November 2008 Archives

The Love Dare

By
Aaron Linne
on November 26, 2008 12:37 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
One of the surprise movie hits of 2008 was "Fireproof."  In this movie, the main character is challenged by a book to do different dares each day to help save his marriage; and it works.

Fresh from the movie has come he actual Love Dare book, published by the fine folks over at B&H.  In these video conversations, I got to talk with some of the people who had a hand in actually bringing the Love Dare to life.

What really impressed me the most was the conversations I had with John, Andrea and Ricky off of the camera.  All of hem have gone through (or are going through) the book and can personally testify to the ways it has strengthened their marriages.  I love it when people are just creating a product, but that they have been personally changed by it.

John Thompson and Andrea Dennis  

Ricky King

Delivering HD Content: Making Decisions on Quality

By
Aaron Linne
on November 20, 2008 10:00 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
As mentioned yesterday, LifeWay has taken it's first steps into delivering HD content, with the "Because" music video by Jeff Slaughter for VBS 2009.

In preparing this video, I was hit with the battle that will continue to hit our team as we try to get this content out to you: the balance of quality and file size.

There is a full range of definitions that could be qualified as "HD" and, as more and more digital delivery takes place it's going to get more and more convoluted.  In other words, not all HD is created equal.

For me, the standard bearer of what should truly be considered "HD" is the broadcast specifications for HD television.  This is the standard against which most of the HD content we actually consumer will be judged, because the TV is the primary source of entertainment.

So, what defines the standards for television HD?

1280x720 pixles (720p) or 1920x1080 pixels (1080i)
Surround Sound
15 MB/s data rate

That bit rate is where things start to get sloppy with "HD".  For example, "HD" downloads from the Apple iTunes Store sit at 4 MB/s, Xbox 360 HD downloads are 6.8 MB/s, and Blu-Ray movies can actually go all the way up to over 54 MB/s.

So how does our first HD content compare?

Well, I've found that the 'sweet spot' that people are comfortable downloading in today's world is somewhere between 100-200MB for a Standard Definition, long format video.  So my goal was to get the video, which is only just above 4 minutes, as close to 200MB as possible.  This was a decision made entirely on trying to help he customer experience with an easy-as-possible download.  We hit 190.6MB.

Size: 1280 x 720
Bitrate: 6 MB/s

So are we 'true' HD?  No, I guess not.  But... it's nice to say that we're offering better quality than the iTunes Store and (almost) on par with the Xbox Downloads.

For comparison's sake, I maxed out the render to see what a "Full HD" file might be like...

Size: 1920 x 1080
Bitrate: 20 MB/s

That file ended up being 678MB.  And it won't play on the Windows machine that rendered it.  Or the Mac that I edit our videos on.  In other words... it's amazingly beautiful, but completely unusable by the average church.

I'm glad we've been able to gently step into the HD content space with a great quality video like Slaughter's "Because."  To be honest, though, while we've been able to push out this video at 6MB/s, there's no expectation that all of our HD materials will get to be so sharp and fine.  It's a hard balance and, with any video much longer than 4-5 minutes, the file would simply get too massive to efficiently deliver to churches - let alone let the church's computers even be able to play the file!

If anyone out there has downloaded the "Because" video, please feel free to let us know how it looks to you, and if the quality justifies the file size!

The Jeff Slaughter Interview: Part 2 (and our first ever HD content, the 'Because' music video!)

By
Aaron Linne
on November 19, 2008 11:12 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
We are proud to announce this week that we have released LifeWay's first ever HD content: The "Because" music video by Jeff Slaughter.

Created for use with 2009's VBS, we've chosen to release the video a bit early for you to enjoy!  In part two of our interview with Jeff, we talk about his experience filming the video in Israel, and the way that the trip was a fulfillment of God's blessings for him.

Beth Moore's Esther Study Available as Downloads

By
Aaron Linne
on November 18, 2008 9:01 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
iTunes-Esther-forWeb.jpg
I must admit; I'm pretty excited today.  Thanks to the wonderful work of our new(ish) Apple contact, Beth Moore's newest study, Esther, is featured on the main Chrisitan/Gospel page of iTunes.  The audio from each of the 10 sessions are available through iTunes for $3.99.

Of course, if you're like me, you might want some video to go along with your audio.  In that case, we have the Individual Use videos for sale through LifeWay.com.  Each of the session are available for $4.99 to watch on our personal computer.  We managed to keep the file size small(ish) for you all, hovering around 200MB for each of the files... which is pretty good for an hour of video!

This is the first time we've been able to get a new product released as a physical product, on iTunes, and on LifeWay.com.  I'm pretty excited about how far we've come in just one year.  Last week we surpassed 1000 downloads, today we've done a huge simultaneous release, and soon I should have something to announce about our first HD content... What a way to close out 2008!

The Jeff Slaughter Interview: Part 1

By
Aaron Linne
on November 14, 2008 12:53 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
I've had the pleasure of being able to work with Jeff Slaughter at a number of events the past several years through my work with FUGE Camps here at LifeWay.  Jeff has, without a doubt, the most passion for leading kids to worship Christ than any other person I've known.  He is able to connect with children and not simply teach them words and melodies, but truly helps them build a relationship with God.

When I sat down to talk with him about his experience in Israel filming the "Because" music video (more on that next week), we ended up having a simply incredible conversation about his ministry, how he came to write and lead Children's Worship music, and how he got involved with LifeWay's VBS.  Check out this video, and then come back next week for the "Because" music video and his trip to Israel!


