switch, you can easily fix it in post.)

Your next focus needs to be on your control studio. You need a good quality HD-SDI video switcher. Thankfully, prices are starting to come WAY down on those and you can get a competent starter system for under $10,000. We were leaning toward a BlackMagic ATEM 2, but the new TriCaster 8000 introduced at NAB this year has us drooling!

Then of course, you have to record your service. We record straight out the switcher into a Mac Pro using a BlackMagic Extreme HD-SDI card and record onto three 1TB Hitachi drives in a RAID0 configuration. They have to be combined in RAID0 because the drives by themselves are not fast enough to capture HD video. Putting them in RAID0 allows the computer to save to the three drives simultaneously, essentially tripling the write speed.

But, I also like the dedicated recording devices like the BlackMagic HyperDeck Studio or the Atomos Ninja. Of course, the aforementioned Tricaster 8000 renders all that moot, since it records up to 8 ISO cameras, records your program out, live-streams your video, tweets your followers, massages your feet and walks your dog.