Live Event Broadcasting

Steven Digges · June 17th, 2016, 12:10 PM

Hey Chris,

I am surprised to see your using Livestream, only because it is so expensive. I am guessing you must have the "Broadcaster" encoding unit and a basic monthly account? Or do you have enough business to support the premium account at $399.99 a month? I hope it is a lot of business for the later. It also sounds like (here and other posts of yours) that your using a 3/4G usb modem to connect? I would love to here more details of your experience with them.

Everyone: there is a thread in DVINFO announcements where several of us are asking Chris H to dedicate a sub forum for live events, streaming etc. Streaming threads are littered all over the forum as many guys don't know where to post them. If you have not weighed in there please do:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/dv-info-...streaming.html

Steve

Andrew Smith · June 17th, 2016, 01:51 PM

The litter of threads will soon/eventually become forum gold. Chris is waiting until there are enough to populate the new section when it is created, rather than create a new section and have it look comparatively empty and desolate.

So keep creating new threads as issues/topics come up. :-)

Andrew

Chris Harding · June 17th, 2016, 07:16 PM

Hi Steve

I have a couple of mates doing much the same thing and they suggested using Livestream ...What I do like about it is the simplicity of connecting ..The Broadcaster knows where to go and there is no hassles like "you have reached your bandwidth limit" etc etc ... I did look at UStream and it's complicated and all works on how many GIGS you buy. The broadcaster Pro is good value for what we are doing and a lot cheaper than a Teradek unit ... What I do like is I can choose my event the night before the gig and select it on the unit and I'm ready to roll ..Just turn on the unit and it finds the right event, the wifi unit and connects for me while I'm setting up cameras ..too easy!

As far as I can see, the Premium account only offers two extras : embedding and shorter URL's and yes that is pricy since you pay annually (unless you are crazy) I don't need embedding as I send clients to the event URL so they can watch the live stream or if they miss it Livestream also record a DVR version so I'm covered. Being an enthusiastic YouTube user I was thinking of using them but apparently there will be their usual copyright issues if music is detected ...even if it's not from your source !! The Basic account is $499 a year and we are going to share it will a mate on the East Coast so I'd hardly call $20 a month expensive ...

What are others using that are better yet cheaper?

Chris Harding · June 17th, 2016, 07:23 PM

For Interest Steve : Yes I'm at Post #15 on the "Request for a Live Streaming Forum" so Chris Hurd does have my vote to add the forum when he has time.

Sorry I forgot about your other question : Yep I'm using the Broadcaster Pro as it's a lot easier to use and trust compared to the mini broadcaster. Simple HDMI out from my camera to the Pro unit and then yes, we have a Wifi Hotspot unit that connects to either 3G or 4G networks ...it allows us to be portable firstly but the main reason is ADSL 2 over here event at function centres have dismal upload speeds ...At my office my landline based ADSL connection gives me a pathetic 9mbps download and a miserable 1mbps (if I'm lucky) upload so if I stream from home I dare not encode at anything faster than 300/400 kbps!!! My 4G wifi slips in my pocket without any cables and I get 25mbps download and 10mbps upload in our local area near the house but a LOT better elsewhere .. That's 10 X my office upload speed and I can normally stream nicely at 5500kbps and get a sharp end result. The Broadcaster also have USB LTE modem inputs but they are quite fussy about what works and what doesn't and of course ethertnet too ....

Steven Digges · June 18th, 2016, 12:42 PM

Hey Chris,

Thanks for the info. I must have misread the basic package. I do not consider $499.00 a year expensive either. I consider $399.00 a month for premium very expensive (unless paid annually).

Steve

Chris Harding · June 18th, 2016, 05:55 PM

Hey Steve

They call it $42 a month which technically comes to $504 but when you pay it's $499 so it's really $41.58 a month ... I have no idea why their "Premium" package is so pricey it's $4788 a year and as far as I can see the only advantage is the fact you can embed videos into you own website and you can set up a short URL so that's a lot of money for very little extras unless embedding is crucial to your operation!

I'm sure there are already some good deals out there but as it takes off, I figured competition will force hosts to provide better and cheaper facilities

Chris Harding · June 20th, 2016, 02:01 AM

Hi Steve

Having dipped your toe into the world of weddings and found out that it's a huge amount of work, maybe you can now appreciate why I'm doing more promotion of live broadcast weddings rather than 10 to 12 hours of hard labour!!! Of all the weddings we have here a large proportion are small family based or registry office based ceremonies with no reception where family shoot the photos and video seems to be shunned (I have done just ONE video shoot in the last 15 years at our registry office and they have a good 5 or 6 a day there!!) Civil unions here rarely exceed 20 minutes so you might be tied up for a hour at most compared to a full day PLUS at a traditional wedding with all the bells and whistles....I'm getting a bit old to work from mid morning to midnight so you can see why I find a 1 hour gig appealing!! Also the market is even better for brides on a tight "ceremony only" where they might have family that cannot attend and they certainly cannot afford to fly people in from all parts of the world. For now also there is probably less chance of being "invaded" by the weekend warriors who buy a camera from the discount house and start under cutting prices!!

