Here are some things I've used and learned in the past, and what I'm using now.
In my experience, it's always better to use stand-alone products to stream or record rather than using a computer with software. With a computer, there always seems to be something that slows it down. Screen savers, other programs running, failure to reboot, automatic updates, etc.
If you can afford it... For recording I've had great success with the BMD Hyperdeck Studio mini and the BMD UpDownCross converter. I use the UpDownCross to convert to 1080p and record H.264 on the Hyperdeck mini. Saves a lot of hard drive space.
A cheaper solution is a stand-alone game recorder like this Hauppauge HD PVR Rocket Portable HD Game Recorder. $128. Records on USB stick.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... ocket.htmlI input an HDMI signal from my ATEM switcher (converted SDI-HDMI) and it records audio and video. I set up the PVR first with my Windows machine and set the record data rate and anything else needed in the Hauppauge software. Then after that, it's a stand-alone recorder powered by USB. A cheap solution that's been very reliable for us. I use it at our church to record the sermon only for upload to Vimeo as an archive. We stream our entire service, but I only record/archive the sermon.
I do record a clean feed of the entire service with an AJA card on an old MacPro. I use this video for any internal needs like year end videos, or if I need to re-edit a service for some reason. The AJA Kona LHI card records to an internal RAID. I've had a lot of problems with dropped frames even with the RAID. I'm recording to a ProRes Proxy and each service consumes about 40gb even at the proxy setting. I wish the Hyperdeck Mini was around when we purchased this system in 2010.
For streaming we've previously used OBS or Wirecast through our iMac. We had a lot of problems because we needed to use the iMac for other things too. We ended up going with the stand-alone Teradek VidiuPro. It also records H264. A bit pricey ($995) but we've never regretted it. Hooks directly to our network with an ethernet cable, we start the stream from a browser.
As far as streaming destinations I've gone direct to YouTube, Facebook, Ustream. I've also used Restream.io. I send the stream to them and they push it out to up to 30 platforms (if you set them all up). It's mostly free to the main destinations like YouTube, Twitch. They charge extra for Facebook or any custom RTMP that they don't provide. They also charge for transcoding your original stream. So if you are streaming in 1080 and want to go to Periscope, then you have to transcode that to 720. Or send your entire stream to them in 720 and every platform gets 720 (if they support it). I hate to have 1080 available and then knock it down to 720 but you have to ask yourself, "is it that noticeable to the end user?" What are your streaming goals?
For live titles and lower thirds we use a laptop with PowerPoint and the SimpleSupers.com app. This has been a great inexpensive addition. We are able to key all of our worship lyrics on the live stream, as well as the sermon lower thirds and split screens that we build just before our service. Animated lower thirds for names and other shimmers are retained and look great. The setup is an ASUS ROG laptop. I send 2 display outputs to HDMI to SDI converters, then input both of those in the ATEM 1 M/E Production Studio 4k. This gives me key (alpha channel generated by the SimpleSupers app) and fill that I key using the DSK on the ATEM. I play my intros and outros (with audio) for the Vimeo archive out of my PowerPoint file. This same file also contains my lower thirds and lyric graphics. Easy to change and adjust on the fly.
I also built my own tally light system using RJ45 surface mount boxes with red LED lights. I ran cat 5 cables to each camera location along with my sdi home runs. I've done this for 3 clients and it works extremely well.
Happy Streaming,
kc