- Change theme
2021 Streaming Guide What Newcomers Should Know
Streaming of live video in 2021 is a must for most businesses.
13:21 05 February 2021
Whether it is streaming video to stay connected to their customers, or staying in touch with employees while they work remotely, live streams are booming right now.
The simplest way for someone to learn how to live stream is to use the equipment you have in hand such as your mobile phone camera and its built-in audio. But as an owner business, you are greatly in need of some professional live streaming apparatus recommendations. We've got you covered.
So if by any chance you find yourself asking: “What equipment do I need to start a live stream?” then this will surely be your guide on how to choose the best live streaming tool in the market and how you can fix them all together and be ready to make some record and start to broadcast live video.
How do I Set up Live Streaming?
To start up a live stream, let’s break it down what you will have to keep in place to broadcast live video. Starting up with live streaming is quite simple once you have got the basics.
There are four main parts to set up your live stream.
- Video and Audio Source – This will be your cameras, computers, and other image sources. Audio sources are going to be microphones, mixer feeds and other sounds to be played in your stream.
- Video Encoder – These are some very important piece of equipment we will later dive into. It help sends your video to the internet.
- A Streaming Destination – This can be the live streaming platform you'll l choose.
- Internet Connection – A stable internet connection is very important when you want to broadcast live video.
Your streaming set up workflow comes down to you connecting your video and audio to your encoder, setting up the connections, planning your steam, and also establishing a connection between the encoder and the streaming solution. Once you have connected everything and put them all in place, you will be able to start recording and others will be able to watch your video content right away. Now that is the basics all covered, let’s us now dive into each of these major parts giving in more detail to them.
Video Cameras
The main equipment required for professional live video streaming is a video camera. There are thousands and numerous live streaming video cameras available. Like most types of equipment, live streaming video cameras also come with trade-offs.
Entry-level video cameras: These cameras range from $300 to $700.
- Example: smartphone cameras, action cameras, entry-level camcorders
- Our top pick: Panasonic HC-VX981K, $647.99
Prosumer video cameras: These cameras range from $800 to $3,000.
- Example: DSLR and mirrorless cameras, prosumer camcorders
- Our top pick: Sony Alpha a7 III, $1,998
Professional video cameras: These cameras range from $1,500 to $25,000 +.
- Example: professional camcorders, EFT cameras, cinema cameras
- Our top pick: Panasonic AG-CX350 4K, $3,695
Audio Equipment
Numerous studies and research have indicated that audio quality is even more crucial to some viewers than the video streaming quality. If a live streaming video should stutter, the user-experience might be fine as long as the audio quality remains crystal clear. The lesson here is to not skimp on audio.
There are three main grades of audio live streaming equipment:
- Low—Medium Quality: examples like the built-in microphone on entry-level and prosumer cameras.
- Medium-High Quality: they could either be USB and 3.5mm microphones or also built-in microphones on professional video cameras.
- Professional Quality: XLR microphones.
Mixing Equipment
Mixing or switching live video equipment lets you capture multiple audio or video sources, and switch between them during a live video broadcast. This is quite optional, but if you are doing so on a large multi-camera live streaming shooting mixing is very important.
When looking for the perfect piece of video mixing equipment consider using the following:
- Physical size
- Input and outputs
- Automation & connectivity
- On-board processing
- User interface
When looking for the perfect piece of audio mixing equipment also consider using the following:
- The number of input and output channels
- Auxiliary and monitor buses and outputs
- On/off or mute buttons
- Digital inputs
- Control via a network app
Encoders
The fourth key piece of live video streaming equipment is encoders. Video encoding equipment helps compress video files so they are not saved as single images but as one full video. Engineers developed the video encoding devices in a way that it'll compress files without compromising the quality, which is extremely important for businesses.
There are many reasons why you might want to encode a video:
- To help reduce the file size
- To help reduce the buffering on streaming live video
- To help change the resolution or aspect ratio
- To help change the audio format or audio quality
- To convert outdated files into modern designs
- To help meet a particular target bit rate
- To help make a particular video compatible with a specific device it could be a computer, tablet, smartphone, smartTV, and other devices)
How To Find Legal Streams To Watch Sports, Movies, And More.
The year 2021 had made almost all of us more attached to technology, and our interest in our in-door activities had been increased. Streaming online sports or movies online is one of the most favourite activities that we enjoy doing while we are at home. So, how about knowing some of the best free sports and movies streaming sites?
These are some of the most popular streaming websites where you can get different types of engaging content:
- Netflix
- Content: Movies, TV shows, standup, documentaries
- User base: 46.55 million
- Hulu
- Content: Movies, TV shows, sports, news, entertainment
- User base: 26.48 million
- Amazon Prime Video
- Content: Movies, TV shows
- User base: 16.46 million
- Vimeo
- Content: Educational videos
- User base: 15.06 million
- YouTube
- This platform provides its user with: Music, movies, TV shows, comedies, documentaries, parodies, news
- Active User: 163.75 million