Steven Digges · June 20th, 2016, 10:37 AM

Chris,

I think adding a live broadcasting and VOD option to your wedding packages is a great idea.

As you know I am heavily involved in the corporate meeting industry as a video producer and AV technical director. When the recession hit here there was a period of great expectation that meeting planners would turn to webcasting to help deal with their ever shrinking budgets. It never happened. I have and do webcast corporate meetings. I have been doing it since 2007 when it had a much higher risk factor, lower quality, and a much greater IT component than todays standard. Now that we can do it with spectacular quality and much lower risk it still has not taken off like it should. I have my own thoughts on why but that is for another time. The point is when meeting planners do broadcast I see them using the low end way of doing it, like their companies WebEx account or some new one called Bluejeans. They go about it the wrong way and use whatever "video conferencing" account the company happens to use instead of having someone like me do a true high quality broadcast using a true CDN and making it look like a true TV style broadcast. So we do it, but not as much as I would like to. It is a hard sell instead of a technology they are rushing to use. I think there is so much bad video out there that there is a misconception of how good it can be when done properly.

I think putting real samples of weddings you have broadcast on your website will be critical to your success in selling that option. I believe you are correct that it will help separate a pro like you from the weekend warriors. But only for a while.....soon they too will be blasting live on Youtube and Facebook!

Kind Regards,

Steve

Chris Harding · June 20th, 2016, 05:44 PM

Thanks Steve

As technology forges ahead getting cheaper and cheaper it does make life more and more difficult for us guys. It's hard to believe that 20 years ago wedding videographers were paying anything from $10K to $25K for a camera and it was truly a profession and the only weekend warrior was the guy who worked at the TV station, went out with the boss's daughter so had access to broadcast cameras unlike today where anyone can offer services with very little expenditure in comparison.

Yeah, even the niche markets will soon be flooded with weekend warriors too sadly... not that we mind the competition which is easy to overcome, but the fact that their crazy low prices drag industry median prices right down.

June 17th, 2016, 12:10 PM	#16
Steven Digges Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 1,828	Re: Live Event Broadcasting Hey Chris, I am surprised to see your using Livestream, only because it is so expensive. I am guessing you must have the "Broadcaster" encoding unit and a basic monthly account? Or do you have enough business to support the premium account at $399.99 a month? I hope it is a lot of business for the later. It also sounds like (here and other posts of yours) that your using a 3/4G usb modem to connect? I would love to here more details of your experience with them. Everyone: there is a thread in DVINFO announcements where several of us are asking Chris H to dedicate a sub forum for live events, streaming etc. Streaming threads are littered all over the forum as many guys don't know where to post them. If you have not weighed in there please do: http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/dv-info-...streaming.html Steve __________________ www.CorporateShow.com Been at this so long I'm rounding my years of experience down...not up! Last edited by Steven Digges; June 17th, 2016 at 12:11 PM. Reason: SP

June 17th, 2016, 01:51 PM	#17
Andrew Smith Equal Opportunity Offender Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 3,066	Re: Live Event Broadcasting The litter of threads will soon/eventually become forum gold. Chris is waiting until there are enough to populate the new section when it is created, rather than create a new section and have it look comparatively empty and desolate. So keep creating new threads as issues/topics come up. :-) Andrew

June 17th, 2016, 07:16 PM	#18
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Re: Live Event Broadcasting Hi Steve I have a couple of mates doing much the same thing and they suggested using Livestream ...What I do like about it is the simplicity of connecting ..The Broadcaster knows where to go and there is no hassles like "you have reached your bandwidth limit" etc etc ... I did look at UStream and it's complicated and all works on how many GIGS you buy. The broadcaster Pro is good value for what we are doing and a lot cheaper than a Teradek unit ... What I do like is I can choose my event the night before the gig and select it on the unit and I'm ready to roll ..Just turn on the unit and it finds the right event, the wifi unit and connects for me while I'm setting up cameras ..too easy! As far as I can see, the Premium account only offers two extras : embedding and shorter URL's and yes that is pricy since you pay annually (unless you are crazy) I don't need embedding as I send clients to the event URL so they can watch the live stream or if they miss it Livestream also record a DVR version so I'm covered. Being an enthusiastic YouTube user I was thinking of using them but apparently there will be their usual copyright issues if music is detected ...even if it's not from your source !! The Basic account is $499 a year and we are going to share it will a mate on the East Coast so I'd hardly call $20 a month expensive ... What are others using that are better yet cheaper?

