Historical Cathedral in Hong Kong chooses Vaddio

Challenge

St. John’s Cathedral is the oldest surviving Western Christian church located in Hong Kong. Due to its association with nineteenth-century colonial rule and history in the community of over 170 years, it was declared a monument by the Antiquities Authority. This status protects historical buildings and other sites from alterations and modifications and makes it more challenging to install modern AV systems. St. John’s Cathedral needed an easy-to-install AV system that wouldn’t impact the building’s infrastructure.

The Cathedral, which can accommodate 500 worshippers, hosts weekly services and invites all people to attend in-person or join the live stream online.

The previous video system had been in use for over ten years, and the low-resolution video was not sufficient for online broadcast and social media. With only three cameras, the previous system could not capture all the various spaces within the sanctuary. The system relied on third-party extenders and adapters for signal transmission between the camera and recording and broadcast devices, which caused problems that were hard to identify.

With social distancing restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person attendance was limited, making live-streaming and recordings the best way to reach worshippers.

“We found that our members are becoming more familiar with online services. Apart from our local members, we have also increased our outreach to Christians around the world who are now able to participate virtually,” said Felix Yeung, Director of Music, St. John’s Cathedral.

“It’s time to upgrade to a more advanced AV system that will allow our members to join online services during the current pandemic situation. Live-streaming has been a great way for us to facilitate participation through social distancing restrictions and will continue to be a way for us to reach more people,” said The Rev. Amos Poon, Cathedral Chaplain.

Solution

One of the leading System Integrators in Hong Kong, OPS Technology Limited, recommended Vaddio solutions to St. John’s Cathedral.

“We recommended cameras and a controller from Vaddio and a Luxul switch because they are easy to install with a single cable and did not require alterations on this declared monument. In addition, the system is easy for the customer to control and provides high-quality video for broadcasting and recording,” said Unique Cheung, Senior Sales Engineer, Ops Technology.

Two production-quality RoboSHOT 40 UHD cameras, four RoboSHOT 20 UHD cameras, and a RoboSHOT 12E provide brilliant 4K and HD footage of each space in the sanctuary. With 40x zoom capability, the RoboSHOT 40 UHD located at the front entrance can capture a clear image of the altar area over 40 meters away.

The OneLINK Bridge has simultaneous HDMI, HDBaseT, HD-SDI, USB 3.0, and IP (H.264) streaming allowing St. John’s Cathedral to display, extend, broadcast, record, and live stream a church service at the same time. HDBaseT technology allows a single Cat-5e/6 cable connection to provide power, video, and control to cameras up to 328 ft (100 m). Without the need for an additional power supply, cameras can be easily installed where needed in a non-invasive way.

The Vaddio Precision Camera Controller Premier (PCC Premier) comes equipped with a full-color touchscreen and illuminated push buttons for camera selection and recalling presets. There is also a joystick for manual pan, tilt, and zoom control of the camera. Vaddio cameras can be controlled from anywhere through a browser-based user interface.

“I appreciate how easy it is to select and control a camera during services. The single cable connection from each camera to the AV rack saves us from relying on third-party extenders and adapters and minimizes the possibility of something going wrong,” said Michael Luu, Technical Support Team, St. John’s Cathedral.

The Luxul AMS-2624P network switch includes 24 PoE+ ports for power and network. This switch features unique features for AV applications including rear panel ports and front-facing LEDs. PoE self-healing with auto-recovery makes sure all devices are properly functioning and will reboot a device remotely.

The free Vaddio Deployment Tool application can be used for remote management, remote firmware updates, camera and streaming status, rebooting and more. Easily connect live video content using the H.264 RTSP/RTMP stream to your cloud base service like YouTube, Panopto and Facebook Live or on-premise streaming delivery network. Vaddio systems are scalable, easily add new devices using the Vaddio Deployment Tool.

Results

The upgrade to a professional camera and control system at St. John’s Cathedral allows them to continue their mission of outreach through high-quality live-streaming and recordings. This has been especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic as many worshippers cannot attend the service physically.

Volunteer operators can easily select and control the multiple PTZ cameras using preset commands or the joystick. A single operator can control cameras with one hand while mixing audio with the other.

Vaddio cameras only need a single connection for power, video and control thanks to HDBaseT, making camera locations flexible for future movement or additions.

“Now, even volunteers without much training are able to operate our system and produce professional-quality streams and recordings for worshippers both in Hong Kong and overseas,” said Felix Yeung, Director of Music, St. John’s Cathedral.