Webinar / Streaming solutions

James Carpenter

James Carpenter

Well-known member
Hey all, hope evryone is staying safe.

I work for a non-for-profit and we have been experimenting with Facebook live for some of our conservation messaging given that all of our staff are working from home. Does anyone have any experience or recommendations for other solutions that allow for PiP or other more advanced features?

I\'m thinking something would allow a director to switch between live talking head video, and b-roll, imagery etc within the live feed.

Hopefully this makes sense, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all!!!


James.
 
Unfortunately, the key hardware devices you need, specifically HDMI-->USB and SDI-->USB (and similar) converters and low-cost switchers are out of stock and have been for a while. This includes three of the four devices Judd mentions in his video (the AJA SDI--> USB 3.1 box is still in stock). I only glanced at the YouTube page and the text equipment list below the video; perhaps the shortage is covered in the video.

If you already have cameras and adapters, you're in a better position, imo.

I chased down a BMD ATEM Mini switcher, but getting the appropriate HDMI connectors on each end for multiple cameras has been a bit of a struggle. Also the ATEM Mini is a bit particular about settings (nothing terrible, but it's not necessarily a show-and-go device). I'll probably be using another friend's BMD Intensity for a bit. So first, try to chase down the cables and adapters your need to get from your cameras to your computer (if that's the way you want to go). And look at what people here with more live experience than I have suggest.

Anyway, in my recent experience, OBS Studio is OK, but a bit idiosyncratic (though no moreso than lots of the video tools we all use everyday). Open source, multiplatform, and mostly stable (I've been experimenting with it; might use it live before too long): https://obsproject.com

If you roll with OBS, UP Deck seems like a popular extension that I =think= can do PIPs.
https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/up-deck.665/

StreamLabs OBS slaps a simpler interface onto OBS Studio. I haven't tried it.
https://streamlabs.com/streamlabs-obs

LiveStream, now owned by Vimeo, looks cool but costs $900/year (billed annually AFAIK). I haven't used it, though IIRC some others here have.
https://livestream.com/studio/

Switcher Studio also looks interesting. $40-$75/month, billed monthly.
https://www.switcherstudio.com

But I'd start with solving getting picture and audio into your computer, deciding if just one camera straight to YouTube or Facebook (and remember you can embed a Facebook live stream into a "regular" website so viewers don't have to sign up for FB) is enough...

And then check out OBS Studio... If you're on dvxuser, it seems not so bad.
 
Wirecast and vMix (Wirecast is cross platform, vMix is Windows only) are the two
big solutions I can think of. There are a lot of others like OBS, Livestream,
Production Truck, eCamm, Xsplit, MimoLive and many others but Wirecast and
vMix have a lot more support, people using them and so on if you need some
help to figure things out. I do a decent amount of live-streaming and have some
info on it in my blog. But basically, you need a few things. First, is cameras.
Second, is cables to go from your camera to some sort of capture device which
gets the video signal into your computer. Third, is these capture devices
themselves. These devices can take all sorts of forms and is part of the
expertise/experience which is needed, you need to make sure the capture card
you get will work with both your computer and your cameras. There are switchers
like the ATEM Mini which can take 4 HDMI sources and input them into your computer
as 1 webcam source. Which means you switch the cameras on the ATEM Mini
and the output of that is what is sent into your computer. Or you can get single
capture cards.....things like a Magewell or a BlackMagic Ultra Studio Mini recorder.
Those capture cards will input a single source......either SDI or HDMI to either
thunderbolt or USB. Hook up say 3 of those capture cards to your computer
and you now have 3 camera sources you can switch between in Wirecast or vMix.
You can also add animated graphics and titles, have pre-recorded content which
you can 'mix' in and all sorts of other stuff. It's honestly like having a TV control
room on your computer. I used to produce and direct 12 live news shows per week
and I can literally do anything which I did on those new programs with one of these
software tools. Go live from the anchors to a field reporter. Roll pre recorded packages
then go back to the anchor. Insert graphics and lower thirds. Pretty much anything
you want. The big caveat of course, the fourth thing you need, which is probably the
most important. You need an appropriate internet speed/connection.

Also, as has been mentioned, most of this gear is in very short supply now and it
is hard to source a lot of it. For example, ATEM Mini's are out of stock at all the
usual suspects (B&H, Adorama, etc...) and are selling on eBay for over $1000
when they cost $295 brand new. I've literally had 4 or 5 unsolicited offers to
buy mine for much more than I paid for it because you can't find them anywhere.

