Event Live Stream Ideas

[Bruce Meyer]

I did several Michigan district events and the state competition with vMix. IMO, it is a very cost effective option. http://vmixhd.com.
I ran it on a simple tower PC with a 1Gb video card and an AverMedia PCI capture card (c127) and a Go Pro Hero 4. The field display was captured with a Epiphan vga2usb adapter.

For $350 vMix allows 1000 HD inputs meaning all types of media, not just cameras. DVDs, various movie file formats, audio, etc. It was very easy to have all of the various FIRST videos, event sponsor slides, etc. queued ahead of time for quick live switching.

vMix allows for up to 3 stream outputs, although this season FiM just used one (Twitch). It also allows recording to disk. If you visit the FIRST in Michigan You Tube page, the videos uploaded from vMix are Southfield, Woodhaven, Centerline, Bedford, and States. Note, earlier in the season we placed the Go Pro about 10 ft from the field. Later we placed it back 25-30ft for a better wide view with no "fisheye" effect.

For streaming providers, I've used both You Tube and Twitch. You Tube is very picky about music. The events I did in 2014 were flagged for the music in the kickoff video which I know was ok...Twitch is content blocked in most school systems. You can stream out, but some people may not be able to watch. Both were fine for quality. You need to be conservative on streaming. I think I was at 1.5Mb running 720p.

Hope this helps some people!