Live streaming: hardware and software workflow?

KINOKS

KINOKS

Well-known member
I need to put together a budget for a alive streaming 2 day event. One day is 6h and the other is 10h long. It's a presentation, with different speakers, round tables, etc. The client is asking for 2 cameras: one being a stationary wide shot and the other a fly-by interview camera. We will also need to insert titles and graphics in the live food. Everything also needs to be recorded for future editing on the cameras.

So, me as a producer being a noob regarding live streaming I need all the help I can get from those willing to offer it! For two cameras I presume we need a capture device with two inputs, then a laptop for the device to connect and then some software that allows switching. Also the fly-by camera probably needs a wi-fi transmitter...

Thinking of using camcorders with fixed lenses like sony x160 or something in those lines, maybe a GH4 for the static camera, although the GH4 has a 30m rec limit so that probably wont work.

Anyway, thanks for any advice you can give me!
 
Look at renting some of the JVC cameras that have streaming capabilities including on wifi. You might (needs testing) be able to set those cameras into stream and record mode to get the local record. Use OBS Studio to grab the streams and switch them onto the live stream. Again, this is subject to massive testing for delay issues, etc.

Alternate could be something like the new BlackMagic SDI to USB interface to get into the computer. Not sure what you would do for the second camera to keep it mobile.
 
If sync between the cameras is important, I wouldn't use WiFi for wireless. I would go for a real-time wireless system like a Teradek Bolt.

OBS is the cheapest option for switching and graphics. You will need a capture card or two, I like the Magewell USB3 capture cards. They come in SDI and HDMI versions.

What platform are you going to be streaming to? Some platforms have time limits on the streams, so it's something to be aware of. How's the internet at the venue? You will need around 4 Mbps upload, but more is always better. I would not use WiFi, I always demand an ethernet hard line when streaming.
 
I do some live streaming. If you look online for advice, you will find that many of the 'live streaming' groups,
are made up of authors, self help guru's and the like who's only interest in 'live streaming' is that of 'live streaming'
themselves talking to a computer. Which basically takes a laptop with a built in camera. The only reason they
use a computer instead of a phone, is so that they can add lower third titles and such. They have next to no
broadcast experience but because they are doing 'live streaming' other 'non professionals', ask them for advice
on how to do it. The result is kind of the blind leading the blind.

On the other hand, there are a couple facebook groups, one is called 'streaming idiots' and the other is called
'webcasters' which are made up of people who broadcast (mainly sports) professionally. That is where you can
get a lot of advice on gear and so on, as well as troubleshoot stuff that might come up. These guys aren't doing
'glorified selfies' but real multi-cam productions for places like ESPN.

