Located in Pretoria, South Africa, CHOOSE LIFE Church has continued its embracing of technology with the implementation of an 108-panel Xcell-i Pixel Plus LED wall to act as the backdrop for the house of worship’s stage, alongside an upgrade to its hardware and streaming infrastructure.
Founded in 2005 by Pastor John and Mandri Roebert, the church’s leadership team have an expansive vision, utilising technology to enhance their live events, as well as effectively spreading the word with live streams and broadcasts that reach a large online audience. This embracing of technology has been a part of CHOOSE LIFE’s ethos throughout its journey, consistently ensuring that high quality systems are installed on its premises.
After purchasing the building in 2010, the first thing the leadership team did was renovate and improve upon the existing system. The first major project in 2011 was centred around the installation of a state-of-the-art d&b T-Series audio system in the main auditorium, which was supplied and integrated by Stage Audio Works (SAW). CHOOSE LIFE Church called upon SAW once again for new Pixel Plus project.
“Recently we had Nathan from SAW actually visit and listen to the system,” explained Grant Boswell, technical support officer at CHOOSE LIFE Church. “He said that it still sounds as good as it did when it was originally installed twelve years ago, if not better thanks to acoustic treatment that has been carried out since. He also said that they wouldn’t easily be able to replace it with a comparable system today that would make a noticeable difference without spending a lot more money – a true sign of quality engineering.”
For the primary solution, Stage Audio Works implemented an 108-panel Xcell-i LED wall from its Pixel Plus range. The technology offers high contrast and refresh rates and the ability to vary the pixel pitch to fit any application – indoors or otherwise. Significantly, all of this comes at an extremely cost-effective price point.
“Our old stage backdrop was rather boring and dark, so we wanted to brighten and liven it up to make our auditorium look more contemporary and create an exciting stage feature,” said Boswell. “A couple of years ago we hired in a screen and fell in love with it, so decided it was time for a permanent upgrade,” declares Boswell. “We did some research and received several quotes, but ultimately decided to go with SAW’s Pixel Plus solution…. This visual element will greatly improve the quality of our live streams, especially with the additional upgrade to our video framework throughout our facilities.”
SAW significantly improved the church’s live streaming capabilities by upgrading to HD-SDI cabling for all projectors and equipment in the auditorium, additional rooms, and foyer. Likewise, the team upgraded their original streaming PCs to a more sophisticated network of custom-built Dream Machine Light PCs. On a software level, SAW galvanised the adoption of ProPresenter 7 and supported the transition towards the Resi streaming platform, affording the church increased flexibility and scalability, with the guarantee of seamless streaming, even though temporary total internet connection loss – in Boswell’s own words, “opening up many more options and opportunities for us in the future”.
