Stake conference broadcast contingency

We are planning our first stake conference broadcast - should the LDS servers be overtaxed on the Sunday as they often are I need a fallback contingency. The phone bridge is one possibility (though a difficult one - the new buildings don't have phone jacks anywhere near the audio panels so patching a phone line into the overhead audio system will involve a couple of hundred feet of telephone line stretched down the hall) but video is always preferred.

Does anybody have any suggestions/experience with what works?

PVC has always been our contingency.... a clear-chat usb used as the microphone or for an emergency, and dialing out to mobile phones hooked into the chapel sound system through the CRAB.

I've done 6 Stake Conferences now on Sundays over the years usually 7 meetinghouses are broadcast to and never had an issue related to the servers at the church, I barely have .365 upload and squeak by, but it has never had an issue with servers at the church - my only issues have been the webcast communicator and as long as we keep a fan running on it we have no problems

For our webcasts I wanted a backup that I could go to if I lost internet on the broadcast side (could be SLC server issue, internet in our stake center, or any number of problems along that chain that kept me from getting internet traffic to the remote sites). So I wanted a way I could get audio from the stake center to the remote sites with minimal disruption - as long as the mics and my audio mixer were still working I was good to go. I purchased a "Datper Two" (like this http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/2 ... Phone.html, although I don't think it was that expensive when I bought it). I connected an output of my mixer to it, and had it connected to my cell phone. I started an audio conference call (freeconferencecall.com) prior to the start of the meeting, so audio was available there at all times). If there was an internet problem the receiving sites just had to dial into the call (or have a 2nd phone already dialed in) and switch the "crab" connection from the laptop to a cell phone headphone jack. It worked pretty well during out tests.

We have completely dropped using the Meetinghouse Webcasting software. We found that the delay was way too much and it would not allow us to prepare to do multi-building broadcast, meaning being able to broadcast a speaker from another building.

We decided to completely use PVC to broadcast our meeting. It has worked extremely well. There has been no freezing, no drop out and there is almost no time delay. We do need to work on a better backup system.

We also are using an OSPREY card that PVC recognizes. It allows us to take the audio directly off the chapel amplifier, so there is no need for a crab, or any other special unit. It has worked extremely well.

We need to determine what we can use with a laptop and PVC so that we can do multi-building broadcast.

We gave up on Meetinghouse Webcast and now use PVC. We only had to use our backup phone system (using http://www.rolls.com/product.php?pid=PI9) when we used Meetinghouse Webcast. Unlike harddrive, we use a laptop with the Roxio USB video capture device, and pull audio from the library's A/V cabinet. (We basically use the audio/video in/out of the now-defunct VCR.)

The receiving building does not have ethernet nor phone connections in the chapel, so we have 100-foot CAT6 and phone lines that are strategically laid down for broadcasts. The phone backup worked well when we needed it. Thankfully, we haven't needed it since using PVC.

Does PVC recognize the Roxio USB video Capture device? Or would I have to use the sound card on the laptop?

Yeah, without a problem (other than the inferior quality and interlacing issues). I'm pretty sure we run both audio and video through Roxio now (we've done it both ways, I believe). The only A/V sync problems we had were with Meetinghouse Webcast.

We're looking at purchasing a stake computer, though, so we don't have to find members to lend computers. Either a laptop with Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle (Vidyo says it works, but finding the right laptop can be tricky) or a desktop with the Intensity Pro card.

rgme, I would strongly encourage you to use something like the OSPREY or something else on a desktop. We have it and it works terrific. We haven't had a A/V sync issue since changing over and it works really well.

Can you recommend an Osprey USB adapter that is known to work and work well?

HQ webcast product manager chiming in here... I've asked Viewcast (manufacturer of the Osprey card) multiple times if they are ever going to come out with an Osprey USB solution. They told me it's highly unlikely due to the limitations of USB. I wish they had one - definitely would make life easier. But for now, the PCI cards really are the best way to go - as mentioned, they should give you much better results without the lip sync issues that are common with USB capture devices.

If only the PCI cards could be used with laptops. It looks like people above have had good luck with the Roxio device though, which is only $50. (As opposed the multi-hundreds of dollars for the Communicator)

aclawson wrote:It looks like people above have had good luck with the Roxio device though, which is only $50.

I haven't had the best of luck with our Roxio USB device. For one thing, I couldn't ever get the audio and video to feed at the same time, so audio had to be fed into the line-in jack of the PC. I ran a side-by-side comparison with the Roxio USB and a BlackMagic Design Intensity Pro (PCI-E) using a standard definition video camera as a source and there was a very noticeable difference in quality. In this case, you do indeed get what you pay for.

I haven't tried it myself, but if you must go with USB, I would consider something like the BlackMagic Design Intensity Shuttle for USB 3.0. Yes, it's 3-4x the cost of the Roxio and would require a newer PC with a USB 3.0 port, but I think would offer much better results in the long run.