Vidiu Streaming or Wirecast???

For those of you that have used both the Vidiu Teradek box, and the Wirecast option, which do you prefer?

Currently, our stake has used the Teradek box provided by the church. While it is simple to hook up, there always seems to be issues. Recently, we had to power cycle the unit multiple times so that the encoder was ready. I can't seem to broadcast going through the church's firewall at the building and must directly connect to the modem (even with our AP's turned off).

Im wondering if switching to a more building specific option like building our own computer just for broadcasting and using wirecast would be better and help us avoid issues.

Thoughts?

I have been able to do 2 stake conferences just fine with the Vidiu Usually it would be good to have the latest firmware for it, but I saw a post on this forum that firmware 2.4.8 and 2.49 are bad. The latest firmware I used was 2.4.7 and it worked just fine.
Double check what firmware version you have for the Vidiu. The GSC can provide you details on how to reset the device and then update to just 2.4.7. My first Vidui I had was just a bad box, and the replacement box I receive has worked just great. If after checking the Firmware version and if that does not resolve it check with the GSC about troubleshooting the hardware piece.

I'll be soon testing my Wirecast enabled PC with the church's portal and let you know how it goes. I just have to work out the ingestion settings to keep their servers happy.

Just before my last stake conference, I had to upgrade the Vidiu unit to I believe 2.4.9 even though things say don't do it. I had trouble connecting the Vidiu to the server and once I fully upgraded the VidIu unit, things have seemed to be stable. So upgrade first and try again.

Meetinghouse Webcast Portal page no longer has the warning about 2.4.8 and 2.4.9 so it appears they are working now.

I have used both, and been able to get both working. However we currently use Wirecast, and just did a stake conference and it worked flawlessly. Wirecast has the advantage of of using software overlays, so that is why we went with it. If using Wirecast make sure you have a good machine, so that the CPU is mainly staying at 50% or less. I bought a used Dell with a 3rd Gen i7 and 16gb of ram for $350 and it was able to do the job well. We used one mounted camera and another camera mounted on a Tripod, and mixed in the video with overlays.

gldavis1111 wrote:I have used both, and been able to get both working. However we currently use Wirecast, and just did a stake conference and it worked flawlessly. Wirecast has the advantage of of using software overlays, so that is why we went with it. If using Wirecast make sure you have a good machine, so that the CPU is mainly staying at 50% or less. I bought a used Dell with a 3rd Gen i7 and 16gb of ram for $350 and it was able to do the job well. We used one mounted camera and another camera mounted on a Tripod, and mixed in the video with overlays.

My stake is looking into using wirecast for our stake conference soon. I was wondering, did you have to get multiple USB capture devices for your 2 cameras or just connect them via USB from the camera? I was also curious on your stake's complete set up and it may inspire my stake president on a set up that works along side with the current webcast setup.

Thanks!

johnny2007 wrote:...did you have to get multiple USB capture devices for your 2 cameras or just connect them via USB from the camera?

The cameras needed for webcasting typically won't have USB output. Those are more common on webcams. You'll most likely be dealing with either HDMI or composite (baseband) video. These have to be "captured" using either a USB device (USB 3.0 is recommended for HD signals), or a video capture PCI-E card. I use a desktop PC with 2 Blackmagic Intensity Pro cards (1 for each camera). They were about $70 each from ebay. Obviously, there's more to it than that, but hopefully this will give you some input to see if you even want to go down this road.

Mikerowaved wrote:

johnny2007 wrote:...did you have to get multiple USB capture devices for your 2 cameras or just connect them via USB from the camera?

The cameras needed for webcasting typically won't have USB output. Those are more common on webcams. You'll most likely be dealing with either HDMI or composite (baseband) video. These have to be "captured" using either a USB device (USB 3.0 is recommended for HD signals), or a video capture PCI-E card. I use a desktop PC with 2 Blackmagic Intensity Pro cards (1 for each camera). They were about $70 each from ebay. Obviously, there's more to it than that, but hopefully this will give you some input to see if you even want to go down this road.

Thanks! I have been doing some research for a while already but I know that we will be using at least 2 cameras (1 Sony hd handycam and the chapel’s ptz camera) . The SP might go for 3 but I have to see if he is willing to have the stake spend more money on a good simple setup to use wirecast. Eventually , the plan is to use wirecast for webcasting stake conference, but we will see how the Vidiu setup with 2 camera will work out. (Still researching on how to properly do that)

There is one downside to WireCast. You cannot display realtime video to any TVs in the same bldg - the video will significantly lag the audio. This was one reason we opted to buy a Roland V-1HD Switcher (realtime video/audio switcher $900) and use the free VidiU encoder.

