Newbie needs help with live audio/video streaming

[jbaugh]

I've been asked to investigate the possibility of doing once a week live audio/video streaming for my church. I would anticipate that the "traffic" would be light-- no more than 5- 10 clients logging in at any time. Each session would last up to 2 1/2 hours.

I have relatively extensive experience with the Mac platform, having owned dozens of them since my first one in 1985. But I have no experience with this type of technology.

I need some suggestions and advice.
1) What is the minimum hardware I will need? Can I use a desktop mac (for example, my quad G-5) as a "server" or do I need to purchase an Xserve?
2) Can the video capture, preparation, broadcasting and streaming all be done from one computer?
3) What internet connectivity will I need? Just a simple cable internet connection? Will my ISP (comcast) have a problem with this?
4) Can someone give me an overview of the step by step process I will need to follow? ( First connect the digital video camera to MacBook and then....."). Don't assume I know anything in your step by step instructions.
5) How do the clients access the a/v stream? Will this be obvious when I get to this point?
6) Is this something I should be able to do on my own or am I going to need "expert" help?

I've spent several hours at the Apple pages dealing with this topic and I'm more confused than when I started.

Any help would be appreciated.
John

[dnix71]

If your quad G5 won't do it, not much else would.

If you record picture and sound, you'll need to post notice at the entrances. Recording video only doesn't usually require consent in a public place, but it's still best practice to warn everyone that might be seen. That way if they are filmed sleeping during service they can't complain.

The church should have it's own domain and dsl/cable account. Not expensive and avoids trouble over account traffic. The home page would have a link with times for live broadcast.

VLC is free software that is specifically made to web stream. Your clients can download it for free and use it to recieve the broadcast. VLC has precompiled versions for Windows, Mac and Linux.

If you know your upload limit, divide by number of clients that gives you an upper limit on bitrate. Dumb down the video to make room for audio. VLC will drop frames rendering on a slow computer anyway (your clients don't have G5's) and the music and preaching should be why thay are tuned in.