Is VHS The Most Popular Format in your Meetinghouse Library?
Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 5:24 pm
I am incredibly frustrated by the fact that the most popular video format in our meetinghouse library is VHS tapes.
There is nothing more frustrating than having to fast forward through a 120min VHS cassette to find a 5min clip for your Sunday school class, and then find that the 10yr old VHS player and equally as old VHS cassette cannot track properly. Then even more frustrating is searching through hundreds of un-cataloged prints for the one related to your lesson.
I used to work for the Church in the audiovisual department and remember one employee who diligently authored DVD's of all the Churches media. However, my Stake will not replace the VHS tapes for reasons of tech fear and budget.
I now work for an audio-visual and IT consulting firm as a Sr. Designer and everyday we attempt to specify solutions for K-12 and universities for media storage and retrieval. Unfortunately the solutions out there are cost prohibitive and ridden with copyright and content protection problems. Although, those that have successfully adopted a solution, have found it to be the single greatest improvement to their audio-visual workflow. Additionally, the cost benefit overtime so far has been excellent. Some organizations have gone as low tech as a client running YouTube connected to a display, and as high tech as a full blown IPTV/webcast/podcast solution capturing and distributing everything.
It seems that since the church owns all its IP (intellectual property), that digital media solution would be cost effective and simple to create as a custom application. Here is my concept:
VAS- Visual Aid Server
1. Each meetinghouse library gets a VAS and a wireless network. The server is synchronized with Church HQ to get new content (Broadband or Dial-up:eek:). This avoids bandwidth constraints of internet streaming media, internet outages, and ensures the best quality video.
2. Each DVD/VHS player is replaced with an inexpensive "Media Player" client. There are plenty of these devices out there that play HD content over wi-fi for around $200. The player would include a customized and ultra simple GUI (IR remote driven) to access content. i.e. the member selects the manual, lesson number, and volia all media (Photos, Prints, Music, Videos, Etc.) associated with the lesson are ready to play.
3. Members who are scared of technology, or those looking for a specific clip can request the librarian to preset the client from a workstation in the library.
4. Members who are advanced can use the ward/stake website to create customized presentations from all church media, or upload their own media (videos, powerpoint, etc). Subsequently these custom presentations would be synchronized to the local meetinghouse for retrieval from any client.
5. Players would be able to access web-casting streams.
This concept would provide a simple, and cost effective means for members to quickly access visual aids that are up-to-date and of the best quality. The fact that the Church already has most its IP available in digital form.
Any Takers?
Thanks,
Jason Gottfredson
There is nothing more frustrating than having to fast forward through a 120min VHS cassette to find a 5min clip for your Sunday school class, and then find that the 10yr old VHS player and equally as old VHS cassette cannot track properly. Then even more frustrating is searching through hundreds of un-cataloged prints for the one related to your lesson.
I used to work for the Church in the audiovisual department and remember one employee who diligently authored DVD's of all the Churches media. However, my Stake will not replace the VHS tapes for reasons of tech fear and budget.
I now work for an audio-visual and IT consulting firm as a Sr. Designer and everyday we attempt to specify solutions for K-12 and universities for media storage and retrieval. Unfortunately the solutions out there are cost prohibitive and ridden with copyright and content protection problems. Although, those that have successfully adopted a solution, have found it to be the single greatest improvement to their audio-visual workflow. Additionally, the cost benefit overtime so far has been excellent. Some organizations have gone as low tech as a client running YouTube connected to a display, and as high tech as a full blown IPTV/webcast/podcast solution capturing and distributing everything.
It seems that since the church owns all its IP (intellectual property), that digital media solution would be cost effective and simple to create as a custom application. Here is my concept:
VAS- Visual Aid Server
1. Each meetinghouse library gets a VAS and a wireless network. The server is synchronized with Church HQ to get new content (Broadband or Dial-up:eek:). This avoids bandwidth constraints of internet streaming media, internet outages, and ensures the best quality video.
2. Each DVD/VHS player is replaced with an inexpensive "Media Player" client. There are plenty of these devices out there that play HD content over wi-fi for around $200. The player would include a customized and ultra simple GUI (IR remote driven) to access content. i.e. the member selects the manual, lesson number, and volia all media (Photos, Prints, Music, Videos, Etc.) associated with the lesson are ready to play.
3. Members who are scared of technology, or those looking for a specific clip can request the librarian to preset the client from a workstation in the library.
4. Members who are advanced can use the ward/stake website to create customized presentations from all church media, or upload their own media (videos, powerpoint, etc). Subsequently these custom presentations would be synchronized to the local meetinghouse for retrieval from any client.
5. Players would be able to access web-casting streams.
This concept would provide a simple, and cost effective means for members to quickly access visual aids that are up-to-date and of the best quality. The fact that the Church already has most its IP available in digital form.
Any Takers?
Thanks,
Jason Gottfredson