HD Record & live stream system design help please....
 

I need some help from the Video Gurus of the DVinfo. net fourm. Thank you in advance, I really appreciate your help.

I am trying to set up for a client a low cost but high performance system that will record local celebrity chefs cooking in showroom in while streaming live to a website.

We are planning on getting a Sony HD PTZ camera (EVIHD7v) or other and need to record HD Component onto a digital medium (hard drive on a Mac Pro?) while streaming live to a website. The camera will be 20 feet off the ground mounted on a pole. From the camera pole to the head end I have wired it with approx 60-80 feet runs of RG6, RG59, multiple cat5e & RGBHV mini solid coax. If I needed to I could do HDMI over cat5.

The Camera(s) will feed HD component video + left & right audio + coax digital) into a Key Digital KDMSW8X4 matrix switch. We will take the Camera(s) component + L+R audio into one of the 8 sets of inputs on the switch. Two of the four outputs of the switch will feed the recording device/streaming device. The other 2 outputs will feed to 54" plasmas that will function as monitors for the audience.

One person has suggested Mac Pro/ Black Magic Intensive card/ and using 1 component input to record HD and use the other component input (the component output that can be switched to a component input via software) to stream to the website. I have been told by another person that I SHOULD NOT use 1 Mac Pro to do both record and streaming.... they recommended adding a DataVideo DV/HDV Recorder (DADn400/DN400) and stream via the Mac Pro using Telestream Wirecast/Episode Pro f/mac with Flash/ Reg...

Any suggestions? I really need to keep the cost's as low as possible. If you have any suggestions for sourcing the gear at great prices I would be interested in that as well.
I would like to set up a wholesale account with a vendor if possible for this is for resale. Thank you very much for your ideas and suggestions.

Steve

Thank you very much for

Ok,

I take ti you are Mac based. I can't help you with that. However, I do this kind of thing regularly with a camcorder and a PC based system, so see if this makes sense to you.

We often have to live stream as well as record conferences and other things. We use Windows Media Server to do this because it's very effective, and free. We use separate computers for the encoding and streaming, but they could be done in the same machine.

At the head end is my camera, either a Sony EX1 or Pana DVX100. I record to either onboard media in the case of the EX1 or to a Firestore in the case of the DVX. Since your PTZ does not have recording capability, you have the option of capturing that with either a computer or another device. For my money, I'd use a Nanoflash in this instance, but if you want to go with the Mac, that's ok too.

The signal then needs to be encoded. I know Mac has a solution for its encoding and streaming. Someone else will need to help you with that.

We also do a VERY high-end live broadcast feed from my building with PTZ cams (4) backhauling over fiber to a produciton station about 15 miles away. This is for PBS.

Here are my concerns with what you have proposed.

1. Recording the signal after it has passed through the switcher. I prefer to record the signal as cleanly as possible and doing it after it's been split is not the way I'd prefer to do it. If the switch fails for any reason, you've lost not only the live feed, but the recording as well.

2. Where is the audio coming from? I assume your PTZ is not recording audio, so how are you getting audio to the switch?

If it were me, I'd try to do this all as HD-SDI and eliminate all these cable runs. One cable carrying video and audio and uncompressed HD bitrates and be done with it.

Clearly you have some budget so I'd think about the key points:

1. Recording the best signal you can.
2. Building in some redundancy so that a failure of a single component doesn't take down everything.
3. Giving your encode/streaming server it's own signal separate from the recorder.
4. Simplifying the cable runs.


I also have to ask why you are doing a pole camera with PTZ instead of a more conventional camera overhead perhaps on a truss. The PTZ's are ok, but clearly don't give a signal nearly as nice as a more conventional camera. Not to mention the cabling nightmare for the robotics.


Just my disjoint thoughts this morning.

PC is an option as well....
 

Thanks for your reply. I am not married to using a Mac so if you have a good PC based solution I am open to it. Some of the parameters have changed. In an effort to keep the costs lower we can forgo the need to stream live. The audio is coming from an AKG wireless headset Mic/Mic preamp.

How would you configure the PC setup and associated equipment? If we were to record prior to the switch, the recording device would need some kind of pass through what do you recommend?

If you can use a PC, the game changes quickly.

Visit this page:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...r/default.mspx

The windows media encoder is FREE. You need a video board that can handle your signal installed in the machine. The encoder can encode a live feed, and then hand that off to the windows streaming server. These can be in the same machine, but I recommend a separate machine for that.

If you've got the bandwidth you can host the streaming server at your own site. If not, then you can push the encoded stream to a hosting company via the internet. Both the encoder and the streaming server can run on x64 so you can leverage the additional power of newer PCs. Honestly, we are serving up both HD and SD internally on our streaming server (and by internally, I mean on our private state-wide network) with servers that are now about 5 years old. You don't need a monster machine to do this.

For recording purposes, I find myself recommending the Convergent Design NanoFlash time and time again. There is just NOTHING this high quality out there for the price. Put a couple of 16GB CompactFlash cards in, and do your show. Then dump them to a safe storage mechanism. It has a built in pass-through and I believe you can use it's HDMI out to have live monitoring of the feed.

So essentially, you'd have a route that looks like this:

Camera output+audio > NanoFlash > Splitter > Live TV feed + Windows Media Encoder *> Encoded signal to Streaming server on-site/off-site


This keeps the cabling neat, gives you gorgeous HD recording capability, your live feed is HD-SDI or HDMI if you use a converter, and your encoder is seeing an uncompressed HD feed.

I am rebuilding our entire streaming structure next year to exactly this spec, so I've had some time to think about how we are doing it.