How we stream to mobile devices

The last two weeks we have tested out Ustream.tv for streaming to mobile devices. Every week we get the request from at least a few people who want to view our live feed on their iPhone or Android device. On a side note, we have yet to hear from someone on a Blackberry or other mobile device ask if we are going to stream to their hardware type. Let’s be honest, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Palm users don’t do much more than email and basic social networking on their devices…these devices are behind the curve in terms of rich media and as a church we can’t put a lot of time and money into such a small demand.

The reality is that streaming to mobile devices is a no brainer with Ustream.tv. There is nothing to build or code, just plug and play. So there are not secret recipes here, I’ll just list out the work flow we have going and you can tweak it to your needs.

Here’s the signal flow:

Auditorium a/v feed > TriCaster Studio (switcher) > Canopus ADVC 110 > iMac > Flash Media Live Encoder > Ustream broadcast interface > Ustream Viewer

Our main feed for the live page of our internet campus gets encoded and fed to Limelight Networks from the TriCaster. There are two analogue outputs on the unit and we send one of them to the ADVC 110 which converts it to digital and interfaces with the iMac via firewire.

Flash Media Live Encoder is a free download and will recognize a camera or in this case the ADVC 110 hooked up via firewire. If you were going to livestream with one camera or come straight out of your IMAG switcher this would be the same setup you would use.

If you have livestreamed using FMLE with Livestream.com or other SMSP there is a slightly different workflow with Ustream in that you have to also use the Ustream broadcast control panel. To do this, you go into the advanced settings for your show and download the XML file for it. Then open this file in FMLE. This is nice because you don’t have to worry about getting long RTMP URLs correct. We tweak the settings to make it widescreen at this point. Once you’re set, fire off the feed and then launch the Ustream broadcast control panel. iPhone note: encode h.264 using AAC audio otherwise iPhones won’t work.

UPDATE: Here’s a screen shot of the FMLE settings we use. Except the source is the ADVC 110 rather than the iSight.

This is important, FMLE must be up and running before launching the Ustream controls (which you launch by clicking the ‘broadcast now’ button). At that point you click the button to make it live.

Like I said before this is counter intuitive if you have used FMLE before, because in most cases it’s all you need. I believe Ustream does this for monetization since the control panel contains ads.

That’s it on your end. Users need to install the Ustream Viewer app from the Android Market or the iPhone App Store. From there, they can search for your feed to watch it. Not the best workflow for discoverability …but it’s FREE!

Let us know how that works out for you.

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Social media solution

I’ve seen it twenty times in the last year. A company will release a social networking type application that seems to promise anything and everything you will need to accomplish your goals.

The inherent problem is that generally these apps are trying to meet many different needs of many different types of organizations, which means that you must conform to the functionality they deem broad enough reaching to include into their app.

At Gateway, we are looking to accomplish some things on the web that will meet the communication needs of our groups and also create an environment somewhat like a classroom.

On the money side of things it would be best to look at what is already available out there.

I have been tinkering with a few options and the one that is showing the most promise is Elgg.org. Its a PHP/MySql social network/classroom environment app…which sounds like what we’re looking for

I want to know what else is out there that might meet our needs….fire away.

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