How to Upgrade Video Quality for Church Live Streaming

[@kimanipanthier1098]

Thanks Jake, I watched your "Church Live Streaming Setup 2021 | Best Cameras, Switcher, Software, and Multi-Streaming Platforms" video and convinced my church's leadership to invest in our streaming software using the budget proposal you made. For the first time this Sunday, we tried the multi-cam setup with 2 Sony a6400 and the ATEM Mini Pro with ProPresenter 7. OMG SUCH A HUGE QUALITY UGRADE! IT WAS GREAT! Thank you for your videos. They are super helpful!

[@mrboom4570]

I provide consulting services for audio, video projection and streaming mainly for small to medium traditional churches. I do agree with a lot of what you present. Different churches have different needs. NDI and PTZ cameras have their place. Many small churches don't have the money, space or people to place and operate a DSLR on a tripod. This is where a PTZ camera is a good solution. All of your technical information is accurate but what is "best" for one church may be completely wrong for another. Many times a $2000 PTZ camera. A $1500 PC, and vMIX for $350 a small church can do quality streaming for less than $5K. When designing an audio, video or streaming solution for any church there are many things to factor in like budget, personnel, space, aesthetics, skill level etc. Always enjoy your vids. Catch you on the next worship summit. 👍

[@carlitos3333]

Thank you Jake for sharing all your experience. I have learned a lot of valuable things from your videos that we have applied in our church in Comitan, Chiapas, Mexico.

[@asilva_media]

12:51 about the ptz stuff, what we did at my church is we actually have a Canon M50 with a nice f1.7 lens on it on a DJI Ronin SC gimbal controlled remotely from our streaming booth, bout $1200 for the setup but not too bad for the quality and movement we get from it

[@ttazz909]

lighting is always KEY!

[@milagrostephen4549]

Hey Jake, i would love to see a full connection with the sony cameras you have there with the atem switcher

[@dominik3187]

In my opinion NDI is a great solution for church livestreaming and I made great experiences with it. For me: way better dann using HDMI. I have two BirgdDog PTZ Cams which are great but the struggle with the tiny sensor is real... Last time I used a FUJI X-T3 with a 70-140mm Fuji lese and a Birddog Flex4k NDI Converter. The picture was awesome and the ability to use a iphone in a gimbal and one for the Drums was a budget friendly opportunity with overall awesome Quality

[@Donovanleonphotography]

What about the Canon Rp.. It's about the same price than the Sony but full frame...

[@hilbertspuybroek439]

Hi Jake, why do you Connect the audio directy to the computer and not to the Atem mini? And sync the audio there? Is this a sound quality reason?

[@kdigitalproductionservices6581]

Hie Jake. You spent, less than 2 minutes in the video talking about lighting and yet it has the greatest potential of increasing video quality regardless of what other camera gear is in use. Give it some thought.

[@NeilJohnsonHXC]

Thanks Jake! Excellent content and update on a changing landscape. A couple questions come to mind. First, if you go with a bigger season like the Sony you recommended, then will it be more taxing on the computer or program your using to stream? This may be taken care of with your encoding section. Second, do you think PTZ cameras will increase their sensor size? Or are they best served for preset camera positions, movements, and tracking in sports settings?

[@aguyandhiscomputer]

Old comment but the size of the screen doesn't matter. The resolution of the video you're trying to push to the screen matters.

[@brianwillis2408]

Nice video. Super helpful. Just a suggestion, you may want to reference the aperture as iris as well.

[@mohamedaminchairi]

Unfortunately, restream doesn't support crossposting on facebook. Lighting is probably the most important. I use just 3 camrecords from SONY pxw-Z90, great camera's with all necessary inputs/outputs. I think it's the best choice since we're really doing long records (12h in a row)

[@czdot]

Somehow I'm learning more from a church tech channel then anywhere else. :-D

[@rosembergpolania]

Thanks for your video. I have a question: Regards the internet ,how much minimum upload speed should be required to stream a good video quality?

[@dylancronin4057]

Hey Jake, what are those vertical LED lights in your background been trying to get my hand on some but can't find the right ones. God Bless

[@benleary4103]

looks like Astera Ax1

[@JeXtremer]

Check out the Nanlite Pavo 15C

[@vgoard]

" making me look like a smurf" LOL... Honestly Jake, I was just looking to see what camera we were going to upgrade to and was on the fence from a previous video you posted about the Blackmagic 4k but the added info about the lenses you shared today was key! Always excited to learn from your amazing content. Thank you for helping ministries feel empowered!

[@dominik3187]

Could you make a big picture about all the tech stuff you're using in your church? Would be pretty interesting!

[@mailtofinny]

Great Video. Thanks. I have a question. Do you have a suggestion for the mac we need to use for Live streaming...

