A little background.

h.264 is a video codec being pushed hard by, well mainly, Apple as a replacement for flash. But everyone from You Tube to Flip to BluRay players use this codec for video playback.

Going forward I believe that HTML5 will replace Flash as a means for playing video online. So how do you prepare? Do you have to pay a fee to use h.264? Let’s keep going.

Why would I have to pay?

The h.264 codec has received some bad press lately, most notably an article from OSnews about why H.264 will be the death of video art. See, the H.264 codec is patented by a few (well a lot) of companies. So depending on how you use the codec, you could potentially have to pay a license fee. Who owns the patients? Well there are 26 companies, but there are some big names here: Apple, Microsoft, Panasonic, Sony, Dolby, and Toshiba.

So do I have to pay a fee?

Well it really depends. If you are using the codec for non-commercial uses, posting sermon video, or announcements, you are fine. You won’t need to pay a fee. If you are jut using a camera that shoots using the h.264 for commercial purposes you will not need to pay a fee.  You will need to pay a fee if you are charging for the content you are providing. So if you are selling worship videos, sermon videos, or anything else you will want to check with the MEPG-LA on the cost of a license.

With anything legal, you will also want to consult your church attorney to make sure you are meeting all legal requirements. But this should at least give you a starting point to make sure your video is legal before posting it for the world to see!

Good luck!

Here’s the email:

From: Steve Jobs <sjobs@apple.com>
Date: April 12, 2010 3:40:51 PM PDT

To: Jesse Orndorff <#####>
Subject: Re: iAds and HTML5

Yes, the former.

On Apr 12, 2010, at 10:40 AM, Jesse Orndorff wrote:

Steve,

I am a flash ad developer, I want to make sure I am staying relevant to the market place. Will the iAd system be able to take my HTML 5 animations and display them? Or will they need to be a video file served by HTML5?

Thanks!

Jesse Orndorff
Designer

Photo Credit: marzipanguy

Would I wait in line for two hours to get in to a church service? No.

There’s a problem with that. What do you think?

I am a little behind on this one but Videohive has a great high quality video loop for their free video file of the month. Make sure to get it here.

Enjoy!

Is it revolutionary? No. Is it going to change the face of how we consume media? Maybe. Will it save the struggling print media outlets? I think so. Whatever your feelings are about the iPad, one thing is clear: Apple wants to create a new market segment in it’s product offering. For anyone who wanted this to be a laptop killer, it won’t be. It just doesn’t make sense for Apple to launch a new device that would replace their strong lineup of MacBooks and MacBook Pros. What we need to understand about this device is that Apple has created a new platform for developers, and really it’s only limited by their creativity. So here are my reasons why I think this device will not only sell really well, but also help pastors and the church.

1) Ebook Reader On Steroids
I really wish Apple spent more time on how this is going to kill the Kindle. Apple is going to be able to leverage their iTunes buying experience and bring books into the fold. This will be a huge benefit to pastors, who can download books instantly for study. While the iPad lacks any E-Ink technology, I think people will overlook this and really use this to download and read e-books.

2) Sermon Research
Imagine that you take this iPad in your bag with you where ever you go. It’s only 1.5lbs, so in my bag, it will be very light. Your sitting at your local coffee shop with your iPad, browsing websites, looking for inspiration. Imagine if Evernote took full advantage of the larger screen to let you save images, text, notes and sync them to all your other computers. I can’t think of a better experience of taking digital notes.

3) Twitter / Facebook
Let’s face it, a lot of us are always checking our profiles, updating our status, and posting great links for everyone to enjoy. If TweekDeck can take their Air App and bring it over to the iPad, so we can run all of our views on one screen, this would make for a great way to enjoy Twitter.

4) Media Creation
Ok, Apple isn’t stupid. They have re-worked and are bringing iWork to the iPad at launch. I have no doubt that they will bring a new version of iLife to it as well. We got to see what Brushes could do after only two weeks of working with the new iPad, there is no way Apple will overlook the creatives out there who want to also create while on the go. Also, I think developers will take advantage of this new size and really go crazy with applications that will allow us to do all types of creative on this device.

5) A New Way To Reach People
This thing will sell. Love it or hate it, Apple will sell a ton of these, and this will provide churches another way to connect with people. Churches are already launching iPhone apps, now imagine what you can do with a iPad app. Embed full size video, sermons, notes, and bible verses. This could be really big for churches in this area.

East West Church

Unionville Alliance

Surrey Hills Baptist

Mars Hill Church

City Central Church

LifeChurch.tv

Elevate Life Church

Planetshakers

The Painted Door

New Life Church

Gateway Church

Hingepoint Church

First Baptist Oviedo

Brainerd Baptist Church

Whites Chapel

Red Rocks Church

St. Andrews

The Chapel

Park Community Church

Eastlake Church

My favorite feature of the site is that you can get feedback on any of your work. Most churches can only afford to hire one designer, which leaves you with less creative feedback than you need. CreativeMYK fills that gap, post your images and let the community tell you want you think.

