Let There Be Video

In 1620, when the English Separatists known as the Pilgrims fled religious persecution in England to land at the original Plymouth in New England, they could never have imagined the freedom to worship in such a high-tech manner as at NorthRidge Church in Plymouth, Mich. More than 7,500 attend the nondenominational services regularly, and the church's Glory concerts attract 14,000 attendees at Easter, and as many as 24,000 people during Christmas. Christian rock concerts are also held regularly in the 3,100-seat auditorium.

Reinforcement, Inc., of Farmington Hills, Mich., which designs and builds sound, lighting, and video systems to ministries, has been providing the majority of NorthRidge's technical support for many years. The company helped the church upgrade its A/V system.

“We used to have a system that was a combination of analog and digital. But we realized we needed to go digital to get the quality and the types of effects we wanted, such as computer overlays,” says Scott Storteboom, NorthRidge's media director. “Our video team is comprised of 53 volunteers with varying levels of technical skills, so much of our equipment has to be easy to operate.”

Reinforcement installed three Christie DLP projectors, a Roadster X9 and two Vista X5s, along with high-end cameras, switchers, computers, and wall monitors. The central component of the setup is a Sony DVS-9000 4M/E switcher with BVP-E10WS cameras, Chyron Duet LEX character generator and clip player, multiple PCs for graphics support, and Sony DSR-DR1000s for instant replays. The Christie Vista X5s light up 14ft. Da-Lite screens on either side of the stage while the Christie Roadster X9 illuminates a 20ft. screen that dominates center stage with scenic backdrops, atmospheric effects, and video. The system is controlled from a state-of-the-art studio facility.

A significant decision during the upgrade was moving the control room from the balcony overlooking the stage to a nearby space from which the stage is no longer visible. Christie's two-way remote allows the video team to monitor what each projector is doing in realtime. So the A/V technicians check the shutter and use different channels for projector setup when changing from a 16:9 display format for Christmas performances to 4:3 setup for church services that start one hour after the Christmas matinee performance ends.