[@MiguelReyes-sx1vs]

Hey Jake.. Great video.... Don't sleep on the NDI Protocol solutions... it has nothing to do with video cameras.. NDI Protocol is the future when it comes to a production environment, people don't understand it now because it requires network knowledge to really fully implement it but watch in a few years how the NDI protocol will take over the production environment when 10gig networks becomes the normal. We currently run some aspect of our production through NDI... heck even the ProPresenter feeds comes to our switchers through NDI... The NDI protocol will eliminate SDI runs in the professional environment just give it some time.

[@jonberg2764]

As Miguel sad: NDI is NOT overrated. It has to be used I a good way. Propresenter, Arena... It has to be established in combination with good old SDI. Than it is really nice. We use it as example to deliver the Video-feed through the building.

[@TheBoringVoice]

You can get great quality video out of a PTZ camera. You just gave to prioritize lighting design. There are also PTZs with larger sensors. PTZs get a bad rap because there are a lot of low quality ones out there.

[@jeremiahbrewer9300]

Correct.

[@kencoughlan]

I agree. I find that many people tend to think myopically, only really able to think of churches like their own. While many churches today go with a darker lighting design as Jake says here, I disagree with his description that seemed to suggest this is the way all "modern" churches do it. Many, many churches do not opt for a darker lighting design. And those churches, especially with limited volunteers, can often get a far better setup with PTZ cameras than they could with the kind of setup recommended here. Every church is different, and the setup needs to account for the culture and style of the particular congregation. Folks really need to stop putting down blanket negativity about PTZs. In the right setting they are the correct solution.

[@predigr]

@@kencoughlan We use PTZ just because for us the quality is acceptable and the remote controlling a more prioritized factor. We also use Handycam and mobile phones...but yes, even under lighting churches the grainy effect is present. But yes, the specific setup is sooo dependent on the church.

[@lvc394]

If you are short on staff, PTZ's are the way to go. I setup 3 PTZ cameras with a ATEM extreme ISO running into a computer that handles the livestream and the audio feed to the stream. Our Church is bright so the image looks good. Once I have more staff I can maybe look into some of what Jake is talking about.However most smaller churches will have a large learning curve to get people trained up and ready.

[@TheBoringVoice]

@@lvc394 PTZ definitely help with reducing labor needs. They can also be placed in locations where people can't fit

[@hampdenhighlandsumc656]

Hey Jake, I appreciate all of the stuff you put out! Its amazing and incredibly helpful. I was wondering if you've done any work with any more traditional churches. My church absolutely loves their 150 year old pipe organ and hymnals and huge windows with lots of natural light (on a good day). How do I work on amplification and lighting and cameras when I'm not in control of all the variables?

[@RonClifford]

Great video! While I love the Sony a6100 and 6400. The kit lens is only "just" usable. Upgrade the lenses for sure 🙂

[@michaelmunene54]

Thanks Jake ,am in love with your videos .Just had a question on this video ,at some point you are presenting different data on the laptop screen ,for easier explanation ,which software are you using for the presentation ?(at 20.48 you slide to the edge of the screen and the agenda of the presentation pops up) Was just curious on the software ,which one is it ?

[@bobewy4172]

Appreciate your video's Jake. Why do you recommend having the video from the ATEM and Audio from the board going into the computer/ProPresenter? As opposed to the computer/ProPresenter feeding into the ATEM with the 2 cameras and the audio and then having the ATEM perform the send to the streaming service(resi or restream or etc).

[@vyizigirop.reeves6492]

If I were to take a guess I would say that it’s because it allows them to layer the lyrics onto the video much easier...?? But I am not sure. Hopefully we can get a correct answer because I wanna know too

[@JohnPlocher]

(Not Jake,...) We do this with two ATEMs so we can include remote participants into our services. We broadcast out to both an interactive Zoom audience (from the first ATEM) and a passive livestream one (from the daisy-chained second ATEM). This poor person's 2 M/E setup lets us easily include live remote content from Zoom participants (i.e., lay bible readers, prayer requests, even a speaker from China last week...) into our hybrid services and live stream, without having to shell out $4k for a traditional 2 M/E box... Our setup is: All cameras and ProPresenter feeds go into our ATEM 4k 1 M/E. Notably, the Zoom display does NOT. The 4K PROGRAM out (call it our "live" feed) goes into both an ATEM Mini Pro and the Zoom computer via a webcam video capture device. The Zoom display becomes the second input to the ATEM Mini. The ATEM Mini PROGRAM out goes to in-house displays and (via its built in encoder) out to our live stream ingest endpoint. The mini lets us choose either (Camera #1) "live" or (Camera 2) the "Zoom Boxes" The Zoom audience always sees the ATEM 4k's "live" feed from the service: camera, slides, lower thirds and/or recorded media - and they NEVER see themselves in a recursive tunnel of video feedback! All audio (legacy house mixer out, aux mics, zoom and propresenter computers,...) goes into a broadcast mixer (Wing) that has one Main feeding in-house speakers (for ProPresenter video playback) and another feeding the ATEM Mini, like you suggest. If we were doing this over again, I'd get a mini extreme instead of the 4K 1 M/E, and use its USB connection to ditch the Web Presenter; on the Zoom USB port - the combination of a Mini Extreme (for bulk switching) and a Mini Pro (for Zoom inclusion) is less $ than just the ATEM 4K, even with all the SDI/HDMI dongles I'd need :-)

