VT Streaming

[jimhouston]

Hi

Can I use VT4 to stream video onto the internet LIVE.

I have used Final Cut Pro 5 in a G5 to create .mov and .m4v hinted streaming files for web pages...

but I need to go live now.

I want to stream sporting events I already shoot on Betacam which are televised on a tape delay basis but I would like to go LIVE now...

without buying another solution like TRICASTER. :vticon:

[UnCommonGrafx]

Most definitely.

There is a "Live" button in the VT menu structure to activate it. Pull out that manual and have a go at it.

[nevmoor]

No problem! The only thing you need to worry about is how many folks are watching. Check out these threads:
http://www.newtek.com/products/vt/tutorials/streaming/
http://newtek.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46749&highlight=streaming+companies

[jimhouston]

Thanks for the info.

I'm going to print out some suggestions I found and use the instructional manual and give it a try.

I did try the CSTV LIVE streaming link I found in the discussions board but it did not work on this computer. I'm going to try another one.

[jimhouston]

I tested on Thursday and Friday and was able to encode switched video through the VT and archive a .wmv file.

I was blocked from transmitting out of the school though.

Is there a way to transmit with a wireless card in the VT computer without going through anyones' server?

What is a good wireless broadband service to transmit audio and video?

Thanks

[bbeanan]

sent you a private message check there...

[jimhouston]

Hi Brett and community,

I'm using VT3 and have the 4.0 upgrade in hand but have not loaded it yet.

How come mt CG does not come up on the media encoder input and output?

I think a football game will take about 2.5 to 3 hours as a live webcast. I'll try to give you a call.

[Randy Rouse]

Be sure your video source for the encoder is program out of the VT.

[jimhouston]

Hi

The producer just left.
We were able to webcast LIVE from a video camera and a tape machine over his streaming server.

We tested 2 different VT 3 machines :thumbsup:

Still no CG over video.

Where do you tell the encoder to use VT program out as the main input into the encoder.

We may set up a test transmission of a high school championship game from Giants Staduium this Friday. I'll let everyone know the site info so you can check it out.

Thanks for your help everyone!

[Randy Rouse]

If you are using Windows Media Encoder, go to the properties tab and look under the source settings. Configure the encoder to use the VT Card as the source and configure the source to use program out not main in. Program out will give you the DSK and CG overlays.

[jimhouston]

Thank you to everyone who helped me out.

I changed the source to prm out and I do see the CG overlays now.

I already pitched LIVE webcasting to one of my college accounts and it looks like we may give it a try.

I'm not sure about the championship game as a test yet. Red Tape.

I'll probably do a game at the college account as the test.

[jimhouston]

HAppy New Year all

I am going to stream 2 Ramapo College Basketball games on Jan 10th at 5:30 and 7:30 PM.

Set Up:
2 JVC 550 U 18x lens cameras
1 Passive Switcher
2 Breyer Announcer headsets
1 Audio Mixer ( Tascam, Maxie or Shure ) I'm testing to choose this weekend.
VT Video In from the Passive Switcher
VT Audio In from mixer to XLR to RCA to Mini into the computer
VT CG for Scores and Maybe lower thirds
Output using the Windows Encoder to the T1 Internet Drop in the gym floor
Output A/V to a Sony Mini DV recorder
TV Monitor from Video Out of the Sony DV deck

2 camera operators, 1 CG op, 1 "Director" to run passive switcher, 1 Internet Engineer and 1 runner,
2 announcers

I'm going to try to make a windows media player window embedded in a web page that makes the viewer feel like they are still on Ramapo College's web site.

Rough test on Monday, Full Telecast test on Wed.

Marketing? begins on Thursday

Jim

I'll forward link next post

[jimhouston]

Wed night at 7:30 PM at

http://www.sportsnetamerica.com/stream.html

Ramapo College Basketball switched 2 camera shoot.

I have been testing all day since I upgraded to VT 4.6.

Audio and Video seem OK from my job and my home. Gym shoot tomorrow.