I have added this site to my favorites and would encourage you to do the same. Here are some really cool and free images for you to use from the artists at CreativeMYK.

Shine Like the Stars

Shores

Colored City

Come and See – 2010

In the Fields

Lost

Life

God of This City

Jonah

Apologetics

Fusion

Don’t Go to Church

Sex: The Naked Truth

The Hills

Something Heavenly

To the End of the Earth

http://www.creativemyk.com/gallery.aspx?id=3591

Fruit Not Nuts

Restoring

Epic Story Author

Walk & Talk

Sexology

Inside Out

Divine Laws of Love

Generous

Relationships

Battle Within

The Blessed Life

We Fall Down

Static

The biggest issue most I hear from pastors is that they don’t feel like their church website is being effective. Most of the time this is related to the amount of people that are visiting the website. It is easy for pastors to draw a comparison from the amount of people attending their church to how many people visit their website. For example, a pastor of a church of 200 typically expects that they will get at least 200 visitors a month. Because everyone in the church should visit the website at least once a month, RIGHT? Well, they don’t. Not even close. First let me tell you two reasons why.

1) Your Website has Become a Billboard

I see this all the time and I have been guilty of this as well. Often times pastors are sold on websites as a great outreach tool. While your church website can be an effective way to share your vision, who you are, and how people can connect to your church, churches often stop there. Your website has become a billboard for why someone should come to your church. Your not providing any content or information for the people to return to your website on a regular basis. What type of information can you give them? Does your website current offer any of these:

• Online Giving
• Online Registration for Events
• Up-to Date Calenders
• Complete and up to date ministry pages (think Youth Group, Small Groups, Kids)
• Ablility to find small groups
• Complete contact information for staff and church

2) No One Knows About Your Website

This is a big reason no one is coming to your website, your not talking about it. I cannot tell you how many times I have visited a church and I am handed a 10 page program and with all the events, small groups, and other random events your church has going on, not one mention of the church website address. Your church at the very least should be putting the your website in the program you hand out every Sunday.

But those churches that are REALLY effective online, are talking about the website from the pulpit. They communicate that you can download permission slips for children event, they let people know that they can sign up for small groups online, they talk about how people can use the website to connect to the church and community.

Where Should I Start?

We need to get back to the basics. Your website is probably facing media overload, your trying a lot of different things online but not doing any of them very well. Here are four places to start to gain control of your website again.

Forget Podcasts, Blogging, and Twitter

If your website is struggling to get people to your website, you need to forget about posting podcasts, updating a blog, or twittering. This is the opposite advice most people will tell you, but the goal here is to start simple. You need to do some online house cleaning before getting to the advanced stuff.

The other reason I recommend abandoning podcasts, blogs and twitter is that for majority of churches, no one is looking at that content. In order for pastors and churches to be effective in the social media arena, it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort. And usually ends up in what I like to call social media burn out: a blog that hasn’t been updated in three months, a twitter account with 30 followers, and 30 minute sermons that no one has downloaded.

It’s time to get back to the basics of your website, start with simple information and ideas, build good website habits, then move on to the next phases.

Build Out Your Ministry Pages

This is as simple as it gets, but should a requirement of all church websites. Youth ministry, small groups, children, seniors, and outreach events should all have their own pages that are up to date. And by up-to-date I don’t mean the youth group page that says: “Our youth group meets Sunday Nites @ 7:00pm”. Give parents a reason to come to the site. Have a calender for specific youth events, give them the chance to signup online, have phone numbers and email address for the youth staff.

I recommend getting all your staff in a room and ask them to write down what their ministry is about, how someone can get involved, and what events are coming up for the next month. This is the type of thing your staff should be visiting on a monthly basis and for most of them, they already are doing this, it’s just not making its way online.

Add Online Giving

This is a hot button for some churches. I understand that credit card processing companies take 2-4% of a transaction. But as more and more people are doing all their financial transactions online, the church should provide a way for people to give online as well. I rarely give in person at the church, 99% of the time I will give online, I even go as far as using my iPhone to give while sitting in a service.

Develop A Way for People to Connect

My wife and I recently moved to a new area that neither of us have lived before. In our search for a church, we looked online to find a place that we could connect to. After visiting a church a few times, we decided to reach out to get involved, online. It can be overwhelming for someone to approach the “Connections Table” in the back of your church. Even for me and my wife who have been involved in churches almost our whole lives. Your members feel the same way, approaching someone in person to get involved can be tough, your website can help your members get connected.