What equipment do you use for webcasting?

Using the Church Webcasting System, YouTube, etc. Including cameras and mixers.
dennistoth
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Re: What equipment do you use for webcasting?

#11

Post by dennistoth »

We are from the Lethbridge Alberta East Stake in Canada. We have gone from the church webcast media computer for 5-6 years to a Teredek system (very simple setup) to the Wirecast system we are using for our Stake Conference April 9-10. This will be the first time in the big leagues with subtitles for hymns, speakers etc. We broadcast to a couple remote sites as our stake is over 100 kilometers in length between some buildings. We use the church sanctioned Sony EVI-D80N video camera with a Blackmagic Design Intensity Shuttle Thunderbolt video capture device. It has taken some time and trial and error but with a Macbook Pro we finally have things working. I have less than 2 weeks to go and am scrambling for an answer as to a proper output device to display the video signal live in house with the hymn text. It will work fine at the remote locations as there is a 90 second delay but I have to get a composite output from the Macbook Pro to the projectors setup in the back of the gym for overflow. What type of an output device can I use to see what Wirecast is seeing and send it live through our composite setup? Been looking online but can't find any answers.
aaronrsmith
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Re: What equipment do you use for webcasting?

#12

Post by aaronrsmith »

I tried an inexpensive hdmi to composite adapter once and the video quality was very poor. Regardless, I think you will find that there is too much video latency through the computer to achieve reasonable lip sync in the cultural hall. Where there is no audio delay, lip sync becomes noticeable with only a frame or two of video delay. This is the major constraint that caused us to go the ATEM route. One stake in my area has a little 4x4 matrix video switch and feeds the camera directly to the cultural hall projectors during the talks, and then switches in the wirecast output to the cultural hall only during the hymns, but does not zoom in too closely on the music conductor to avoid making the lip sync noticeable.
russellhltn
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Re: What equipment do you use for webcasting?

#13

Post by russellhltn »

I think what I'd do is split the feed from the main camera - send one to the cultural hall and the other to the mixer. That way the cultural hall will be in sync. Granted, they won't have the extra views and all, but they don't have as great a needs as those who are located off-site.
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randysteck
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Re: What equipment do you use for webcasting?

#14

Post by randysteck »

The SDI setup sounds great; anything to get away from SD limitations.

Our approach is HDMI-based. HDMI from a professional camera on the stage (with good zoom), a camcorder mounted in the breezeway (Canon R52) and an EVI-70 on the side of the chapel. HDMI connections from cameras are across cat5 cable using Monoprice HDMI extenders to the "control room". Audio is tapped at the sound cabinet and fed directly to a Tascam 6 mic input to USB converter. The central hub is a PC with a 4-input Magewell HDMI card running vMix, which handles all the video/audio inputs, switching and compositing, and encoding directly to the Church webcast server. We use a VGA to RCA converter to feed the program to the modulator for other rooms within the stake center. When we need to "embed" a broadcast from church HQ (like last month's regional webcast) we use an RCA to HDMI converter from the satellite receiver and treat the feed as another video source for webcast. (This makes the transition to and from the broadcast much, much cleaner for remote congregations).

vMix provides an extremely easy and powerful broadcast system. We've been able to do much more with it than we thought we could, including using a 1080P input image and window to the 720P output to avoid having to move the camera for different speaker heights.

This works very well with a cost of less than $2500 for the total. Next buy will be a professional grade HD camera but in the meantime even the camcorder is giving excellent picture.

Remote locations are sometimes tricky and get little attention, but we're looking for any alternative to the use of laptops (personal or otherwise) simply due to the update and player version issues. We much prefer a dedicated streaming video device like Roku or Apple TV.

Our goal is very similar to ones stated above: as close to a live experience at the remote locations as we can make it.
russellhltn
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Re: What equipment do you use for webcasting?

#15

Post by russellhltn »

randysteck wrote:When we need to "embed" a broadcast from church HQ (like last month's regional webcast) we use an RCA to HDMI converter from the satellite receiver and treat the feed as another video source for webcast. (This makes the transition to and from the broadcast much, much cleaner for remote congregations).
Just be aware that the webcast system can crash during a regional conference due to increased load. The instructions I received for a February 14 bi-regional conference indicated that remote sites were to hold their own local open/close and stream the program directly. I don't know if that's been changed for later regional.
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aaronrsmith
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Re: What equipment do you use for webcasting?

#16

Post by aaronrsmith »

Our stake is only has one remote building, and we have found a slingcast to be reliable. We attempted to use the church's new solution last conference, but reverted back to the sling cast because the dryrun during the early morning leadership mtg went very poorly.
roblad
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Re: What equipment do you use for webcasting?

#17

Post by roblad »

We use three permanently mounted Sony PTZ Cameras. One is in the site wall on the stand looking backward and two look forward. We use a Roland VR-3X Audio / Video Mixer. There are three audio feeds. (Chapel PA+Choir Mikes, Organ-mike, Ambient noise-mike). The fourth video input is used either for an HDMI feed from the English satellite receiver or for a VGA connection from a laptop that is used to put titling up and song lyrics. The "broadcast desk" is permanently located in the stake work room in the stake office area. We don't have to do any setup to do a broadcast. Everything is left in place and powered on.
jay.burgon
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Re: What equipment do you use for webcasting?

#18

Post by jay.burgon »

rolandc wrote:PTZ Optics 20x SDI

Teradek Vidiu

With just one camera, we setup and control all of it with a cellphone. I like simple. Both have apps.

All equipment is permanently mounted.

We do use a Shure M367 mixer and 100 snake to control all the mics including the wireless.

I sit in the overflow and control the mics as it give me a better perspective on how they sound.
I am a new STS and I'm curious about the remote control portion of this setup. As a network engineer by trade, I'm always looking for ways to control things over a network. A/V stuff isn't exactly my forte but I dabble here and there. We currently have a pair of EVI-D70s which, as you know, have to be controlled over a serial connection. I'd like to look into something that I can control via a network connection. I was looking through the manual for this camera which has an interesting statement. "The main thing to note about the IP interface is that all adjustments will occur on the IP stream only. It will not affect the HDMI, SDI or USB connections of the camera. In addition presets set in the IP interface will not be the same as the IR remote presets and vice-versa."

What are you using for output? I'd like to use HDMI output and still be able to control the camera over the network. It seems to me like that should work fine. The manual just says otherwise if I'm understanding correctly.
aaronrsmith
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Re: What equipment do you use for webcasting?

#19

Post by aaronrsmith »

The PTZ optics cameras can be IP controlled, and the changes show up on all video outputs. I have seen it IP controlled while using the SDI video output and work great.
aaronrsmith
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Re: What equipment do you use for webcasting?

#20

Post by aaronrsmith »

Regarding the church's webcast system, we used YouTube for the last conference, and it worked very well at 720p, and was easy for shut-ins and a few other remote people to connect to. They just needed the right link. Experience has caused me not to trust the church webcast system on Sunday, but YouTube knows how to do live video very well, and is supported by Roku/apple tv. The Vidiu can connect directly to YouTube, making it very simple to use. It is critical to make sure YouTube privacy is not set to public, and to bypass the church firewall for the event.
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