1. Computer: My desktop computer is an Alienware Aurora R7 (few years old now) with a 7th Gen i7, 32MB of Ram, 1 TB SSD, Liquid Cooled, NVIDIA GTX1080 GPU. My laptop computer is a 13.5" Surfacebook 2 with 512GB SSD, 16GB Ram, core i7 processor.
The capture card I purchased is an SDI capture card which was a $150+ more expensive than an equivalent HDMI version or their DUO-link SDI version, but it is future proofed for me if I want to jump to 4K productions in the future. For now, I'm just doing 1080p HD live productions, so it is overkill.
https://www.amazon.com/Blackmagic-Desig ... ics&sr=1-8
The capture card actually doesn't put much stress on the system in terms of cpu, gpu or ram, at least I don't notice any issue. The computer, although it is a bit older compared to modern desktop computers, has no trouble processing multiple cameras, playback videos, title overlays, NDI sources, etc.
2. What displays? well, the NVIDIA GTX1080 i have supports up to 4 displays. I'm currently using 2 40" 4K samsung Tv's as my displays (at home). When I used it for our broadcast, I only used 1 display so I didn't have to haul extra equipment to the Church. However, I did send a feed to the stand so the authorities on the stand could see the broadcast feed, instead of just the back of the head of the speaker. I think they appreciated that. I also can send a separate feed to the "house" for our leadership session which only showed media, ppt slides, etc. I wanted a separate display for people in person. There isn't a need for them to see the speaker as the video would have a slight latency for the in person guests and would be redundant. I have the option of using one of the inputs on my black magic as an output instead of as an input (actually all 4 are bi-directionally configurable) and vMix can direct a separate feed for that purpose when needed. It's a bit of work to get everything set correctly, but is a fantastic option to have.
3. What version of vMix do I have? I purchased the vMix 4K version because I have other needs for the software. It isn't strictly necessary for the average church production, but I use it when I need to bring in (up to 4) remote guests to a live stream. You can certainly use Skype with NDI to accomplish something similar, but vMix's remote guest feature is pretty amazing because you can control what you send back to each guest and they can all operate in a "green room" until ready to bring them on live. With Skype, Zoom, Teams, etc. you can't really do that. They are all in at the same time and you can't have a private conversation with a guest while live on the air like you can with vMix....so you can say to the guest, please get ready, you are about to come on in 20 seconds.... etc.
Honestly, I could have survived easily with the Basic HD package for Stake Conferences, etc. which is only a one time $60 fee...pretty reasonable for what you get. Their licenses allow for installation on 2 computers at the same time. I have it installed on my laptop as well which I have used for smaller meetings like a Missionary training meeting. I just brought my laptop and used an Elgato Camlink-4k USB capture card with a single camera and used my iPhone with NDI (wireless) as a secondary, mobile camera on an inexpensive gimbal.
4. OBS can actually do most of what vMix can do, but it is much more difficult to setup and use. The biggest features that vMix has, besides a rock solid piece of software, is the wide support for different hardware, a great audio mixer with sub mix control, vMix guest capabilities, great title system for overlays, 4 overlay busses, great scripting capabilities. You can trial the full version of vMix for free for 60 days. I did our first production using the free version and that is when I fell in love with it. They also offer a nice NDI screen capture software making it easy to capture a Mac or PC computer screen as an input, such as PPT, etc. over the wireless network. They even give you "tally" capabilities so that a camera operator can use their smartphone to see if their camera is about to be live (in preview bus) or if they are live (program bus). This is helpful for a camera operator to know when they are "clear" to adjust their shot. Finally, there is a cool, free piece of software called vMix panel builder which will let you create a "control surface" from a touch screen device like a Surface computer or an iPad. You can create macros that will let you quickly pull up title overlays, roll to a video, etc. It is super powerful.
5. The ATEM Mini (especially the pro version) is a really great piece of hardware. One of the benefits to doing full switching in vMix is that you can preview the inputs from your cameras before switching to it. The ATEM mini pro version will let you sort of accomplish this with a special multi-view mode, while the lower cost ATEM mini version won't. vMix will let you "ISO" record your inputs....so if you are doing a live production and you switch away at the wrong time, you can fix it later in an edit because you will have all the feeds recorded. Of course, you can also press record on your camera as well, but if you are using iphones and ipads as input sources, or computer screen captures, this becomes harder to record....vMix shines here as they will record all those inputs in isolation.
All-in-all, the ATEM Mini is a great value and really gives a lot of bang for your buck. I am not advocating for wards/stakes to spend a lot of money on these capabilities. My stake did not purchase this equipment, I did with my own money because I have other needs for using it.
I use vMIX every day on my video conference calls. I have 2-3 cameras connected and feed my laptop in as an additional input, USB Microphone inputs (presonus VSL1818) with high quality mic (Audio Technica AT2035) and i have connected my Yamaha MOX8 synthesizer keyboard so I can play music over my calls for things like devotionals, etc. Working 100% remote for the past year has helped me develop a lot of these capabilities and while I did invest a fair amount of personal funds to upgrade my abilities, it has been money well spent. I do a lot of remote training and these extra capabilities give me the flexibility to make and record quality trainings for my users.
I'm still learning and trying to improve my abilities. It is amazing what a single person produced event can accomplish with these software and hardware capabilities...events that would have required a staff of several people in the past, I have been able to accomplish with just me as Technical Director, Video Player, Audio Mixer, CG and Title Coordinator, etc.
One thing I wish I could do is upgrade the lighting in my chapels....they are too dark for nice high quality recordings and my cameras have to "gain up" so much that it introduces "noise" into the image and softens the quality of the image...again, most viewers really don't care so we probably will never do anything about it, but it is a shame because we have some really nice cameras for the Stake (Panasonic AG-CX10's
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkyjyEEni6E) and the low light isn't letting us maximize the quality...but oh well, good enough I guess.
If you would like to see some samples of events we have produced recently, you can visit:
https://www.benlomondstake.org/events/past
Kind of a long post, but i hope that answers some of your questions.