Live Streaming a Church Service on Facebook

[David L]

I just got approached from a family member that ask if I could help them setup a Video Streaming in their church. The Church is not large, maybe 100-150 seats. They are presently doing their streaming on a phone I was told. I think their budget is $1000 to $1500.

I have been to their church a few times, it is not well lit like many small churches.

Camera/Tripod/NVR and a way to connect to the Internet for the Live Stream...I am guessing...

Any help/advice is very much appreciated...

 

[looney2ns]

I can't find it off hand, but a couple of years ago a member here setup stream services for his church that worked out well.
Do some digging here, and hopefully you can find it.
He used a PTZ mounted on a wall at the back of the auditorium.

 

[TonyR]

Hopefully they've got a least 4Mbps upload speed on their Internet.
I'd try the free OBS to handle the streaming.
Doesn't take a lot of PC horsepower, at least a i3 or i5 4th gen, maybe 8GB RAM, but dedicated to the task.
The cam's webGUI can likely handle the PTZ since it will have limited function, mostly zoom in/out.

 

[garycrist]

Make it real easy do an Amazon search for "camcorder for facebook"

$700 for this.. It looks plug and play too.
NDI PTZ Camera, 30X Optical Zoom USB3.0 3G-SDI HDMI and IP Live Streaming PoE PTZ Camera for Video Conference Church Worship

 

[David L]

Hopefully they've got a least 4Mbps upload speed on their Internet.
I'd try the free OBS to handle the streaming.
Doesn't take a lot of PC horsepower, at least a i3 or i5 4th gen, maybe 8GB RAM, but dedicated to the task.
The cam's webGUI can likely handle the PTZ since it will have limited function, mostly zoom in/out.

I know Spectrum is in their area so checking on their speed...

Thanks, yeah they did not mention tracking though they may want it if the Priest moves around alot.

 

[danweber1]

Obs studio works well. You also may want to consider a input switcher like a Roland vr1-hd for switching/combining inputs from the camera and worship software into a nice single stream.

 

[TonyR]

Thanks, yeah they did not mention tracking though they may want it if the Priest moves around alot.

I've seen that (auto tracking) of the speaker/pastor/ priest done before and IMO, I cannot imagine anything more annoying and distracting.

I recommend a wide view that initially shows the entire scene: pulpit/lectern centered, both sides in case there's a choir, piano, organ, chairs for assistant/youth pastor/priest or guest speaker, etc. Then when the speaker/pastor/priest begins the sermon and intends to stay reasonably put, zoom in for the duration. But this has to be coordinated with that speaker so that they do not step in/out of frame repeatedly. If they can't manage that, then zoom out some, those zoom points can be preset.

Certainly one can try and possibly use tracking but personally I myself cannot stand watching a stream on a TV and the camera is panning back and forth, etc. It could be just me, age, etc.

 

[The Automation Guy]

Our church uses OBS to concurrently broadcast/stream to both Facebook and YouTube. I handle audio for the church, but know enough about the video system to be dangerous. Unfortunately I don't know that much about OBS, but I believe there are plenty of online resources available. I don't believe it would be difficult to set this up using OSB.

If they are going to start out with a single camera, it is relatively easy to set up and you don't need a video switcher. Keep in mind that while everyone is going to be concerned about the video quality, audio is perhaps more important to the overall impact of the stream. If the audio quality of a stream is poor, a person is much more likely to stop watching than if the video quality isn't great. I suspect right now the audio in the stream is being captured by the phone. Most churches will send a audio output from the mixing console to replace the camera audio because it should be much "cleaner". I would definitely try to use an audio output from the mixing console vs trying to capture audio from the camera.

However, peeling the "layers of an onion", the audio feed being sent to the broadcast is usually a separate aux mix that is different from what is being heard in the room. This is because if there are any acoustic instruments in the room, their level in the FOH sound mix (ie the room mix) is probably different than what is needed in the broadcast mix because there won't be an "ambient volume" of the instrument in the broadcast mix. If there is a separate mix dedicated for the broadcast, the various audio levels can be optimized for the broadcast, even if they need to be different than what is output in the room. In other words, audio from the board is better than audio from the camera, but a unique broadcast "mix" from the board is better than just duplicating/sending the main L/R output to the broadcast.

As you can see, there are various ways to set up audio for broadcast. I am happy to discuss it further and help/give advice if needed. Just shoot me a DM.

I will say that all the normal "characteristics" of a good CCTV camera will carry over to church use. Unfortunately, most churches don't have enough lighting to effectively broadcast. It takes a tremendous amount of light for most broadcast cameras to work well. Unless the church has designed their lighting specifically for broadcast (and clearly this church has not), it is going to be a real struggle to get great video. Sticking with large sensors and HD quality (no 4k needed) will help.

