The setup for webcasting Lansdowne’s Sunday services is very simple.

We take a composite signal from the main DVD recorder and feed this via a switch box to the PCs TV capture card (which has a composite video input).Also attached to the switch box is another PC that we use to show a slideshow of introduction images before we switch to the live feed. We use a VGA to Composite converter on the second PC to create the composite video feed that we need for the switch box.

We also take an input from the audio recording system. This is a simple headphone output from one of the tape decks to the microphone input on the PC. The system is balanced to the correct level to achieve the desired input.

So, three inputs are available, 1) the video feed from the DVD recorder, 2) the PC screen from the second PC – showing a slideshow and 3) the audio from the tape/CD recording system. See this post for a diagram of the whole audio/video set up.

We use Adobe Flash Media Encoder (v2.5) to provide a feed into Justin.tv, sending 25 fps video at 400 bps and MP3 audio at 47 bps. This seems to be the maximum we can achieve at the moment with the uplink from our ISP, without causing too many jumps in the output. We use Adobe Flash Media Encoder v2.5 to provide a feed to livestream.com, sending 25fps video encoded at 250 bps with MP3 audio at 64 bps. This is the maximum we can use with our internet feed and to stay within the 500 bps limit imposed on free accounts.

We use the embedded player on our website (http://www.lbconline.co.uk) and can monitor the feed directly from Justin.tv livestream.com, including any chat.

This setup has the benefit of being low cost (Justin.tv livestream.com is free, but does carry adverts), but sufficient to provide a service for those shut in, unable to attend the services, or who have no bible believing church in their locality.

A simpler setup, which can be used almost anywhere, is to attach a webcam & microphone to the PC and use Justin.tv livestream.com’s standard ‘Broadcast’ option to show a live event. This will be poorer quality, but can produce quite acceptable results.

If you have any questions, please send me comments below.