Newington, VA – Oct. 29, 2007 – Communications Engineering, Inc. (CEI) announced today it has completed the design, integration and installation of a professional-quality, live broadcast production, audio/visual and distribution system for the First Baptist Church of Glenarden (FBCG) in Upper Marlboro, Md. The sophisticated system will serve the church’s new 205,000-square-foot worship center, which features a 4,000-seat, theater-style sanctuary.
The system provides high-quality coverage of the services and events held at FBCG, which has more than 7,000 members, and enables fast, efficient distribution of recorded services in various formats on a large scale. It is capable of providing live coverage over TV, Internet and cable, with the ability to accurately capture the energy of the FBCG services through a concert-grade sound system, built in partnership with RCI Sound Systems.
CEI designed a full-scale production facility, including advanced control room and robotic camera systems, able to handle all types of events at FBCG. The system has the ability to be used by professional engineers as well as volunteers, depending on the requirements of the event. A production control room, a dedicated audio production room with voice-over booth and three non-linear edit suites are all located within the main production area. In addition, a second identical audio production room is located high in the rear skybox of the church’s 44,000-square-foot sanctuary. The audience experience is enhanced by two 22-foot 16X9 Draper rear projection screens located directly above the performance platform and illuminated by two DPI video projectors.
The broadcast production system provides tremendous event flexibility, with more than 130 connection panels strategically located throughout the entire facility. This type of connectivity is typical of many stadiums or large performance venues where multiple signal paths connect to central hubs and distribution points. In addition, the FBCG’s worship center is capable of sending and receiving signals from the church’s Ministry Center located seven miles away via a bidirectional fiber-optic link. This interconnection also provides FBCG access to the Verizon DC Audio Visual Operations Center, which allows easy access to send or receive signals anywhere in the world.
Since the church leaders wanted to make recorded services available to attendees immediately after the services, CEI designed and implemented a large distribution center for producing DVDs, CDs and VHS tapes. This system is capable of generating 100 DVDs and 300 CDs within 10 minutes of the end of a service or event.
To enable use of the system by volunteers or other non-professionals, key production and other media-related functions can be performed via a highly customized AMX control system which features custom touch panels throughout the facility.
"People from all walks of life come to worship at First Baptist Church of Glenarden and also watch our services via the Internet," said Pastor John K. Jenkins, Sr. "We are excited about the integrated audio-visual system designed by CEI. They were able to meet our broadcast needs so that the gospel of Jesus Christ could be clearly heard and viewed."
“The First Baptist Church of Glenarden project gave us an opportunity to showcase our engineering and integration capabilities in many areas – broadcasting, audio-visual, production and distribution,” said Lawrence Brody, President and CEO of CEI. “This comprehensive broadcast system is well-suited for the impressive new facility at FBCG, and it will not only provide a great atmosphere for church services but also for many types of special events and concerts.”
Background:
CEI, located in Newington, VA, is a leading, award-winning broadcast and multi-media systems integrator. The company also offers complete equipment service, support and training, and supplies products and services to federal agencies and organizations through GSA. CEI has helped to define the leading edge of systems engineering and implementation for the communications industry since the mid1980’s.
