Connecting your Video Source to your PC.

Intro Video:

To get a standard camera or video feed to broadcast through the internet is simple. All you need are:
1. A video source
2. A computer
3. A way for your computer to capture the video device
4. A connection to the internet
5. An account at TikiLIVE.com

Figure 1: Simple Set Up:

This particular tutorial will cover number 3 above and will detail a few suggestions on having your PC capture the video and audio content you are looking to broadcast.

First: Plan Ahead

There are several ways to have your PC recognize a video and audio source. Before purchasing any equipment one should figure out the quality they are looking to broadcast and what type of video source will be utilized. Knowing these details when setting up your studio can save you time and money on purchasing and setting up equipment that you may not need.

A key component to reducing complications at this phase is to plan on capturing your audio and video with different devices if the source permits this. This reduces the stress on any one capture device and allows your PC to utilize standard ports such as the stereo input that most mother board come standard with. By splitting the audio and video signals you can ensure a more reliable broadcast by reducing the stress on your capture devices.

Second: Decide Upon the type of video connection you will be using

There are several different mediums for delivering your video content to your PC and many video sources actually provide multiple options. Please check out the following reference for a list of most standard video connections:

For this tutorial we will limit the possible video connections to the most widely used for home broadcasting equipment and we will split it into Standard Definition and High Definition.

Standard Definition Connections:

1. Composite Video (analog) – This is the most common video connection and you can recognize it by its single yellow RCA jack. The disadvantage is that composite offers the lowest video quality. Color and brightness are combined then sent through a single coaxial cable. Most displays have this type of connection as an input.

2. S-Video (analog) – comes with a small improvement over composite. This time color and brightness are sent in two separate signals not one as it was on composite. S-Video cables are made up of two coaxial cables and use a 4 pin Mini-DIN connector. PC video cards and laptops have usually an S-Video connection.

High Definition Connections:

1. HDMI (digital) – This is the newest type of connection and is created to replace DVI. The difference is that HDMI is a different connector being able to handle audio signals also. HDMI is HD capable and also offers up to 8 channels of HD audio.

2. Component (analog) – Gets the best video quality over the previous Composite and S-Video types. Now the signal is sent over three separate cables, Red, Blue and Green ( YPbPr ). Component handles HD video.

Third: Decide upon the audio connection you will be using:

Audio is more standardized within the broadcast industry and thus the choices are a little more straight forward than that of the video connection. A more complete list of audio connections can be found at TheHDStandard.com:

For this tutorial we will limit the discussion to RCA (analog) as well as a 3.5mm stereo mini-jack.

Fourth: Decide upon a capture device

Please be sure that the capture device supports the video connection type as well as video format. Be sure to check that the video source (camera, DVD, Blu-ray, etc) has the available connection and video format for the capture device you wish to utilize.

Please be sure to check our list of confirmed capture devices here:

Fifth: Connect your video and audio to your PC

This is the easy part! All you need to do is make sure that your video and audio signals are connected to the PC directly or through a capture device.

A few example configurations:

A. Standard Definition Broadcast 1:
Source: Video Camera
Video Connection: Composite
Audio Connection: 3.5 mm stereo mini-jack
Capture Device: AverMedia EZMaker USB Gold

B. Standard Definition Broadcast 2:
Source: DVD
Video Connection: S-Video
Audio Connection: RCA
Capture Device AverMedia EZMaker USB Gold

C. High Definition Broadcast 1:
Source: HD Camera
Video Connection: HDMI
Audio Connection: 3.5 mm stereo mini-jack
Capture Device: Blackmagic Intensity Pro

D. High Definition Broadcast 2
Source: Blu-ray
Video Connection: Component (R/B/G)
Audio Connection: RCA
Capture Device: Blackmagic Intensity Pro

Feel free to contact us and let us know if you have any other hardware configurations that you have had success broadcasting with.

Keep Streaming,

Tom

This entry was posted on Monday, March 22nd, 2010 at 8:38 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.