Even before the pandemic the television industry has seen remote work. A good portion of news has always been produced remotley while reporters and videographers were live from the field. The advancements in technology and the cloud now allows producers, editors and more to work from home.

A lot of professionals from the industry spoke on the topic of remote work. Companies live LiveU specalize in live production from the field but during the pandemic employed home studio contribution systems.  VP of Engineering Dan Pisarski says ” While most on-air talent at its customers have returned to the studios, LiveU also isn’t seeing a wholesale change back to pre-pandemic workflows.” He also states that a lot of stations rely on remote interviews and cloud-based video conferencing platforms make that possible.

Craig Wilson, Avid product evangelist for media and cloud, estimates that 30% to 40% of news personnel who were onsite in 2019 before the pandemic are still working from home. Cloud tools such as Avid Edit On Demand offers an entire editing and storage system hostd on the cloud and makes sharing content easier.

Check out the full article here!

Verdict Advantage was working with a 2,000+ square foot facility that comprises a main courtroom, a deliberation room, and attached conference rooms. To make their faux courtroom work with the space they needed a a video production solution that could record from multiple cameras, display live feeds on the 360-degree in-room display, and output the footage as separate files for post-production. The Pearl-2 can do exactly that.

“Participants not only see the live feed during the trial and deliberations but can also go back and watch all the videos and really analyze them from the standpoint of the lawyer – to catch reactions and other moments they may not have picked up on during their live session.”

Jesse Vaughan, Head of Business Operations at Verdict Advantage

According to Epiphan’s case study here how the Pearl-2 was used in the space.

• Pearl-2 uses a six-channel configuration with dual presets: one to capture the main courtroom and another for the adjacent deliberation room.
• A Crestron switcher routes the cameras into Pearl-2 via HDMI as well as SDI.
• Pearl-2 outputs the feeds to the 360-degree in-room display on a multi-view layout for live viewing while recording each channel separately for review or post-production.
• Pearl-2 can also capture the content feed – an attorney’s laptop, for example, or a 3D object or document camera – which an operator can switch to using a Crestron touch panel.
• Audio comes in through a combination of gooseneck, proximity, and wireless lapel microphones connected to a two-channel amplifier.

The results of installing the Pearl-2 couldn’t be better for Verdict Advantage. With it’s setup and real life mock trials they were able to to attract law firms looking to use its one-of-a-kind premises for authentic trial practice and extensive case development.

“Out of the box, Pearl-2 delivered exactly what we needed. As we worked more with the system, we discovered so many features that weren’t part of the original plan but will help us expand our capabilities and our business.”

Jesse Vaughan, Head of Business Operations at Verdict Advantage

Check out the full case study here!

Learn more about Epiphan here!

Check out the video on YouTube here!

Learn more about Epiphan here!

If you’re video-chatting on Zoom, broadcasting a show on YouTube, or starting an esports career by streaming on Twitch, you know how annoying a laggy livestream can be.

All video streamers have to deal with it. To help smooth out, speed up, and minimize your video streaming issues, here are a few tried and tested tips. (Note: I stream from a Mac, but I added a few tips for Windows users as well.)

Plug directly into your modem

This may seem like the most obvious one, but we have a lot of new livestreamers out there. And honestly, even grizzled livestream vets such as myself forget to plug in directly to the modem sometimes.

Laggy livestreams are usually caused by one of two things: you’re either having a problem with your internet connection or you’re overloading your computer. When possible, you should be streaming using a wired connection. Plug that ethernet cable directly from your modem to your computer. It will speed up your live video stream, and is more reliable than a WiFi connection.

What if you don’t have an ethernet port on, say, your new MacBook? Don’t worry. You have options. You can buy a Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter for less than $30. 

If your issue is that your connection is dropping because you’re too far away from your modem and router, you can buy a mesh WiFi system. These devices will give your WiFi signal a boost and extend its range. They can be a bit costly, though, starting at $200. 