[@JohnPlocher]

hit return too soon... We feed the video INTO ProPresenter so we can easily layer in lower thirds or recorded media in an IMAG environment... Yes, you can do this with your ATEM (and do it powerfully and easily if you have an ATEM Extreme with super-source...), but if you have an older or smaller model... The downside (for us) was that ProPresenter7's media/video/slide/view connections proved to be fragile across restarts and reboots - slides that had working video or screen cues before a restart would lose them or worse, connect to the wrong ones the next time! - a disaster when Murphy strikes during a service!

[@Jasonbatwood81]

Jake, with the Sony a6400 would you use auto focus for a camera on a tripod for the church stage and hope it picks up what it needs to or set the manual focus for a certain plane of focus?

[@bicher6914]

100% with Jake here, work on your lighting. We use Blackmagic Design Mini Ursa cameras *wow* but with poor lighting we are still struggling to get to a nice image quality.

[@leopoldwhylie5076]

This.

[@LifeLightStudios]

Hello.. what bitrate do you stream at or should I stream at? The higher the better?

[@ipandaface_]

I filled everything out on the Worship Ministry School and then the final step is to pick a date to call and there is no more dates in June so can I not just schedule on the next month?

[@matthew-tk7yc]

do people use vimeo or KZbin for there Sunday service? (which should use)

[@ehltechwiz1775]

@Churchfront is there a solution to send the video signal to computer or encoder wirelessly?

[@musadadam7260]

Hunnnn no one does it better, you are the best

[@ericlambrecht4945]

where i buy this colored lights that you used for ambient light??

[@andrewwitton8038]

Hey Jake, thanks for the video. Do you have a recommendation for a battery replacement module for the Sony camera so that they can run from mains power?

[@markwerner2978]

does the Sony a6400 have internal stabilizers for the video? [we probably will be mounting and forgetting so it may not be a big deal]

[@Si-Broadway]

What are the benefits of using pro presenter as the encoder verse the atem Mini pro as the encoder? currently we have propresenter as an input to the atem mini pro and use it to encode.

[@Davemwhitmore]

Question… we have a Panasonic G7 mirror less camera… we are using the lens that came with it (14-42mm) and our stage is about 20 feet max from the camera… is there a better lens to buy?

[@francisnaval]

what is the light that you were using on your background? and which camera?

[@stoochy1]

If I use my atem mini extreme for encoding straight to castr, can I use a second encoder for even better results. I find my results to be ok but not great. Thanks

[@andrewchristian3017]

What lens do you recommend for 6400

[@guyvitalherne]

Hey Jake. What are your recommendations for a church with a lot of natural light coming in? We are in the Caribbean and don't want to go the dark church route of most US churches.

[@predigr]

In my church the lighting is considerable in comparison with typical dark-lighting of EEUU churches and the grainy effect of small-sensored cameras (handycams/PTZ) is still visible. :S

[@TheMattFL]

Thank you so much for everything you just said. It is very helpful.

[@deenbajee7224]

How about just using an iPhone 13 to record

[@MetroWalt]

Anybody know what is a good encoding to use running pro presenter 7 & Resi?

[@4GSLTWTHGHOS]

Anybody have recommendation on how to use a DAW for audio livestream into pro7?

[@AlexCordeiroMoreira]

exelente video, e vem alguém marcar "não gostei". Como pode?

[@lfisher8154]

Nice video and well organized. In general I recommend keeping the shutter speed at 2X the frame rate ( or as close as you can get on your camera) and use ISO and Aperture to make adjustments. For example if you are broadcasting 1080P 30 frames/ second keep the shutter speed at 1/60. It will work if you don't follow this rule but you will have a slightly better picture if you do.

[@leopoldwhylie5076]

But won't that 1/60 introduce too much clue when your subject moves around ?

[@lfisher8154]

@@leopoldwhylie5076 Not in my experience. It has to do with all the conversion/encoding needed for streaming not necessarily the pure video capture in the camera. You may need to experiment a bit if Aperture and ISO alone are not working for your camera/lighting. Good news is it is a no cost option to see if the stream improves. Best of luck.

