Looking for graphics, audio or visual resources to spice up your next series?  This is my current list of sites that provide materials for ministry, some free and some may cost a bit.  Let me know of any sites that I have I missed in the comments.

• AngelHouse Media
• Big Puddle Films
• BluefishTV.com 
• Church Media Community
• Church Media Design TV
• CreativeMYK.com
• Creative Pastors
• GoodSalt
• Highway Video
• ImageVine
• MediaThatMinisters.com
• Midnight Oil Productions
• Muddy River Media
• NewSpring Ministries
• North Point Resources
• Northside Christian Church Creative Resources  
• Open | LifeChurch.tv
• Outreach
• Saddleback Resources
• ScreenVue
• Seacoast All Access
• SermonSpice.com
• SermonView
• Simply Youth Ministry
• The Church Box
• The Source
• Willow Creek Association
• WingClips
• WiredChurches.com
• Worship House Media 
• Worship Films
• Worship Photos
• WorshipScapes
• Vine Resources
• Visual Reality

We were on the road for a couple of weeks so I wanted to make sure we had our bases covered when it came to tech gear. Some of the churches we visited are savvy and have everything we could need, others not so much. This is what I ended up taking along:

• Canon VIXIA HF100 HD Camcorder w/directional mic - for recording our adventure.
• Bogen 785 Tripod
• Fender P-10 Passport Portable Sound System - We use the mic for larger meetings and hook it up to the laptop for showing videos.
• Our trusty Canon SD300 Camera
• Olympus WAS-331M Digital Voice Recorder
• Toshiba TDP-S25U SVGA 1800 Lumen DLP Projector
• Canopus ADVC110 Converter - Analog audio/video conversion to FireWire.
• HP 8510W w/Pinnacle Studio Ultimate installed for video editing.
• IBM ThinkPad T42 - For general group use.
• WD Passport HD - for offloading pictures, audio and video.
• HTC Touch with USB Tether for mobile (EVDO) Internet.
• APC Power Inverter - for 110v power on the road.
• Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 - for live streaming and video conferencing.
• IPEVO Skype Phone - Easy to use, portable, high quality alternative to the earphones/mic option.
• Apple Airport Express - portable wireless access point for sharing that single wired connection in hotels. Also handy for transporting audio to a distant sound system.
• Various Ethernet switches and cat5e cables.
• Magellan Crossover GPS - Navigation for both the US & Canada. Wanted the Dash Express GPS but it wasn’t in the budget (we already owned the Magellan) and it doesn’t support Canada yet.
• E-ZPass - Electronic tolls are a huge time saver.
• Google Video and a WordPress.com Blog

David Bebawy, a techie deacon at St. George & St. Shenouda Coptic Orthodox Church in Jersey City, has started a new blog and already has a great write up on getting started with Google Checkout for Non-Profits. He also has details on Ctech (Coptic Technology) and Coptic Presentations. David also setup a Google Group for anyone interested in keeping up with Ctech.

Presentation from Ctech on May 27, 2008:

This Sunday we are moving our Light & Life (contemporary young adult) service back from the chapel to the gym. This means we are going back to a portable setup that goes up and comes down every week. We used most of our equipment from the previous setup to outfit the chapel, so we had to get a few new pieces to make things work.

Audio:
We currently have an awesome portable Fender Passport system that we use on retreats and for meetings up to 100 people. The speakers clip in to the mixer/amp and the wires are stored in the back of mixer amp. The unit we have now is too small for the gym, so we went with the 500-watt Passport Deluxe PD-500.

Video:
We already have a portable Canon GL2 Digital Camcorder to capture video but we needed something to mix in the presentation video feed for recording. We went with another trusty Edirol V4 mixer (we already use one in our main sanctuary). This allows us to take up to four video feeds, mix them and output s-video to an Osprey 100 capture card in a desktop computer. From there we use Windows Media Encoder to stream or record video.

Lighting:
We already have a complete portable lighting system from All Pro Sound, unfortunately it looks like their site is having issues so I can’t give a direct link.