Universal Copyright: Do Churches Need to Protect Themselves?

By
Aaron Linne
on November 12, 2008 2:54 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
In my feed reader today came a post from one the gaming sites I follow, xbox360.qj.net, about the terms of use from Activision in regards to content created using Guitar Hero 3:

You hereby grant Activision a royalty free, irreversible, sub-licensable and non-exclusive perpetual license throughout the universe for use in any and all media whether now known or hereafter...

Did you catch that?  "Throughout the universe"  That's some forward thinking.  Do we have other man-made laws that govern the universe, or is intellectual property (and the right to make money from it) that important that we've gone there first?  Could intellectual property be the first cause of interstellar war?

And are they really thinking broadly enough?  Should it say "throughout the universe and metaphyical/supernatural worlds (i.e. Heaven, Hell)"?

It's been interesting watching copyright and intellectual property become so much more important to so many people.  I think this will become quite the issue for the church in the future; not dealing with copyright and how to use protected resources, but defining how to protect content that is created from within your church.

For example... who owns your church logo?  Who owns your church's website design (if it's not a template)?  Who owns the transcript of last weeks sermon: your church or the pastor.  If it's the church... was the sermon done as a work-for-hire, or does your pastor own the rights to any residuals if the church (for some reason) decides to sell an audio recording of it?

What happens when someone patents a way to do missions work?  Or what if your worship leader writes a song and someone steals it?

The movement to protect intellectual property, not just digital content, has the potential to truly change ministry.  Could it happen that we have to some day license church models because a mega-church (or a legally-savvy church plant) decides to register their technique in coordination with a book/product release?

While I would assume churches wouldn't want to restrict each other in such a sense... what if it's not a church that patents it?  Could some slick entrepreneur take control or systems and ideas if our churches don't protect their original ideas and messages?

Anyone out there have any answers/ideas?

KNOWN 02 Now Available for Download (and Free Samples!)

By
Aaron Linne
on November 12, 2008 1:45 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Have you been to the KNOWN website yet?  No?  Then you might not know we're offering a free sample of our Midweek resources.  By downloading the sample, you get to check out some of the stellar visual elements created by our graphic artists here, as well as - of course - a sample of our mid-week lesson which includes a plethora of ideas and a solid outline for your teaching time (and, of course, if you like the mid-week resources, the whole set can be purchased here).

I've been quite impressed and excited about the response we've gotten about the KNOWN resources.  (This is where I get to do a shoutout to one of our twitter friends, Matt Henslee.)  In a recent chat, Matt told me that "KNOWN overall has revolutionized our Student Ministry."

Matt is a user of the digital bundle we offer, and loves the incorporation of the mid-week event with the Sunday School materials - and his teachers love it too.  When we put the digital bundle together, we were really hoping to be able to reach not just students, but to create a resource that could connect with the myriad of digitally-savvy youth teachers out there; it's conversations like those through twitter with Matt that lets me thing we did it right.

For any of you who are using the KNOWN downloads, please feel free to let us know what you're enjoying in the resources, and what we can improve!

(And, if you were wondering, the KNOWN 02 digital bundle is available here!)

Digital Devices Presentation from ECPA's PUBu 2008

By
Aaron Linne
on November 11, 2008 2:04 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Last week I had the honor of getting to speak at this year's PUBu conference put on by the ECPA.  Getting to share some of the ideas and information we, as a culture, are processing through to other Christian publishers was a great opportunity to help create resources that meet the needs of the church.  One of the blessings of working in the Christian marketplace is that, ultimately, we are all working towards a common goal: helping connect people with Christ (and His bride, the Church).

With permission from the ECPA, I'm posting my workshop on Digital Devices and the Creative Commons here for your enjoyment.  It is, admittedly, a lengthy presentation hitting over an hour and twenty minutes.  I was asked to create a presentation introducing a variety of digital devices and the ideas behind Creative Commons; I think the two combined to make quite the interesting presentation.

Please note that this presentation is intended for the publishing world, and meant to be introductory.  That means it might not really apply to most of you... but I thought it might be fun to let you see some of the ideas that we're working with for the future of Christian publishing.  Feel free to leave comments/critiques/ideas if you decide to give it a view!

ECPA 2008: Consumer Interaction with Digital Devices and the Creative Commons from Aaron Linne on Vimeo.

Serendipity House's FLOOD Vol 1

By
Aaron Linne
on November 11, 2008 12:08 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
If you missed out on the DVDs or are looking for some video content to sprinkle into your youth ministry, volume 1 of Serendipity House's FLOOD student resources is now available for download.  These videos cover the topics of friendship, sex, anger management and more.

Check out the videos here:


Centri-Kid 2008 Downloadable Videos

By
Aaron Linne
on November 10, 2008 10:15 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Each year I'm more and more impressed with the direction that Darrel Girardier, Neil Hoppe and the production team for our Fuge camps have taken the media elements at our summer camps. This year, they really connected with the youth and pre-teen culture and created some video pieces that are right on target.

For the first time ever, you too can purchase and download some of the original video content used at our camps this past summer.  Our children's camp videos are currently available here, with our Centrifuge videos coming soon.

Check out one of Godzilla vs Kong videos right now!


A Very Special Baptism

By
Aaron Linne
on November 6, 2008 10:16 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Sometimes, you just have to post a YouTube video...


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