Mobile streaming to youtube

[John Brown]

hi guys

After some advice please.

I record junior lacrosse games and post highlights for parents on youtube / facebook via google drive or private cloud, games recorded using a simple panasonic v380 camcorder and the cyberlink powerdirector tool.

The nature of the sport is that its normally in a field in the middle of nowhere on a winter day (season from oct to april). I tend to record the whole 1hr 15 mins or so in 1080p at 50fps in mp4 and then edit the vids down into highlights later on (with zoom and slow-mo).

I was looking at live streaming options for cup games via the camcorder wifi itself, and luckily the panasonic came with a Ustream account. However, Ustream (now ibm video) are dropping their free service for live streaming from September, and panasonic are not planning to offer any firmware upgrades or alternatives to Ustream (despite my protests).

So I want to be able to stream to an online service and record at the same time, using the optical zoom of the camera and saving locally on the camera at the 1080/50 whilst uploading say 720/30. I dont know how others are doing this, but I tried Donalds method which unfortunately doesn't seem to work on the panasonic cameras.

I have looked at a number of options, with the 'lukilink' and the Aliexpress 'Wireless-wifi-HDMI-Encoder-for-IPTV-Live-Stream' seeming to be the obvious options. I also read up on the 'HDML-Cloner Wand'.

but I wondered what others had tried and if they had come up with a generic solution that doesnt break the bank, and 'works!'.

Thanks very much

John

[Cary Knoop]

YouTube supports live streaming.

I would use something like a Teradek Vidiu or Cerevo encoder and stream live to the internet (wired or wireless).

[Tony McGuire]

Hi John,

I bought one of them encoders you are talking about and it was the biggest load of Crap I ever bought.

I have got a Cerevo Liveshell Pro unit off Ebay used and its great and I am sorry I did not buy one in the first place.

I have used my Liveshell Pro unit about a weekago Saturday to live stream a local Dragan Boat Regetta and I got 3 hours and 45 mins from the battery in the unit and I could have use a battery bank as well and got longer.

The unit I have does 720p max of a stream for the 3 hours and 45mins I used about 7.5Gb of internet usage over 4g mobile broadband.

You would want to get your hands on the Liveshell pro min or the livesell 2. There is an old one "liveshell" which dose max 420 which is ok but would not be bothered with it

[Chris Harding]

Hi John

We do mainly wedding ceremonies so more often than not we are on the beach or in a park so we really need to be portable ... Our base system consists of just one Panasonic AC8 camera with a Livestream Broadcaster encoder on the cold shoe and a 4G router mounted on top. It works a treat, no hassles and no issues and we have done around 125 streams over the last 2 years. Be careful of buying any encoder that is too simple ... I have tried plenty of the cheaper ones that use an IP address but really the decent units (all made by Teradek actually) all have oled displays so you can see what's happening .. sooo important!! The Vidui Pro will allow you to stream to free CDN's but really I have found them to be so unreliable ..Facebook change their API on a regular basis which causes issues and both are very strict about any music stream (even ambient music playing from someone nearby) and that can stop your stream. We stream to Livestream.com which means we also can create an event page for each client and the encoder will also allow you to select the event before streaming ... the whole process is flawless and simple!!! You can. of course post it to Facebook as a link so people can find it too!

[John Brown]

Thanks very much for the excellent advice. I will investigate each of the options you guys mention and see which I think fits for me.

I was also interested in 'overlays' having read about the new JVC GY250SP or JVC GY250SEB, the idea of having an overlay on a live broadcast when you can update scores, add graphics etc without carrying your laptop about sounds great (but would need to start saving now).

Of course, it would have been better in 4K at 60fps with its optical zoom ....

Anyone use overlays?

[John Brown]

Originally Posted by Chris Harding

Hi John

...We stream to Livestream.com which means we also can create an event page for each client and the encoder will also allow you to select the event before streaming ... the whole process is flawless and simple!!! You can. of course post it to Facebook as a link so people can find it too!

For most of the recordings I have used Google Drive, the 100Gb option which is very inexpensive and you can control sharing AND post on FB even with 'toxic' sound on top, FB doesn't police Drive / linked sources.

