Tech Forum Archive

Webcast equipment

34 postsstarted by Dougvf-p40 13,722 viewsoriginal topic

Dougvf-p40
New Member
#1
I have been reading the forums about what is working, not working, and recommended. Here is a list of equipment that I have put together to create a webcast based on input I could find on the websites and forum messages. Can anyone confirm that this is all the equipment that I need (except for misc cables) to get a good solution for SENDING a webcast? Is this the Ideal setup?

Dell Desk top PC – Windows 7 64 bit
Windows Media Encoder 64 bit version
Sony DCR HC52 camera (send to Osprey 210 card)
Osprey 210 Video Capture card
Sure PG58 microphone (send to Mixer)
Mackie 402 VLZ3 mixer (send to Osprey 210 card)
Webcast software version 2.1

I am struggling to find a good solution that will work and any help or recommendations would be appreciated. I have tried using USB devices connected to a laptop but am having a very difficult time getting this to work.
starkjs
Church Employee
#2
Hi Doug-- The setup you outline should work well although I would recommend the 32 bit OS and encoder due to it being more thoroughly tested. As per getting a USB device to work; we have tested, and have had success with the Roxio Easy VHS-to-DVD, Diamond VC600, Diamond VC500, and EasyCap. They often need the most up to date drivers to work though. We have also seen the new 3.0 beta software working much better with these devices. You can learn more about the beta here.
Paulbb1
Member
#3
We have the Osprey 210 Video Capture card in our webcasting computer. The video capture works great but the sound input on the card does not work with Webcast 2.1. The software only allows the sound input to come from the computer microphone jack. It then delays the video encoding just enough to have a lip sync problem. I am hoping to try the new 3.0 Beta and it allows selection of the Osprey sound jack. Will try this week.

I highly recommend the Sony D-70 camera. It has both s-video and composite outputs. Remotely controlled with IR remote or via a RS422 connection to a computer. It is expensive.

I agree that you go with 32 bit.

I heard today that Meeting House Webcast v3 on a Windows 7 machine requires a codex/driver? that is included in XP but not part of Windows 7 and you have to buy it ($150?). I have not confirmed this.
Arlan Beebe
Ann Arbor Stake
kd7mha
Member
#4
PaulBB1 wrote:I heard today that Meeting House Webcast v3 on a Windows 7 machine requires a codex/driver? that is included in XP but not part of Windows 7 and you have to buy it ($150?). I have not confirmed this.
The only requirements for my Win7 x64 installation were free downloads from Microsoft.com
There are 11 types of people. Those who understand Gray Code and those that don't.
Paulbb1
Member
#5
I assume it is the free version? How long will it webcast. The MS website says screen capture is for only 10 minute clips.
http://www.microsoft.com/expression/pro ... rview.aspx
Arlan Beebe
Ann Arbor Stake
lpuster
New Member
#6

Consider the Webcast Communicator

The solution we chose was the Meetinghouse Webcast Communicator and Webcast Receivers from the Distribution center. We also used the EVI-D70 camera, which works very well. Besides, the Webcast Communicator can receive audio from the building's PA system, so a separate microphone is not required.

Our solution may be more expensive than your approach. A notebook computer is half the cost of the Webcast Communicator. However, computers being what they are, there will be technical problems down the road and SLC may not be able to provide much support if you use a computer, e.g. blue screen of death. Another consideration is the availability of people with sufficient expertise to set up and maintain the equipment in the future. It would be a shame if a Webcast had to be canceled if both of the people who knew how to use it were unexpectedly unavailable, or had moved away.

The Meetinghouse Communicator/Webcast Receiver setup is easy to use and can be explained over the phone if required. It also keeps the audio and video in synch.

If you use the Sony DCR HC52, someone will have to stand by the camera to show the speaker, then pan over to the choirster for the hymn, or zoom out when the choir sings. The D70 can be mounted on a volleyball pole above the heads of everyone and can be controlled remotely (see my earlier post).
Paulbb1
Member
#7

Webcast Equipment - Osprey card and 3.0

Ran more tests over the weekend and got the Osprey 210 sound to work. Works great.

Also, MHW 3.0 works with XP using Windows Expressions 4.0 free version. Ran for hours so there is no 10 minute limit.

