BALTIMORE'S NEW PSALMIST BAPTIST CHURCH
                              GOES DIGITAL

Wayne, NJ (July 25, 1997) - Baltimore's New Psalmist Baptist
Church, a pioneer in religious broadcasting, recently made history as
the first church in the area to install digital video recording and
editing equipment that will serve its congregation well into the new age
of digital television.
     New Psalmist's Pastor Rev. Dr. Walter Scott Thomas, an
internationally-known preacher/revivalist, had already been reaching
200,000 viewers with his Sunday sermon on TCI Cable, when in January,
they debuted on FOX 45.  As a result of this new growth and opportunity,
church leaders decided it was time to upgrade their video equipment, and
with insight into the future of broadcasting,  the church selected a new
video format with the specifications to accommodate the changeover. 
They purchased JVC's D-9, a recording format with 4:2:2 component
digital processing and virtually lossless compression, required for the
coming age of digital televison (DTV).  This digital format is actually
superior to formats being utilized by Baltimore television stations. 
     The New Psalmist Baptist Church is expected to be a D-9
"trendsetter" in Baltimore, according to Rev. David Brown Jr., media
ministry consultant and news director at Baltimore's WGBR radio.  "At
least three churches in town are moving to the format," he reported. 
"People have come from all over for tours of our facilities.  With
D-9, we feel we have the Cadillac of broadcasting."
     According to Rev. Dr. David L. Blow, assistant to Rev. Thomas, the
church
was previously using 3/4-inch VTRs with cameras that were not much better
than security camera quality.  Now the church has four JVC KY-F55B
remote operated 3-CCD cameras, a BR-D80 D-9 editing recorder and a
BR-D50 D-9 player with variable slow motion.   All of the
recording equipment is housed in a control room in the rear balcony of
the church sanctuary.
     The 10,000-member church was, "in search of a tape format to take
it into the next millennium," said Rev. David Brown.   "We checked into
DVCPRO, a 4:1:1 system which offers quality similar to consumer digital
recorders, but we didn't like the small tape load, and D-9 just
looked better."  D-9 has a 1/2-inch, more robust tape with a
recording time of 104 minutes.
     "The 4:2:2 component digital recording and editing capabilities of
D-9 were very important to us," said Rev. Brown.  "We make several
dubs for our broadcast, and we didn't want to lose generations in
editing.  We also have a video tape ministry to get our message out.  We
sell about 400 tapes every Sunday, and D-9 meant we wouldn't lose
quality in our video."
     "Another important factor in our  decision included the price-
performance of D-9," Rev. Brown said.  "It was surprisingly less
expensive than we expected considering the exceptional picture quality."
     Rev. Brown edits the programs on D-9 then dubs them to analog
for delivery to Fox 45 and to TCI Cablevision.  To fulfill demand for
the church's tape ministry, "S-VHS decks are looped to the main DIGITAL-
S VTR so 15 tapes are available immediately after each service," said
Rev. Dr. Blow.  Large-volume orders are filled later at a Baltimore dub
house.
       The New Psalmist Baptist Church matches its high standards for
broadcast quality
with big goals for its ministry.  Its exciting plans include Rev. David
Brown's current
negotiations with the Black Entertainment Television (BET) cable network
for national broadcast of Pastor Thomas's sermons.
     In addition, the church is preparing to use its D-9 gear for
other church-sponsored events.  A recent conference on women's issues,
which had 2,000 registrants, featured promo messages recorded and edited
to D-9 and displayed on a pair of 12x19-foot screens.  "The big-
screen pictures were very sharp considering the size of the display,"
noted Rev. Dr. Blow.
     JVC PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTS COMPANY, headquartered in Wayne,
New Jersey, distributes a complete line of broadcast and professional
equipment including cameras, recorders and editing products.  For more
information regarding D-9, contact David Walton at 1-800-JVC-5825.
 Numerous color photos of D-9 in use at the New Psalmist Baptist
Church are available; for more information, call Barbara Brown at (973)
331-1070. 

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