I get questions about our live streaming setup quite often so I pulled out the Flip Cam and grabbed a quick look at the rig.
We have some really gifted tech people at Gateway Church who put this all together.
The setup looks like this:
Video Path: IMAG Switcher > AJA D5CE (SDI to Component Converter) > Tricaster Studio (FMLE to Limelight) > ADVC 110 #1 > Final Cut Express (capture for archive) > ADVC 110 #2 > FMLE to Ustream
Audio Path: Auditorium Mixer > ProTools > Studio Mixer > Compressor > Tricaster
Sweet. How are you rocking it out?
Dan Lacher says
You could be using Watershed from Ustream for a cheap version without ads for the html5 folks. Something around a $1/user hour.
Vince Marotte says
Looked into it but it is crazy expensive. I’m thinking we’ll go HTML5 with our main feed in the next 12 months adding a flash fallback
Dan Lacher says
And, thank you for the quick overview, it is great to see how others are setting up their live streaming workflows.
Brian Barela says
thanks vince this is helpful! sharing it w my team today.
Stefan Tribble says
Similar to what we do; however, we broadcast live to our TV station and stream to the internet. We have a Newtek VT5 machine that takes our feed and sends it up to highwinds CDN via FLME, and we also use GV Canopus to convert A-D for archival purposes via FCP on a Mac Pro.
Karsten says
This is straight geek-overload. Cool post, cool setup, amazing results. Technology was made for Jesus! Colossians 1:16
Valentino McComb says
Love the setup. We are using the Canopus boxes as well to feed to the Ustream Procaster App as well. Would love to know how all those videos are being stored after being recorded into final cut.
Vince Marotte says
We archive on DVD over in the IMAG switching room. They get the same ProTools mix for audio. All of our produced content is stored and cloned on a few different Drobos around campus. The archive units run off of a mac mini server…I think, it’s an IT thing.
Valentino McComb says
RE: Are you on paid staff at the church or are you a volunteer? We are all volunteers at our church and its hard to get good consistent volunteers.
Vince Marotte says
That’s a whole new blog post right there. Truth is; even the biggest most resourced churches have trouble finding enough volunteers. I’m full time at Gateway. One tip I give a lot of people in web ministry is use web tools to find web people. Foursquare and gowalla check ins at your church instantly reveal who you should be talking to for example.
Valentino McComb says
Our church does not really prioritize technology. We do stream, but there is not a “technology” budget so there’s no money to bring on a full-time IT person or graphics designer. If we did, it would probably be for 10/hr part-time…
Just a little frustrated bcuz I am foursquare, gowalla, ustream, etc..if I don’t do it and convince the Pastor that it needs to be done then nothing will happen.
Technology is wanted but its not viewed as a lifestyle here or in our culture as a whole…
I need to blog more.
Stefan Tribble says
We have one full time staff and two part time staff.(I’m part time) It’s pretty hard to keep a full list of volunteers. We have been restructuring our method so volunteers are assigned to a team and they serve maybe 1-2 times per month. We don’t want them to get burned out. Also, we started a check-in system to make sure that the volunteers show up when they are supposed to serve. The best thing to remember is that you can’t do everything with an all volunteer crew. Even we can’t do everything we want with our staff. Just pick a few things you want to focus on and give 110% to fulfill that goal. Maybe someday we all can do what Gateway, LifeChurch.tv, and Willow Creek is doing. (Someday) 🙂
Rey says
How Much did yall spend on the whole setup?
I know the Tricaster is over 15k but the rest of the equipment?
Vince Marotte says
The tricaster studio street price is around 8 or 9 thousand. Other than computers; which we’ve repurposed from other departments, that’s the only significant investment.
Darren says
A quick question about the Canopus and ustream. Just about to buy it and test it with ustream. The flow would look like this. Video feed —> Canopus —> computer via FireWire. And ustream will recognize the video feed, correct? I was playing around with pinnacles dazzle hoping ustream would recognize that but it didn’t. Hoping it’s as simple as my quick flow above to get ustream working? Thanks
Vince Marotte says
We use the Canopus with Ustream on occasion and it works fine. we are however on OSX…haven’t used it on windows
Fred Draper says
Here is a site to look into.http://www.comf5nettv.com All over the world, groups of people from every nation gather for prayer and spiritual fulfillment. These physical gatherings were once the only way for people to hear and preach the gospel. However, even something as old-fashioned as Sunday School could use a little bit of technology now and then to help spread the word farther and wider.
At comF5, we integrate video into everything we do. With our LiveF5 product a church, or any religious congregation, is able to hold live broadcasts of sermons, classes and events which not only manage to reach people from far away, but those who are sick or simply unable to attend physically for whatever reason. LiveF5 also allows you to store your live recordings so that people can review them later or just review what they may have missed.
With MailF5 and MarketingF5 you are able to place video inside your newsletters and email updates which allows you to convey not only the words of the gospel, but your passion for the gospel. It also lets you speak to your members, not just send them text, outside of the normal meetings.
With comF5 your congregation does not need to sit together in order to be together