I am cleaning up all my previous comments with our experience.
Arlan Beebe
Ann Arbor Stake
starkjs
Church Employee
#8
The 3.0 software on Windows 7 does not seem to work well with the VC500 or VC600. We would not recommend purchasing this device at this time.
maxmcgregor
New Member
#9
Just getting ready to order the equipment for two buildings in our stake. I think I'm going to go with the Church based equipment just to keep it simple and avoid liabilty issues with personal computers, not too mention the risk of stability on personal systems. Does anyone know why the Webcast Receiver is not available on store.lds.org, but everything else is? I suppose I'll be calling the store support when I order to find out why, but thought I'd throw it out to the forum first.
Paulbb1
Member
#10

Webcast Equipment

My understanding is that few people were buying them because it is so easy to buy a cheaper computer and loading the Meeting House software. All you need is to add a video capture card ($150). There is another thread that discusses cards.
Arlan Beebe
Ann Arbor Stake
kg7sw
New Member
#11

equipment

maxmcgregor wrote:Just getting ready to order the equipment for two buildings in our stake. I think I'm going to go with the Church based equipment just to keep it simple and avoid liabilty issues with personal computers, not too mention the risk of stability on personal systems. Does anyone know why the Webcast Receiver is not available on store.lds.org, but everything else is? I suppose I'll be calling the store support when I order to find out why, but thought I'd throw it out to the forum first.

we just finished a conference using the webcaster to uplink, and a laptop to downlink. The system worked great, except for a half hour of down time due to a building internet problem. what ever can go wrong will go wrong. I ran a test saturday for at least 4 hours without a glitch.
pete.arnett
Member
#12
Our equipment setup for Stake conference, which was on the air for over seven and half hours (7.5), over two days, is as follows:

Meetinghouse Webcast Beta 3.0.1.18, Resolution: Medium 16X9
Microsoft Encoder Version 4.0.3205.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Roxio Easy VHS-to-DVD Version 2.0
Dell Optiplex 580: Processors: AMD Athlon(tm) II X2 B22 Processor, Physical Memory: 4.00 GB
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional, 5.1.2600, Service Pack 3

Notes:
1) Number of Dell desktops used: two (2), each at different locations
2) Meetinghouse Webcast Beta 3.0.1.64 was released this past week
3) http://speedtest.net/ ping: 104 ms, down: 7.76 Mb/s, up 0.84
4) Expression Encoder 4 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
http://www.microsoft.com/expression/pro ... tsNew.aspx
5) TCP/IP Camera: Sony SNCRZ50N

Also, thanks to headquarters staff for their support and hard work
Thanks,
:cool:Your Fellow Member,
Pete Arnett
Sunny South Florida, USA
Aczlan
Member
#13
pete.arnett wrote:Our equipment setup for Stake conference, which was on the air for over seven and half hours (7.5), over two days, is as follows:
<snip/>
5) TCP/IP Camera: Sony SNCRZ50N
Also, thanks to headquarters staff for their support and hard work
Out of curiosity,
What did you use to interface the IP camera with the Meetinghouse Webcast software?
How did you control your camera?

Thanks

Aaron Z
pete.arnett
Member
#14
Roxio Easy VHS-to-DVD Version 2.0 was used to interface the IP camera with the Meetinghouse Webcast software

Camera Control software (via web browser) was provided by Sony
Thanks,
:cool:Your Fellow Member,
Pete Arnett
Sunny South Florida, USA
Aczlan
Member
#15
pete.arnett wrote:Roxio Easy VHS-to-DVD Version 2.0 was used to interface the IP camera with the Meetinghouse Webcast software
So is there a digital-analog adapter that comes with the camera allowing you to get composite/s-video out and treat it like any other camera, or did the Roxio software do that directly?

Thanks

Aaron Z
michaelfish
Member
#16
Aczlan wrote:So is there a digital-analog adapter that comes with the camera allowing you to get composite/s-video out and treat it like any other camera, or did the Roxio software do that directly?

Thanks

Aaron Z
The SNC-RZ50N can output an analog composite video signal via the BNC connector on the unit's rear panel.
pete.arnett
Member
#17
The following TCP/IP video cameras have been used by different stakes in our area at their various meetinghouses with the Roxio Easy VHS-to-DVD Version 2.0 (RCA or S cable connectors) as input to Meetinghouse Webcast software running on a Dell desktop:

Vivotek PZ7111 Video TCP/IP camera
..Real-time MPEG-4 and MJPEG Compression (Dual Codec)
..Dual Streams Simultaneously
..Motorized Pan/Tilt
..A/V out
..Camera Control: vendor provided browser based interface
Data Sheet
Optical Zoom Lens: 10x
Cost: about $600
Note: camera has been used to with dual streams MPEG-4 and A/V out simultaneously for webcast, TCP/IP camera control, translators and recording

