Wed Aug 29, 2012 2:50 am
Shane,
Those things are important but streaming is a whole different animal (I found out the hard way). I would like to think we are very good at it now but here are some variables to help.
1. How many viewers are you expecting to watch the live stream? This will help you gauge how much bandwidth you need.
2. You need a publishing server (usually rented from big server company per use or by the month) This too will handle all your bandwidth needs. (not really expensive)
3. Most consumer video capture cards will work i.e. (pinnacle or better) allowing you to get video and audio into your computer streaming client.
4. Get a really good computer with ridiculous processing power!!! I recommend (2) i7, ram is needed but not as much. This will help with the encoding of the video as you send it to the publishing server. If you send a weak signal to your publishing server it will broadcast it the same way causing video and audio sync issues and ultimately your computer will probably crash as it has a heart attack.
5. Download means nothing! Upload is everything usually a good T-1 line gets you over 6mbps upload. Also understanding bitrates are very important.
6. Practice with your setup and get it down pack because if you screw it up and people are watching you will hear it, LOL <---Experience.
GOOD LUCK!
I like to think of myself as the video guy that was awesome until I got lazy, now I look to forums for answers....Hmmm