Everyone is getting in on the live online video streaming band wagon from places of worship, workshop speakers, radio stations and third party show producers. High quality live broadcasting has never been so simple.

If you’re thinking of trying your hand at live broadcasting? This is the fundamentals of what you should have:

Nice Camcorder. A good camera doesn’t have to be expensive. As a matter of fact virtually all up-to-date video cameras will work great for live broadcasting. An important feature you’ll want to look out for in purchasing a camcorder is the connection ports. You’ll be wanting a camera with a firewire connection or a HDMI connection. These are the basic connections necessary to hook up your camera to the computer you will be using to transmit with. One low-cost favorite amongst online broadcasters is a Canon HV-30 and HV-40 video cameras. These types of Canon cameras feature both firewire and HDMI outputs as well as a great set of features which make it a favorite.

Computer. Having an updated and fast computer is crucial to good high quality broadcasting. Certainly to hold expenses down you could start using the computer that you own. Remember that just like the video camera you’ll have to have a firewire port or a HDMI port in order to link your camera to the computer. Other factors that affect the quality of online video available out of your computer would be the speed of the processor, your video card, the amount of RAM available and the over-all stableness of the computer. Broadcasting live video over the computer puts a huge demand on the computer. Therefore, the faster and more stable the pc is the better you’re going to like the result of your broadcast. The majority of todays computers work just great for broadcasting however it is advisable that you receive the specific recommendations for computer hardware from your live streaming provider.

Microphone. Excellent video with low quality audio simply equates to poor video. Depending on your application there are numerous ways of making certain you get high quality audio to your video. The worst choice is always the internal mic from the camera itself. Usually, you will want to connect an external microphone to the computers audio port so that you can capture and stream excellent audio. Microphone selection can be as easy as a good quality USB microphone from any computer store or as sophisticated as an interface which allows you to hook up an entire mixing board to your computer. You will need to spend time researching the different kinds of microphones that would work best with your application. A great starting place could be to find someone that’s currently working with live broadcast technologies in a similar fashion and look at what types of products they’re using. Your local music store would be an excellent source to get answers.

Free Live Streaming Provider. There are several live streaming providers available to select from. Should you be just getting started you may want to try a service provider that has free live broadcasting services. The basic level free streaming platforms are LiveStream, UStream and Justin.Tv. These kind of free services give you a great product with an assortment of features to choose from. If you have never streamed live video before these platforms are a good place to start. Having said that, remember that in order to make money these free services are going to be displaying advertising on all your broadcasting. Usually these ads are unobtrusive and at the bottom of the video. The typical free service provider will show one advertisement for every 60-90 seconds of video.

Fee Based Live Streaming Firms. Paid live streaming service providers are the next level of streaming available for streaming live church services, broadcasting radio stations, pay per view sporting events, independent show producers, event broadcasting and the like. Fee based services like BrightCove and LightWire.Tv provide advertising free solutions to live broadcasters as well as the support services required to broadcast video at the highest quality. Companies like BrightCove and LightWire.Tv work in conjunction with their clients to help put together broadcasting strategies to grow the broadcast audience and also to generate income opportunities for the broadcast.

High-speed Internet Connection. Streaming video live from the computer requires a broadband internet connection. The faster your broadband connection the less likely your broadcast will be to stutter and buffer. A minimum speed to transmit decent webcast quality video will be 800kbs. If you’re looking to broadcast in HD quality you will need a faster connection having a minimum of 3mbps.

Live streaming can be fun and even profitable. Depending on the application there might be a lot to learn and take into consideration. However, with today’s technology live streaming hasn’t ever been cheapier or less difficult.

Tags: canon cameras, connection ports