Humf wrote: ↑Mon Aug 02, 2021 10:55 pm
Sounds good Mike. I think we’ve chatted on this topic on t’other thread?
My one bit of advice when it comes to live-streaming, is to test, test again and when you’ve got it right, have a sleep and then test again. You get the point!
When you’ve got a setup that’s been through the above, don’t change a single thing. I’ve been caught out once or twice trying to make, what I thought were little changes, to be tripped up.
I use a variety of either audio fed back into the camera OR a frame or two or delay on my ATEM switcher. Seems to work. Mixing and matching between wireless & wired audio sources is a bit of a headache but easily solvable if not mixed together, which is often the case in my situ (eg. Wireless lavs ‘v’ a stereo pair on an organ or choir). I’ve recently purchased a zoom f6 because I’m tired of either lumping around an x32 rack or being limited to a stereo pair of xlr inputs on my camera (if a single cam is sufficient but 3 or more mics needed). An F8n or Sound Devices unit probably would’ve been my first choice but budget limited and Hugh’s review reassured me. Plus as a solo shooter (streamer?!) the concept of worrying less about incorrect gain settings means I can be confident of fixing in post. Although I realise the ‘live’ mix needs to be decent. Shame about the unbalanced 3.5mm output but otherwise it wins on features at the price. I’ve just bought a small cheeseplate which lifts the unit sufficiently to clear the chunky manfrotto head I have. So my single cam setup has just had a major upgrade. I now need to test, test, test!
Mattsong wrote: ↑Tue Aug 03, 2021 4:44 am
Glad to hear that the RGBlink Mini seems to be working for you. When you connected to the external monitor and set it to Preview, do you get the multiview display on the external monitor?
Most of my experience has been with the Blackmagic ATEM switchers, which have worked well, but they are pricier.
I'm still exploring and experimenting...
I should also have said that another reason for choosing the RGBlink was that it can be set up and operated without any recourse to a computer at all - ie all through internal menus.
Regarding outputs... both the HDMI out and the USB 3 out can be set to show 'Preview' or 'Post'. So I'm intending to use a smallish external monitor connected to the HDMI out for previewing and the USB output set to 'Post' for streaming.
The preview output divides the screen vertically into two. Top half is a 'Preview' and 'Post' (On Air) display; bottom half shows the preview of the 4 inputs. 'Post' also has switchable indication of combined audio levels.
Audio can be the usual config of external (via the audio input on the Mini) follow the video source or lock to one video input... I haven't explored that in any detail yet.
The unit is fanless, but has a chunky heatsink on the base. Gets quite warm during operation...
blinddrew wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 5:23 pm
Hi Mike,
does the Mini allow you to set an audio delay or would you need to set that elsewhere before routing it in?
Thanks
Drew
Hi Drew
I've just checked and the unit itself doesn't allow that facility... I don't know about the software as I've not yet downloaded it.
I was at first going to use some form of external delay and then route the audio into the Mini... I could still do this if I use my Zoom F4 as an intermediate device.
However, my discussions with those who do far more sophisticated livestreams and have far better kit than I do has led me to the conclusion to route the audio into a camera and then lock the audio to that HDMI input via the Mini. Advice is that that will be the simplest and most effective route.
I've used the RGBlink Mini several times in Zoom calls and it's worked flawlessly.
I tried a test YouTube livestream yesterday and couldn't get YouTube to recognise it as a webcam - even though all other software was seeing it fine. I thought this might be because I was using an elderly and lo-spec laptop so did a mega Win10 update (several hours) and tried again. Same result: Zoom YouTube (Win reports drivers are fine)
So tried it on my desktop behemoth PC. Same again...
I've now put in a support email request to RGBlink...
Live streaming is a whole new world. (sometimes of pain!) We installed a Black Magic ATEM Mini pro, a couple of DataVideo PTZ 140s and a DataVideo RMC180 PTZ controller to enable us to live-stream our Church services
It all works pretty well, and the ATEM is configured with our Youtube stream credentials so it's one button go-live
I've set up a mix layer on our A&H SQ5 for a dedicated stream mix which goes to the ATEM and tweaked the sound sync settings in the ATEM.
Our biggest challenge is the volunteer PA team have now become a volunteer PA AND Broadcast team, responsible for camera switching, video overlays and PIP from the laptop, FOH mix and stream mix. It can get a bit full on at times! But we don't profess to deliver a broadcast quality production, like some of the big mega-churches, but we are able to offer something to the many people who still feel nervous about attending in person in this covid time.
We have a number of care homes in the area using Amazon fire-sticks on their communal TVs able to tune in every Sunday.
Pending a reply from RGBlink (who asked me a few questions and have now gone very quiet) I have continued experimenting and tweaking.
I've been able to livestream successfully using the RGBlink Mini as a single source into OBS and then out thru YouTube. It proved the concept, as the RGBxxx did exactly what it was supposed to with three HDMI sources connected. However, the video was extremely jerky and freezing all the time on both the stream and the OBS recording. I'll give it another go in a while, dropping the sampling rate somewhat. I'm somewhat surprised as it's a reasonably powerful PC... and it handles the RGB thru Zoom with nary a glitch...
As Mark One says, this live-streaming aspect needs lots of working through...
Mark: A friend in a church in Oxford that does live-streaming now has a minimum of three people for each stream: one for sound, one on the ATEM and one handling production/cueing people etc.
(Win reports drivers are fine)