[@benediktheidermann]

Saying that the picture is better is not really true. What is true on the other hand is that it looks more natural. The idea you mentioned is the 180° shutter angle which introduces an amount of motion blur that looks natural to the human eye

[@shaneorourke4689]

Is there any lens for the Sony Camera you would recommend when you are shooting from about a 40 foot distance.? (Poor stage lighting)

[@florianschulz4496]

We are using an 70-200 f/4, but on a greater distant with an APS-C Camera, which basically makes the lens a 105-300 due to the crop factor

[@MiguelReyes-sx1vs]

Depends on your budget! 70-200mm F 2.8 is the solution I don't know how much the F 4 will help you with poor lighting. If you have an APS-C Sony then even the 24-70 F 2.8 will help you.

[@VeshBeats]

What's the best software you would recommend for Bible/scriptures. Urgent Thanks

[@bicher6914]

We use Proclaim from Faithlife, same makers of Logos Bible. Jake made some videos about it in the past. The reason we use Proclaim vs. ProPresenter is its cloud capabilities so our volunteers can work even from home without powerful computers.

[@johnregan3732]

Hi Jake, wish I had seen this video a couple months ago. We are in the process of switching to Dante and a new Personas board. We have two PTZ cameras. Just purchased the second one. Church is just finishing up repair from flood. We have 5 people signed up for WS.

[@johnregan3732]

I have been pushing lighting. When this room was used as the main (only) sanctuary they installed four banks of ellipticals. 5 in a bank. They haven’t worked for years. Part of the updating has been to get them all working. Now to get them aimed and controlled from the booth. We have four color led pars, any suggestions as to where to use them. We have a very light room. Light walls, carpet. Too much natural light also. We have the band separated from the chancel/pastor.

[@dominik3187]

You could try OpenLP: does a lot and is free. If you need more options try ProPresenter

[@xIDREWx]

It’s money that’s all

[@rosspeterson2658]

Get the Sony A7iii (full frame, best AF, clean HDMI output, sharper images, fastest AF, Redundant memory slots etc.)

[@josua2517]

Or two 6400 for the same price + free lenses.

[@rosspeterson2658]

@@josua2517 depends on the quality you want

[@shawns9070]

I Understand that your main audience for videos like this are not tech people (worship leaders and pastors) but some of the things you said in this video don't tell the whole truth. While I have no experience with these Sony cameras I personally I would never be looking at any Sony stills/hybrid cameras for use in video at least for streaming. Sure they have great AF technology their ergonomics and menus are still terrible and in a lot of cases still have overheating issues which would not be good in a live environment. They are also in my opinion too small to use and I would think it would not be fun to use with a 70-200 f2.8 or bigger / faster lense. For me, I would choose the Panasonic or Blackmagic options you mention every day except I might now suggest the G9 over the GH5 or look at the GH5 II as the GH5 is now end of life it seems for software updates. Sensor size is not everything too as a smaller sensor may still give better results than a larger one depending on how old the technology is in both cases, how good the processing is in the camera, the native ISO(s) of the sensor, the total resolution, the size of the photosites (Pixel density), if there is a crop applied by the camera when capturing at the desired resolution/frame rate, the dynamic range and the cooling ability of the body. Lastly on the cameras front, your operator needs to be shooting at a multiple of the desired frame rate as mismatched can cause issues. Also on your encoding topic. You mention that more computer power = better quality while this is not incorrect it is far for the total story too. I have noticed you have an interest in using Resi and that is fine it is not how everyone will want to do it. With encoding quality, there are 2 options in how you do it, either you do it in software which will for sure use a lot of computing power of your cpu this when set to the maximum setting will for sure give the absolute best possible result. The other option is to use hardware encoding with depending on what hardware you have can match the quality of encoding with using much less power. Bitrate is the biggest factor in the quality of the stream and at certain levels hardware encoders can produce a better-looking result than software ones. Which bitrate you use will also depend on what the service you are streaming to accepts. The codec that the streaming service accepts may also affect the quality of the final stream too and which hardware/software options you should choose. The resolution you are streaming or your viewers are watching at has especially during the last year also had a bigger factor on all of this too with many networks running close to capacity often the default playback settings by KZbin especially has been SD quality at best which makes much of the above mostly irrelevant.

[@toms1346]

Jake number 1# is always LIGHTS And your speech about sensors is very confusing, because you speak only about “photo” cameras and do not mention any real budget pro video cameras, shame! Maybe all people don’t want cinema style look in churches. NDI is very powerful tool to use in today’s situations

[@ツブランク]

obs

[@av1972boss]

Do you have a $1000 or less all we got is a cellphone

[@dominik3187]

Hi, I started livestreaming with three iphones, ndi and obs. A no budget solution and the results were not bad. If you have enough lightening and dont need to zoom its in my opinion a good way to start.