Video: A World of Live-Streaming System Options
By Jim Bask
From churchproduction.com
Most people who live-stream professionally or have been doing it for a while, at least, know that to live stream, you need at least one source (usually a camera), a capture device, an encoder, and an internet connection with sufficient upload speed to get the video to the host.
What that looks like varies, though. In some set-ups, it’s just a smartphone, which does all the work. In others, it’s a multi-cam operation with a video switcher, graphics source, a dedicated encoder, and a crew of people to run the whole thing.
It’s just as problematic to use a big set up for a “hey, I want to say hi to you from this conference and remind you about this great thing we’re doing when we get back” message from the pastor as using a single smartphone in a large auditorium, from the the back of the room.
So, which should you use? Let’s examine each and see when it’s appropriate to use it and when you need something more flexible, more portable, more reliable, or more inexpensive.
Smartphone/tablet
In 2018, the smartphone is ubiquitous and services like Facebook and YouTube have made it easy to live stream from these devices anytime and anywhere that you have an internet connection with enough upload speed.
It’s little wonder that many churches have hopped on the smartphone bandwagon, assuming that’s all you need, in all situations. Sadly though, that’s not true…read more