Sharing our experience with Virtual Sacrament Meeting Broadcasts

[drepouille]

As a ward clerk, I don't have the privileges necessary to use the Church webcast system. So I continue to use the free G Suite account provided by the church.

[russellhltn]

As a ward clerk, I don't have the privileges necessary to use the Church webcast system.

Talk to the stake about being made an Assistant STS.

[mashcraft]

@dbaresrc,

I am also too new to the forum to pm you. Could you please send me the link? Thanks!

Mike

[mashcraft]

I just tested zoom to the church broadcast system and it was fairly easy to setup. I used a $15/month account. Here are quick instructions:

Login to Zoom and enable Custom Live Streaming Service:
1) Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
2) Click Account Management > Account Settings.
3) Under "In Meeting (Advanced)", click the toggle next to "Allow live streaming the meetings". This option is a long way down the list.
4) Click the "Custom Live Streaming Service" checkbox to enable it.

Setup your meeting in the Church WebCast portal at https://webcast.churchofjesuschrist.org/#/eventManager

Under "Select your encoder" Choose "Other"
I also enabled "High Bandwidth Encode"

Once the event is created, you can obtain the RTMP URL and Stream Name:
1) On the meeting select "setup" next to the gear icon.
2) Go to the "Other Setup" tab.
3) Copy the RTMP URL
4) Copy the Stream Name

Now go back to Zoom and start your meeting and enable the stream.
1) Start Meeting
2) Click on "More" at the bottom of the zoom window
3) Click on "Live on Custom Live Streaming Service"
4) Your browser will open and you may need to login to Zoom.
5) Paste the "RTMP URL" into the "Streaming URL"
6) Paste the "Stream Name" into the "Streaming Key"
7) You can also past a link to the live webcast in "Live Streaming page URL"
8) Click "Go Live!"
Zoom does remember the previous Streaming URL and Streaming Key. If these changed it will timeout and then allow you to update them.

I hope this helps.

Mike

[lajackson]

Setup your meeting in the Church WebCast portal at https://webcast.churchofjesuschrist.org/#/eventManager

Under "Select your encoder" Choose "Other"
I also enabled "High Bandwidth Encode"

Enabling HBE is required for a successful webcast originated from Zoom.

5) Paste the "RTMP URL" into the "Streaming URL"
6) Paste the "Stream Name" into the "Streaming Key"

Just as a by-the-way, if you happening to be using a different system to originate a webcast and it only gives you one field to enter everything, you will usually be able to enter the RTMP URL and the Streaming Key in that one field, separated by a slash. <RTMP URL>/<Streaming Key>

[dbaresrc]

... we starting broadcasting sacrament services from several of our buildings using basic Zoom personal accounts.

These are paid accounts, though, correct? It is my understanding that the free Zoom accounts are not able to interface with the webcast system.

Correct, you must have a paid Zoom account. Our stake purchased about a dozen accounts. Some for the STS's to webcast meetings, some for Seminary teachers and some for the Stake presidency themselves.

I tweak the default profile for the STS accounts a little bit to secure it and can send you the screen shots of that if you want. From there you schedule a meeting for the building for the day and all wards in that building "share" that meeting. In my account I schedule one for one building that starts at X and ends at Y. Zoom has a repeat meeting option so with one click you can schedule the meeting for every Sunday from now until N. In the Church system, we set up an events for the building which lasts N hours for weeks in advance and get the codes as shown in our documentation. On Sunday morning, the STS for the building sets up the laptop, logs into the Zoom account and starts the meeting. As documented, the HBE codes for that week are entered into the Zoom meeting, it connects to the Church and off you go. The credentials for these meetings are never shared. Members connect to the Stake webcast portal and can join their, or any other sacrament service.

[dbaresrc]

As we progress into a new world of Sacrament meeting distribution I find our stake president and bishops are still confused on how exactly we are to get the meetings out to the homes. As I read down through our forums I discover a multitude of suggestions how best to accomplish these tasks. Unfortunately many turn out to be a kludge of equipment for each ward or building. I am hoping in the near future a more direct instruction from the church technical group on the recommended and tested procedures.

In the meantime I am most impressed with the use of the Raspberry Pi's option. I currently have a Pi-4 with 4GB and am attempting to duplicate the procedure already in place. Unfortunately I am not experienced enough in Linux to make this happen and find it difficult to find that experience in the stake. The operating system is now Pi OS and came down as debian buster module. I am finding it already contains modules like ffmpeg, git and the audio libraries. Trying to follow the written procedures is a daunting task at the moment as your written procedures don't apply or not work. Perhaps you have a revised written edition based on the new Pi OS system that I might try.

I can appreciate this. That's why we selected to use the KISS approach and use basic, off-the-shelf components. We have a laptop (it happens to run Unbuntu but you can choose your O/S), $40 webcam, mic, and some ethernet cables and we're in business. You must have a paid Zoom account (personal is fine) then schedule The Zoom meetings and the Church events and link them together the day of.

If you want, I can share our documentation on how to put this together. Just send a PM. There is a section on how ward members access and participate in the meetings. It's really quite simple and easy.

[dbaresrc]

@dbaresrc,

I am also too new to the forum to pm you. Could you please send me the link? Thanks!

Mike

Sent. I hope it helps.

Carlton

[snihipali99]

... we starting broadcasting sacrament services from several of our buildings using basic Zoom personal accounts.

These are paid accounts, though, correct? It is my understanding that the free Zoom accounts are not able to interface with the webcast system.

Correct, you must have a paid Zoom account. Our stake purchased about a dozen accounts. Some for the STS's to webcast meetings, some for Seminary teachers and some for the Stake presidency themselves.

I tweak the default profile for the STS accounts a little bit to secure it and can send you the screen shots of that if you want. From there you schedule a meeting for the building for the day and all wards in that building "share" that meeting. In my account I schedule one for one building that starts at X and ends at Y. Zoom has a repeat meeting option so with one click you can schedule the meeting for every Sunday from now until N. In the Church system, we set up an events for the building which lasts N hours for weeks in advance and get the codes as shown in our documentation. On Sunday morning, the STS for the building sets up the laptop, logs into the Zoom account and starts the meeting. As documented, the HBE codes for that week are entered into the Zoom meeting, it connects to the Church and off you go. The credentials for these meetings are never shared. Members connect to the Stake webcast portal and can join their, or any other sacrament service.

New member here, could you send screenshots of profile used for STS accounts?

[dbaresrc]

These are paid accounts, though, correct? It is my understanding that the free Zoom accounts are not able to interface with the webcast system.

Correct, you must have a paid Zoom account. Our stake purchased about a dozen accounts. Some for the STS's to webcast meetings, some for Seminary teachers and some for the Stake presidency themselves.

I tweak the default profile for the STS accounts a little bit to secure it and can send you the screen shots of that if you want. From there you schedule a meeting for the building for the day and all wards in that building "share" that meeting. In my account I schedule one for one building that starts at X and ends at Y. Zoom has a repeat meeting option so with one click you can schedule the meeting for every Sunday from now until N. In the Church system, we set up an events for the building which lasts N hours for weeks in advance and get the codes as shown in our documentation. On Sunday morning, the STS for the building sets up the laptop, logs into the Zoom account and starts the meeting. As documented, the HBE codes for that week are entered into the Zoom meeting, it connects to the Church and off you go. The credentials for these meetings are never shared. Members connect to the Stake webcast portal and can join their, or any other sacrament service.

New member here, could you send screenshots of profile used for STS accounts?

I sent you a PM. Check your in-box.

Carlton