uStream questions

[Pastor Gary]

Several people have contacted me with questions about the technical aspects of our weekly streaming of services, and I apologize for the delay in responding. I have been busier than planned for the past month or more, and no let-up in sight. My tech guys are likewise really busy.

The best I can do is provide a copy of the Video Operations Manualproduced by my Tech Pastor, Steve Ruddell, for training our crew. DISCLAIMER: A few aspects of uStream's interface have changed a bit, and the way we produce video has also changed since this was done. The basics, however, should help those of you trying t figure out the basics.


Enjoy!

[captaindw]

Pastor Gary,

Security warning!

Having the Username and PASSWORD in the document is not a good idea. I would remove that part from the document.



Yes you can trust us, but this being a public forum you never know...

[Pastor Gary]

Pastor Gary,

Security warning!

Having the Username and PASSWORD in the document is not a good idea. I would remove that part from the document.



Yes you can trust us, but this being a public forum you never know...

I am always pretty trusting, and it bites me in the posterior now and then!

I edited and concealed the actual user/pass box, even though I am not sure those are the current username/password. If you downloaded it, please TRASH your download and RE-download the version with info removed. Thanks.

[Steve]

Thanks. PG. The diagram is GREAT! A couple of questions when you have the time.....

What brand switcher do you use?

What are the functions of Eric, Steve and Survailaince?

What kind of output jacks do you use for Presentation Computer and Video Computer? What are the functions of these two computers?

Thanks!

Steve

[Pastor Gary]

Thanks. PG. The diagram is GREAT! A couple of questions when you have the time.....

Not really sure I can answer the questions correctly, since I am so far removed from the tech team loop as we have gone mobile and the complexity of the set-up has grown, but I will try.

What brand switcher do you use?

We have two switchers, both identical, both generously donated! We have two Videonics MX-1's. We drool over Edirol, Gras Valley and other high end brands, but we are thrilled to have what we have.

What are the functions of Eric, Steve and Survailaince?

Those designations were merely to identify various camera positions; none of those are the same now. LOL "Surveillance" was a wall-mounted, fixed position camera without an operator. We decided it was pretty much a wasted shot and eliminated it.

We run a 3-camera shoot each week now, with one camera about 1/3 of the way back on the left side of the congregation, from a high angle. Camera 2 is on the congregation's right side, slightly closer than Camera 1, and at a lower angle of view. Camera 3, is about 1/4 of the way on the same side as #2, but is used often handheld and off the tripod to get reaction shots, close-ups, etc.

The video crew members wear headset-walkie-talkies so the video director van call shots and yell at them when they drift off!

What kind of output jacks do you use for Presentation Computer and Video Computer? What are the functions of these two computers?

On the video side of the tech team we are all Mac, and everything gets mixed down into a firewire feed to a small "passthrough" video camera/recorder. We record the pre-mixed feed on MiniDV tape in that camera (also donated!!!) and also firewire feed that camera into one of the Macs that is logged on and streaming the service live on uStream. The tape is later edited into 00:58:30 for local TV broadcast -- we take out all the announcements, etc. and leave worship, prayer, message and inserted elements like dance/video.

So the streaming Mac laptop is one, there's a second Mac laptop (mine) from which we feed a Keynote announcement pre-loop (Turn off cell phones, sign kids in to Children's Church, don't forget baptism next Sunday...), the P&W song lyrics, and the elements of the service -- scriptures, photos used as illustrations, etc. The 3rd Mac laptop is used to feed video: a 5-minute countdown before service, video backgrounds behind lyrics, video clips used in sermon illustrations, etc. We realize that there are software solutions to combine the functions of laptops 2 and 3, but because we often mix in live video (camera shots) and other elements, we like the flexibility of our setup.

It is far from perfect, but I am extremely proud of what our guys/girls have accomplished with donated, borrowed and seat-of-the-pants-engineering.

As for connectors, I am not sure about the details. The cameras use BNC connectors, and the laptops are Firewire.

[Paully_44]

This type of topic would make for a great Breakout session at the General Assembly.

You did good last assembly. It would sure be nice to have some real techie type workshops.