Another option is to buy a better wireless router. Those too can range in price from under $100 to more than $350.

Mesh WiFi systems

• Google Nest WiFi 
• TP-Link Deco M9 Plus 

Wireless routers

• Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300
• Netgear Nighthawk X10 AD7200 Smart WiFi Router

Check your stream settings

There’s not too much you can do on your end if your internet service provider is what’s causing your livestream problems. You’ll need upload speeds of at least 4 Mbps if you want to stream live video in HD. (You can check with a service like Speedtest, which, full disclosure, is owned by Mashable parent company J2.) If you’re not getting that from your ISP, you can upgrade your plan or go with a different service provider. 

If that’s not an option, you can help by changing some settings on the app you’re using to stream live video. Now, not all streaming software will allow you to do this, but for this example, let’s go with the most popular (and free) option: OBS.

If you find your video stream is lagging, change your output settings in OBS to 720p (Resolution: 12880×720). I know, I know, your favorite YouTubers are all uploading 4K footage now, at the very least you could stream livevideo in 1080p, right? I promise you, the majority of your viewers will not notice the difference in output … especially on a livestream. If your choices are 720p or a choppy output, I guarantee they will prefer the former.

You can now also knock your video bitrate down. Bitrates are basically how many bits of data you’re sending and how quickly they’re being sent. The higher quality the image, the higher your bitrate will need to be for a smooth picture. With your streaming video quality set to 720p, setting your video bitrate to around 35000kb per second should give you a great image.

Not only will these setting changes help your laggy livestream if your issues are internet related, but they’ll be a boost if your problems stem from CPU performance too.

Using an external drive

One tip that was recently recommended to me by a fellow streamer was to run apps and processes from an external drive. 

I had to try this out. First, what external drive would best handle the situation? After some research and even hopping on a call with the product team at Western Digital, I settled on G-Technology’s G-Drive USB-C external drive. These drives are commonly used for video production and backup storage as they are known for being fast, reliable, high-performance drives. You can buy one starting at around $150.

If you’re really on a budget, a portable MyPassport hard drive from Western Digital costs a little over $50. If you’re looking for a faster budget option, I’ve only heard good things about the SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD, which starts at around $75.

Now, when I purchased my MacBook Pro years ago, I bought it with livestreaming and video editing in mind, so I have a fairly fast computer. But, I can totally see how running a stream from a fast Solid State Drive would be faster than doing it on an older computer with a slow internal hard drive.

In a test run, I switched it up. I ran the livestream off the internal drive and other apps I use while streaming, like Google Chrome, off the G-Drive. Chrome is notorious for hogging disk space. With the external drive taking a load off my MacBook, I noticed the hum of the internal fan, which can get pretty loud during a video stream, was much quieter. Saving my livestream recordings to the external drive also helped free up disk space and deal with a sometimes noticeable slowdown on my MacBook Pro when live.

And here’s a great thing if you’re a Mac user. If you just want to run apps off your external drive, you don’t need to install an OS on it and make it bootable. I literally just dragged and dropped apps from my internal SSD to the G-Drive. Mac apps, which use the .app file extension, are essentially folders. Everything you need to run the app is packaged inside so it makes things really simple to move around.

If you can’t go out and buy a completely new computer with maxed out specs for streaming, an external drive could be an affordable solution. 

External drives

• G-Technology G-Drive USB-C 
• SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD

Time for a new computer?

Let’s say you have a computer that is about a decade old and you’re ready to invest in a new one. What should you buy for livestreaming? 

It depends. If you’re looking to go live, with just you talking into a webcam, nearly any modern computer can handle it. I mean, your iPhone or Android device can accomplish that. But, if you’re looking for something more advanced for a full-blown livestream show with guests, screensharing, layers of graphics, or even game streaming, there are some specs you need to pay attention to.

