FS7: FS7 to Facebook Live Streaming

Joshua Milligan

Joshua Milligan

Well-known member
Hey guys, I'm going to be filming a large speaking event in October and my client wants to have my A-cam (FS7) live streaming to Facebook Live. I know that people have discussed this here in the past, but I wanted to check in and see what's available today to make this possible with the FS7. I have zero experience doing this, so I have absolutely no idea where to even begin live streaming from my FS7. Any help on what's needed and what's cost effective would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
 
Teradek Cube can take the SDI/HDMI (depending on what version you use) and go straight to Facebook live. Have done it that way a few times myself. I mostly use the Teradek Cube so I can use an iPad as a client monitor though.
 
The easiest option is probably to use a hardware streaming device (the ones from Teradek have Facebook Live integration). In that case you connect the HDMI or SDI output from the camera into the streaming encoder and connect the encoder to the network using an Ethernet cable (or over Wi-Fi, although wired is better for reliability).

A second option is to use a video capture device (from Blackmagic or others) into a laptop and then use streaming software to encode the video stream and send it to Facebook. Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) is probably the most popular free streaming software and Wirecast is one of the most popular commercial options. If you already have a reasonably capable laptop, and use something like a Blackmagic Mini Recorder ($145) and OBS, then this is the least expensive option. But it also is more complicated to setup than the hardware streaming devices and has more things that can fail (if the the streaming software or computer crashes, the stream goes down).

More discussion on these threads:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?349929-live-streaming-from-fs7-to-facebook
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?337405-Live-streaming-with-FS7-Using-inluded-wifi-module
 
The BlackMagic Ultra Studio Mini is a $137 SDI and HDMI to thunderbolt capture card.
Magewell makes a USB 3 to HDM or SDI capture card. But these may be a bit much if
you don't want to use a laptop or other computer to add in graphics like lower
third titles, and so on.....as in you are just looking for a quick simple stream. If that's all you
want you can just use something like the AJA or Teradek. I don't do that type of livestream,
I'm only doing multicam with titles and graphics added to try to distinguish myself from the
10,858,984,102 people who are livestreaming from one angle with their iPhone.

Anyways, if you are at all interested you can read more about livestreaming in general
in my far too detailed and involved review of a HDMI to USB cheapo capture card here.
Yeah, it's a review but has a lot of information about livestreaming in general. Any questions,
just let me know.

http://alaskacameradude.blogspot.com/2017/09/you-get-what-you-pay-forand-other.html
 
davedv said:
The easiest option is probably to use a hardware streaming device (the ones from Teradek have Facebook Live integration). In that case you connect the HDMI or SDI output from the camera into the streaming encoder and connect the encoder to the network using an Ethernet cable (or over Wi-Fi, although wired is better for reliability).

A second option is to use a video capture device (from Blackmagic or others) into a laptop and then use streaming software to encode the video stream and send it to Facebook. Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) is probably the most popular free streaming software and Wirecast is one of the most popular commercial options. If you already have a reasonably capable laptop, and use something like a Blackmagic Mini Recorder ($145) and OBS, then this is the least expensive option. But it also is more complicated to setup than the hardware streaming devices and has more things that can fail (if the the streaming software or computer crashes, the stream goes down).

More discussion on these threads:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?349929-live-streaming-from-fs7-to-facebook
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?337405-Live-streaming-with-FS7-Using-inluded-wifi-module
Click to expand...



Thanks a lot for all the help guys. Just to make sure I understand, the cheapest way to do this would be to get a device such as the BlackMagic Ultra Studio Mini and plug it into my FS7 via HDMI. Then, I plug the BM device into my MacBook via thunderbolt and stream to Facebook live with Open Broadcaster Software? So, if that's right, then all I need is a HDMI cable, the BM Ultra Studio Mini, a thunderbolt cable, the Open Broadcaster software and an ethernet cable?

Also, what happens when I hit record or have my camera info on the screen during filming with my FS7? I'm having to film this event so that I can put the speeches together in post, but my A-cam also has to be used for Facebook live streaming, so I'm a bit concerned that Facebook viewers will see me start/stop recording as well as a screen full of info (like shutter angle, f-stop, etc.). Does this not show up on the stream?

One last question. I'm going to be filming this event in 4K. Will this BlackMagic device let me do that? It doesn't need to stream in 4K, just HD, but I absolutely have to film the event in 4K.
 
My BMD Ultra Studio Mini Recorder will not accept 4k, only HD
If you output from the FS7 using a clean (no displays) SDI output into the Ultra Studio Mini Recorder you should be good. You can record 4K in the FS7 while outputting clean HD for the live stream.
Don't forget to make sure you have a good, preferably separate internet connection at the event! (you might run into problems if you're sharing the same connection with 300 event attendees! -- and those attendees won't be there during your setup so you won't know you have a problem until 5 minutes before the event starts!)
 
Good point about the internet! I'll be sure to work on that this week. And just to make sure I get what you're saying, I can still record 4K internally into my FS7 while outputting HD to the BMD? Also, does yours display the camera info?
 
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