Church Webcasts using YouTube Live Streams

[mashcraft]

My stake has been using Youtube live for a few weeks now with great success.

We are using laptops with 2 USB ports and one Ethernet port -- one for a webcam mounted right in front of the podium and one for a USB audio adapter, pulling the audio from the line-out jack under the Sacrament table. We are using the Ethernet jack by the podium and turning off wi-fi to save bandwidth for the broadcast. [For Apple laptops USB-C adapters to provide USB and Ethernet have worked].

We've used Chrome with YouTube Live webcam broadcasts. This eliminates the need for having software installed (only the Chrome browser is required) as well as the need to learn OBS or other broadcasting tools.

I've updated the document to match some changes to the Youtube UI.

[craiggsmith]

A question for those using YouTube live. I have a ward that is having problems with it.

From what I'm told:

• The equipment being used is borrowed, owned by someone other than the operator. Each week it arrives in a unknown state.
• There is no preview with YouTube live so you can be sure the external webcam is selected. (as opposed to the webcam built-into the laptop).
• You can't switch webcams once the stream starts.
• Stopping the stream cancels it, forcing a last-second email to the membership about the new link

I personally haven't tried YouTube live. Is there something my operator is overlooking to make sure the webcast uses the right camera from the get-go?

We use OBS with YouTube, which has a preview and you can of course switch audio and video after scheduling.
If the broadcasts are public, people don't need a link, they can just search for it and/or subscribe to the channel.

[craiggsmith]

Our ward has been using youtube live (webcam) for a couple of weeks. Everything has gone smoothly with one exception. Our setup is a laptop (internal camera) and line-in audio from the pulpit microphone (RCA jacks). When someone is at the pulpit, the audio is perfect. However, when the organ is playing prelude and/or we're singing a song, the audio (as it is received by a viewer at home) fluctuates up and down. To isolate the problem (see it was the sound system or something else), I recorded my wife playing the organ. I first recreated the problem with youtube live and webcam option. Then, I used "audicity" and I recorded her playing. The play back was perfect, no fluctuation. Conclusion, youtube live is not handling the audio very well. I've sent a comment to youtube about the issue and have not yet gotten any feed back. ..........

It may seem like youtube is the culprit because you get a clean signal in audacity, but it's also possible audacity is controlling/changing some audio setting of your laptop.

It's worth verifying the ControlPanel/Sound settings (PC), or SystemPreferences (Apple), to make sure the audio signal level is approaching 75-100% when someone is speaking at the pulpit. If you have low signal level, and the input have AGC=On, you might get some strange results.

We are using YouTube with OBS and haven't had this problem when using the building audio. But we had a similar problem with a previous audio source; turns out it had built-in noise reduction, and the music was apparently at its threshold of what it thought was noise. Perhaps YouTube native encoding has this; otherwise it seems like AGC as Cal mentioned.

[jkarras]

What we found works well is an old Pixel 3a purchased on ebay (~$60) that had defects we didn't mind (screen streaking). The phone is factory default except for adding the Larix Broadcaster app. We then have a TRRS -> TRS audio cable with the needed resistors to allow the phone to detect the audio as Mic input. The audio output from the PA is mini jack right at podium (Our building A/V was updated last year).

We the purchased a gooseneck phone holder that clips to the podium. The setup is very plug and play pretty much click through wifi, launch app tap record. Watch for video to go live on YouTube Studio. Links are pre-scheduled and in the ward calendar. We use the same stream key so no messing with the phone is needed. Then just start/stop the stream via YouTube Studio. Phone goes back into the clerk's office on the charger during the week.

This has the benefit of the device always being at the church. It's not tied to a person who may not be there is they get sick or have other issues.

When streaming started we moved our sacrament to the end of the meeting per the guidance given. This way there is no messing with cutting audio/video in the middle. Those at home don't have to wait for an unknown amount of time for the meeting. For those at home the meeting ends up being about 30-40min. Those in person stay the extra 15 min for the sacrament.

[mwilliam13]

I got around it by dropping to port 80. so try http://... vs https://...

[marobert]

What we found works well is an old Pixel 3a purchased on ebay (~$60) that had defects we didn't mind (screen streaking). The phone is factory default except for adding the Larix Broadcaster app. We then have a TRRS -> TRS audio cable with the needed resistors to allow the phone to detect the audio as Mic input. The audio output from the PA is mini jack right at podium (Our building A/V was updated last year).

We the purchased a gooseneck phone holder that clips to the podium. The setup is very plug and play pretty much click through wifi, launch app tap record. Watch for video to go live on YouTube Studio. Links are pre-scheduled and in the ward calendar. We use the same stream key so no messing with the phone is needed. Then just start/stop the stream via YouTube Studio. Phone goes back into the clerk's office on the charger during the week.

This has the benefit of the device always being at the church. It's not tied to a person who may not be there is they get sick or have other issues.

When streaming started we moved our sacrament to the end of the meeting per the guidance given. This way there is no messing with cutting audio/video in the middle. Those at home don't have to wait for an unknown amount of time for the meeting. For those at home the meeting ends up being about 30-40min. Those in person stay the extra 15 min for the sacrament.

I am using an old phone that does not have mobile network service. But after connecting to wifi, it still requires me use the internet to answer an authorization question before I can use the internet. How to I get past this problem trying to connect to the Liahona wifi at church?

[russellhltn]

I am using an old phone that does not have mobile network service. But after connecting to wifi, it still requires me use the internet to answer an authorization question before I can use the internet. How to I get past this problem trying to connect to the Liahona wifi at church?

I'm not understanding what your saying. The WiFi will offer up the web page needed to answer the question. No other access to the internet is needed.

You may need to open the browser and attempt to access the internet to get the page.

[marobert]

My current smartphone that I use daily, connects fine to the church wifi. Neither of my two old phones will connect. I thought it could be because they have no mobile network phone service. If I correctly understand your answer, phone service is not required to connect to wifi with a smartphone or ipad.
Next Sunday, I will try to open the browser and attempt to access the internet to get the page.
Thanks for your advice.

[russellhltn]

Next Sunday, I will try to open the browser and attempt to access the internet to get the page.
Thanks for your advice.

Please note that the device will need to use the DNS that the church's network provides. Using your own DNS setting (perhaps done by some filtering software) may cause problems with getting to the splash screen necessary for normal access.

[jeremywillden]

I am using an old phone that does not have mobile network service. But after connecting to wifi, it still requires me use the internet to answer an authorization question before I can use the internet. How to I get past this problem trying to connect to the Liahona wifi at church?

If you are referring to the "accept terms of service" click-through, you can add the MAC address of the phone to the "Firewall IP Assignments" page for the building in the Technology Manager (tm.churchofjesuschrist.org, select Devices->Firewalls, then over on the right-hand side you'll see a button with three dots, which is a hidden menu, and look for "IP Assignments"). Add the device to the "nosplash" group to bypass the terms of service for that device.