Using MAC's for broadcasting Stake Conference

Just wondering if anyone is using Mac's to broadcast Stake Conference's? We had problems with lags and hangs using windows laptops and windows pc's. Wondering if there is a better solution with a Mac? We have 3 camera's in our stake center, so we'd need an app for the Mac that can support multiple cameras. Would love some suggestions. Thx

jyepatton wrote:Just wondering if anyone is using Mac's to broadcast Stake Conference's?

I think it has more to do with the horsepower of the computer. Our STS used a Mac with a Windows partition, since we used the Church software solution which only runs on Windows. The laptop was plenty powerful. The limiting factor was the downlink capability at the receiving site.

Make sure you're uploading at a speed that the slowest site can follow.

You need 4 things that help make a successful broadcast. i5 quad core or better computer or laptop with a line in audio input. 3 Gbit/sec upload minimum at the Stake Center, 3 Gbit/sec download at the meetinghouses, turn off/disable Wi-Fi in all buildings. We have done 7 successful broadcast using a laptop and a $30.00 USB 2 video capture device. We broadcast at 1.7 Gbit upstream.

pricer wrote:3 Gbit/sec upload minimum at the Stake Center, 3 Gbit/sec download at the meetinghouses

How does 3 Gbit/sec translate to things like 10M up/down that a cable company might advertise, for example?

10M is 10 megabit which is great and more than you need to receive a broadcast. We have 1 building with Comcast which is 20 megabit down and 5 megabit up.

pricer wrote:You need 4 things that help make a successful broadcast. i5 quad core or better computer or laptop with a line in audio input. 3 Gbit/sec upload minimum at the Stake Center, 3 Gbit/sec download at the meetinghouses, turn off/disable Wi-Fi in all buildings. We have done 7 successful broadcast using a laptop and a $30.00 USB 2 video capture device. We broadcast at 1.7 Gbit upstream.

These numbers are megabits per second and not gigabits per second.

So you are saying that a Mac cannot use the church's system to broadcast stake conferences? This was my 1st Stake Conference as a tech clerk and it was horrible. It went down often, the lips never matched the sound from the speaker (like the old Godzilla movies). I also had trouble with this during the General Conference feed using windows laptops and once I hooked it up to my MacBook pro it worked great. I guess I just need to know what everyone is using, I don't want to reinvent the wheel here but I don't like having the conference be a complete disaster either. Thanks for all the help.

I don't see any problems using a Mac for broadcasts like General Conference from church headquarters. If you are receiving or broadcasting using the meetinghouse software it will require Windows. If you install Windows 7 using boot camp on your Mac you should have no problems.

I use the old webcast communicator purchased in 2009 and running Windows XP - We can barely scrape .384 uplink for our broadcasts, we use multiple cameras (at least 2), text overlays and have been successful around 25 times - not only in our stake but multi-stake events - Including Last Sunday night's multi-stake webcast of Elder Ballard.

I strongly urge you to mix the signal prior to sending it to the pc/mac for processing, and agree with a previous statement, start with a much lower upload speed.

Start small, maybe a single camera, upload low, and then build to more complex items use the resources you have and are able to use. Practice, Practice, Practice - bring in a hotspot and upload/download on your own. People with MAC's will just need to deal with the fact that most enterprises still run in a windows world, regardless of the world they'd like to see. I absolutely despise that the HD signal that my cameras produce can't be reproduced through my upload speeds and can't be seen by the other 8 meetinghouses in our stake. But, it is the world I live in. Our FMG does not see any value in providing us upgraded Internet, so we do what we can. All I can do is year after year budget for improvements that will NEVER manifest, even when they make the budget.

jyepatton wrote:Just wondering if anyone is using Mac's to broadcast Stake Conference's? We had problems with lags and hangs using windows laptops and windows pc's. Wondering if there is a better solution with a Mac?

The current version of the church's Meetinghouse Webcast software only supports Windows-based OS's. The whole process is under review and new ways of webcasting are being analyzed. It's going to take a while, so don't count on anything this year, or maybe even next, but eventually we will get a new generation of webcast software tools to use, and it's not outside the realm of possibilities that Mac compatibility might even sneak through.

jyepatton wrote:We have 3 camera's in our stake center, so we'd need an app for the Mac that can support multiple cameras. Would love some suggestions. Thx

Most people do video mixing via hardware. Used 480i mixers are available fairly reasonable from places like eBay. There are some excellent applications out there that can mix video quite well on either a Windows or iOS platform. One that I've played with is Wirecast. It's a bit steep in price ($495 retail), but for working in HD, it's about 1/2 the cost of a hardware mixer, and IMO, much more flexible.

If it were me, I wouldn't encourage my stake president to make any heavy investments in webcasting technology right now. I'd give it a year or two and let the development team work out their next-generation solution first.

Mikerowaved wrote:If it were me, I wouldn't encourage my stake president to make any heavy investments in webcasting technology right now. I'd give it a year or two and let the development team work out their next-generation solution first.

What about the idea of renting equipment as needed? I'm thinking a typical stake might only use the equipment 3 times a year (2 conferences and 1 special fireside). After 2 years (6 uses), it's likely time for a technology refresh. Can they recover the cost of the equipment in 6 uses?

russellhltn wrote:

Mikerowaved wrote:If it were me, I wouldn't encourage my stake president to make any heavy investments in webcasting technology right now. I'd give it a year or two and let the development team work out their next-generation solution first.

What about the idea of renting equipment as needed? I'm thinking a typical stake might only use the equipment 3 times a year (2 conferences and 1 special fireside). After 2 years (6 uses), it's likely time for a technology refresh. Can they recover the cost of the equipment in 6 uses?

We Rent our equipment and its been very successful for us - we found a friendly spot that isn't open on Sunday's and they don't charge us for that day... so it works out very well.