June 17th, 2016, 07:23 PM	#19
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Re: Live Event Broadcasting For Interest Steve : Yes I'm at Post #15 on the "Request for a Live Streaming Forum" so Chris Hurd does have my vote to add the forum when he has time. Sorry I forgot about your other question : Yep I'm using the Broadcaster Pro as it's a lot easier to use and trust compared to the mini broadcaster. Simple HDMI out from my camera to the Pro unit and then yes, we have a Wifi Hotspot unit that connects to either 3G or 4G networks ...it allows us to be portable firstly but the main reason is ADSL 2 over here event at function centres have dismal upload speeds ...At my office my landline based ADSL connection gives me a pathetic 9mbps download and a miserable 1mbps (if I'm lucky) upload so if I stream from home I dare not encode at anything faster than 300/400 kbps!!! My 4G wifi slips in my pocket without any cables and I get 25mbps download and 10mbps upload in our local area near the house but a LOT better elsewhere .. That's 10 X my office upload speed and I can normally stream nicely at 5500kbps and get a sharp end result. The Broadcaster also have USB LTE modem inputs but they are quite fussy about what works and what doesn't and of course ethertnet too ....

June 18th, 2016, 12:42 PM	#20
Steven Digges Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 1,828	Re: Live Event Broadcasting Hey Chris, Thanks for the info. I must have misread the basic package. I do not consider $499.00 a year expensive either. I consider $399.00 a month for premium very expensive (unless paid annually). Steve __________________ www.CorporateShow.com Been at this so long I'm rounding my years of experience down...not up!

June 18th, 2016, 05:55 PM	#21
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Re: Live Event Broadcasting Hey Steve They call it $42 a month which technically comes to $504 but when you pay it's $499 so it's really $41.58 a month ... I have no idea why their "Premium" package is so pricey it's $4788 a year and as far as I can see the only advantage is the fact you can embed videos into you own website and you can set up a short URL so that's a lot of money for very little extras unless embedding is crucial to your operation! I'm sure there are already some good deals out there but as it takes off, I figured competition will force hosts to provide better and cheaper facilities

June 20th, 2016, 02:01 AM	#22
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Re: Live Event Broadcasting Hi Steve Having dipped your toe into the world of weddings and found out that it's a huge amount of work, maybe you can now appreciate why I'm doing more promotion of live broadcast weddings rather than 10 to 12 hours of hard labour!!! Of all the weddings we have here a large proportion are small family based or registry office based ceremonies with no reception where family shoot the photos and video seems to be shunned (I have done just ONE video shoot in the last 15 years at our registry office and they have a good 5 or 6 a day there!!) Civil unions here rarely exceed 20 minutes so you might be tied up for a hour at most compared to a full day PLUS at a traditional wedding with all the bells and whistles....I'm getting a bit old to work from mid morning to midnight so you can see why I find a 1 hour gig appealing!! Also the market is even better for brides on a tight "ceremony only" where they might have family that cannot attend and they certainly cannot afford to fly people in from all parts of the world. For now also there is probably less chance of being "invaded" by the weekend warriors who buy a camera from the discount house and start under cutting prices!!

June 20th, 2016, 10:37 AM	#23
Steven Digges Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 1,828	Re: Live Event Broadcasting Chris, I think adding a live broadcasting and VOD option to your wedding packages is a great idea. As you know I am heavily involved in the corporate meeting industry as a video producer and AV technical director. When the recession hit here there was a period of great expectation that meeting planners would turn to webcasting to help deal with their ever shrinking budgets. It never happened. I have and do webcast corporate meetings. I have been doing it since 2007 when it had a much higher risk factor, lower quality, and a much greater IT component than todays standard. Now that we can do it with spectacular quality and much lower risk it still has not taken off like it should. I have my own thoughts on why but that is for another time. The point is when meeting planners do broadcast I see them using the low end way of doing it, like their companies WebEx account or some new one called Bluejeans. They go about it the wrong way and use whatever "video conferencing" account the company happens to use instead of having someone like me do a true high quality broadcast using a true CDN and making it look like a true TV style broadcast. So we do it, but not as much as I would like to. It is a hard sell instead of a technology they are rushing to use. I think there is so much bad video out there that there is a misconception of how good it can be when done properly. I think putting real samples of weddings you have broadcast on your website will be critical to your success in selling that option. I believe you are correct that it will help separate a pro like you from the weekend warriors. But only for a while.....soon they too will be blasting live on Youtube and Facebook! Kind Regards, Steve __________________ www.CorporateShow.com Been at this so long I'm rounding my years of experience down...not up!

June 20th, 2016, 05:44 PM	#24
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Re: Live Event Broadcasting Thanks Steve As technology forges ahead getting cheaper and cheaper it does make life more and more difficult for us guys. It's hard to believe that 20 years ago wedding videographers were paying anything from $10K to $25K for a camera and it was truly a profession and the only weekend warrior was the guy who worked at the TV station, went out with the boss's daughter so had access to broadcast cameras unlike today where anyone can offer services with very little expenditure in comparison. Yeah, even the niche markets will soon be flooded with weekend warriors too sadly... not that we mind the competition which is easy to overcome, but the fact that their crazy low prices drag industry median prices right down.