live streaming

Johnny streams his church's services. But he'd like to do it live. Leo says you can stream to YouTube and they will not only stream live, but it will then save it for viewing later. Automatically. Is Vimeo better though? Leo says that the quality is better, but it's not free to use. Vimeo Pro really isn't that expensive, though. Facebook Live is another option. Can he use Premiere Elements instead of Adobe Premiere Pro? Leo says yes. It does about 80% of what Creative Cloud does. And there's Adobe Rush. That's free and can work from a mobile device. 

Father Neil wants to make his Catholic Masses available to his older partitioners at home, but he's been told it'll cost at least $2500-5000 a week to do. Leo says that's nonsense. All he really needs is a camera, a tripod and a microphone, and a computer. The Focusrite Scarlet will allow him to plug audio from the church mixing board to the computer. He can then stream it through YouTube Live or Facebook. But he can also use a smartphone.  Get everyone to subscribe to the YouTube channel, and once he gets over 1000 subscribers, he can stream from a mobile phone.

Alex wants to do Facebook live by connecting a GoPro to his iPad. Leo recommends considering buying the MEVO camera. It is designed to stream live directly to Facebook, YouTube, etc. in 4K. If he streams in 1080p, it's like having 4 cameras at once. If going with the GoPro, then he'll need to use GoPro's software to do it. The challenge will be inputting the audio. The chatroom says he can use a USB-C mic adapter into the GoPro. GoPro has a 3.5mm adapter here.

Tom came across an old MAVICA digital camera that would record on a floppy disc. He's told it's worth $200 atm. His main question is, can he live stream with it? Leo says no, it's way too old. You can with your iPhone though. Is it legal? Leo says you have the first amendment right to do so, but you're taking your chances recording police officers without their consent. And you certainly don't want to interfere with their law enforcement duties. But if you're in earnest, another option is to get a GoPro and connect it to your mobile phone.

David has been asked if he can help do live streaming. Does he need Wi-Fi for that? Leo says not really, but he does need a cable long enough to go from where he's filming to a computer in order to stream it. If he uses multiple cameras, then he'll need a switcher to control them. It's always best to start with one camera and then expand as he needs to.

Video capture software to do the streaming depends on where he wants to stream. Facebook and YouTube both offer streaming for free. They also offer software to download.

Dan's church is looking to live stream their services, and they are looking for the best cameras to use. Leo suggests going cheap with the cameras. Leo got consumer-grade Canon Vixia cameras for the TWiT studio, and they only cost $400 to $500 now. Dan could just get four or five cameras that can cover every angle, and then he'll just need a video switcher so they can switch between cameras while streaming. He can go look at BlackMagic, which has specialized cameras that are fairly affordable.

Dave is a YouTuber, and when he streams live, it works better using LTE and his smartphone than his webcam and desktop using Wi-Fi. Leo says that in theory, they should be the same. Leo says that his Logitech C930 webcam could be misconfigured. Or, he could consider better lighting. Better lighting is always an improvement and helps the camera to pick exposure, color saturation, etc. At the end of the day, though, his LG smartphone probably just has a better camera.

Neil has cable based internet with 300 Mbps down, which should be great for streaming. But when he tries to use live TV, he finds the buffering makes streaming unwatchable. It's not the same with video on demand, though. Leo says that 300 Mbps is the "ideal" rate and it's always "up to" that amount. Leo recommends running a speed test from SpeedTest.net to see what he's really getting. DSL Reports has a really accurate speed test as well.

Chris needs an app to create a live stream on a budget. Leo just saw a great tool on both Android and iOS that uses camera phones and Wi-Fi to connect and then uses one device to act as a switcher. He should check out Switcher Studio. It does just that, but it's currently iOS only. Cinemaker is another one. It also is just for iOS, but the Android version is coming soon. Chris could also look into Manycam.