Tech Forum

splassle wrote:Is there any particular camera that is recommended to use?

No, there is no particular model mentioned. However, the Meetinghouse Webcast Guide lists these requirements:

Meetinghouse Webcast requires a high quality video camera. An existing camera can be used or a new camera can be purchased in your area, if it meets the video camera requirements listed below. More information is available in the Meetinghouse Webcast Guide (available at http://clerk.lds.org).
■ 10X optical zoom lens
■ Auto focus
■ Low light sensitivity
■ Option to disable “auto shutoff ” when not recording (allowing video to be streamed without recording)
■ At least one composite video out (RCA) port or one S-video out port
■ Ability to not display timestamp or other camera display information in video output

The Meetinghouse Webcast FAQ adds this note:

Several cameras available in the market will meet these requirements. Provided it meets these requirements, an existing camera can be used or a new camera can be purchased in your local area.

■ Option to disable “auto shutoff ” when not recording (allowing video to be streamed without recording)

So far, I've found all the consumer cameras I've worked with will do that - just take the tape out. If you leave the tape in the unit, then it's in "pause" and will trigger a auto shutoff.

■ Ability to not display timestamp or other camera display information in video output

Remove the Canon XL1 from your list for that reason. So far, I have not found a consumer-level camera with that problem.

I have been reading up on the web casting and it looks like my stake will move forward on it. I think if everything works correctly, I shouldn't have much problem with it, like totally dropping signal and so forth.

It does say that I should have an audio bridge as a backup in case everything goes down. I see where I call in and set it up, but my question is how do I get the audio from the stake center into the phone and then at each building get the audio from the phone to the sound equipment so that people can listen via the sound system in the chapel?

I don't see anywhere on the web site to give me instructions to do that. Please let me know how to get that to work.

Thanks
Terry

There is a device in your Media Center called a CRAB. It has connection cables attached to it and is in a zippered case. You hook that up to the audio system in the originating location and then to a phone, that is on the audio bridge. You then reverse this in the receiving locations. Only don't hook it up to the audio system just have it there and ready in case of failure. You will want to play around with this a little so that you are comfortable with it before an event.
Troy

tsheffield wrote:There is a device in your Media Center called a CRAB. It has connection cables attached to it and is in a zippered case.

To add to what tsheffield has said, this device is normally used to connect things like laptops, tape recorders, etc to the mic input on the sound system. There are two models. One in a gray case and one in a black one. The gray one has a telephone connection hidden on the left side. I don't think the black one has one.

For those who would like to see the Meetinghouse Webcast equipment in action you can now go to http://stream.lds.org/webcast It is a great tool for testing receiving location bandwidth capabilities.

This stream is running 24/7 Having said that there are a few times when server connections and other network issues here at CHQ cause it to stop. When I become aware of this I restart it. If it is not running and during business hours you can send an email to sheffieldtr@ldschurch.org and I will get it back up for you. It is running at the High quality selection or 300k stream setting in the Communicator. It is also using the EVI D70 camera. It does take in a little of State Street so there will always be some movement if no one is walking around.

Please take into account that it is on the 8th floor of a building looking out a window at the fountain behind the Church Office Building. They have not clean my window for a while so it might not have the greatest picture depending on the sun.

If there is something that you would like me to do a little different on this link please let me know.
Thanks,
Troy

I viewed the test webcast stream on my home computer and I am surprised that the resolution is so low. Since my download speed at the time I viewed the stream was 1300 kbps I was expecting better resolution. Since the upload speed also determines resolution I was wondering what the upload speed is.

The stream is 300k. Based on the ability of the upload here at the office I could send a picture much higher, but that would not be representative of what the normal location would experience. Remember that it is on the 8th floor, looking out a dirty window at a fountain that is at least 100 feet away from the building so we are zooming nearly 200 feet for this shot. You might have 25 feet from the back of the chapel to the front and not have direct sunlight. Not to mention your monitor will most likely at a much higher resolution than the projector at the chapel. Take all those factors into account and I think it is a pretty good picture.

tsheffield wrote:Not to mention your monitor will most likely at a much higher resolution than the projector at the chapel.

I think SD TV is close to 640x480. The newer projector we have is maybe 800x600. Most monitors today run at least 1024x768. Blowing it up to "full screen" on a typical monitor is going to get ugly fast.

The feed looked fine to me, but I let it stay at it's "natural" resolution on the monitor.

Looking at it at no more than 200% resolution it's not too bad. (IMO)

My problem was occasional stuttering. My Win Server 2K8 x64 PC might have needed a clean boot, but at the time it wasn't crunching on anything except that, so I don't think that was the problem. I don't know, I'll try it again later sometime.

BTW, without audio, the easiest way for me to detect stuttering was either to observe networking performance in Task Manager, or since there was a slight breeze, watch the reflection of the flag in the fountain.