Why churches need this
Overflow rooms on Easter. A cry room. The kids’ check-in desk. A lobby TV so late arrivals know where the service is. Every one of them needs the same thing: the service, live, on a screen that isn’t in the sanctuary.
There are four ways to do it.
Option 1: An HDMI cable from the streaming computer
The streaming computer’s graphics card has spare outputs. Run a cable to a nearby TV and send it the program.
- Good for: one TV within about 50 feet
- Watch out for: HDMI gets unreliable over long runs, and every TV uses one graphics card output
Option 2: HDMI over Ethernet extenders
A pair of small boxes sends HDMI over a network cable, usually up to around 100 meters.
- Good for: one or two TVs farther away
- Watch out for: it’s a dedicated cable run for each TV, and it doesn’t share the church network
Option 3: NDI decoders (our recommendation)
Your streaming computer already sends video over the network with NDI. Put a small NDI-to-HDMI decoder, like the Magewell Pro Convert NDI to HDMI, behind each TV, plug it into the network, and pick the program feed.
- Good for: any number of TVs, anywhere the church network reaches
- Why we like it: add a room by adding a decoder and a network drop; no new cables back to the booth. The delay is small compared with playing the online stream.
- Watch out for: NDI wants a solid wired network. (See network infrastructure for church AV.)
This is how our Studio and Broadcast Livestream Systems feed lobby TVs and overflow rooms, and the decoder is in our Extras, so it works with a system you already own too.
Option 4: Play the YouTube stream on a smart TV
Open your church’s livestream on the TV’s YouTube app.
- Good for: a quick stopgap in a far-away building
- Watch out for: it runs many seconds behind the room, it needs the internet to be up, and anywhere people can also hear the live service, the echo is distracting
Which to choose
| If you have… | Use |
|---|---|
| One TV near the booth | An HDMI cable from the streaming computer |
| One or two TVs down the hall | HDMI over Ethernet extenders |
| Several rooms, or plans to add more | NDI decoders on the network |
| A building with no network to the booth | The YouTube stream, for now |
Don’t forget audio and captions
The program feed carries your stream mix, so overflow TVs get sound too. Check the volume in each room before the first big Sunday. If you use slides with lyrics, they’ll appear on overflow screens the same way they do on the stream. (See lyrics and slides on your livestream.)
Planning an overflow room?
Add it to your map. Our map-your-system checklist has a line for lobby and overflow TVs: how many, and how far from the booth. Send it with a free consultation request and we’ll recommend the simplest way to reach every room.
More on the boxes that make this work: NDI encoders and decoders.
Related questions
- How do we show the church service on TVs in the lobby or overflow room?
- The most flexible way is to send your program feed over the church network with NDI and put a small NDI-to-HDMI decoder, such as a Magewell Pro Convert NDI to HDMI, behind each TV. For one nearby TV, an HDMI cable or an HDMI-over-Ethernet extender from the streaming computer also works.
- Can we just play our YouTube livestream on the lobby TV?
- You can, but it runs many seconds behind the room, depends on your internet, and the delay is very noticeable anywhere people can also hear the live service. It's fine for a far-away room as a stopgap, not as the long-term answer.
- Do overflow TVs get audio too?
- Yes. The program feed carries your stream mix, so the decoder or extender sends picture and sound to the TV over the same HDMI cable.
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