How to do a webcast?

[waialua359]

Great post with great info and suggestions.

[Coach Norm]

I am a Ustreamer. I used it this summer at an international convention in San Antonio. We had over 200 viewers watching at one time from all over the world. It also has a chat room that viewers can interact with each other as well as the producers of the show.

As a producer, you have the ability to adjust the video and audio quality. It is also archived for later purposes.

I also use a Web2.0 program called Mogulus. http://www.mogulus.com/

Mogulus is a complete studio control system. It allows you to have multiple cameras running at one time. It is a free system just like Ustream. You can prerecord and play video or screenshots as well.


Hope this helps.

[Scott L.]

I have done 2 webcasts (PARC X, PARC XI) using windows media services on the server and a Newtek Tricaster as the encoder so far and am planning for my 3rd (Duel on the Delaware VII). I use a setup that would run ~$25,000+ brand new and took me 7 years to collect (minus the tricaster and camera, still saving for them ). I use 2 servers, Laptop, 3 Cameras, Encoder effects Computer(Tricaster), 10 input Audio Mixer, Commercial Scan Converter, 24-port switch, Dual Wan VPN Router, Wireless Access Point, HD Tuner(ATSC/NTSC/QAM)/Capture Card, 3 LCD Monitors, KVM Switch, and Cable Amplifier. A T-1 Internet connection is the bare minimum to run this setup, since I have the server located at the event's venue. A DSL Connection with 1.5Mbps Upload might also work, but I have never used one yet.
When encoding you need to take into account what speed your veiwers will most likely have and set the bit rates accordingly. Using multiple bitrates is best as this way you can cover lower speed viewers, such as those with 1Mbps download DSL or lower. Bitrates like 240kbps, 320kbps, 420kbps, 512kbps, and 1Mbps. it is best to test this before the event to verify what rates are best for each type of viewer connection. Also firewall ports must be opened at the location to allow for this type of setup. A simple way of making sure the correct ports are opened at the venue is to have a public IP link to a private IP of the router's WAN port you use in the webcasting rig. This way you can open ports if/when needed.

Hope this helps, and