Livestreaming
A budget friendly solution that can impress your viewing communities.
Click --->Pontiac429 - YouTube Channel<--- Click
Initiated from STEAM classrooms.
Pontiac429 offers a free to stream option for communities.
A great avenue for students interested in technology, and communications.
Creating A YouTube Channel
A YouTube channel is required at this point.
Channel Account cannot be apart of a GSuite org.
Basic Setup:
Difficulty Level: Easy to Moderate
Equipment Costs: $0 - $400
Personnel Involved: 1 or More
Hardware Needs:
- Computer System
*minimum requirements (720hd) *recommended (1080hd)
- i5 processor(6th Gen+) - i7 processor (10th Gen+)
- 8Gb ram - 16Gb ram
- Integrated Graphics - Dedicated GPU
- Internet Usage 3Mbps - Internet Usage 5-12Mbps
- Camera IP and/or PoE preferred (2MP or 4MP @ 24-30fps)
*USB is possible
- Microphone Basic microphone input for ambient noise
- Networking 1Gpbs Network Switch
*wired network and PoE preferred
Software Needs:
- Operating System
(Windows 10/11) or (Mac 25.0.8+) or (Ubuntu 14.05+)
- Open Broadcasting Software
(OBS)
- A verified YouTube Channel approved for streaming
The live stream system is dependent on a quality camera (IP preferred), CPU, and a quality connection to the internet.
Assessing your Location:
Understanding the physical dimensions of your facility is a must for a successful Live Stream.
Gymnasiums have limitations (e.g. height of roof, width of walls)
Approximate acceptable coverage area of live stream before purchasing.
For example: Our gym has the following measurements
- Length of Court Measurement: 74 Feet
- Mid Court Measurement: 37 Feet
- Sideline to Wall Measurement: 17 Feet
- Height of Roof Measurement: 25 Feet
All cameras of have a limited view, before climbing and mounting lookup it's FOV "Field of View".
Our camera's FOV is 106 degrees of the needed 134 degrees for a full court view.
We found this acceptable and chose to use this security camera for our Live Stream.
Positioning & Mounting the Camera:
We repurposed an IP-based (PoE) security camera for our live stream feed.
Our camera position is 17 feet above the floor and mounted at mid-court.
Given your facility's dimensions, you may not have 100% coverage in your field of view "FOV".
A higher viewpoint allows viewers better depth perception of court activities.
A camera that does not pan is preferred in our setting.
IP-based & PoE
Camera and Switch
ICRealtime Camera
IPEG-E40F-IRW1
TRENDnet 5-port
Network Switch
TPE-LG50
Adding a Microphone:
The microphone does not need to be high quality. The general idea of this microphone is it's ability to pick up ambient noises of the space. We wanted to hear the Scoreboard, Whistles, and Gameplay noise.
A Blue Snowball is a good microphone choice with it's omni-directional audio pickup.
Our microphone is directly attached via USB to the Live Stream computer.
Connecting Sources in OBS:
Connect the Computer to the Internet and access cameras and microphone.
Assuming the following is all communicating:
- Computer network address (192.168.1.1)
- Main Floor camera address (192.168.1.2)
- Scoreboard camera address (192.168.1.3)
- Microphone connected via USB
Video Feed Source:
Main Floor Camera
OBS Media Source Input = "rtsp://192.168.1.2"
Scoreboard Camera
OBS Media Source Input = "rtsp://192.168.1.3"
(if password then input = "rtsp://admin:password@192.168.1.2")
Audio Feed Source:
Blue SnowBall Microphone
OBS Audio Source Input = "Default Microphone" or "USB Microphone"
This will produce a basic stream.
- The Main Floor (*optional Scoreboard with a second camera)
- Ambient gym sounds
Live Streaming OBS to YouTube:
Assuming the camera feeds are viewable on the OBS Canvas
OBS -> Settings -> Stream ->
Service: YouTube - RTMPS
Server: Primary YouTube ingest server
Stream Key: (unique Stream Key from YouTube)
- Finding the Stream Key from your Stream
- Placing the Stream Key into OBS
*Do Not Share Stream Key with Anyone*
Original Equipment in 2017:
System: - Dell E7450
Camera: - ICRealtime IPeg-E40F-IRW1
Microphone: - SnowBall Microphone
Network: - TrendNet 5-Port POE Switch
Interactive Setup:
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Equipment Costs: $400 - $1000
Personnel Involved: 2 or More
Requirements:
The following options can be added to enrich the existing "Basic Setup".
