Eighteen answers, written by the people who sell the products.
Choosing a lock, fitting it, running a rental on it. Choosing a switcher, wiring a church, keeping a stream up.
Do Fingerprint Locks Work With Wet Fingers? An Honest Answer
Not reliably, and any manufacturer who tells you otherwise is selling. What a capacitive sensor actually reads, what water and cold do to it, and the enrolment habit that fixes most failures.
A Smart Lock for a Property With No Wi-Fi
Cabins, basements, garages and older buildings where the router does not reach. What a keyless lock does with no internet, what it cannot do, and how to run a rental on one.
Paying for a Smart Lock Over Time: What It Actually Costs
Split any lock into four payments with no interest, or spread it over months at a rate the lender quotes you before you commit. The per-model numbers, and what the credit check does.
How to Ask a Landlord for Permission to Fit a Smart Lock
Most landlords say yes when the request answers their three worries: the original lock is kept, they get a key, and the door goes back exactly as it was. Here is the letter.
How Many Fingerprints Can a Smart Lock Store? A Capacity Comparison
Most smart locks hold 20 to 100 fingerprints. A few hold 200. Here is the capacity of every model we sell against the ones people usually compare them with, and how many you actually need.
Will This Lock Fit My Door? Three Measurements and a Table
Thickness, backset and bore. Take three measurements with a tape, check them against the table, and know before you order whether a lock fits the door you have.
The vMix Control Surface Is Discontinued. Here Is What Replaces It
vMix's own hardware panel is gone from the shop and its documentation is marked for existing users only. Five things you can still buy, compared honestly.
PTZ Presets That Volunteers Can Actually Use
A volunteer should recall a shot, not frame one. How to set presets, name them, order them and speed them so a new operator runs the stream on their first Sunday.
Full NDI, NDI|HX, HX2 and HX3: What the Difference Costs You
Four flavours of NDI, three of them compressed. What each does to your bandwidth, your latency and your picture, and which one your network can actually carry.
NDI Switcher or ATEM Mini: Which Suits a Church Better
The ATEM Mini takes HDMI. An NDI switcher takes network cable. That single difference decides most church installations before any feature comparison starts.
Clean HDMI Output on a Nikon D7000: What the Firmware Downgrade Does
The D7000 puts its shooting information over the HDMI output on later firmware. Firmware 1.0.3 does not. Here is what that means, and what to do with the camera afterwards.
NDI Tally Light Control: How the Red Light Gets to the Camera
Tally over NDI needs no extra cable and no tally box. Here is how the switcher tells each camera it is live, and what to check when a light stays dark.
Streaming to RTMP From an NDI Switcher, Without a Computer
Server address in one field, stream key in the other, a bitrate your upload can carry. How to stream straight from a switcher to YouTube, Facebook or a church platform.
A Three-Camera Church Live Stream on NDI, Run by One Person
What a volunteer-run church stream actually needs: three PTZ cameras over the network, one switcher with the camera controls built in, and a cable plan that survives a Sunday.
vMix or ATEM: Which Control Surface Should You Put Your Hands On
A button panel and a touch screen solve different problems. Which one suits your production depends on whether you switch fast, control cameras, or both.
How to Fit a Fingerprint Door Lock to a Door You Already Have
A fingerprint lock goes onto the door you already have, in the hole the old lock left, in about twenty minutes with a screwdriver. Here is the measuring, the fitting and the enrolling, in order.
Compare the Seven Satella Power Fingerprint Locks
Every Satella Power lock side by side: what opens it, how many fingerprints and codes it holds, whether it has a doorbell and a camera, what door it fits, and what it costs.
Fingerprint Smart Locks for Rentals: A Code Per Guest, No App to Download
How to run a short-term rental on a fingerprint lock: a code for each guest that you delete at checkout, a fingerprint for the cleaner, and a key in the drawer for the day the batteries die.