Blackmagic Forum

I'm trying to understand how to stream a live meeting... So I need cameras, a switching device, an encoder, and streaming service? Any information is greatly appreciated as my IQ decreases daily...

Look here Shane: http://store.livestream.com/pages/lives ... -video-101

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 use BM Intensities hooked up to a Adobe Media Encoder and that works incredibly well.

There are few providers out there who will at least give you some bandwidth for free/nomninal fees. These are mostly computer gaming related and may not be suitable, unless you are in that industry.

I have always asked clients "How important is live?" As its quite often good enough to record it to a file, do some trimming of tails and waffle then stick it up on the corporate site in a dedicated player page.

We stream through a BMD H.264 encoder. We take the USB output of the encoder and run it through MX LIght on a laptop sending the stream to either Justin.tv, Ustream, or Livestream - all provide free streaming opportunities. We have sent the stream via cable Internet and onsite through a mifi device. On the mifi device we keep the stream bit rate lower than when hard wired and run a lower resolution.

Thanks everybody!! Good info!!!!!