Alternative to Webcasting using a bridge

Our stake has used webcasting between 2 buildings for the past 3 years with mixed results. Our stake president has requested an alternative to the webcasting product. The FM group then installed a 900 Mhz link between the 2 buildings using Ubiquiti flat panel products and setup as a bridge. Now we need to get the audio-video stream over this link and into a PC and projector at the other end. Equipment used was from the webcast environment, eg. Audio-video to HDMI converter and the Vidiu box. So the data stream goes through the converter box and into the Vidiu and out directly connected to cat6 up to the flat panel. From the PC at the other end I can connect directly into the Vidiu and can do setup etc. If I attempt to start the Vidiu it goes from "ready" to "starting" and immediately back to ready. I can get a "snapshot" picture from the camera but unable to get any live data.
So, the question is, Will the vidiu really work in this environment as I cannot get it into run mode. Now it may must be a configuration issue in the Vidiu but I have exhausted that path with no positive results. If not I just need a unit that will stream the HDMI data into ethernet, if there is such a device besides the Vidiu??? Oh yes, stake conference is in 3 weeks!

Dick True, STS

I suspect the problem is that the Vidiu is expecting to talk to a server and the PC is also expecting to talk to a server - but they are not able to talk directly to each other. Just as a wild guess, you might have to set up a streaming server to act as a go-between. Either that, or use something far less sophisticated than the Vidiu.

What you are wanting to do is transmit directly from one device to another on essentially the same network. This is referred to as a unicast (or multicast), and as far as I know, can't be done with the Vidiu encoder. Other Teradek products have this capability, but not the standard Vidiu.

Yes, thank you for your input. That was exactly my conclusion. Another option I may try, if I have the time, is 2 devices that allow HDMI to be streamed over cat6, one on each end. There are limitations on cat6 distance so that may be an issue. Total cat6 distance from the flat panels down to the service area is around 150 feet. But there is a cost to do this so will have to run this by the stake president and FM manager. Stay tuned.

retiredtech wrote:Another option I may try, if I have the time, is 2 devices that allow HDMI to be streamed over cat6, one on each end.

Won't work. It may work over Cat6 cable, but it won't work over the radio link which is expecting IP traffic.

You need two devices that will work over a network and not just Cat6 cable.

You are correct - I was not thinking! Those devices just use the cat5 or any other cable to handle their data flow and no IP layers are involved. At this point, as an STS, I think I will back away from this situation and let higher levels decide on what to do, perhaps even abandon the project. In the meantime I'll begin the test of Webcast in time for stake conference.

You might want to look into Slingbox. I know some have used it with good luck. It's downside is that I think it's strictly a one-to-one connection rather than one-to-many broadcast that most people are looking for. But it might be exactly what you need.

Maybe too late on this comment also, but VLC is the swiss army knife of A/V. Presumably you've aggregated audio and video into a stream somewhere. If not, I'd recommend OBS as an easy alternative to do this. From that you can present an RTSP stream and either use VLC directly to play it somewhere on the network, or use it to relay the feed somewhere else.

Alternatively, you can so multicasting using nginx, which is very easy to set up as well. We tried this out running on a Raspberry Pi and it worked great to split a single feed for multiple other locations on the same network.

If you've got sufficient bandwidth through your bridge, this should not be a problem.

Another alternative is to simply encode the HDMI for packet transmission using an HDMI extender. The class of such devices that packetizes the content and allows switches and routers is what you're looking for. These work very well and now cost less than $100 with a box on each end. https://www.amazon.com/gofanco-395ft-10 ... nder&psc=1

We have decided not to use the bridge between the 2 buildings this stake conference and go with the Web Cast environment. The previous use from the last stake conference was not entirely satisfactory.
That HDMI extender looks very promising and am anxious to try that out on our next conference. Of course we already have our audio and video combined with HDMI output that is feeding the Vidiu and VLC has already been in use. Sometimes a solution is available but hidden away for the unwary!

There are actually HDMI over ethernet extenders that work over IP. Those are fairly inexpensive ($75 for a sender/receiver pair, $35 for a single receiver). The sender does basically a multi-cast over an IP network.