Since so many houses of worship live-stream and/or record their productions, sermons, and classes, it’s important to note that using a video switcher is a great idea. Why? Because a video switcher brings everything together and allows you to manage multiple audio and video devices on the same box, managing any production is much easier than you think. While you can do much the same thing with a computer with certain software, video switchers tend to be more reliable because computers can slow down, freeze up, or even crash in many instances.
Video Switcher Basics
Let’s start with just the basics; in other words, what exactly is a video switcher? The device switches from one source to another regularly. These “sources” are usually video cameras set up to stream in various locations around your house of worship. When you switch from one source to the next, you’ll have to tell the control panel where you want to switch and press the appropriate key. Video switchers have a lot of different keys on them, some more than others, and learning where each key is will help you determine how to complete each action.
If you’re new to video switchers, your best bet is to set up a couple of cameras, get your switcher all set up and ready to go, read the instruction manual, and then practice switching between the different cameras. If you practice when no one else is around and the auditorium or meeting hall isn’t full, it will be much easier on you, and you’ll feel more confident when your event starts. Before your function begins, you’ll need to know what your particular video switcher does and what it doesn’t do. The only way to learn this is to practice it as much as possible.
What Is a DSK, and Why Is it Important?
Most video switchers will have a downstream key, or DSK, which is usually used when you want to include, for example, the name of the station or house of worship in the corner of the screen (DSK 1), the name and title of the presenter (DSK 2), and subtitles for translation purposes (DSK 3). You can use other keys for this same purpose, including a luma key or even a chroma key, but since the DSK is commonly used for this purpose and because most video switchers have only one DSK, you’ll have to add software if you feel as though you’ll need more than one.