 

[David L]

Great Advise guys. thank you...

@TonyR I would agree with No Auto Tracking, I too have seen it and it seems cheesy...

Now the big question, what PTZ CAM? The Church is laid out kinda like an Arrow with no tip. So getting a total wide stationary view of the pulpit and Singers/Players would put the Camera midway, probably hanging from the ceiling otherwise, if my memory serves me correct, there are columns that would block the view. I will try to get some pictures with footages.

@The Automation Guy Thank you for your input. I was thinking the same thing about the audio, guessing a wireless mic setup. I don't think they have music in the background during their sermons, only noise may be from parishioners. But if they include their music with the Live Streaming Service there will need to me another Mic.

@danweber1 Thank You for your help...will look into the Roland Mixer
So this is the software:

Open Broadcaster Software | OBS

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is free and open source software for video recording and live streaming. Stream to Twitch, YouTube and many other providers or record your own videos with high quality H264 / AAC encoding.

obsproject.com

I don't remember a closet room for the equip., I will ask...since they will need a PC-Laptop/Mixer/NVR, correct?

Thanks again, everyone for your help...

 

[HMC8403]

That was me

Live Streaming

Sorry guys, I'm still overseas and don't have tons of time to research. My church back home has been Live Streaming services on Facebook and YouTube with an old Laptop and a WebCam. They are about to replace the Logitech webcam and I was thinking recommending the use of a POE PTZ cam like the...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[HMC8403]

This was a while ago and I did most of the planning while away from home. COVID lockdown was in place and I was asked my suggestions on setting something up that was better than a laptop and cheap webcam.

I started researching PTZOptics but the price was very expensive and since I was planning on donating everything myself, I needed it to be a good but affordable. I ended up getting a SD49425XB from @EMPIRETECANDY, and using a RTSP feed into XSplit broadcaster software. The audio was the most difficult part but got an adapter that plugged into the headphone jack off the sound system and then the USB off the laptop. If you look at my original post, it should list what type of audio adapter was used.

After getting things moving, I trained some alter boys how to run the stream every week. I’m not sure why, but they decided to delete each weeks service instead of leaving it on the cloud for future viewing. But if you want to see my set up in action, you can hop on YouTube Sunday around 10 AM central time Orthros and Divine Liturgy 4/14/24 -- St. John Climacus Of The Ladder

I have attached some photos that were saved on my phone so you can see the quality and also the desktop of the computer we used to control everything.

 

[David L]

This was a while ago and I did most of the planning while away from home. COVID lockdown was in place and I was asked my suggestions on setting something up that was better than a laptop and cheap webcam.

I started researching PTZOptics but the price was very expensive and since I was planning on donating everything myself, I needed it to be a good but affordable. I ended up getting a SD49425XB from @EMPIRETECANDY, and using a RTSP feed into XSplit broadcaster software. The audio was the most difficult part but got an adapter that plugged into the headphone jack off the sound system and then the USB off the laptop. If you look at my original post, it should list what type of audio adapter was used.

After getting things moving, I trained some alter boys how to run the stream every week. I’m not sure why, but they decided to delete each weeks service instead of leaving it on the cloud for future viewing. But if you want to see my set up in action, you can hop on YouTube Sunday around 10 AM central time Orthros and Divine Liturgy 4/14/24 -- St. John Climacus Of The Ladder

I have attached some photos that were saved on my phone so you can see the quality and also the desktop of the computer we used to control everything.

Very, Very Nice...thanks for sharing...I will pass this info on...oh BTW, ya'll have a Beautiful Church...

Did you ever try OBS Studio?

 

[HMC8403]

Very, Very Nice...thanks for sharing...I will pass this info on...oh BTW, ya'll have a Beautiful Church...

Did you ever try OBS Studio?

Thank you.
I did research OBS but decided on XSplit; can’t remember why but I think OBS was more confusing.

Another plus of getting the PTZ that I did, other than the <$500 price is the presets. they sometimes stream funerals when family members are overseas and the altar boy just needs to press the preset number instead of trying to frame it up each time.

They did a wedding once, here is a screenshot.

 

[HMC8403]

I had to remote in to remember the name of this cool little program. EazyPTZ puts a small window on your PC and you can select a preset from the numbers or move the camera with the arrows.

 

[TRLcam]

Obs studio works well. You also may want to consider a input switcher like a Roland vr1-hd for switching/combining inputs from the camera and worship software into a nice single stream.

OBS will do that with the addition of a free addon.

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

maybe use a 4K PTZ, this one support RMTP, just need to add an external voice pick up.
PTZ4K-25X-PV, 25X zoom.