Streamyard Virtual Meetings

Using the Church Webcasting System, YouTube, etc. Including cameras and mixers.
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miken2av
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Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:30 am
Location: Birmingham, AL USA

Streamyard Virtual Meetings

#1

Post by miken2av »

So, I have been using the streamyard platform for doing live streaming events where I work. We are considering using it in our stake for doing virtual sacrament meetings (sacrament meeting not originating from a building, but originating from multiple meeting participants. ). I like that if you don't mind their logo in the corner you can use it for 20 hours a month free. The free version gives you up to 6 participants on the screen at once. You can have up to 10 meeting participants in the "greenroom". You can easily stream to youtube or facebook. If you use the monthly basic version it is $25 a month. ($20 a month if you pay for a year) A few features you pick up with the pay version are Unlimited streaming, 10 on-screen participants, Logo, Overlays, Backgrounds, Custom RTMP destinations, Recording - 4 hours/stream, Multistream - 3 destinations. Using the pay version will allow you to stream to Meetinghouse webcast. One issue with that is streamyard sends rtmp VIDEO BITRATE 3000kbps. The church site is set to like 2000kbps. You can get around this by selecting a new beta test feature in Meetinghouse Webcast added in August called High Bandwidth Encode. It is on the bottom of the screen where you schedule your event. When you enable it you will get a message: The high bandwidth encode feature is in beta testing and should not be used for live events unless approved by church event support. Click here to contact event support for further assistance. When I called Global Support regarding this they said it was not an issue to use it.

The nice thing about this is you can have one or more people running the meeting. (People signed into the account, login is not with a password but a code sent to an email address) It is easy to invite meeting participants. There is a nice set of instructions created for participants. The person running the webcast doesn't have to be on the screen. You could share your desktop to play a hymn or upload a video ahead of time. You could also put an ASL person on screen with the speaker. You can put all the participants on the screen before you go live to have like a prayer meeting. You can play a countdown video (think prelude music) before the first person speaks. The thing I really like about it is how simple the user interfaces are. There are more features that would be nice to have and they are always adding features but to me, for a virtual sacrament, this is pretty easy. It does support green screen but you have to have an actual blue or green screen. Doesn't support virtual background like zoom.

Participants (speakers) can connect via android phone (chrome) and iphone (safari) but best experience is from a laptop or pc. From our live events I have been impressed with how little I have had to help participants get connected. (where I work we invite a lot of older people to be on panel discussions) Hardest thing is usually allowing access to microphone or webcam on the users device. With any platform there are always the issues of helping people understand the importance of good lighting, quiet area, headphones or earbuds. Also good microphones make a world of difference but they can get costly.

We haven't used it yet but my previous experience with the platform I feel we can roll this out in our stake pretty easily. If anyone has used it I would love to hear what you think of it or any tips and ideas. It would be great if the church had a download for the hymns with words on the screen. I did find a youtube site that has them.

Michael'
STS Gardendale Alabama Stake
JaredMtz
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Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2020 7:10 pm

Re: Streamyard Virtual Meetings

#2

Post by JaredMtz »

I have just been assigned to handle the tech for our meetings and this is the one I am considering so far
miken2av
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Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:30 am
Location: Birmingham, AL USA

Re: Streamyard Virtual Meetings

#3

Post by miken2av »

Sheesh, I signed Gardendale Alabama Stake. No such thing. I used to be in the Gardendale Ward. I am now in the Gadsden Stake. :D
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sbradshaw
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Re: Streamyard Virtual Meetings

#4

Post by sbradshaw »

miken2av wrote:Sheesh, I signed Gardendale Alabama Stake. No such thing. I used to be in the Gardendale Ward. I am now in the Gadsden Stake. :D
I recognize the name Gardendale from temple trips growing up – that's where the Birmingham Alabama Temple is, right? :)
Samuel Bradshaw • If you desire to serve God, you are called to the work.
miken2av
New Member
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:30 am
Location: Birmingham, AL USA

Re: Streamyard Virtual Meetings

#5

Post by miken2av »

Yes Sir.
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