KVM Solutions for Church Production: Clean Tech Booths and Faster Troubleshooting
If you’ve ever struggled with cable clutter in your church tech booth, or wished you could troubleshoot multiple computers without playing musical chairs with your volunteers, a KVM system might be one of the most underrated solutions you’re not using yet.
KVM stands for Keyboard, Video, Mouse, and it’s a technology that allows you to control multiple computers from a single workstation. While this might sound like overkill for a church production environment, the reality is that modern church tech setups often involve multiple computers running ProPresenter, lighting software, video switching, and audio processing. Managing all of these can quickly become a logistical nightmare.
In this article, we’ll walk through the major benefits of KVM systems for church production and help you understand which solutions make the most sense for your ministry.
The Cable Management Problem in Church Tech Booths
Most church tech booths share a common problem: they’re drowning in cables. Between USB connections, network interfaces, HDMI cables, and power supplies, the underside of a typical church production desk looks like a spider web designed by someone having a bad day.
But here’s the thing: when you use a KVM system, your tech booth transforms. Instead of having multiple computers sitting under your desk with all their peripherals plugged in directly, you can move those computers back to a central equipment rack. What remains at the workstation? Just a small KVM unit, a network switch, and any other compact devices you need for local control.
This approach dramatically reduces the amount of I/O (inputs and outputs) you need to manage at the tech booth itself. Even though computers like Mac mini are physically small, it’s all those network connections, USB devices, and dongles that create the real clutter problem. By centralizing your computers in a rack and using KVM to extend keyboard, video, and mouse control to your workstations, you can finally see the floor under your tech booth again.
Fast Troubleshooting on Sunday Morning
Here’s where KVM systems really shine in a church environment: Sunday morning troubleshooting. Picture this scenario: you’ve got a volunteer running ProPresenter at one workstation, and something goes wrong. Maybe a slide isn’t advancing, or the confidence monitor isn’t displaying correctly.
Without a KVM, you have two options. Either the volunteer has to get up and move so you can access their computer, or you have to physically walk to wherever that computer is located. Both options waste precious time during a service.
With a KVM system, you can instantly access any computer in your network from any workstation. Your volunteer stays seated and keeps working while you pull up their ProPresenter computer on your monitor and troubleshoot the issue. When you’re done, you switch back to whatever you were working on. The whole process takes seconds instead of minutes, and there’s no awkward shuffling of people and peripherals.
This same principle applies during the week when you’re programming or setting up for services. If you’re running multiple instances of ProPresenter, or you need to switch between your lighting software and your video switching computer, you can do it all from one comfortable spot instead of walking back and forth between workstations.
Flexible Control Room Setups for Special Events
One of the more creative applications of KVM technology in church environments is the ability to create temporary control rooms for special events. If your church hosts conferences, concerts, or other productions that require more intensive tech support than a typical Sunday service, you might find that your normal tech booth setup isn’t sufficient.
With a network-based KVM system, you can relocate your production control anywhere in your building that has a network connection. Take a KVM node, plug it into your network, add a monitor and keyboard, and suddenly you have full control over your ProPresenter, video switching, and other production computers from a completely different room.
This flexibility becomes even more powerful when you combine it with other network-based technologies like Dante audio and NDI video. When your entire production ecosystem runs over network infrastructure, you can essentially create a control room anywhere you need one.
Integration with Equipment Racks and Network Infrastructure
For churches that are serious about clean, maintainable production systems, equipment racks are essential. They provide a centralized location for all your gear, making it easier to service, upgrade, and troubleshoot your systems.
When you combine equipment racks with KVM technology, you can house all your computers in one location along with your network switches, audio interfaces, and other gear. This centralization means that all your network patching happens in one place. If you need to add another network connection to a computer, you just run a short patch cable from your network patch bay to the computer instead of running a long cable across your building.
This becomes especially important when you’re working with complex network setups involving multiple VLANs for Dante, NDI, sACN lighting control, and general network traffic. Each of these networks typically requires its own network interface card on your computer. When you have a computer with four different network connections, managing all those dongles and cables at a tech booth workstation becomes impractical. But in an equipment rack with a proper patch bay system, it’s straightforward.
Which KVM Solution Is Right for Your Church?
When it comes to KVM systems for churches, there are two main approaches: point-to-point extenders and network-based KVM systems.
Point-to-Point KVM: AV Access HDEx60-DM
For churches on a budget or those with simpler setups, point-to-point KVM extenders like the AV Access HDEx60-DMoffer an affordable entry point at around $300. These systems consist of a transmitter and receiver connected by a dedicated Cat6 cable run.
The main limitation is that you need a dedicated cable run from each computer to its designated workstation. You can’t toggle between multiple computers from one workstation with this approach. But if you just need to extend one computer to one workstation and clean up your cable management, this is a cost-effective solution.
Network-Based KVM: AdderLink XDIP
For a more professional solution that offers true flexibility, the AdderLink XDIP represents the gold standard for church production environments. These network-based KVM nodes allow you to toggle between any computer from any workstation with no perceptible latency.
The key advantage is flexibility. You can access any computer from any location on your network. If you have three computers and three workstations, every workstation can access every computer. This makes troubleshooting, programming, and special event setups dramatically easier.
The tradeoff is cost. AdderLink XDIP nodes typically run $600–$700 each, and you need one node per computer and one per workstation. So a setup with three computers and three workstations would require six nodes. You’ll also need a robust network backbone with properly configured VLANs to ensure stable operation.
However, for churches that are serious about their production quality and want a system that’s reliable and professional, the AdderLink XDIP is worth the investment.
Beyond the Tech Booth: Other KVM Applications
While tech booth applications are the most obvious use case, KVM systems can solve problems in other areas of your church production setup as well. For instance, many churches run backing tracks or click tracks from a computer near the stage. By placing a KVM workstation next to your drum set or keyboard position, your music director can control Ableton Live or other track software directly from the stage.
This also allows your production team to remote into that computer from the tech booth to help set up track sessions, configure MIDI cues to ProPresenter, or troubleshoot issues without having to physically go on stage.
Is a KVM System Right for Your Church?
KVM technology isn’t necessary for every church, but it solves real problems for churches that:
- Have multiple computers in their production workflow
- Want cleaner, more maintainable tech booth setups
- Need faster troubleshooting during services
- Host special events that require flexible control room configurations
- Are building or upgrading to rack-mounted equipment systems
- Use network-based technologies like Dante and NDI
If any of these situations describe your church, it’s worth exploring how a KVM system could improve your production workflow.
Watch the Full Video Walkthrough
To see these KVM systems in action and get a detailed look at how they’re integrated into a real church production environment, check out the full video above. You’ll see the cable management under the tech booth, watch real-time toggling between computers, and get a better sense of whether a point-to-point or network-based solution makes more sense for your ministry.
For churches working with Churchfront on their production systems, KVM integration is a standard part of creating clean, maintainable solutions. To learn more about how Churchfront can help design and install a production system for your church, visit churchfront.com.
