Recently in LifeWay Digital Media Category

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!

Digital Media 08

By
Micah Drushal
on October 20, 2008 12:09 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
digital media 08.jpgThis is not a political story.  Rather, this is a look at how the candidates and media outlets are finally moving into the new media realms to reach their viewers.  NBC news reports that more people have watched Tina Fay parodies of Sarah Palin on Saturday Nigh Live than have actually watched the broadcast of the program.  Checking the SNL website reports 2.4 million views.  Various youtube posts and reposts of the same videos easily take the total over 5 million views of the same content and it only aired two days ago!  The internet is quickly becoming a place to go to view things.

In my own life when discussing tv shows or movies with friends the question is no longer:  did you see that show?  the question is:  have you seen it yet?  because there are so many ways to get content now.  With a few exceptions, or if I just happen to be in front of the TV I hardly watch the TV in a traditional way.  I get all my news from podcasts, most of the big networks and CNN.  I watch and listen to content from podcast networks like Revision3 and TWiT and I have a cable company supplied DVR (which is less reliable than anything else).

The campaigns as well have been using the internet to get the word out, Obama's use of twitter to announce his VP nomination and both candidates websites have been destinations for supporters, media and the rare undecided voter.

But what does all this have to do with the church?  Well, what it says more than anything is that the people who make up our churches are using digital media and the internet more and more in their daily lives.  They're skipping commercials on their tivo's, they're staying connected to friends and family in more ways than ever and faster than ever.  The idea that it's only the young people is no longer true.  Every age, race, gender and political affiliation is using the internet and everyone on the internet has seen a dancing cat on youtube by now.  The challenge for churches is to use those tools as well, and allow your congeration to shape that.

So, what is your church doing?  Are you on twitter? facebook? myspace? are you podcasting?  is your website a destination for information and community?  Let us know in the comments and feel free to send us email feedback as well.  If you like or don't like this sort of thing from us we want to hear from you. 
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