Canyon Del Oro Baptist Church near Tucson, Arizona has expanded its campus with a new sanctuary complex and video equipment upgrade.  The church added an Analog Way Ascender 32 - 4K multi-screen processor to drive an Aurora 3.9mm LED videowall.

Pensacola, Florida-based All Pro Integrated Systems explored display solutions for the sanctuary whose house right curtain wall has a view overlooking Mount Kimball.  The ambient light in the space and the architecture of the sanctuary made front- and rear-projection unfeasible so All Pro installed a 38 x 8-foot Aurora LED videowall, which “gives the look of a triple-wide screen configuration without the need to have three physical screens sitting next to each other,” says Chris Kusek, Systems Design Manager for All Pro.

He and Project Designer Sarah Giles researched solutions to process the videowall looking for a system that would be easy for volunteer operators to use while providing the scaling and creative content management required.  “The new LED videowall and processor were a big step up for the church,” Kusek emphasizes.

All Pro had previously selected Analog Way processors for other projects.  “We tend to use them quite a bit with LED videowalls,” Kusek explains.  “With the ability to scale to custom resolutions and handle PIPs, layering, and cut/fill effects, Analog Way processors are a pretty clear fit for LEDs.”

The Ascender 32 - 4K enables the church to bring in numerous cameras, computers and other sources in a low-latency environment, feed the LED wall with graphic backgrounds, and layer multiple camera PIPs and other visual effects on top.  The Ascender supports the custom main program resolution as well as the 1080 secondary output to distributed displays in the lobby and children’s education area and to recording software – all from a single machine.

“Once we decided on the Ascender that gave the client the flexibility to scale up the camera count,” Kusek notes.  “But the system had to stay usable for the volunteer operators.  We couldn’t complicate things with technology that required a high learning curve.”

So All Pro paired the Ascender with Analog Way’s Control Box remote controller.  “The controller allows operators to configure a number of presets that create a few different looks for the LED videowall: live camera at the center with graphics flanking or full-screen graphics, for example,” says Kusek.  “The Control Box also provides traditional production switcher operation for the distributed screens and recording software.”

He points out that All Pro’s final commissioning and set up of the Ascender “only scratches the surface of what the system can do.  There are myriad creative things the church can do with the LED videowall, and as the operators learn the Ascender software in more depth there will be a lot of opportunity for growth.”

Sean Norenberg was the Project Manager for All Pro and Jon Brightbill the On-site Superintendant.