I have a client who is interested in live streaming their event to youtube or facebook.

What's the nut's and bolts of making it happen? What software / hardware do you recommend?

Totally new to live streaming online.

Thanks so much!

If this is a mission-critical event or a particularly big client, I would suggest hiring an expert. I just did the same for a teleconference and let me tell you that it's a whole new ball game when you have to deal with issues beyond just your camera.

Even a single camera stream can be fraught with trouble, as you'll be dealing with network and bandwidth issues. Then there is the paid options like GoTo Meeting, or Zoom that have less lag, but at the expense of quality. There are many pitfalls involved, and you don't want this to be a learning experience on the client's dime.

Let me preface this by saying: I think you should hire a professional, especially if this is mission-critical. I am a professional video engineer with a specialization in webcasting.

There are many things to consider when doing a live webcast. First of which is: who is providing the internet? The reliability of the internet connection is the most important thing. If you have a questionable connection, we usually run a backup cell data connection.

Another thing to consider is the platform you're streaming to. Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, Periscope, Livestream, Ustream, Wowza, Akami... There are different technical specs for each of these platforms (Periscope's being the worst at 800 kbps 960x540)

Who is your intended audience? Are you streaming one camera or many? Does the camera move around? How are you handling audio? How long does the stream last?

The nuts-and-bolts are: fast, reliable internet connection, encoder (hardware or software,) RTMP server or streaming platform, and an operator (and a camera, of course.)

Again, I recommend hiring someone with experience doing live webcasts, unless you have a lot of time to experiment and play around beforehand.

Hi Guys

Chris Hurd has a specific forum for live streaming so most of your advice would come from there not on this forum Might be a sensible idea to post there or get a moderator to move this post??

Set up the camera as best you can for audio, composition and exposure. Which I am sure you have done many times. If it's only one camera you could go HDMI to USB converter ( I have Elgato HD) There are many out there if you Google. Software (I use Xsplt broadcaster) again there are many out there. You will need a minimum of Upload 6Mbs for a decent stream and a good laptop. Now it will not be live but around a 12 second lag. I should say this is one of the cheap options but it does work. You pay your money and take what you get.

We also do wedding streams that don't really need graphics or mixing so that is a really simple setup with a camera with a Teradek encoder on the cold shoe and connected to a 4G router! If you stream to a CDN like Livestream ..your preinstalled event pages come up on the encoder and you simply stream from the camera ... wedding ceremonies are always tricky cos it can be on a beach or park without any power so this is the easiest way for us.