My MacBook Pro has an Intel Core i7 quadcore processor with 16GB of RAM. It easily does everything I need it to do, but often the fan will whir at audible levels. 

You’ll see some guides out there saying you should have a minimum of 4GB of RAM but recommend 8GB. Honestly, don’t listen to that. Go with 16GB of RAM. This will really help cut down on choppiness and slowdowns, especially when multitasking. If you’ll be using other programs with your livestream, you’ll want 16GB minimum. If you’ll be gaming on Twitch, you’ll likely want even more.

If you’re opting to build a cheap PC, a good budget processor is the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 for about $150. However, I see that the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is only about $40 more and has much better reviews. 

Close everything you’re not using

I bet you’d be fairly shocked if you knew how many apps are open and running in the background right now on your computer. An obvious place to look If you’re on a Mac is right there on your menu bar. How many menu bar apps are open?

You need to close out all those background processes that aren’t necessary. The only things that should be taking up precious memory, CPU, and disk space should be what you need to run your stream. You might even have apps like Google Backup and Sync transferring large files over your internet connection, mucking up your upload speeds, without even knowing it.

And there you have it. A few simple tips to enhance your livestreaming experience. If you follow these tips, they should help you get rid of laggy streams… or at the very least make the issue bearable.

Read the original article here!

Learn more about G-Technology here!

Watch our Western Digital Webinar here!

Learn more about SanDisk here!

Making a more engaging show is something every producer tries to do for whatever project they’re working on.  Now with the popularity of podcasts only rising, the same applies for anyone embarking on such an endeavor.  Something we do for our Broadfield Liquid Lunch & Learn live webinars (which are live every Thursday at 1pm) is bring in guests live in-studio or via Skype from wherever they are in the world.  We’ve done this a number of times and with our viewer base growing each guest we bring in.  Rather than just having our host spouting off news and information about products we sell, when we have a guest it becomes an engaging interaction that helps break down the show and makes it more fun for our audience as well as the talent and crew.

We produce our shows using a NewTek TriCaster TC1 which is an NDI-compatible live production system which allows us to do many things a typical live streamer or podcaster couldn’t.  However, Skype has integrated NewTek’s NDI technology in their standalone program that can allow for this same integration for content creators of all kinds.  We still love our TriCaster TC1 for so many more reasons but now with this advancement from Skype, users won’t necessarily need a unit like this to achieve the same interaction with a guest and also their audience.  Skype has always been at the forefront of this communication technology, but now seeing the potential in NewTek‘s NDI technology, they’ve yet again found a way to bring people together.

As known, podcasts are perfect instruments for storytelling and what makes it so appealing is their characteristic of being just domain specific. For example, most podcasts focus only on the subject in which they have good expertise. This is the opposite of typical news which seems to be a random assortment of whatever is current and popular.

NDI or Network Device Interface is the world’s premier software-driven IP video technology. When enabled, it allows compatible systems, devices, and applications to connect and communicate over IP to share video, audio, and data. Getting started with NDI® is equivalent to adding connected devices to your network at home or the office

Moreover, the cost of transitioning to NewTek NDI doesn’t require heavy investment in expensive facility upgrades, new network infrastructure, or proprietary hardware….[continue reading]

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

As always, if there is a product or topic you’d like us discuss on an upcoming show call your Broadfield salesperson to let us know.  And especially if you have a local brewery or favorite beer you’d like us to highlight during the preshow, Jim would love to hear about it.

We know that many of the creative community and apple users are thinking about adding live streaming and video production gear to their Mac-Based computer systems. So, we decided to break down some of the best “tried and true” ways to add multiple video cameras into your mac supported video streaming software such as: Wirecast, xSplit, OBS and MimoLive. We also discuss how the WebRTC and browser-based live streaming solutions such as Facebook and YouTube Live.

