International House of Prayer Builds Powerful Internet Streaming Ministry With Haivision’s KulaByte H.264 Encoders

Ministry Connects Locations, Delivers Broadcast Feeds, and Fuels Internet Media Portals Using Multiple Haivision Technologies

MONTREAL and CHICAGO — Nov. 8, 2011 — Haivision today announced that the International House of Prayer (IHOP) is expanding its sophisticated 24/7 Web streaming ministry with Haivision’s KulaByte live Internet video encoders. The new systems complement the established Haivision video encoding technology (including hai1000 and Makito™ products) by providing direct to Internet high-definition (HD) streaming capability. Based in Kansas City, Mo., IHOP relies on Haivision encoding of HD video using the H.264 compression standard for live Internet streaming of its prayer room services, as well as for high-quality video feeds between IHOP University (IHOPU), numerous other live ministry event locations, and broadcast centers.

As a central component of IHOP’s global ministry, the prayer room in Kansas City operates around the clock with 12 two-hour prayer meetings conducted every day. In order to stream the prayer meetings live to the IHOP website with HD video quality, IHOP recently upgraded its obsolete legacy encoding platform to Haivision’s KulaByte H.264 encoders. The KulaByte encoders provide ultra-efficient compression of HD video to H.264 combined with exacting bandwidth control to maximize video quality over fixed bandwidth connections for video delivery to both Flash® and HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) based websites.

IHOP has also installed other Haivision video encoding technology to support its diverse operational footprint. IHOP provides a direct, high-quality live stream of the prayer room to GOD TV, an international Christian television network that broadcasts the prayer room at various times during the day, in addition to live streaming on its own website. IHOP is currently supplying the stream via point-to-point satellite links between Kansas City, Washington, D.C., and the GOD TV broadcast facility in Jerusalem. To reduce related transmission costs, IHOP has installed the Mako™ hai1000 encoder systems that allow the ministry to transition the GOD TV connections to much lower cost public Internet connections.

“Our online services are an essential part of our ministry, and we are all 100 percent committed to making sure that our live Web stream never goes down. That’s why it’s essential that we choose encoding equipment with absolute, bullet-proof reliability,” said Ari Burt, head of online video for IHOP. “The Haivision H.264 encoding solutions provide this reliability as well as topnotch quality for Internet streaming of HD content, and we have been very impressed not only with the responsiveness of the Haivision customer service team but also the superior Web interface.”

In addition to Internet streaming and global distribution of the prayer room feeds, IHOP relies on Haivision solutions to backhaul live event coverage from its conference center and various locations throughout the IHOPU campus to the master control center. IHOP deploys Haivision’s high performance Makito H.264 HD encoders at event sources, decodes the signals in the master control, routes the signals through production, and then sends the HD video on to the KulaByte encoders for streaming to the IHOP website. One such recent event, a youth conference called One Thing, brought 130,000 unique visitors to the IHOP website. In another example, IHOP used the point-to-point system to stream live coverage of Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s recent “The Response” prayer event, pushing more than 20 gigs per second over the ministry’s Akamai content delivery network.

“With so many different facilities streaming content, there will always be issues with how to centralize the content and stream it as efficiently as possible,” added Burt. “The Haivision encoders provide the low latency we need to ensure that the system also performs to our high quality standards.”

“IHOP is a textbook case of a house of worship that is effectively leveraging advanced Internet streaming technologies to spread its message to the widest-possible audience. The numbers speak for themselves: every month, the IHOP prayer room stream receives more than 120,000 unique hits,” said Mirko Wicha, president and CEO of Haivision. “IHOP is just one more example of how Haivision is delivering end-to-end technologies to address the diverse media distribution needs of houses of worship.”

About the International House of Prayer
The International House of Prayer (IHOP) is an evangelical charismatic Christian missions organization based in Kansas City and Grandview, Mo. that focuses on prayer, worship, and evangelism. IHOP places great importance on the practices of prayer, worship, fasting, and discipleship. IHOP maintains a prayer room in Kansas City, Mo. and runs a Bible and ministry school called the International House of Prayer University (IHOPU) in nearby Grandview, Mo.

About Haivision Network Video
Haivision delivers advanced technology for streaming, recording, managing, and distributing secure IP video and interactive media within the enterprise, education, medical/healthcare, and federal/military markets. Haivision is a private company based in Montreal and Chicago, with technical excellence centers in Beaverton, Ore.; Austin, Texas; and Hamburg, Germany. With a global sales and support organization, Haivision distributes its products through value-added resellers, system integrators, distributors, and OEMs worldwide.

Share this Press Release

Join Haivision at NAB Show 2024
Join Haivision at NAB Show 2024
April 14 -17
Join Haivision at NAB Show 2024, April 14-17