CalS201 wrote:There is one downside to WireCast. You cannot display realtime video to any TVs in the same bldg - the video will significantly lag the audio.

Yes, the video will lag a few frames from real-time, but it's not that significant. The problem is, to get video output (in my case), I must have another Blackmagic Intensity Pro card installed that's dedicated to outputting video. I get around this by simply splitting Camera 1's input with one path going to the Wirecast PC and the other path feeding the stake center's video distribution system via an HDMI to SD converter. The overflow rooms and rear projector won't see the video titling & such, but the video always stays in perfect sync with the overhead audio.

CalS201 wrote:This was one reason we opted to buy a Roland V-1HD Switcher (realtime video/audio switcher $900)...

Hardware switchers are very nice, but not without a few of their own limitations either. Rentals of these boxes are widely available and that might be a good way to see if they will meet a stake's needs before committing to buying one.

CalS201 wrote:...and use the free VidiU encoder.

Just to be clear, the VidiU encoders may come at no cost to the stake, but they do come out of the FM group's budget. I don't know what the church's price is, but the street price is around $700 a piece.

Mikerowaved wrote:Rentals of these boxes are widely available and that might be a good way to see if they will meet a stake's needs before committing to buying one.

Considering that the typical stake will only use it twice a year, you might want to see if you're better off renting as the equipment only lasts a few years before becoming obsolete.

Looking at the $$$ cost of a WireCast software based system versus a hardware based system is pretty easy.

Wirecast Software based system
$900 Wirecast Pro software (or $700 for Wirecast Studio and NO pgm output for TVs)
$900 Quad HDMI input card (or $300 to $600 for Dual HDMI input card(s) )
$140 HDMI Output card for TVs in bldg (but with some video lag)
$300+ Windows10 PC

Hardware based system
$800 Roland V-1HD w/4 HDMI in, 2 HDMI out, 2 audio in, 2 audio out, remote control over LAN
$100 24” HD TV
$000 VidiU Encoder


Looking at reliability and longevity - either system “can” be reliable and have a long lifetime in the hands of tech-savvy people.


Looking at the features of one system versus the other is not so easy as there are pros and cons of each system– and even then it can be very subjective – and based on previous experience.

CalS201 wrote:Looking at the $$$ cost of a WireCast software based system versus a hardware based system is pretty easy.

Wirecast Software based system
$900 Wirecast Pro software (or $700 for Wirecast Studio and NO pgm output for TVs)
$900 Quad HDMI input card (or $300 to $600 for Dual HDMI input card(s) )
$140 HDMI Output card for TVs in bldg (but with some video lag)
$300+ Windows10 PC

Hardware based system
$800 Roland V-1HD w/4 HDMI in, 2 HDMI out, 2 audio in, 2 audio out, remote control over LAN
$100 24” HD TV
$000 VidiU Encoder


Looking at reliability and longevity - either system “can” be reliable and have a long lifetime in the hands of tech-savvy people.


Looking at the features of one system versus the other is not so easy as there are pros and cons of each system– and even then it can be very subjective – and based on previous experience.

Very true. It ultimately comes down on if the Stake President is willing to spend that much money on a set up. I know my Stake is looking into all open and available options. It won't be on time for the upcoming stake conference, but this point, it comes to either having fancy text overlay or just a simple way to control 3 cameras and chapel mics into one system.

CalS201 wrote:Looking at the $$$ cost of a WireCast software based system versus a hardware based system is pretty easy.

Wirecast Software based system
$900 Wirecast Pro software (or $700 for Wirecast Studio and NO pgm output for TVs)
$900 Quad HDMI input card (or $300 to $600 for Dual HDMI input card(s) )
$140 HDMI Output card for TVs in bldg (but with some video lag)
$300+ Windows10 PC

Those are far higher numbers than our stake has spent, but I won't go through that again.

Hardware or software webcasting (choose your poison), the thing that really bothers me is why more stakes can't get together and SHARE equipment for these semi-annual, 2-hour events? Seriously, not counting a bit of lead-in, that's 4 whole hours A YEAR of live streaming, and even less when there's a regional conference thrown in. IMO, the cost shouldn't need to be duplicated over and over again throughout the church. Even if just a pair of neighboring stakes got together, it would go a long way; especially here in Utah, where nearby stakes are often within walking distance.

CalS201 wrote:...This was one reason we opted to buy a Roland V-1HD Switcher (realtime video/audio switcher $900) and use the free VidiU encoder.

I see why V-1HD could be useful for some tasks, ...but it requires mixing video inputs to get text overlay, presumably mixing with your PC using powerpoint or such, but that seems a bit clunky. How are you doing text overlays for speaker and songs?