Lessons Learnt - Webcasting live to the web

Larry Jordan#

Author: Larry Jordan#

Published 1st October 2015

by Larry Jordan Issue 105 - September 2015 When I first started in this industry, more than 40 years ago, live television broadcasts were plentiful and popular. In fact, I got my start as a director in live television. However, the only way to create a live broadcast was with lots of equipment, large crews and plenty of money.
Today, the paradigm has shifted away from broadcast to the web. Live webinars abound from a wide variety of sources. In the past, live broadcasting was extremely complex. Today, live webcasts are far easier.
A couple of issues ago, I wrote about how we were able to create our own live web streaming facility for our studio. This month, I want to share some of the lessons weve learned over the last several months on what it takes to make web streaming successful.

  • Live webcasting is the same as doing live television. Keep the pace moving, and take advantage of the visual aspect of your presentation.
  • Dont do live streaming unless you can take advantage of being live through the content you are providing, chats with the audience, surveys, or other interactive elements. Live streaming is WAY harder than downloading a file. Downloading recorded files is fast, easy, inexpensive and cheap. The technology is well understood and works great. Live streaming should only be considered when the live element is paramount. However, like live broadcasting in general, when everything is working, theres nothing more exciting than watching something unfold live, in real-time.
  • Online webinar systems like GoToWebinar or Adobe Connect are excellent for screen sharing with a single microphone. They are terrible if you need to coordinate multiple audio elements into a program.
  • We prefer not to use YouTube live streaming even though YouTube live streaming is much easier. If you simply need to set-up a one-time-only stream to a few friends, this is a perfect system. However, YouTube exists for online adverting and marketing. I cant control or remove ads that may appear on my stream, nor can I control who can watch it. If I am presenting proprietary or paid material, YouTube is not a good choice. For me, it boils down to a question of control; I want to be in control of my live streams.
  • There is always a delay in a streamed file. There is a LOT of latency in the web. On a live stream, originating from our offices, the streamed version of our presentation will run1 to 3 minutes BEHIND the live event. This has big implications if you are expecting live comments from the audience, as they will be responding several minutes after you presented the material. If no audience response is expected, this is not a big deal. But if you are expecting interaction, you need to design your presentation to accommodate these delays.
  • We start all our live streams with a 15 minute pre-recorded preshow. During the preshow, we run tips on how to maximize audience participation, humorous sayings, sponsor messages and anything else that seems appropriate. This allows audience members to verify they are in the right place for the right presentation and that their system is working properly.
  • You must use a content distribution network to distribute your program on the web. We use Wirecast to digitize our content and send it from the Wirecast computer to the web. From there, the CDN (FrontLayer.com) takes over and sends our signal to the world.
  • Unlike downloads, live streaming takes bandwidth. LOTS of bandwidth. If you expect a lot of people to watch, be sure you budget enough money to cover bandwidth costs. Also, truthfully, if you are doing a large event, hire a company to handle the technical details of the live stream; at least the first time. There is a LOT to configure and even more that can go wrong. If this is a high-visibility event, get help.
  • If the size of your audience varies, or tends to be on the smaller side, consider using a streaming provider that charges for on-demand bandwidth. We use FrontLayer.com, which does just that. We pay for a base amount of bandwidth and we are able to purchase more if we need it.

  • One of the best tips I got when I first started creating my podcast was to build a Show Bed. This is a fully-timed QuickTime file containing the open, close, segment times and all music. Because the show bed is already built and timed, I dont need to worry about rolling in lots of different elements, I just need to worry about the content and ending segments on time. If you have a very limited crew, creating a show bed can reduce errors and stress. As your crew, facilities and skills increase, you can move away from a show bed into a more flexible format.

  • I recommend streaming a 720p/30 HD image. Yes, larger image sizes look great, but not everyone in your audience has the bandwidth to support the larger image. Worse, moving from a 720p image to a 1080p image will almost double your bandwidth costs. I find that we get great images and results webcasting 720p.
  • The more complex your program, the faster computer you need for digitizing. In our case, we switch cameras, add graphics, and other video elements using a Blackmagic Design ATEM switcher. Then, the audio and video signals go to a Mac Mini computer running Wirecast for digitizing and uploading to the web. We upload at 2 mbps. If we were switching cameras, adding graphics and digitizing on the same system, Id swap the Mac Mini for an 8-core Mac Pro with 64 GB of RAM.

Live webcasting gives me the same fun and excitement today as I did creating live television all those years ago. However, it isnt the same; issues of latency, bandwidth, computer horsepower and technical complexity make webcasting challenging. In fact, during all our live productions, I have at least one web person online full-time handling tech support issues, which are separate from questions about content.
However, once you have your system properly setup and your staff trained, presenting a live production is just about the most fun you can have in production. The old days have returned to life.

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