Live Webcasting?
 

My boss want's to do live webcasting on a monthly basis to about 500 employees. I have all the lights, cameras, mics, etc... What do I need on the output side and what is a cost estimate to pull this off. Anyone doing this sort of thing? It can't be that hard, look at all the adult sites doing it in high res. Any and all thoughs welcome. Thanks.

Two cameras switchable
Live chat enabled

SurfGuru.com used a decent PC and Road Runner broadband connection. That was about it, other than windows media encoder.

How about media 100? I'm looking for a high res, high end production with about 500 participants. Thanks for your input Keith as always.

(BTW I went to Sattalite Beach HS WAAAYYYY back in the day)

Can't comment on Media 100. Well, I could, but I have no real knowledge of them. As far as the amount of viewers, SG had at least that many. Their content wasn't Hi Rez, but then, the computers were kind of weak back then. Their shouldn't be much of an issue now, since compression is better, and PCs are way more powerful.

I do this from my church on a weekly basis for over half a year now. We use two DV camcorders connected directly into a 3-port firewire card on the PC. The software is Windows Media Encoder, it recognizes both cameras and lets you switch between them (with a short glitch, about 1/3 of a second, barely noticeable, I suppose it's a sync issue), and you can choose another microphone for sound, so you're not tied to the mike on the camera. You can also switch to pre-recorded video, still images, or screen capture - whole screen or part of it.

WMEncoder pushes the signal to a Windows Media Server we are renting. We have a link on the church website that opens WMPlayer on the viewer's computer and connects to the media server - that's it. You may not need this if you need to stream on a company network - you didn't specify.

You can pretty much specify any parameters for your stream in WMEncoder, audio, video, multiple bitrates, you name it. And best of all, it's absolutely free from Microsoft. A 3-port firewire PCI card costs about 25 bucks.

How much does it cost to rent the server? Is it by bandwidth?

Have you thought about using a service like Streamload? I use the $4.95 per month one and that gets me 10gig downloads per month and unlimited uploads. It's very speedy for those who download my files (videos primarily) and it's flexible in how you send out links. It even allows you to password protect each link you send so that you can control who gets access. They have larger plans for those who need more download bandwidth that are affordable.

Cheers

Keith,

I am not sure about the cost as this aspect is handled by the finance department of the church. I can contact the provider if you like and ask him.

If you have a mac i would use live channel pro. its about $900 but it is the best you probaly going to find. Its like have real switch boards but on your pc and it is user friendly. i use it all the time.