Creating a Cutting-Edge Live Production with Effortless Operation
By Jim Bask
In recent years, live video streaming has become a regular form of communication, information sharing and entertainment. As the technology furthers the products allowing this to be achieved are also becoming more advanced. However a large consumer-base for these products aren’t necessarily video production professionals and could be overwhelmed by the workflow entailed. But some of the products needed for this are simple to learn and eventually operate with a minimum crew and in some cases can even be run independently. Epiphan has been a leader in these streaming devices for non-video professionals. The Epiphan Pearl-2 is the latest and perhaps simplest for streaming broadcasts for non-professionals. This article shows how the Epiphan Pearl-2 can easily improve any live streaming broadcast.
Pearl-2 mixed three video sources in this setup: two Sony PXW-FS7 cameras and a laptop. The first camera was set to a static wide shot of the full panel and the second camera was configured with a zoom lens to frame whoever was speaking at the time. Both cameras were connected to Pearl-2 over SDI. The laptop was connected to Pearl-2’s HDMI™ port and was used to play a pre-roll video clip at the beginning of the event.
The audio board mixed audio from two cardioid mics and a single wireless LAV mic. The moderator used the LAV mic while the speakers shared the remaining mics on stage. An external monitor was connected for confidence monitoring purposes using Pearl-2’s HDMI output port.
An Ethernet switch connected Pearl-2 and Anil’s administrator laptop to the same network. The switch was then connected to a Rogers LTE Rocket Hub internet hotspot for wireless internet access (tested at 150 MB/s down, 25 MB/s up).
When it was time to go live, Anil sent the stream to Facebook Live in 720p resolution at 4 MB/s bitrate. During the live show, Anil used the Pearl-2 touch screen to switch between custom layouts containing a mix of his video and audio sources.
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