Complete beginner needing assistance with livestreaming

Hey folks,

First of all, any and all assistance is gratefully appreciated here. I've got some experience with video production, and very limited experience with live streaming, but I've been given an opportunity that's above my head in terms of complexity at the minute.

I work for a motorcycling news website, in a sports journalism and web production role, and I've been offered the opportunity to live stream an upcoming race meeting that's being professionally produced by a host broadcaster. We're a fairly big channel on YouTube, and get good support from them as well as having livestreaming capability, so that's my preferred platform.

The host broadcaster have offered me a satellite downlink, but I have absolutely no idea how to go about setting that up - but I'll also be on site during the event, which also has high speed internet access.

So my question is - what hardware would I need to make it all happen? I assume that I can essentially take a feed from their system and then plug it into a Blackmagic box in order to encode it for YouTube, but I'm not sure if that's too simple. Any help is appreciated!

If you are going to be onsite, and have an internet connection of at least 5mbps upload, streaming from there will be far easier than dealing with satellites. For streaming to Youtube you will either need a computer and capture device (which model depends on the type of computer and the type of video / audio connections the production company can provide) or an all-in-one streaming device like the Teradek Cube/VidiU, or Matrox Monarch HD.

What type of computer do you have (or be using) and what type of video / audio feeds will the production company provide (SDI? Component? Will the audio be embedded in the video, or provided separately via XLR? etc).

We use a Mac mini quad core, a black magic studio mini recorder, an sdi-camera, and flash media live encoder. And like was mentioned you need somewhere around 5gbs upload. I usually send 720p to the web, and limit my bit rate to about 2000 (to be safe). We route sound from microphones through a soundboard, and output a 3.5mm from the board into the mini. I have an online tutorial I did for coworkers on YouTube, that shows how easy it is.

And like was mentioned you need somewhere around 5gbs upload.

I'm sure you meant to say 5Mbps upload.

And like was mentioned you need somewhere around 5gbs upload.

I'm sure you meant to say 5Mbps upload.

Yep I misspoke. Thanks for the correction.

The link is perhaps the biggest issue.
Bonded 3G/4G cellular is better priced these days. If you can't get a reliable data
link at your site then satellite is your next best solution.

I have been part of a satellite uplink.
We used Pittsburg Telecommunications http://pitcomm.com/
to relay the feed to both internet and DBS satellite receivers on Galaxy 19 in the US.
5 or 6 years ago it was a reasonable $500 per hour just for them to relay.
You are lucky to get use of the truck for free.

When they get the signal, they can put it on the internet or mix it into their digital
DBS channels.

Thanks for all the replies!

In theory, the link should be taken care of, as we'll be working out of a permanent event press office (at a race circuit) with a good fiber connection. I'm just trying to get confirmation of the speed, but I don't think that should be a concern.

I think the broadcaster will offer me a high quality professional signal, but if I'm being honest that's probably above the level of skill I have when it comes to working with video - I'm a photographer first and foremost, with only limited videography skills.

I may be wrong here and I stand to be corrected, but if I'm able to get a tv output as supplied to the monitors that are provided to the teams and commentators, could I then use something like an Intensity Shuttle to link it to my computer (a Macbook Pro) and stream using Wirecast?

I am no expert, but we just started streaming weekly using Livestream and it was very easy. Look at the BMD h.264 Pro Recorder. It can take a pro HD-SDI video input (or pretty much any analog video) as well as analog audio (or SDI embedded audio) and encode it to an h.264 (MP4) format and send it via USB to your computer. It will take most any video format short of 4k. Software is free for Livestream's basic package and the Livestream folks are super happy to help you even if you are using their free service. The Pro Recorder is well supported by Livestream. Livestream will take the encoded format and re-encode it at their end (I think at their end) to a multi-format suitable for phones, pads and computers, even Roku. The pro recorder does the heavy lifting as far as h.264 encoding so you can use your computer simultaneously for other tasks. Not sure why they call it a pro recorder as it only encodes, it does not actually record.