Some of my blog posts about this if you are interested

http://alaskacameradude.blogspot.com/2017/09/you-get-what-you-pay-forand-other.html

http://alaskacameradude.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-300.html
 
Last edited:
I just purchased a Magewell capture device. It wasn't cheap compared to an Atem Mini, since it doesn't provide any of the switching capabilities and only one input, but it is totally plug and play, no drivers, which is very nice.

https://www.amazon.com/Magewell-USB...wYg&hsa_cr_id=5402348360801&ref_=sb_s_sparkle

Has HDMI loopthrough, audio input, and it will extract the audio from hdmi and ouput that from an 1/8" jack as well. I've barely used it, but it's solid so far. Works perfectly fine for Facebook, Zoom, OBS, etc.
 
The ATEM Mini Pro has been announced, and can be pre-ordered from the usual suspects. It adds the streaming encoder to the device itself, as well as local recording to harddrives/solid state recording media attached via USB. Additionally, via firmware Atem Mini and Atem Mini Pro can now control Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4k/6k cameras. $595 USD.
 
I am on the fence about the Atem mini Pro. I am trying to see a scenario where I would not bring a laptop to a streaming job. That is the implied use of the built in encoder isn't it? But if one is needing to get account info and stream keys sorted out, I just can't see the situation where the Atem Pro alone would be viable. The Pro has some real improvements but I am struggling with this whole idea of streaming on location for somebody else as a service. There are just a lot of pitfalls. I am trying to complete a kit for when an in-house ethernet or WIFI connection is not provided and it is causing me a lot of grief !
 
I placed an order for the Mini Pro. According to the dealer it wasn't to far away on delivery.
 
Bassman2003 said:
I am on the fence about the Atem mini Pro. I am trying to see a scenario where I would not bring a laptop to a streaming job. That is the implied use of the built in encoder isn't it? But if one is needing to get account info and stream keys sorted out, I just can't see the situation where the Atem Pro alone would be viable. The Pro has some real improvements but I am struggling with this whole idea of streaming on location for somebody else as a service. There are just a lot of pitfalls. I am trying to complete a kit for when an in-house ethernet or WIFI connection is not provided and it is causing me a lot of grief !
Click to expand...

In using the ATEM Pro, I would always bring a laptop. But it would be more likely used as a source for video roll ins, Powerpoint slides, etc. as a playback device. Three cameras and a latop as the inputs would be pretty flexible.
 
Taiwan banned Zoom due to its company being connected to the PRC bigwigs.

Oh, well.
 
puredrifting said:
In using the ATEM Pro, I would always bring a laptop. But it would be more likely used as a source for video roll ins, Powerpoint slides, etc. as a playback device. Three cameras and a latop as the inputs would be pretty flexible.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I own an Atem Mini already but am trying to decide how much the pro helps or not. Multiview is nice but I do not see how the internal hardware encoder is better than the existing signal that is sent over the USB port right now. I have not heard the details yet but I suspect the recording feature will just be the output of the hardware encoder saved. Basically a low level recording. I am thinking the extra $300 might be better spent on an external recorder that could be used for other purposes as well.
 
Bassman2003 said:
I am on the fence about the Atem mini Pro. I am trying to see a scenario where I would not bring a laptop to a streaming job. That is the implied use of the built in encoder isn't it? But if one is needing to get account info and stream keys sorted out, I just can't see the situation where the Atem Pro alone would be viable. The Pro has some real improvements but I am struggling with this whole idea of streaming on location for somebody else as a service. There are just a lot of pitfalls. I am trying to complete a kit for when an in-house ethernet or WIFI connection is not provided and it is causing me a lot of grief !
Click to expand...

Many laptops don't excel at encoding video on the fly, and drop frames. To the extent you run any secondary tasks on the laptop, or a background process spikes in its CPU usage, your stream quality can degrade further. By having a high quality hardware encoder, you take the workload off the laptop, and can feel free to focus on using it for switching and graphics prep and any tertiary tasks that are necessary. This allows people to also use cheaper laptops.
 
Thanks. What I am not liking about the live streaming process is that everything seemingly wants to encode what you give it. Facebook & YouTube re-encode what you send it. OBS encodes whatever you give it. Apparently the USB feed from the Atem Mini is encoded (or lower quality mjpeg). In the end, it seems it all will end up being trashed by the time the viewer sees it.
 
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