Want to do live webcast using Camera or Computer

[Jawad]

Hi there,
I am shooting an event using two cameras. One camera will be stationary set up to provide live broadcast to 1-3 computers in Asia.

I know there are softwares out there including quicktime broadcaster for which you can use macbook isight to broadcast but not familiar with settings. Anyone who knows how to set it up or have additional suggestions or can help set it up, can provide compensation if desired

Please advise

[Justyn]

You dont' want to do any webcasting through software. I do this for a living here in FL. The best way to do it, is to have a switcher and do the switching outside of the computer and then feed it into the computer and then PUSH the signal out to your server for webcasting. Isight and that isn't really designed for webcasting and the quality is suspect. If you need more help, let me know but it's pretty straightforward. I typically also do my webcasting through windows media encoder even though I'm a mac guy... Somethings are easier and better on windows. Feel free to PM me or email me at justyn@electriccowtheater.com


With my set-up I normally do 4 cameras and a stereo audio input and works great and anyone in the world can log in and check it out.. not just peer to peer.. CHEERS

j

[Capt Quirk]

Hey Justyn- You have any old switchers you want to get rid of?

[SteveLaClair]

You dont' want to do any webcasting through software. I do this for a living here in FL. The best way to do it, is to have a switcher and do the switching outside of the computer and then feed it into the computer and then PUSH the signal out to your server for webcasting. Isight and that isn't really designed for webcasting and the quality is suspect. If you need more help, let me know but it's pretty straightforward. I typically also do my webcasting through windows media encoder even though I'm a mac guy... Somethings are easier and better on windows. Feel free to PM me or email me at justyn@electriccowtheater.com


With my set-up I normally do 4 cameras and a stereo audio input and works great and anyone in the world can log in and check it out.. not just peer to peer.. CHEERS

j

Justyn, do you have any gripes with using Flash Media Streaming Server? I really want to find a way to jump into this. I was talking with a company called Lime Light Networks but their going rate is $1/gb, which is rather steep.

I was wondering if there would be anything I could pull off with just a hvx/macbook pro to shoot events live.

[Capt Quirk]

The Webcaster Toolkit (http://www.webmonkey.com/webmonkey/01/09/index3a.html?tw=multimedia) is a good place for you to start Steve.

[Justyn]

That Tookkit looks BS INMHO. I am not sure about a flash media streaming server. Personally I love the server I buy every month. It's from webcast2000.com. I pay a hundred bucks for the month and I can have up to 50 people watching the webcast at any one time whether it's live or archival. You can get more people but it costs more and I think the unlimited version is like 400 a month.. and you get more bandwith.


I've done about a 100 webcasts now. All with my trusted macbook running windows. I use the free windows media encoder to capture and stream. All of the switching is done outside the comp.> DO not switch in the comp. You'll need all of your horsepower to do a dual stream webcast and that's what I do. You need a dual processor comp, and preferably a fast HD and a lot of RAM.


My system is better than almost any of those turnkey systems like the Niagra and the Tricaster.. Both of those I've used and they are crap and if something goes wrong, then you can't troubleshoot it and you have to send it back.

I think I have like 2K invested in the whole set-up and I just use a cheap single chip DV camera to do the analogue to digital conversion out of the switcher.. and we usually do a 3 camera and one graphics set-up.


I don't have any old switchers but I'd say to check EBay and that Panasonic 4 input one is nice. I personally love my MX20...


Hit me up if you need more info. For my friends at DVXuser I'm happy to help.. but of course getting a consulting fee and walking you through it all is even better. I've become a kind of expert in this area out of necessity and it's not hard.. and it's not expensive and don't belive all the hype on some of these sites about what you need. I get people telling me all the time I can't do what I've done all these times. Shoot, I webcast from peoples homes with DSL.. You don't need a T1 and you just have to PUSH and not PULL.. that's the straight dope right there.


cheers all


j