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Church supported Web Broadcast Kit

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 5:30 pm
by grantzobell-p40
I understand that the Church is putting together a kit that units can buy to do their own web broadcasts, like for Stake Conferences. Does anybody have an ETA on that? We have a Stake conference coming up on February 8th.

Grant

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 6:15 pm
by aebrown
grantzobell wrote:I understand that the Church is putting together a kit that units can buy to do their own web broadcasts, like for Stake Conferences. Does anybody have an ETA on that? We have a Stake conference coming up on February 8th.
I don't have any specific ETA, but there is some good information in the thread: Regional Broadcasting Technology. It has posts from people who have actually used the evaluation version of the kit.

Notice on Webcast Service availability

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 12:31 pm
by danpass
My Stake President just forwarded a notice dated February 9, 2009 from the Office of the Presiding Bishopric and ICS. The subject heading is Webcast Service.

The notice is very brief, but indicates that equipment for webcasting may now be ordered from Distribution Services. No catalog numbers are provided in the notice. It also says that more information is available at clerk.lds.org/webcast. At the moment, that address just gets you to the main clerk.lds.org page. Presumably, this will be remedied soon...

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 12:51 pm
by aebrown
danpass wrote:My Stake President just forwarded a notice dated February 9, 2009 from the Office of the Presiding Bishopric and ICS. The subject heading is Webcast Service.

The notice is very brief, but indicates that equipment for webcasting may now be ordered from Distribution Services. No catalog numbers are provided in the notice. It also says that more information is available at clerk.lds.org/webcast. At the moment, that address just gets you to the main clerk.lds.org page. Presumably, this will be remedied soon...
Wow, your stake president is right on top of things. It does appear that the notice got sent before the clerk.lds.org site was updated. I also am unable to find the item anywhere on ldscatalog.com at this point.

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 11:20 pm
by jamesm76
I just had the Feb 9th notice forwarded to me from my Stake Presidency and had the same issue. The clerk.lds.org/webcast link is broken (redirects to the main page). And the instructions on ordering the equipment from www.ldscatalog.com seem to be bogus as well... I can't seem to find any webcast equipment there (maybe I'm missing something though).

Does anyone happen to know what this is about? Is this to enable things like remote classes and perhaps to broadcast Stake Conference to multiple buildings in a single session? That would be cool... Anyway, I'm going to assume that everyone else is in the dark since the link is not working. Please let me know if otherwise.

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 5:24 am
by aebrown
jamesm76 wrote:Does anyone happen to know what this is about? Is this to enable things like remote classes and perhaps to broadcast Stake Conference to multiple buildings in a single session? That would be cool... Anyway, I'm going to assume that everyone else is in the dark since the link is not working. Please let me know if otherwise.

You can review this post and others in that same thread to learn about the technology, at least as it was during the evaluation period. It may well have changed since then.

But hopefully the official links will start working soon and we'll have more accurate official information.

Meetinghouse Webcast documentation now available

Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 12:14 am
by aebrown
danpass wrote:My Stake President just forwarded a notice dated February 9, 2009 from the Office of the Presiding Bishopric and ICS. The subject heading is Webcast Service.

The notice is very brief, but indicates that equipment for webcasting may now be ordered from Distribution Services. No catalog numbers are provided in the notice. It also says that more information is available at clerk.lds.org/webcast. At the moment, that address just gets you to the main clerk.lds.org page. Presumably, this will be remedied soon...

The Meetinghouse Webcast Overview page is now available on clerk.lds.org. The hardware for the system is also available now on ldscatalog.com (if you login using your stake's unit login); instructions for ordering are on the Overview page.

The one odd thing about the Overview page is that there are a couple of references to "Meetinghouse Webcast frequently asked questions" but no link is provided and I can't find such a document by searching. I sent feedback to clerk.lds.org asking where the FAQ is.

Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 10:53 am
by aebrown
Alan_Brown wrote:The one odd thing about the Overview page is that there are a couple of references to "Meetinghouse Webcast frequently asked questions" but no link is provided and I can't find such a document by searching. I sent feedback to clerk.lds.org asking where the FAQ is.
I got a prompt reply from the support team for clerk.lds.org regarding the absence of the referenced FAQ:
In working with the MSR Engineers, we are currently developing a list of frequently asked questions for this section of the clerk.lds.org site. If you have any suggestions that you would like to include in this document, please don't hesitate to let us know.
So it looks like it's underway but not posted yet.

Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 11:08 am
by rmaughan
Thanks for the info!

I would like to see details about the connectivity options for the "Webcast Communicator" box and it would be great if they could post a PDF manual or at least an overview with some additional details -- keeping in mind any possible security compromises.

Also, I noticed that there aren't any PTZ cameras listed for purchase and use with the communicator box on ldscatalog.com -- hopefully, something will be made available to purchase soon and maybe a list of recommended/compatible cameras.

Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 1:30 pm
by jamesm76
Alan_Brown wrote:I got a prompt reply from the support team for clerk.lds.org regarding the absence of the referenced FAQ:

So it looks like it's underway but not posted yet.
Thanks for the update Alan. Would you please post an update if you receive something from the support team? I will check back periodically on my own as well to see when the FAQ goes up. There was also a "Meetinghouse Webcast Guide" referenced which was also not a link. Sounds like this is still a "work in progress".