We know that many of the creative community and apple users are thinking about adding live streaming and video production gear to their Mac-Based computer systems. So, we decided to break down some of the best “tried and true” ways to add multiple video cameras into your mac supported video streaming software such as: Wirecast, xSplit, OBS and MimoLive. We also discuss how the WebRTC and browser-based live streaming solutions such as Facebook and YouTube Live.

First of all let’s review the live streaming software that many people are using on their Mac Computers.

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software)
Wirecast
MimoLive
Facebook & YouTube Direct

The above software is listed in no particular order, but they all support the latest Mac OS software. OBS aka Open Broadcaster Software actually supports Mac, PC and Linux and it’s completely free. So this is a great piece of software to start with if you are not sure about all the features you need in the beginning of your video production process. Wirecast is a live streaming and video production software that supports both Mac and PC. Wirecast is what I call an “advanced” streaming software, which is a great upgrade to OBS that actually allows you to import your OBS scenes into Wirecast for an easy transition into the more powerful software. Next we have MimoLive which is a Mac only live streaming software designed specifically for Mac users. Since MimoLive is only available for the Mac OS you can expect a tailored experience that the Mac Community really loves. In fact, Boinx Software the creators of MimoLive even won an Apple Developer Design award for their interface.

Be sure to tune in later today at 2pm to watch our webinar on our YouTube Channel or at Broadfield.com/live.  If you have any questions be sure to drop them in the comment section and we will answer them as they come.

Wirecast 9 is the latest version of Telestream’s award-winning live streaming and production software for Mac or Windows. It is available to anyone who owns Wirecast 8 as a free upgrade if they have a current support subscription (purchased Wirecast 8 in the last twelve months), or as paid upgrade to older versions of Wirecast (version 7 or earlier). It comes with a number of notable new features, updates and improvements, including improved rendering and UI performance, a redesigned user interface with a new “dark” theme, a new way of managing your sources, a faster more convenient way to stream to Facebook pages, and it launches with a brand new custom controller from X-keys, available at most major resellers.

PTZ Control (Pro) Remotely control cameras with built-in pan, tilt and zoom (PTZ) features directly within Wirecast Pro using the new PTZ Controller window. Works with cameras that support VISCA over IP control, like PTZOptics cameras. For the latest information on supported PTZ cameras, visit our devices page.	X-keys for Wirecast Pick up your brand-new X-keys control surface for Wirecast. Custom designed buttons allow faster, tactile operation of Wirecast while switching and producing your live shows. Compatible with USB on Mac or Windows. Learn more.	Paired Encoder for Facebook Select Wirecast as the paired encoder for Facebook pages and accounts. This allows live streams to any managed pages without having to share your credentials, assign a page role, or grant admin privileges. Just give them a user code and you’re done. Perfect for pages with multiple contributors or cross-promotional streaming.

New Add Source Menu From cameras to capture cards to IP streams and media files, Wirecast works with many different sources. Now adding, managing and finding your sources in Wirecast has been redesigned to support categorization, favoriting, searching, as well as a new right-click quick-access menu.	Facebook Live Comments Use the included Titler Live Express (free with Wirecast) to curate and display Facebook comments and posts directly on screen in beautiful, custom-animated templates.	Local Wi-Fi Camera It’s back! Add unlimited iOS camera sources on your Local Area Network (LAN) using Wirecast Go’s free local camera feature. No need to use Rendezvous for local sources any longer.

NewBlue Titler Live Create beautful 3D animated titles and graphics, and choose from hundreds of templates or build your own. Comes in 4 different versions: Present, Sport, Social and Complete.	Multi-channel Audio Ingest Now you can bring in up to 16 channels of audio per source. Avoid unnecessary upstream mixing and get the sound you want in Wirecast. Support for ASIO and WASAPI compatible devices added.	New Rendezvous UI We’ve redesigned the web console for your Rendezvous guests to be simpler and easier to use. Guests can choose from tiled view or full screen view while participating in the call, and switch their audio/video devices at the top of the console.

Watch live on our YouTube channel or at Broadfield.com/live.