However, and you may like this, I am investigating using NextCloud running on VMware (thanks to techandme), so that you can create your own personal cloud, on your own hardware at home, and share exactly with who and how you like (unlimited storage and no fees). I've got it currently running using No-ip on a dynamic dns. FB wont let you post a DDNS link on FB at all, but if you have your own domain, you can link via that.

[Tony McGuire]

Hi John,

Cerevo offer overlays via their dashboard and I have used it a few time but not many. Hope to try it out with putting a logo over a live stream. I like the dashboard now but it took a but of getting use to as its abit different on the phone/tablet compare to a brower on a pc/laptop.

Cerevo unit also mounts on top of the camera in the cold shoe. Thay have a new one that can do upto three steams and record to a sd card at the same time

[David Peterson]

Originally Posted by John Brown

So I want to be able to stream to an online service and record at the same time, using the optical zoom of the camera and saving locally on the camera at the 1080/50 whilst uploading say 720/30. I dont know how others are doing this, but I tried Donalds method which unfortunately doesn't seem to work on the panasonic cameras.

I have looked at a number of options, with the 'lukilink' and the Aliexpress 'Wireless-wifi-HDMI-Encoder-for-IPTV-Live-Stream' seeming to be the obvious options. I also read up on the 'HDML-Cloner Wand'.

but I wondered what others had tried and if they had come up with a generic solution that doesnt break the bank, and 'works!'.

Thanks very much

John

The chinese Aliexpress option is a good low budget choice , just got it myself and going to give it a try soon for live video monitoring on set with my sound cart.

YouTube (Short URL)

[Chris Harding]

If that's anything like the Chinese one I had it was a disaster so I hope yours works better .. what bugged me was you have to use a phone to control it and the IP address varies all the time. When I have an audio mixer, camera and encoder to have to try and control another device like a phone or tablet just makes it harder! Let us know what you think .. I went back to Teradek broadcasters which at least have a full oled display so the device itself tells you what is going on.

I spent 2 days with the tech guy at the factory using team viewer trying to get mine set up before I quit !!

[Tony McGuire]

I also had problems with mine as in some days I could get it to stream to youtube and not others and it was the same trying to stream to facebook. Even trying to stream local as in from the encoder to tablet was a nightmare to get working.

I also went back to my Liveshell Pro as it works and I also like Chris I can see whats happing on the screen on it once it's setup.

My encoder from china has ended up in a box to be pulled apart for parts and I have also taken the battery holder off it as I have use for on another project.

The reson I bought it was it took the same battery as my sony camera and if the battery was going low I just swap it out.

[Seth Bloombaum]

This limited review of streaming devices just came in this morning’s email:
Portable Streaming Encoders Shrink and Grow - Streaming Media Producer

[Simon Denny]

Interesting topic as I'm about dive into live streaming and was wondering where I start and gear required.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Simon

I thought you were already streaming. As already mentioned we have been with Livestream now for over 2 years and it has been a good experience. Using their Broadcaster encoders we can go out with a fully portable single camera just with an encoder on the cold shoe and a 4G router (Did a wedding ceremony on the beach yesterday so taking complex cameras/computers on an area of tricky access was a no no) For more sane locations our subscription gives us free switcher software and each client has a unique event page for their gig ..unlimited viewers and unlimited DVR storage too which is important.

Just bear in mind that you really need a router/encoder setup that can use a Cat5e ethernet connection as wifi at some events is flaky if you have people at the event all using their mobile phones! Also be very careful with music copyright on FaceBook and You Tube ..they will ping you and stop your stream for ANY commercial music even if it happens to be coming from some guy walking past you in the street with a boom box on his shoulder!!

[Simon Denny]

Thanks for the info Chris,

I was about to stream (solo) a few years ago them my business & cameras changed so that was the end. I'm now adding streaming to my list of things again as a solo production.

I was doing a lot of streaming into a Tricastor then out to YouTube however this was a small team, now I'm solo and on the old budget.

Music Licensing, yeah tough one. I can get around this as I'll have a commentator so the only audio will be his/her mic with no outside influence creeping in.

[Chris Harding]

Sounds good Simon

What I use if I need a solo shoot with multicameras is use my main camera into the switcher and then plug in a couple of Logitech 930e conference cams for cutaways and that's quite manageable by one person ..I actually bought a Bunnings Garden trolley (originally for normal video) and have modified it now so it carries the laptop with switcher software and encoders/router ... make a neat package where you have the opportunity to sit down and stream!!