My wife and I love sitting in front of the fire in our living room, we would love to have a fireplace in our less formal family room but alas it isn’t practical.  In my typical geekness I wondered if there were any virtual fireplace options available for playback on our big screen.  After scouring the net for a while, I did manage to find a few fireplace DVD options, but I couldn’t justify handing out cash for those.  While taking a nice retreat day in front of the fire, I set up my Canon Vixia HD Camcorder on a tripod and got 30 minutes of great flames.  I’ve put it up on Vimeo in case anyone else is as corny as I am and wants to loop it on their TV…at least it is greener than burning firewood!

This version has no audio, maybe I’ll get the shotgun mic setup for a second version if there is enough demand. Go here to view in HD or to download the MP4 (must be logged in to Vimeo).

JellyTelly, a new Christian online video channel from Phil Vischer, the creator of VeggieTales, has launched. For those who are curious, they seem to be using Ooyala to for their video distribution.

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.