Camera: Sony SNCRZ50N TCP/IP camera
..MPEG-4
..Motorized Pan/Tilt
..Video out, analog composite video signal via the BNC connector
..Camera Control: vendor provided browser based interface
Data Sheet
Optical Zoom Lens: 26X
Cost: about $1,100
Note: camera has only been used with analog composite video output (BNC to VCR to RCA to Roxio) for webcast and we used TCP/IP for camera control
Thanks,
:cool:Your Fellow Member,
Pete Arnett
Sunny South Florida, USA
maxmcgregor
New Member
#18

Webcast Receiver

I found out from our FM rep yesterday that the Meetinghouse Webcast Receiver is no longer being offered by store.lds.org because it was too expensive. A notebook computer with the Meetinghouse software is sufficient. I'm going with a Windows 7 Pro notebook from Dell for around $570 that seems to have good enough specs to meet the need.

One other note: although FM took over internet installation and ongoing costs, they do not provide the meetinghouse broadcast equipment, that must be purchased by the Stake. However, if you talk to them, they may be willing to provide a projector and projector screen for each building you need to broadcast too.
pete.arnett
Member
#19
maxmcgregor wrote: "...they may be willing to provide a projector and projector screen for each building ..."

Your local FM group should provide a video projector and projector screen for each meetinghouse as part of a standard meetinghouse setup
Thanks,
:cool:Your Fellow Member,
Pete Arnett
Sunny South Florida, USA
russellhltn
Community Administrator
#20
pete.arnett wrote:Your local FM group should provide a video projector and projector screen for each meetinghouse as part of a standard meetinghouse setup

I'm sure that's true of all meetinghouses with a satellite dish, but I'm not sure as it's true of ALL meetinghouses. But you can ask.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
pete.arnett
Member
#21
You will have to ask your local FM group what the official guide lines are becasue our Facilities Management Group (FMG) and a neighboring group stated the same thing
Thanks,
:cool:Your Fellow Member,
Pete Arnett
Sunny South Florida, USA
rpyne
Member
#22
maxmcgregor wrote:A notebook computer with the Meetinghouse software is sufficient. I'm going with a Windows 7 Pro notebook from Dell for around $570 that seems to have good enough specs to meet the need.

I recommend using VLC as the software for playback. It has several advantages such as the ability to play back through a second video interface such as the S-video or HDMI output found on many laptops. Another significant advantage is that VLC will let you adjust the audio/video syncronization on playback.
StevePoulsen
Church Employee
#23
Dougvf-p40 wrote:I have been reading the forums about what is working, not working, and recommended. Here is a list of equipment that I have put together to create a webcast based on input I could find on the websites and forum messages. Can anyone confirm that this is all the equipment that I need (except for misc cables) to get a good solution for SENDING a webcast? Is this the Ideal setup?

Dell Desk top PC – Windows 7 64 bit
Windows Media Encoder 64 bit version
Sony DCR HC52 camera (send to Osprey 210 card)
Osprey 210 Video Capture card
Sure PG58 microphone (send to Mixer)
Mackie 402 VLZ3 mixer (send to Osprey 210 card)
Webcast software version 2.1

I am struggling to find a good solution that will work and any help or recommendations would be appreciated. I have tried using USB devices connected to a laptop but am having a very difficult time getting this to work.
Doug, My only question about the setup is what the mic is for? Normally I would recommend you take a feed directly from the sound system (either by the pulpit, clerks desk, or satellite equipment cabinet and into the mixer (Used for gain adjustments). so unless you’re planning to add extra mics, and feed the sound system with the mixer I am not sure what you would need an additional mic for. But I may just not understand what you plan on setting up.
Steve Poulsen - Meetinghouse Facilities Technology Engineer
jdlessley
Community Moderators
#24
@ StevePoulsen,
You are asking a question of someone who has not been back to the forums since the forums converted to the LDS Account logon. I think that was back in November. At least their old forum account has not been merged with their LDS Account username. This is evidenced by the "-p40" on the end of their username. So you may not get a response from Dougvf-p40. If you do, it may be from his new LDS Account username.
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
ipcodoc
New Member
#25
Does anyone know of an alternative solution other than a laptop to serve as a receiver since the Webcast receivers are no longer available? If not, are there any specs that are necessary for a laptop to be used as a reciever?
Aczlan
Member
#26
ipcodoc wrote:Does anyone know of an alternative solution other than a laptop to serve as a receiver since the Webcast receivers are no longer available? If not, are there any specs that are necessary for a laptop to be used as a reciever?

