Live Event Broadcasting

[Chris Harding]

Is anyone here doing live event stream for clients ..the list is endless of course including weddings, seminars, recitals, training and a whole lot more.

The live video concept sees to be attracting a lot of attention and less demand on gear too for events where people cannot attend but would like to participate.

If it's in your portfolio of services, it would be interesting who does what and your setup?

[Andrew Smith]

I do. Matrox Monarch, of course. (plus a venue supplied internet connection)

I mainly send a raw feed out of the main camera for the events that I do. Live switching / multicam costs extra.

Andrew

[Nathan Buck]

I dabbled briefly in live streaming. Just fed capture cards into a PC and that was that. As Andrew says though, switching/mixing costs more!

I did have a look at the Blackmagic ATEM switcher at one point, which may be worth you looking into. They do a 4k and HD version.

[Chris Harding]

Thanks Guys

The wedding market here is getting absolutely saturated with every Tom, Dick and Harry who goes to the discount store and buys a camera and then calls himself a "professional wedding videographer" ...some diversification is sorely needed to sort out the men from the boys!! Doing live broadcasts is one way to kill the "I have a Canon 550 D so I'm now a wedding videographer" people who are shooting for beer money.

Andrew? what sort of rate per hour are you getting for conferences??

[Andrew Smith]

I haven't really established a rate yet.

Part of the purchase of the encoder unit came from one of the branches of a community organisation that I am involved with as they really want to have content from the 'big smoke' available to them so that they can in turn run satellite events simultaneously. I simply decided that we really needed the Monarch HDX model (not the HD) and paid in the extra $1000 to make the purchase.

The football match that I posted about earlier (action video streamed through a low bit rate connection) was just me helping a mate out.

I'll get around to sorting out a rate, but just haven't had time to even think about it yet.

Andrew

[Billy Horton]

I do 2 big live events a year and although they could be streamed they're not because the clients don't want to do that for several reasons. Both are 4 camera shoots, live switched, then projected inside the auditorium.

I have 3 Sony cameras and I rent one for the event. I use a Tricaster 40 and all the cabling is SDI over RG6. At least one of the cables is over 200' long. Since the Tricaster 40 is component HD I use Blackmagic SDI -> component converters.

I use the SD output of the Tricaster because it's easier and I convert some of it to RF so that it will carry audio. Some of those cable runs are over 300' but it holds up well. We record everything to HD, though, because there's usually some corrections to be made in the edit before it's put out to DVD.

One of them is really fast paced and sometimes it's hard to keep up with calling the shots and directing the switcher operator. The other is not so fast and it's for 3 nights in a row so a lot of it is the same thing every night.

[Chris Harding]

Thanks Billy

I was talking more about smaller events with just a single camera rather than a TV network style multi-camera setup. Basically any event where people cannot make it due to logistics so you take it to them live. I have had a couple of brides already ask me if their wedding ceremony can be streamed so family in the UK can watch it as it happens. I'm sure there is many more events that are broadcast so people not able to be there can see it.

[Andrew Smith]

Billy, what were the client's reasons for not wanting it streamed?

Andrew

[Donald McPherson]

Chris, Did you see my post earlier. I'm a complete novice. But I got my X70 working with my Sony Xperia.
Maybe not the best. But you can record at the same time and put up a better quality later.
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-pxw...ml#post1916239

[Chris Harding]

Hi Donald

Nope I didn't as I don't really check the X70 forum. Thanks for that and very interesting ..I wonder what bitrate the little Sony phone streams out at?? At this stage we are using the very simple Livestream Broadcast Pro unit which just sits on your camera cold shoe and we connect through 4G too .. the unit streams quite well at 5500kbps so you get a nice image on the other end too. Livestream also creat a cloud copy of your stream so anyone that misses the start of the event can run the DVR side of the player instead of the live side and not miss anything ... the whole system works very well actually and we are looking to use it is hurriedly organised events like funerals or last minute meetings where people who should be there cannot be there due to the small time frame.

[Gabe Strong]

Yup, I do live streaming. I even do multicam events....all by myself.
It's not for everyone, but at my first ever TV job, I sometimes had to
run down from directing the live newscast during commercial break
to change the studio camera shots from anchor desk, to weather, to
sports shots......so I'm used to taking on way too much.

[Chris Harding]

Thanks Gabe

I promise I'm not stalking you ..I did post on the other side though in response to the 4G question.

Yeah I'm a bit of a "I can do it all" person too .. I often wonder why I took on so much without any help but it's fun being busy!! Besides you don't have to pay anyone else!!

[Billy Horton]

Originally Posted by Andrew Smith

Billy, what were the client's reasons for not wanting it streamed?

Andrew

One is that they actually want people to show up at the event and to experience it, not to watch it on their computer. This is also an event that's been going on for 100 years and I also think they're a little hesitant to make it too technical and lose some of its cultural identity.

The other is that they haven't put any thought into how to monetize the stream, they don't want to let people watch for free because then it would cut into their ticket sales, which is a main source of revenue. I would probably need to do that for them but I'm too busy to do all the legwork then pitch it to them and make it happen. Plus, the venue has limited internet access so they would also have to upgrade (which they probably wouldn't want to do) or I'd have to make arrangements for something else - which again I don't have the time for.

Basically for something like this you need an extra person who is dedicated to the streaming side of things so you'd also need compensation for this, probably from the monetization of the streaming.

[Andrew Smith]

This has been a similar experience to another streamed event that happened years ago. The producers of an expo event went for streaming as an option for registrants.

The streaming aspect was viable and worked, but the consequence was that the actual crowd numbers at the event were halved and the 'vibe' of the event just wasn't the same. They saw the danger associated with this and promptly stopped offering a stream of the event. Everyone has to attend in person now.

This is the very reason I don't allow event streaming to locals for the non-profit that I am involved with. You don't want to risk killing the local turnout for an event you are running.

Andrew

[Chris Harding]

The moment money is involved it does become an issue! We stick with hurriedly organised events that cause some people who want/should attend no be able to simply due to logistics .... Surely something like an expo is a far better experience if you attend in person. Maybe a stream on the first day of an expo to say "see what you are missing" to attract more ticket sales? Too many people nowadays are taking the attitude "We will wait it comes on TV" instead of paying for a live event,

The best logical market still seems to be events where there is no chance of people being able to attend but would love to.