St. George and St. Shenouda Coptic Orthodox Church launched a new web site (running on Joomla!) a few months ago.  On the site you will find an updated presentations page containing the latest Coptic Presentation Applications as well as new interactive lessons that teach you how to read the Coptic language.  Now if only we could get an RSS feed on the presentation page so we know when the new stuff is released…

37signals Product Blog: Pastor uses Highrise to keep track of interactions with his congregation

Church Marketing Sucks: Why Your Fancy Web Site Sucks

Daily Cup of Tech: Three Ways to Access ISOs

Evotional.com: Buzz Film Festival

Fr. Stephen Freeman: The Unity of the Faith

Seth Godin: Small before big

Once of the challenges we have always had with recording video of sermons has been integrating the presentations. Today, Guy Kawasaki posts his Art of Innovation speech with PowerPoint slides using Zentation, a service that allows you to view both the speaker and the current slide.

To use Zentation, you upload your video to Google Video and then use their ZenSync tool to create timings for each graphic. What’s nice is that users can click on slides and jump directly to that part in the video.

BTW, it is a great speech on innovation…

Shortly after posting Serving up Live Streaming Video, I got an email from Neokast asking if I would like to experiment with their platform. I jumped at the opportunity and they got me setup in no time.

Neokast connected directly to my existing Windows Media publishing point and listed me on their site (still in beta). I tested out the stream this morning and it was up and running. Neokast then proceeded to send me the code that allows me to embed their player directly on our site. Embedding the code was pretty straight forward, and the player integrated cleanly. You can also double click on the player to go full screen.

I am running a limited access test this weekend before opening it up to the public. If you would like to be in on the test just comment below.

Neokast currently requires Windows XP and administrator rights to install the plugin. The plugin does install all the dependencies but it can be a little tricky for the novice to navigate. I had my mom install the plugin, it took about 20 minutes with me guiding her on the phone. Neokast said they will get me detailed instructions and FAQs soon.

If all goes well this weekend with the test, we will setup an in house Windows Media server that will service our internal clients and will also provide a higher quality stream for Neokast to pick up and share. Don’t worry, we will also keep our existing setup for those who can’t install the plugin.

On the Church IT Podcast last week Chris K mentioned that they were talking to 316 Networks and Akamai about streaming solutions. They are saturating a “75MB pipe … over 500 users @ 282Kbps.” I wanted to throw out a few details on other options that we are looking at (We hit about 180 users @ 340 Kbps).

Currently we are using Windows Media Services for live streaming, I’ve written a few posts on our setup:
Tech we Use: Part 2 - Streaming and Recording
Live Windows Media Streaming Mini-Howto
Second Streaming Server

For hosting Windows Media Services we are using a dedicated Windows server at Serverbeach, but there are several providers that specialize in streaming that friends have recommended:
ChurchQuest - Live streaming starting at $8.95 a month, recommended by David Morcos.
Christian Video Channel - These are the guys that Jason is currently using for their undercover live feed.
VitalStream - Karim Guirguis, a buddy of mine over at the American Bankruptcy Institute uses them extensively.

Light Cast Media is currently serving up video on demand (using Flash) and has a simulated live service in beta. A true live service is in the works.

Neokast is a brand new service that is currently in beta. Cringley says that they use “peer-to-peer technology to effectively emulate a multicast experience.” Advantages are high quality, little bandwidth requirements, unlimited users and almost no cost (If you aren’t charging your viewers, the service is free). There are a couple disadvantages though, there is a required client download and they only support Internet Explorer/Windows as of right now (Mac and Linux versions are in the works).

I’ve tried the Neokast client, they offer multiple quality streams, the video at 800k looks really good, and buffering only took a few seconds. They still haven’t enabled beta users to publish “videokasts” yet, I am looking forward to trying it out.

More on Neokast:
Neokast Blog
The $7 TV Network: Neokast brings multicasting to the masses.
Neokast, Emerging from the Shell

Microsoft has been creating quite a stir over the past few days with their announcement of upgrades to their Silverlight product, which will support live video streaming. Once again, this looks like it will require a download, and it doesn’t look like there will be support for Linux users any time soon. I haven’t had a chance to play with the beta yet. I am not sure if there are Silverlight live streaming service providers out there yet.

We are starting to nibble at the Apple. Our volunteers that work are ready to move to Macintosh and thanks be to God, we just got a new Mac Pro sponsored. Hopefully, we will get it outfitted with Pro Presenter 3.0 and Final Cut Studio 2. Knowing that I’ll have to start supporting Macs, a friend of mine kindly gave me his old Mac Mini (PowerPC based) to use. I hooked it up this evening and it is working great. The Mini is setup as my left side workstation, Ubuntu 7.04 is running on the two monitors in the middle and Windows XP on the right. Synergy allows me to control all three from a single mouse and keyboard.