GCC Streaming Video Unveiled

A pet project of mine since coming to GCC in August 2003 has been to see our church offer video streams of the weekend service.  For many reasons it's never been made a priority so I've kept it on the bottom of my task list ... knowing someday it would become a reality.

We did our first live stream back in Sept 2005 using a NewTek TriCaster we had on loan.  Only a few select staff knew of it's existence.  The real value in streaming was brought to light, in my mind at least, when several of us were at the Catalyst Conference Oct 2005.  We were able to watch a weekend service live from my wireless laptop in a hotel room in Georgia.  This is when my boss, Tony Morgan (it's always smart to mention your boss whenever possible), mentioned he'd like to see some numbers on what it would look like to offer this to the general public.

We didn't own the TriCaster and we'd soon have to send it back or spend ~$5000 to keep it...doh!  So I started getting web-casting prices from various hosting vendors.  The pricing structures were all pretty confusing and seemed pretty expensive.  Then Paul Lara from NewTek left a comment on my blog saying to check out www.christianvideochannel.com .  I got in contact with Brad at CVC and his pricing was great ... only $75/mo for "unlimited" live or on-demand streams.  Brad was very helpful in explaining how all this streaming stuff worked ... I didn't know beans about it.  Brad also suggested just throwing the free Windows Media Encoder on an XP box with a good video capture card if we didn't keep the TriCaster.

For kicks I purchased an Osprey 300 capture card and slapped a fresh XP copy on an older Pentium 4 2.6GHz box we had available.  Downloaded/installed the free Windows Media Encoder, launched it and followed the wizard ... and we were streaming live.  Doh, if only I had know prior it was this simple to make happen.

A live stream link was sent out to a select few staff members for initial testing which was well received.  So from November through January we streamed each weekend and Thursday night service live.  The only problem was that nothing was automated.  Someone had press START on the encoder before service and STOP at the end.  Occasionally someone on the media team would forget to start it or it would be left streaming non-stop the whole weekend.  No biggie since it was just for internal use only.

I played with the encoder settings until I got what I thought was a good mix of quality and bandwidth.  The end result was to encode the audio at CD quality and the video at 30fps and 320x240 size ... yielding a 314kbps stream.  Even a slower DSL connection should be able to handle a 314k stream with no problem.  The audio has practically no artifacts and even at 200% the video looks very acceptable.

Recently I got the green light to get this ready for public consumption which meant it was time to get things automated.  Ed and I were swamped with other tasks so I employed John, one of our talented volunteers, to automate as much of the process as possible.

The end result is a process which involves no human interaction.  The encoder kicks off a few minutes before each service and broadcasts the live stream as well as captures the stream to the local drive.  A few minutes after each service the encoder turns off.  This happens for all 5 weekend services and Thursday night.  Each night after the encoder has run it ftp's the captured services up to christianvideochannel.com for on-demand viewing.  After that Kem's web team takes over to point the website links to the proper files ... which should take all of 15 seconds.

This weekend we're finally unveiling this to the public.  Sometime Monday you'll be able to watch the prior weekend service which will remain available for one week.  I'm very excited about this for 2 reasons... 
(1) I almost never get to do anything "public-facing" ... all the stuff I do is way back behind the scenes.  So having a forward role in something people will experience is quite a nice treat. 
(2)  Seeing this finally come to life after 2+ years is sweet.  People will be able to use this as a tool to introduce others to our church ... without having to ever step inside the doors.  Obviously, we want people to come to the church 'cause a web stream pales in comparison to being here live.  But, none-the-less, this tool will help reach people that may not otherwise ever consider coming ... that's just so cool to be part of.  And I can finally check this off my task list :-)

Another plus is that this solution is inexpensive...
P4 2.6GHz Dell Optiplex GX260 (~$300 off dfsdirectsales.com)
Osprey 300 video/audio capture card (~$300)
ChristianVideoChannel.com hosting for live and on-demand streaming ($75/mo)

Future enhancements?  I've already got a list which includes a dual core PC so we could encode at multiple bitrates rather than just one.  Trying to encode at both 300 and a higher rez 600kbps swamps our current PC.  We also need a separate audio mix just for the stream.  The current mix is straight off the audio board so the vocals during songs aren't as blended as I'd prefer.  Our TechArts guys have already had this on their to-do list for our WiredChurches.com audio downloads and sounds like it's still a good year out.

A big thanks to our Tech Arts guys for getting the video and audio feeds to our box.  Mega big thanks to John for his skillz in automating much of the encoding and file transfer process in a very short amount of time.  Also props to Kim V. for thinking about the internet stream as he's directing camera operators.  At times he sets up special shots just for web viewers like you :-)

We hope you all enjoy the stream.

Comments

Woohoo! I'm excited!
Here's to letting even MORE people take steps towards Christ with us! :D

[Nathan Jones]

Very, very slick! I've been wondering if streaming was something on the to-do list for GCC. Thanks for sharing the details!

[Matt Singley]

Excellent! I've passed this on to our AV guys, thanks for explaining in such detail how you went through this process. I can't wait to watch your streams!

[Marcus Mornoe]

Jason, let me just say how glad I am that you guys show the entire service. Alot of streaming churches only show the message.

[Blake]

Any reason why only the last week's message only available for streaming? Or would having more than one affect the pricing you guys are paying?

But I'd think that some people would like to be able to watch a series more quickly than once a week, or if they missed one week, to be able to go back or rewatch from a few weeks back.

I guess I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Many thanks for making at least one available for us!

[Steve Siebes]

Jason,

I really enjoy your worship service streaming. I've noticed that recently you've refined your window a bit to include a bolder with content. What tools are you using to create your stream and post it your site?

We currently record our services, edit them in Adobe premiere, export the finished video as a wmv file and stream it on our web site. I am always trying to do produce a better product. I would appreciate hearing your thoughts.

[Lester]

Very cool blog! I am a streaming media tech with a question? How did you get windows media encoder to become automated.

Thanks and God bless

[Sean Kelley]

Hey Jason, I realize this is a really old post, but it relates to where I am now. I tried to find your email address on IT discuss, but apparently you don't put it in your signature.

Anyway I am wondering because I kindof got loast when you bought the Osprey 300. At that point were you using CVC or hosting the live feed yourself?

If you are hosting it in-house does it need its own T1? What kind of bandwidth does it take?

I have loads of questions that I am researching, but I will not bother you with those...yet.

Thanks
Sean

[Waco Muse]

Hi Jason,

I was asked to check into live streaming. Are you still using Christian Video Channel? When I attempt to send them an email, using the info on their site, I get a "does not exist" bounce.

Thanks,
Waco Muse
Southwest Community Church
Indian Wells, CA