Based on the specs from the webcast receiver (https://tech.lds.org/wikildstech/images ... 302009.pdf) I would say most any computer (desktop, laptop or netbook) with 2-3GB of RAM and XP or Win 7 installed should work. We used a netbook with XP on it to watch the stream at the sending location (to verify that it was working) at our last stake conference.

Aaron Z
harddrive
Senior Member
#27
ipcodoc wrote:Does anyone know of an alternative solution other than a laptop to serve as a receiver since the Webcast receivers are no longer available? If not, are there any specs that are necessary for a laptop to be used as a reciever?

One of the things that I'm planning on doing in my stake is to use the unit clerk's computer as the receiver of the broadcast. The video would be converted to RCA and along with audio sent to the closed circuit TV in the buildings.

This way any room that has a "cable" outlet can watch the broadcast and hear the speaker.

Terry
russellhltn
Community Administrator
#28
harddrive wrote:One of the things that I'm planning on doing in my stake is to use the unit clerk's computer as the receiver of the broadcast.

What steps are you planning to take to make sure the video distribution gets disconnected before someone decides to fire up MLS - perhaps immediately after a broadcast when some TV sets might still be on?
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
harddrive
Senior Member
#29
RussellHltn wrote:What steps are you planning to take to make sure the video distribution gets disconnected before someone decides to fire up MLS - perhaps immediately after a broadcast when some TV sets might still be on?

Russ, that is a question that I haven't even thought of. I think one way of doing it would be to use a video/audio switch in the CCTV system and to have it default to "channel 1" which would be the satellite.

Otherwise, it will be a question that needs to be answer.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
#30
harddrive wrote:I think one way of doing it would be to use a video/audio switch in the CCTV system and to have it default to "channel 1" which would be the satellite.

The problem I have with that, is there's no way for the clerk to verify that the computer is "secure" before using it. Or, to prevent the computer from being used before it's rendered "secure".

The only answer I'm coming up with is to not run the cable to the clerk's office, but to force the computer to be relocated for the broadcast. Everything else I can think of depends on someone following a procedure that in time is likely to fall into disuse.

A dual-boot setup might do it - if the MLS partition can be setup so as to render the converter inoperable. Even then, you'd probably have to embed a message into it somehow to communicate to future STS why it's set up the way it is.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
lajackson
Community Moderators
#31
RussellHltn wrote:The only answer I'm coming up with is to not run the cable to the clerk's office, but to force the computer to be relocated for the broadcast.

We are looking at using the administrative computer as well, but we would not want to have to move the computer. Too many problems with that. If we are going to have to move the actual computer, a laptop would be much easier.

Is there a way just to unplug the cable at the computer when the broadcast is complete? I understand the "someone might forget" problem, but perhaps a very large red tag or something as a reminder would work.
riahzkorner
New Member
#32
I am testing to see whether we can use a DSLR camera to shoot with however, the meetinghouse webcast software is not recognizing the USB connected to my computer. I've been able to control the camera and video settings in another program, but not meetinghouse webcast. Any suggestions?

Sariah
Laie, Hawaii YSA stake
Aczlan
Member
#33
riahzkorner wrote:I am testing to see whether we can use a DSLR camera to shoot with however, the meetinghouse webcast software is not recognizing the USB connected to my computer. I've been able to control the camera and video settings in another program, but not meetinghouse webcast. Any suggestions?
Is your DSLR seen by the Expression encoder? If not, it will not work.

Aaron Z
pete.arnett
Member
#34

Webcasted for over 2.5 hours

Stake Conference - We were able to webcast for over 2.5 hours with no issues

The meetinghouse had the Internet bandwidth upgraded and we were able to use the highest video definition setting in the Meetinghouse Webcast application, "High Definition (Recommended Bandwidth 3.7M up, 2.7M down)"

Configuration:
LDS Meetinghouse Webcast Software 3,
with a Roxio Easy VHS-to-DVD (USB capture appliance),
running on a Lenovo ThinkPad T420 4236 (Core i5),
using Windows 7 Enterprise 32-bit, SP1, 4 GB RAM
Thanks,
:cool:Your Fellow Member,
Pete Arnett
Sunny South Florida, USA