As far as what to use, I can only tell you what I use. I have a 'mobile' solution which means I am not broadcasting
from my home studio, instead, I am hired by clients to come into any situation and broadcast an event (like a
conference or sporting event.) Many times they want it broadcast to their Facebook page, Twitter account or
Youtube channel. So I need to be able to be fairly light and mobile. First up is the computer. If you already
have a laptop, evaluate it for use in livestreaming. You will want a quad core minimum. You will want 16GB of RAM.
You will want a decent GPU. Also, a SSD can help if you are going to be making a 'local recording' to hard drive as
a backup (which most clients want.) Finally, you will want inputs that you can use a capture card in for the cameras.
Think of these as your 'video ins.' Realize that if you have 4 USB 3 ports, but they all share the same bus, that you
probably will only be able to use one camera in a USB 3 port. Maybe two. But you probably are not going to be able
to buy 4 Magewell USB3 capture cards, plug them in to your 4 USB3 ports and hook up 4 cameras. Because in
laptops that share a bus between all USB3 ports, you will be overloading that bus. So that also comes into play.
My laptop is a 2.8Ghz quad core Macbook Pro with 16GB of Ram, two GPU's and a 500GB SSD drive. It has
2 thunderbolt ports and 2 USB3 ports. Thunderbolt ports are great, because they offer a lot of expandability.
For example for between 1-$2K, (I've seen excellent condition used ones for $1k at Adorama) you can buy the AJA 4K io
which will gives you 4 SDI inputs, connected to your laptop via a single thunderbolt cable. So far, I have been going with
BlackMagic UltraStudio Mini's which give you a choice of either HDMI or SDI input via thunderbolt. They cost $137 each
brand new, and I have two of them, one for each thunderbolt port. I also have a USB3 to HDMI capture card which allows
me to have a 3 camera setup with a lot of flexibility. For example, one time, I took my GoPro4 Hero Black (which has a
aftermarket Peau Productions lens to eliminate the fisheye) out of my drone, and literally gaffer taped it to a wall to get a
really nice reverse angle in a conference. Because the GoPro has an HDMI output, I was able to bring that into my
live stream as a camera source. You can also use PTZ Optics cameras which give you control of Pan, Tilt, and Zoom from
a joystick controller in your webcast. Or, if you have a crew with camera ops, you can bring in any camera which has an
SDI or HDMI output. Wirelessly, you can use a variety of stuff from Teradek, Paralinx and others. It depends a bit on
what kind of range you need (300 feet, 1000 feet?) but you will pay between $600-$2000 for a wireless solution, and
those are the cheaper wireless solutions! One last thing. You want to make sure any camera you use has a
'clean out' via the HDMI (or SDI). Some DSLR's have a problem with this, and the last thing you want is
icons cluttering up your camera feed. Alternatively, you don't have to worry about any of the 'built in'
limitations of DSLR's in other areas. 30 minute recording limit? No problem!! Because you are not
'recording' to the DSLR, you are streaming and 'recording' on the laptop! Overheating? Again, no problem!
Because the DSLR itself is not encoding and recording so it doesn't heat up. As far as it knows, it is just
sitting there turned on. But you don't ever need to press record on the DSLR, so no worries on that front.
Battery power....that might be another story. Most DSLR's aren't made to be left on continuously for hours.
So make sure you have spare batteries!

As for software, it depends on what platform you are on, a Mac or PC. I use a Mac, and I elected to use
Wirecast. Now OBS is free, but to me, as a former TV guy who did lots of directing live newscasts and
sports, Wirecast is a LOT closer to the way these things work in the broadcast world. It was a much easier
to start using without having to spend a ton of time learning new software. Wirecast allows you create lower
thirds, animated titles and graphics, bring in pre recorded media (remember the live TV news days?....Roll
package on deck 1.....take deck 1....2 minutes until we are back to studio...). You can also bring in
other computer screens, a powerpoint, create scoreboards, create bugs and overlays, create custom
keyboard 'hotkeys' (1 for camera 1, 2 for camera 2 and so on) which allows you to just hit a key
to perform the action you assign to it, use instant replays, capture a 'remote' screen (say the laptop
screen of a presenter), and capture a 'webstream' if you need to bring in YouTube video or the like.
Finally, it has an free iOS app called 'Wirecast cam' which you can install on any iPhone or iPad.
This then makes those devices available as a wireless camera inside of Wirecast! I have tried
it and it does work, although there is a couple seconds of latency involved so it is more useful
as an 'extra angle' type thing as opposed to using as a main camera. On the plus side, it doesn't
use up any of your capture card inputs, so you can always add it as a wide 'safety shot'.
Of course, the downside is, Wirecast costs money ($495-$995) and OBS is free, so you make your
choice depending on what you need. Wirecast also has built in presets, which allow you to
stream to Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and others with basically one click. Even better, it allows
you to stream to several of them at once. As well as making a local recording. And if your
computer can handle it, Wirecast will also allow you to make 'ISO' recordings of each seperate
camera.

If you are on a PC, vMix seems to be the unquestioned software of choice for every professional broadcaster
who uses PC's. Again, you will pay unlike OBS......vMix runs from $350-$750....and vMix has pretty much all
the features that Wirecast has, although they are implemented in different way (I think Wirecast is easier to use
myself but vMix is very, very powerful and is used heavily in the live broadcast industry.)

As for Mac vs. PC, I think PC's have the advantage in the GPU department.....which can take a load off
your CPU's when encoding. Macs seem to have an advantage in the 'input' category, with the thunderbolt
connection which can help out a lot when you really want to have a lot of camera inputs. Of course you
could probably build a desktop PC and add whatever capture cards you wanted and have plenty of camera
inputs, but then you have to carry a desktop around with you to any location you will be broadcasting from.
Having a small 15inch laptop is really nice for mobility purposes. So again, you make your choice based on
what you need.

