Live online streaming broadcast with HMC150?

J

JohnDubya

Member
I'm sure it must be possible to live stream video from a camcorder to the interwebs, but I'm trying to find out what the exact options are. We have events that happen every week that we would like to look at live broadcasting/recording them, hopefully to a service like Ustream.tv.

So I obviously have the Panasonic HMC150 camera and a computer with internet access. What hardware and software for a PC could get video from the camera to the computer and to a service like Ustream? I would also want to broadcast in HD, if possible. Any thoughts or guidance?
 
The new USB 3.0 version of the Black Magic Intensity+USB 3.0 card, or a Matrox MXO2 are the first two capture options that come to mind. Can't help with software, as I have no experience with live streaming.
 
Your output choices are Composite (through RCA), Component or HDMI.

So, your first thought should be what format you are going to be streaming. Then you can figure out hardware/software from there.
 
Mike, looks like those options might be just the thing I was looking for! I don't have USB 3.0 capability yet, but I can look for that. Thank you for the suggestions!

Denwa, by format, I'm assuming you mean SD or HD? If that is what you mean, we are hoping to stream HD. Otherwise, if you are meaning format as in "Windows Media" or "h.264" etc., then I don't necessarily have a preference. Just looking for exact options that people have experience with. I'd really like to know an exact system that someone set up that they know works. I have seen pieces of a setup, but I have not seen an entire system that works yet.

Thanks to both of you for your help.
 
This is what I do, have done, works great and is super cheap.

I use old firewire breakout boxes, you can get them on eBay for $15-75 depending on the model, you plug your HMC into it using composite or component depending on the box you get and then use a firewire cable to connect to your computer.

As far as your computer is concerned the BOB is just a high quality webcam.

The quality is pretty damn high for how inexpensive you can pick them up for an programs like UStream Producer Pro allow you tu use several of them at once even on a laptop.
 
sublime, thank you for the personal experience! That sounds like a perfect option for me, since I already have a firewire input on my computer.

A couple questions about your solution.

First, does component output a pretty good quality picture from the HMC? I'm assuming once it gets to something like Ustream, it would probably more than suffice for HD?

And secondly, do you have some exact brands/models of BOB's? I've been Googling around, but if you know of some specific ones that work well, I'd love to hear. Thanks again for helping out!
 
The quality is very good, more than enough for a high quality broadcast, I have never broadcast in HD as it has never been required and to be honest in AK finding an upstream connection that could even support HD a stream is next to impossible the fastest most ISPs offer here is 1meg up without going to a circuit.

I can say this, using Ustream with my BOB it does recoginize that it is a wide screen broadcast automaticly which is nice.

As far as brands go the following companies make them- Sony , Pinnacle, Formac, ADS, canopus & Dazzel (the worst).

You can usually pick the Pinnacle Studio MovieBox & the Formac boxes on eBay for less than $30 shipped. Keep in mind these cheaper ones only do composite and S-Video but I think if your lighting is good you will be pleasantly surprised at the quality. The more expensive ones from Matrox will let you do HD but then there is the question of whether the software you are using will even support it and is the client willing to pay the extra for a slight bump in quality.

I will run a test tonight to see if I can broadcast in "HD" using ustream with one of my BOBs and the HMC post back tomorrow for you.
 
You are a saint, my friend. Thank you for taking your time to give knowledgeable advice and for doing the checking on using HD with Ustream! I'll take a look on eBay to see what I can find.
 
I've been using a Canopus ADVC-110 Analog to Digital Converter with my HMC 150 to stream live.

I go RCA cables from camera to Canopus, then firewire from canopus to macbook pro. Though I had to get a FW 800 to 400 cable b/c the canopus is a few years old and is only FW 400.

This has worked fine both on Livestream and Ustream.

@denwa do you have a workflow on how to make that work with HDMI? I tried and didn't have any success with it.
 
bigteethproductions said:
This has worked fine both on Livestream and Ustream.
Click to expand...

Awesome, this is good to know, thank you!

Have you streamed HD through Livestream or Ustream? Am I understanding correctly that you can't stream HD if the output from the HMC is analog? Would that mean that I have to output via HDMI to get an HD stream to the internet? I'm probably mistaken, but I want to learn!
 
Update, I couldn't get either FCP or Ustream to recoginize my Formac or either of my Pinnacle boxes last night I will try to figure out what is going on tonight.

Does anyone remember how to reset your firewire drivers on your mac during start up?
 
Are you JUST going to have the one source of video be a camera for this broadcast? What about titles, name keys.. other cameras. You can be as fancy with the streaming and capture card as you want, but if the content sent to the viewer is the same thing for a whole webcast, man.. I would lost interest quickly.. HD or not. So you really need to think long and hard how much you are willing to shell out to make this all happen. Give this a look.

http://www.thedvshow.com/software-based-video-switchers/

If you are happy to stay in a composite analog world, then you've got a large number of choices for hardware (switchers, monitors, so on), the composite signal from a 150 is still much better than the composite from an SD 3CCD camera.

For web broadcasting, there's no shame in not putting out a 720p signal.
 
WpgCameraMan said:
Are you JUST going to have the one source of video be a camera for this broadcast? What about titles, name keys.. other cameras.
Click to expand...

Great question, thank you for asking questions to help me think through this more fully! Well, looking at a solution like VidBlaster (http://vidblaster.com/products/home.html), would I be able to use that software just by plugging the HMC into the computer via USB? Or would I still have to use some kind of breakout box?

WpgCameraMan said:
If you are happy to stay in a composite analog world, then you've got a large number of choices for hardware (switchers, monitors, so on), the composite signal from a 150 is still much better than the composite from an SD 3CCD camera.

For web broadcasting, there's no shame in not putting out a 720p signal.
Click to expand...

I have no experience whatsoever with streaming a video signal, so I honestly don't have a clue what I'm happy with! haha If a 480p stream would still look pretty dang good going through something like Ustream, I'd be fine with it. I guess I'm wondering if it's worth pursuing a 720p stream or not. Thoughts on the real-life visual difference between 480p and 720p? And what solution would get video from the HMC to the internet in 720p?

Thanks so much, Wpg!
 
JohnDubya said:
would I be able to use that software just by plugging the HMC into the computer via USB?
Click to expand...

No, the USB port is not used for streaming, and the camera doesn't send a proper video signal over it, only data. It's sole purpose is if you don't have card reader of some sort, you can plug the camera in that way and transfer the files from the card to your computer.

Since the HMC doesn't have a Firewire port (because AVCHD isn't compatible with Firewire's protocols), the only way you can get a signal into your computer is via some sort of a breakout box.
 
Just tested it an I was able to broadcast "HD" using both my Formac & Pinnacle BOB's using UStream Producer Pro with my HMC150 through composite video. The picture doesn't fill the whole window because it is letter boxed but the quality seems pretty good.
 
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