Saddleback Church Creates Content For International "Purpose Driven Network" With Panasonic AJ-HPX2000 Camcorders

by Pat Lamb

Saddleback Church (Lake Forest, CA) recently outfitted its production studio with two Panasonic AJ-HPX2000 2/3" 3-CCD P2 HD camcorders, an AV-HS400A HD/SD switcher, an AG-HPG20 P2 Portable recorder and several widescreen LCD monitors.

One of the country's most instrumental and recognizable religious leaders, Pastor Rick Warren founded Saddleback Church in Lake Forest in 1980; today, it is one of America's most influential churches, with approximately 20,000 people attending weekend services. The author of The Purpose Driven Life, the bestselling hardback in American history, Pastor Warren established the Purpose Driven Network, a global alliance of pastors from 162 countries and hundreds of denominations who have been trained to lead purpose-driven churches. Saddleback's production facilities serve the diverse communications needs of the Purpose Driven Network, ranging from the creation of messages from Pastor Warren to world and religious leaders to curriculum development for small group instruction to live webcasting.

"We were looking for camcorders whose primary application would be studio work but which we could take out into the field at a moment's notice," said Frank Baker, Senior Producer, Saddleback Church. "We’d made extensive use of AJ-HDX900 tape-based DVCPRO HD camcorders in the past, which really introduced us to the variety of gamma settings and the stable build of Panasonic camera products. We also own several AG-HVX200 P2 HD handhelds, which had familiarized us with a tapeless workflow."

"In our evaluations, we put the HPX2000 up against other top-tier production camcorders, and it excelled in terms of superior, virtually noiseless image quality," Baker added. "We feel the camcorders are rugged and will hold up in difficult conditions in the field."

"What’s more, Panasonic's service and salespeople worked really hard on making us comfortable with our purchase. They were heads above other manufacturers' representatives, which played a big part in our decision."

Baker explained that the two HPX2000s are equipped with high-capacity P2 media (32GB and 64GB E series cards) and optional AJ-YBX200G boards to enable shooting with the AVC-Intra codec. Studio productions are shot in AVC-Intra 100 at 720/24pN. Baker makes back-up recordings on the HPG20 P2 Portable recorder.

"The AVC-Intra 100 codec provides full-raster, 10-bit recording for better video quality and fewer artifacts than DVCPRO-HD, and shooting in 720/24pN gives us increased storage capacity," Baker said.

"Projects are posted in Final Cut Studio running Final Cut Pro 7. The final product for distribution is a DVD; projects are archived on Blu-Ray discs.

"The HS400A is perfect for the money," Baker said. “The switcher has plenty of desirable basic features, and its four standard HD/SD-SDI I/Os are more than sufficient for our needs."

Saddleback Church also purchased two BT-LH80WU 7"9 widescreen production monitors mounted on the HPX2000s as electronic viewfinders; two BT-LH1760 17" models used as program monitors; and two BT-LH2550 25.5" models utilized as preview monitors.