Need Advice

[lancelewis]

Okay, I have read through A LOT of the past threads about streaming live. I understand the big picture and have done some test streams at my home and everything works uber cool the way it is supposed to.

What I would like to know is how those of you that are currently streaming events live do to prepare for the event. For example: Let's say that you are going to live stream an event at a local hotel. Do you ask the hotel to drop you an internet connection? What do you do if they have a firewall and you can't punch through it (is this a problem?). Do you go to the site a few days early to test the connection? What if you are at a site that doesn't have an internet connection? How do you go about getting one for the day?

I am specifically looking for what people are actually doing rather than what is possible. Can anyone share some of their experience?

Thanks!

[Gordon]

The use of a cell phone type "air card" for your computer will generally avoid most issues. My customers have used an "air card" for several events like parades, sport events, "on location" events, with great success in that there wasn't even a single hiccup in the outgoing signal. Uploads were done at 373kbps. Getting an unlimited data plan is a must though as the cost per minute would otherwise be quite high for a two hour or longer event.

Make sure that your upload data rate is around 500kbps or higher because you only get about 75% useful data rate out of it..

[Gordon]

They are also known as "PC Connect Cards" and you should also look for the cards that allow you to connect a remote antenna. This will give you better reception inside a steel and concrete building as well as places where cell reception is low.

And they are generally available as a USB device for maximum connectivity to any computer.

[jcupp]

Watch the Terms of Service. Verizon for one forbids streaming.

[lancelewis]

Thank you Gordon and Jeff for your responses. Can anyone else describe what you are currently doing?

Lance

[PIZAZZ]

Congrats Lance on your direction...

I produced 35 something events for the World Series of Poker in the last year. The normal protocol we used was to request a dedicated line from the IT group at the hotel. Most of the time we were at Harrah's properties so over the last few months I got on a first name basis with most of the techs in the call center. Sometimes we shared the internal network with the hotel but most of the time we had our own VPN or direct line from outside. DSL Business class was usually the outside line.

Besides this WSOP job, Most IT in MOST hotels are very hard to find. It may take you many many many calls to find this elusive person. Usually they are not exactly helpful because wellllll they just aren't nice to start with. Be nice and be patient because as soon as you say we need a dedicated forward facing IP address through the firewall..... well be ready for the stuff to hit the fan. Depending on the size of the hotel, you might not even find an IT person on property. Sometimes you have to call in someone from outside.

When we were starting the NCAA DII initiative for streaming football and basketball games, we found that sometimes it was easier to just contract directly the local Cable or DSL modem provider to bring in a line temporarily. Always ask for a business class line with at least 512k of upload speed.

Regarding the wireless modem cards like Gordon mentioned, I would not suggest you depend on that route as a primary source of connectivity. I had to fall back to using a modem like this in NYC for the premier of 24 we did in Times Square. The DSL line died 10 minutes before the broadcast. I had already tested the Sprint modem just in case. Unfortunately the maximum amount of bandwidth you can get on those modems is dependant on the number of other users connected to the same tower. That tower might also only have a T1 connection to the internet not fiber so the maximum upload speed on the tower is less than 1.5megabits. Add on 50 users and the bandwidth available to you to stream reliably will be hard to come by. I saw my speeds in Times Square go from 600 kbps upload the night before during our test to 230 kbps upload during our broadcast.

One of our clients we setup this year is using a data satellite to broadcast with because he is doing drag races where they have no broadband access at all. Satellite was his only choice. Satellite is more expensive than a landline but if you HAVE TO have a connection it is a reliable solution.
Here is a link to someone we recently stumbled on doing a turnkey satellite and CDN service -- http://www.todocast.tv/index.html


In most all webcasting productions we produce, we arrive at least one day before the show and verify that the primary connection works and the backup is in place. We setup the TriCaster and stream to our CDN for at least 30 minutes to verify that everything is all good.

OH and the BIG HINT to be successful with webcasting in hotels...

MAKE SURE YOUR CLIENT KNOWS THEY ARE PAYING FOR THE CONNECTIVITY FEES NO MATTER WHAT!


to stream from the Las Vegas Convention Center requires a $4500 T1 hookup. :)

[lancelewis]

Jef,

Thank you for taking the time for that very precise response...exactly what I am looking for.

In regards to the todo cast link that you referenced: I saw this company in vegas at a trade show, and was really excited to hear more about them. Unfortunately after talking to them, I was under the impression that they weren't completely up and running yet (they advertise three different delivery methods, pay per view site, regular site, and a news auction site). They were not able to provide me with any samples of these sites...and instead simply directed me to an archive of an uploaded message by Arnold Schwarzeneger. And the quality of that particular stream was certainly not better than what comes out of the tricaster (they also boasted broadcast quality). I haven't looked into their services that they may offer for just being a CDN though.

Lance

[PIZAZZ]

Jef,

Thank you for taking the time for that very precise response...exactly what I am looking for.

In regards to the todo cast link that you referenced: I saw this company in vegas at a trade show, and was really excited to hear more about them. Unfortunately after talking to them, I was under the impression that they weren't completely up and running yet (they advertise three different delivery methods, pay per view site, regular site, and a news auction site). They were not able to provide me with any samples of these sites...and instead simply directed me to an archive of an uploaded message by Arnold Schwarzeneger. And the quality of that particular stream was certainly not better than what comes out of the tricaster (they also boasted broadcast quality). I haven't looked into their services that they may offer for just being a CDN though.

Lance

Glad to be of help.

In regards to TodoCast, I have been doing some research on them and as it turns out it is a pretty large satellite connectivity company that is going after a vertical market of independent production companies and videographers. At first I thought it was a smaller startup but instead is someone fairly large looking for a different market. They are one company putting all the pieces together for you instead of you having to do what I had to for my client which is contract the satellite gear from the gear guy, the satellite time from the sat broker, and then web distribution from a traditional CDN. Todocast is doing all the hard work for you. Their pricing on the CDN side is pretty much on par with most. The pricing on the Satellite kit can run from 25-30k.

I still have all those sources from a previous job so if you want just a piece of the pie then I will be glad to fix you up.

[lancelewis]

Jef,

I recently priced the todo cast system as well. And, as you mentioned, it is a complete solution, from encoder to satelite to delivery...but like I said, I got the very distinct impression that they are not up and running yet with all the features they are promoting. In fact, when I talked to the guy, he couldn't seem to even show me any examples of the features.

If I need a satelite hook up, you'll be the first I'll check with.