[nevmoor]

Just wondering what is the passive switch for? Is it because you dont have an SX8 to do multiple cameras?

[jimhouston]

I do not have a SX8. I used a Panasonic MX-10 passive switcher to switch between 2 camera feeds.

[jimhouston]

TEST RESULTS

The game was webcasted at 15 fps because I was told my encoded media at 29.97 fps was too fast for the server?

Is it true that encoding a videotape through the video toaster takes up less resources than encoding a live audio and video feed?

If so...WHY?

Everything else seemed OK.

[jimhouston]

The CG scoreboard over video in the computer and encoded out to the internet was solid.

The CG over video recorded onto tape is flickering a lot.

Any suggestions to fix this?

I posted more info about this problem in the CG forum but I discovered it last night while webcasting so I thought I would let everyone know who is reading this forum.

[Randy Rouse]

Have you tried resizing the CG a bit. Is it thin lines or edges or everything?

[jimhouston]

Some pages were lower thirds with PNG graphic logos.

The main page flickering was a lower third score box where we kept changing the score while the CG was on the air.

This worked for years and then started to flicker on the output in September. I thought the VT 4.6 upgrade would fix the flicker.

I only have 1 gig of RAM...will 2 gigs or ram fix the flicker?

[stargatesg1]

We do a 2hr show each week. I have a dualcore laptop running quicktime broadcaster. We stream to a quicktime streaming server. I take one of the svideo outs from the sx8 to the firewire in of the laptop. you can use a a-d comnverter or if you happen to have an old camera laying around like a sony mini dv or somehting you can do the video passthough trick. This will let the laptop see the video out of the sx8 i then run live audio though a mixer and send that to the audio ins on the laptop. 2 connections and hit broadcast. Very easy. I am lucky to have access to a darwin streaming server. You can run apples software on linux or running max osx server its buit in.
Just need enough bandwith to accomidate users.
cj. adams
celtsune@gmail.com
We then upload to the nice free Veoh.com site one large file.
They have a nice upload util too.
one of the nice features of Quicktime broadcaster on the mac is it will save the file as you stream into a nice hinted file ready for upload.

[madturki]

Perhaps a dumb question, but once I hit the "live" button, how do I get the external url to link to that source? Could I just have a pc running dyndns or something on the same network? What ports need to be forwarded then to the vt4?

[madturki]

Sorry to double post - I reall have zero knowledge yet when it comes to streaming with the vt4. Do I need to pass the signal through a streaming server? Does the vt4 not have the capability to encode and stream live? Why would you use a streaming server on top of this?

[billmi]

The VT[4] will encode and stream the signal. The reason for streaming to a server is bandwidth. If you want to do a 500Kbps stream for example, and have a 1 Mbps connection to the Internet, then you could at best only stream to 2 viewers (2K+2K=1M.) Streaming to a server allows the server to mirror your stream to more simultanous viewers via higher bandwidth connections at a data center.

[madturki]

That completely makes sense. Now I have no idea where to begin looking to find a company I can use to do that. Is the idea that I would stream my video (at the highest rate possible for 1 user) to the datacenter? I guess that's what you said :P So then do I need a static ip address? And what ports would need to be passed through to the vt4?

Thanks for the help

[jimhouston]

Be careful when you use the VT to do VT work like cut cameras and put up CG info and also use the Windows Media Encoder in the same computer.
It seems to work great together until one of the programs takes a hit. I had to do a reboot of the computer to get the Encoder software to work again during a LIVE lacrosse game. So the VT program had to be shut down and then no audio and video went to my videotapes as the computer rebooted.

Last week I used the VT for Audio/Video stuff and sent a program audio and video out to a Laptop running Real Player Encoding software.
We had to reboot the laptop 3 times and the VT once. If all signals went into the VT we would have had to reboot the VT computer 4 times, losing program 4 times.

I used SportsNet America ( Mike Curci and Jeff) to distribute my gameto windows media player viewers. We had 14,000 viewers before my VT/Encoder computer had to be rebooted.
9000 viewers were waiting for the feed when we got back on the air.

I can forward more info if you like.