Webcasting with Wirecast Guide
Telestream recently posted a great guide to webcasting with Wirecast. This article comes at a great time as more and more organizations and individuals turn towards streaming.
A good live stream features many important aspects. So how do you decide the settings to best deliver your live stream? Well, there are several factors to consider.
Aspects Include:
- Hardware
- Bandwidth
- Broadcast settings
- Multiple Streams
- Inputs
- Codecs
Hardware
The number one thing to remember when choosing your hardware is the better the specs on your machine, the better your stream, obviously. Wirecast is a great streaming option because it is compatible with both Mac and PC, making it extremely flexible.
Telestream also has their Wirecast Gear line, which are hardware devices built to run Wirecast at a high capacity.
Bandwidth
Bandwidth is also an incredibly important factor when streaming. Users can chose between several methods to stream to the web, all of which will have seperate bandwidth requirements.
Streamers can broadcast on their own using Quicktime, Streaming Server, Flash Streaming Server and more. They can also use a community streaming website like Ustream, Livestream, Justin.tv, etc.
Lastly, users can user CDNs to stream. This includes most common streaming destinations, and can be achieved via Wirecast.
Broadcast Settings
Determining the correct settings for your broadcast is also incredibly important to creating a working stream with Wirecast. When deciding how to set your broadcast settings, consider the following.
- How much bandwidth do I have?
- How much bandwidth does my audience have?
- What type of video do I want to broadcast?
Multiple Streams
Wirecast encodes it's outputs as you stream. While Wirecast itself is more than capable of sending multiple streams, this could have a great impact on your machine. Once again, always make sure your gear is up to speed with your software and your agenda.
Inputs
Wirecast allows users to monitor, mix and stream a variety of inputs. While streaming, you can easilY have several live camera feeds and motion graphics.
However, it is worth noting that high quality video streams can often bog down machines without the capability to handle them all at once. Always monitor your inputs with the quality of your machine.
Codecs
It is also worth considering what codec you are using to output your video stream in. Each codec has its own built in data limitations, so be familiar with the ones that go with yours.
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