Telestream Wirecast 4 Video Streaming Software
28/11/10 08:43
Wirecast 4 is finally out and the new update is great. Wirecast is the video streaming and archiving software made by Telestream, best known for their encoding software Episode. I have used Wirecast for two years and it continues to provide a full production suite for those looking to create high quality videos for live and on-demand video sites. With built in support for well known live streaming services, including Justin.tv and Livestream, the setup is incredibly easy. Not only can you use firewire inputs, analog video input cards, etc, but the newest version gives you the ability to take a video stream from IP sources such as IP security cameras. You can set up various shots using any input you have connected and lay additional graphics over using lower thirds, text generator, and even used the chromo key for green screen. While streaming your video you can also be recording the same signal to various codecs and file types for upload to youtube or Vimeo.
All of this requires quite a bit of computational power so don’t expect to throw you old macbook into this and end up with a nice stream. I use a Mac Pro with an Nvidia Quadro graphics card and lots of ram. With this setup I see system usage well below 60% during live stream while recording to HDD using the H.264 codec.
For churches this is a dream system. Other businesses wanting to stream live or simply put out high quality videos for online viewing would also make a great fit for this software. The Wirecast support team are very good at working through issues via their online support board and their are many professionals who can help you on the site as well. This is worth a look with a price of $449 for Wirecast 4 and the Pro version, which gets 3D virtual sets, audio sync delay control, integrated scoreboards for sports broadcast, HDV camera support, and sourcing from IP Cameras, for $995. When compared to hardware solutions that are available, that price looks might nice.
We have had a lot of requests for specific set up information that we use at churches. I made up a PDF that has the basic layout of one popular Wirecast setup including the streaming and recording to disk settings. Hopefully this will help some folks out.
Wirecast Setup at VBFA PDF
All of this requires quite a bit of computational power so don’t expect to throw you old macbook into this and end up with a nice stream. I use a Mac Pro with an Nvidia Quadro graphics card and lots of ram. With this setup I see system usage well below 60% during live stream while recording to HDD using the H.264 codec.
For churches this is a dream system. Other businesses wanting to stream live or simply put out high quality videos for online viewing would also make a great fit for this software. The Wirecast support team are very good at working through issues via their online support board and their are many professionals who can help you on the site as well. This is worth a look with a price of $449 for Wirecast 4 and the Pro version, which gets 3D virtual sets, audio sync delay control, integrated scoreboards for sports broadcast, HDV camera support, and sourcing from IP Cameras, for $995. When compared to hardware solutions that are available, that price looks might nice.
We have had a lot of requests for specific set up information that we use at churches. I made up a PDF that has the basic layout of one popular Wirecast setup including the streaming and recording to disk settings. Hopefully this will help some folks out.
Wirecast Setup at VBFA PDF
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