Holy Spirit Catholic Church enhances tailor-made live stream solution

About the project

With physical barriers growing due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Atlanta, a state Georgia USA, decided to enhance its modern live streaming technologies. The main reason for this step was to provide outreach to those who can’t attend mass in person due to illness, quarantine, or social distancing measures. “The task was clear. The church wanted to have a user-friendly solution to broadcast online,” explains William A. Oppermann of Southeast Network Specialists, LLC. The company created an easily operated, efficient, and straightforward streaming system based on CamStreamer apps.

Technical solution

Two AXIS V5915 PTZ network cameras (one in the church and one in the chapel) provide images in HDTV resolution with SDI and HDMI output, 30x optical zoom, and clear high-quality audio with XLR inputs. The CamStreamer App takes care of live streaming to Vimeo and Facebook simultaneously. Both cameras receive crisp audio from the church sound system.

“The main challenge was management of the live stream. Because there are two PTZ cameras, the church staff and volunteers needed a simple way to operate them and to switch between them. So, we created a dedicated website with simple buttons that can be controlled from an iPad mounted to the wall inside the church. The site sends API commands directly to the camera,” says Mr. Oppermann. The staff can thus control the camera angle and decide what part of the church the camera covers. Moreover, the live stream is triggered by a key switch, so only authorized personnel, such as the priest, can turn the stream on and off.

Conclusion

Southeast Network Specialists, LLC created a handy tailor-made live streaming solution that fully covers the customer’s needs. “We particularly appreciated the CamStreamer App’s well-documented API. It allows for custom solutions to be built with reliability and ease.

With the our app onboard, the church can discreetly live stream with a small, single camera without the need for a production booth. And that’s what many customers want these days,” says Mr. Oppermann. And he adds: “There are still many possibilities for progress. In the future, I’d like to see the CamOverlay App allow a church to quickly pick pre-loaded text overlay over a live-stream in progress. Thanks to that, the viewers could read all of the hymns or responses, gospel readings.”

See other Church livestreams in our LIVE gallery.

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