Finally, and most importantly....internet! Upload speed is what you need....download speed is
irrelevant. Test your connections! Rule of thumb is you want twice what your stream will be for
speed. So if you will be doing a 3Mb 720P stream, you will want 6Mb upload speed. As was
mentioned, hard line is best....wireless is asking for problems. That being said, I live in Alaska and
many places do not have hardwired internet yet. I have successfully done a lot of sports broadcasts
from fields with no internet, by using my iPhone as a 'hotspot'. It can be done, but if you are going
to do it for pay, you better have a backup solution ready! I usually use my iPhone as 'the backup solution'
just in case the hardline goes down, but I have had to use my iPhone as the main solution before.
I typically only do this in instances where I might be broadcasting a game because one of my kids plays
on the team. When I'm not getting paid for it....then I'm not as worried about losing connection and
having the stream go down.

Anyways, hope some of this might have helped a little.
 
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Have a look at Sling Studio and see if it suits your purposes.

There are a few YouTube reviews that explain the system.

Basically it's wi-fi based, no cables from camera to receiver unit, which to me is a BIG advantage.

Everything is controlled via iPad.
 
Tnx guys! That helped! Alaska; much appreciated!!!:D Yeah, I know all about usb 3, thunderbolt and pcie bandwidth. We'll have it all figured out by the time of the conference!

We are going with livestream, as youtube can be scary due to copyrights. Just a question regarding bandwidth, usually I upload 20Mbs for HD material. What bandwidth do you mostly for streaming?
 
The 720 stream I send out of our studio is max 6000kbps, I forget what the average is, but probably down around 1200kbps. You get a little macro blocks on things like fade to/from black, but not that bad.
 
KINOKS said:
Tnx guys! That helped! Alaska; much appreciated!!!:D Yeah, I know all about usb 3, thunderbolt and pcie bandwidth. We'll have it all figured out by the time of the conference!

We are going with livestream, as youtube can be scary due to copyrights. Just a question regarding bandwidth, usually I upload 20Mbs for HD material. What bandwidth do you mostly for streaming?
Click to expand...

I usually stream at the maximum quality the connection will allow....by
which I mean half the tested upload speed. If the upload speed tests at
10Mbs, I will do a 5Mb stream. 720p is usually as far as you have to go, but
if I was to get lucky and have blazing Internet, I would certainly stream 1080,
but the reverse is what usually happens. You get a 2Mb upload speed and have
to drop down to a 1Mb 540p stream so as not to have too much 'macro blocking'
which would occur if you stayed with 720p with that low bit rate.
 
Alaskacameradude's advice is clearly great, coming from a real guy in the field. One caveat I would offer is that for a lot of people putting so much of the work into the computer world can be problematic. We might not have the proper hardware with enough processing power and also may need it for other tasks. And for many the multitasking on one machine can be a bit much as well. Don't get me wrong, there are some great programs available for stuff like this, but to many they prefer to go with dedicated hardware and then land on the computer as late in the process as possible. It's a style and temperament thing.

You could get a small switcher and recorders, or record in camera. Use one computer for graphics and another for streaming. You can use one computer for both, but see above.

Not to sound like a shill, and I no longer work for the company, but the Convergent Design Apollo (available on its own or as a function on the Odyssey7Q & 7Q+) can work great as a mini-switcher & recorder for a nice portable setup. I've done this for live streams and I know a bunch of people do exactly the type of job you describe with Apollos. Might be worth checking out.
 
The stand alone switcher is, without question, a better way than some thing like OBS, but at what cost? You need to start offering this as a big part of your services to pay off something like a Carbonite. The Black Magic switchers are OK, but even those can have problems as they are kind of a hybrid computer based thing. Wirecast and Tricaster have put in a bunch of features that OBS doesn't have, the workflow is much closer to what you would want (especially with the control panel for Tricaster).

The Apollo does look interesting and could maybe serve the purpose quite nicely.
 
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