PTZ Optics White paper: Live Streaming a Fashion Show - With the Sling Studio, LiveU Solo and PTZ Optics
From LinkedIn
The team here are PTZOptics loves to get out of the office and live stream events. This week we were honored to be able to live stream the West Chester Fall Fashion Show and I thought it would be a great chance to test out the new "Entry-Level" video production gear from Sling Studio. I have to admit that I am spoiled when it comes to video production gear. I have access to the majority of live streaming technology available on the market, so for this blog post I am making an effort to step back and consider what a complete live streaming system starting at just $999 is capable of.
With that being said, the Sling Studio is self proclaimed "Professional multi-camera production and live video streaming system" and it really does work. Most of the system relies on wireless technology which will make any video production expert a little concerned. The two key components are an iPad and the Sling Studio Cam Links. The iPad is used for camera switching and the Cam Links are used to send a wireless HDMI video signal up to 300 feet away. So, I learned very quickly that everything better be charged and ready to go. When I didn't like very much is relying on a ticking time bomb which is the battery. The Cam Links only last for 3 hours. That's fine for most events but it doesn't allow for much time before the event for testing. We had to wait until just 30 minutes before the Fashion Show to turn the darn things on!
Anyway, the Sling Studio does work really well and for the price it's pretty incredible what they are delivering on. The $999 price tag gets you a complete video production system, an included capture card (The system has one HDMI input) and the ability to make an iOS phone a wireless camera input. The additional Cam Links will cost you $350 which is standard for a high quality wireless transmitter. I will mention that the wireless transmitters have about a 2 seconds delay.
The Sling Studio does have built in graphics and the ability to upload custom video clips. I am used to PC based video production software and this is where I started to feel spoiled. So, in the name of redundancy I took the output of my Sling Studio and plugged it into a Magewell Capture Card and plugged the entire output into Wirecast. Wirecast features a much more robust video production setup but keep in mind, the entire Sling Studio package is roughly the same cost as Wirecast. So I can understand, it's purpose and place in the market.
Now for the fun stuff. I really enjoyed how easy it was placing cameras around the venue without having to run cables. Here you can see we have two PTZOptics cameras on a Truss raised up above the crowds of people viewing the fashion show. The Cam Links were zip-tied to the truss and simply connected to the HDMI of each camera.
Using the LiveU Solo
There isn't ever a live video production that goes 100% smoothly and I have accepted that fact. When you think every little thing is going to work out, it throws a huge monkey wrench into your thinking process when an issue comes along. For this event we were told there would be access to a hard wired Ethernet we could use for internet access. We had that, but randomly Windows would ask us for authentication into their network and then kick us off. So it was a big issue and who knows what the real reason was, but the WiFi was also unreliable. Luckily, we always bring along our LiveU Solo system which features bonded cellular connections that does not rely on WiFi or local internet. This LiveU Solo saved the entire live stream :)
Conclusion:
Live Streaming a Fashion is both fun and rewarding. There were a ton of things we would do differently next time and we plan to cover those in an upcoming. I will link to that video below so that it will be available for those who like to learn 
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