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Andy Greenow

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 27, 2014
9
0
Hi all,

Just wondering what your live video production set up is. For example what Mac do you use? Processor speed, graphics card? Are you using HDMI or SDI? How do you feed the video from your camera into your Mac?

I'm looking at setting a small studio up at home for live streaming and just curious at what things I need to be considering?

:)
 

joema2

macrumors 68000
Sep 3, 2013
1,646
866
...Just wondering what your live video production set up is...I'm looking at setting a small studio up at home for live streaming and just curious at what things I need to be considering?...

Aside from the camera and computer issues, a good inexpensive method is using Google Hangouts On Air.

This is different from regular Google Hangouts video conferencing. It is more designed for live streaming of talks, webinars, etc. It is free and supports these features:

- Unlimited number of live viewers
- Multi-camera broadcasts with video switching via control app
- Cloud-based video recording
- Unlisted or private broadcasts

Getting started with Hangouts On Air: https://support.google.com/plus/answer/2553119?hl=en
Unlisted On Air broadcast: https://support.google.com/plus/answer/4646402?hl=en

Multicam On Air setup: http://www.audiovideopro.net/hangouts-on-air-for-broadcast-multi-camera-shows/
 

Jorgos

macrumors newbie
Apr 22, 2012
11
1
I use this. Not too sure about the processor, but it does the job
 

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mBox

macrumors 68020
Jun 26, 2002
2,363
86
I use this. Not too sure about the processor, but it does the job


LOL!

My day job we use the Sony AnyCast for live/tape feeds during events.
I have seen the BlackMagic ATEM at work and its amazing.
Heck even my RED Scarlet would work on the above for live use.
 

sevoneone

macrumors 6502a
May 16, 2010
959
1,304
I have not done much live streaming lately, but I have used the Blackmagic Intensity Pro and Intensity Thunderbolt products for the purpose. The trouble with Blackmagic stuff is that it is pretty particular about input formats over HDMI and it takes a bit of trial and error to get it 100% depending on the camera you use.

What type of live streaming are you wanting to do? That is really what will dictate your needs for everything you've asked for advice about. If you just need to stream video from a single source, you can pretty much pull that off using any Mac with a 2nd Gen Intel Core Processor or newer. If you need to be able to use your Mac for other tasks during the stream, or stream 60 frames per second, then you'll want to make sure you have at least an i5 and preferably an i7 processor from the last couple of years. There are hardware video encoders out there, even ones built into modern CPUs and GPUs, however, unless you want to spend a fair bit of extra money on some specialized hardware, the quality of the encoding is not on par with what you get using a solid software (CPU based) encoder in most cases. So you don't necessarily need a high end GPU unless you're planning on streaming games or other software that need the GPU horse power.

It surprisingly does not take a huge amount of power to pull off a basic HD live stream. My wife occasionally likes to stream a couple of non demanding 2D games on Twitch. She uses a 2nd Gen Core i3 based Hackintosh with 8GB of RAM and an nVidia 740. Live encoding a 30fps 720p stream and playing the games pretty much maxes out that little box. It is able to pull it off smoothly but there is zero overhead for anything else.

On the other end of the spectrum, at work I have a 2012 i7 MacMini quad with 16 GB of RAM and the Blackmagic Intensity Thunderbolt. We use it to live stream meetings and trainings and it has plenty of power to stream 1080p from a camera source and desktop capture and also be able to do just about anything else at the same time. Love that little box.
 

Jorgos

macrumors newbie
Apr 22, 2012
11
1
LOL!

My day job we use the Sony AnyCast for live/tape feeds during events.
I have seen the BlackMagic ATEM at work and its amazing.
Heck even my RED Scarlet would work on the above for live use.


Yep, a RED scarlet will work in there. Most anything will really. I haven't used a Sony Anycast yet, but I don't mind those Blackmagic ATEM mixers. I like the fact that you dont necessarily need the control surface, using your laptop works just as well. Unfortunately they are a little underpowered for most things I do. This particular event in the above photo was actually a pretty low spec job. We only had 18 cameras, 6 replay machines and a couple of graphics generators. Normally we can expect at least 25 cameras etc. But this time we didn't have to link with a studio as another production group was adding their own branding, commentary and hosting positions. Nice easy day out!

I don't know about the streaming side of things much. But to get the camera into your Mac I would look at a blackmagic ultrastudio express. This will be able to connect just about any camera to your computer via thunderbolt. Also works for export too, but mainly back through SDI rather than to the web.
 
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