These additional features use more system resources, please use the following:
*recommended (1080hd)
- i7 processor (10th Gen+)
- 16Gb ram
- Dedicated GPU
- Internet Usage 5-12Mbps
Remote Control the LiveStream:
Remote control your Live Stream system.
VNC Software is a Client/Server software allowing remote system access to the keyboard/mouse of the "server" application. There are a number of iterations of VNC, just about all work in this scenario.
Microsoft Application:
(RealVNC, TightVNC, UltraVNC, PocketVNC)
Chromebook App:
*For best results, both systems should be on the same network.
Remote control OBS from a phone or tablet on the same local network. In short, this allows the Live Stream to be run remotely by a web interface.
A Websocket API for OBS Studio. The websocket server runs on the OBSRemote protocol (including authentication) with some additions specific to OBS Studio.
Live Commentary: (student involvement)
Additional audio inputs can be added in the OBS software.
Wireless Mics/Mixers/Apps: (audio only)
OBS allows mixing of numerous mics and/or audio inputs.
Any of these are viable options to add.
- (Free Software) Discord Software
A free solution to adding audio is to setup a Discord Server and bring a group chat into OBS. This has the added benefit of students having their own phones and a Discord Server allows multiple commentary into the Live Stream.
- (<$100) Bietrun Wireless Microphones
Inexpensive wireless microphones (lapel or stick mics) can be used with the Live Stream. Given it's within range of the Live Stream system itself, these offer a budget friendly way to bring commentary directly into the stream.
- ($100) PreSonus AudioBox USB96
If you are beyond entry level and have a sound board but need easy inputs. This is very easy way to bring those inputs directly into the Live Stream system through the use of a USB 2.0 Audio Interface.
- ($350) DJI Mic
DJI has come out with their impressive set of dual mics with very long reception range. Unit can double as a audio transmitter/receiver for sending between computers.
- ($600) Behringer XR12 Digital Mixer
For a more serious setup a wireless XR12 allows for concert quality audio mixer that is controlled through either an Apple iPad or Android Tablet. This can bring in professional mics or inputs for your Live Streams.
Live Data Integration: (student involvement)
Live statistics and other on-screen information can be an avenue for multiple student involvement.
Google Sheets "Live Data": (Part 1) Game Statistics
As part of our Google Workspace for Education we are granted access to Google Sheets.
Through a creative set of spreadsheets and the collaborative aspect of Google Sheets, we are able to produce and control active content on our Live Stream.
(Free) Here is a basic version of our Google Sheet for your Live Stats.
*Make a copy, and it's ready to go live when your data is updated.
Our StreamTeam students use Chromebooks to edit the sheets live as the games progress.
Students update the sheet with live game results, Sheets uses that data for game calculations.
Students learn the basics of Spreadsheet Formulas and Linking Spreadsheet Data.
Google Sheets "Live Data": (Part 2) "Who's on the Floor"
As our other StreamTeam students are logging live statistics, a second group is updating the players that are in the game. As the jersey numbers are edited/updated during the game, Google Sheets perform queries on the player rosters.
The numbers entered assigns player names on the displays. The speed at which Google Sheets operates allows this to function like real time onto the screens of our viewers. This is all accomplished through a mixture of basic formulas using Google Sheets.
Advanced Setup:
Difficulty Level: Moderate - Difficult
Equipment Costs: $1000 - $2000
Personnel Involved: 3 or More
GreenScreen Integration:
- GreenScreen Intros
Leveraging our STEAM classroom, players are given an opportunity to add some personality to the stream. Videos are taken on a greenscreen and presented later in OBS as layer. These short videos are played during warm-ups as a way to "Meet the Players" to the audience at home.
Wireless Audio & Video:
While this can work in limited applications, wired communication is more reliable.
"In the Crowd" Reporter: (Audio & Video options)
Add a GoPro camera wirelessly into OBS for those on-the-go mobile student reporters.
- ($300) GoPro Hero 8
- ($100) GoPro MediaMod
- ($100) ActionCam2PC
Bring a GoPro 7/8/Mevo wirelessly into OBS with a couple of extra tools.
Requirements:
- (Mobile device, GoPro Camera, and Stream System)
*must be within range of communications.
- GoPro mobile app installed and running
- ActionCam2PC app installed and running
- Create RTMP-Stream source to ActionCam2PC stream.
Automated LiveStream Scoreboard:
Scoreboard OCR Software:
Scoreboard OCR recognizes digits from physical scoreboard and sends them to your graphics engine. Thus allowing you to create your own designed graphic overlay scoreboard.
Scoreboard OCR currently has an annual subscription cost.
