Updates

This old monitor is just a little too fuzzy to use. It ended up getting replaced while trying to track down a bug in the system.

We are now set up with only 3 VCRs, one of them a failsafe hooked directly to the wide-view camera.

Notice how the pan/tilt stops are touching the permanent stop. These are the two pan-head looking screws just above the big label on the pan/tilt unit. Being in this position means the camera can turn nearly 360 degrees. Poor wiring practices along with a failure to test all axis of movement allowed the zoom lense wire to stretch and break.
 
Click on the photo to zoom-in. Notice the ripped wires on the back of the camera. These go to the $800 zoom lense.
Using a professional seems cheap.

Use a professional. This is just some of the mess I was confronted with when I started.

If only people aged this well. Still makes very good sound. Just need to replace the cassette player with something of this century.

 A mechanical Pan/Tilt is always on your desktop, unlike the computer based controls.

Cheap solution with Radio Shack™ box, rocker switch, and some terminals.

We have rocked along for quite awhile now without a problem. Yet, as all things made by man, we had a webcast failure halfway through the service. Again I am in the position of trying to diagnose the problem using only the fuzziest of indicators. The indicators consist of an Approximate Timeline and a User Input.

Video hardware comes in an amazing array of choices. As with all your choices, first think of personnel. Are dedicated cameramen a realistic option? Can you expect one person to run a pan/tilt and a zoom along with everything else? Secondly, think of cost. Just how much better is a 'commercial camera' than a 'security camera'? Is it worth the cost? Can it be run remotely?

An expensive zoom lens is not necessary and adds to the workload of the operator. Currently, we are using two non-zooming cameras and we have never had a complaint. Zoom would be a nice addition for the children's sermon and perhaps if we gain more capable personnel we will get one. So this choice is definitely debatable.