What equipment do I need to do a Live stream?

Part 1. - The basics

1. Internet connection

Your internet upload speed* should be 2.5x the bitrate you choose to broadcast at. Note: this is only a guideline, however attempting to broadcast at too high a rate for your connection may result in poor performance of your stream.

2. An Encoding PC

The PC you choose to use as your Encoder should use the following guidelines:

-         Pentium 4 Processor running at 2.4 Ghz or higher
-         512 Mb of Ram for audio, 1 GB of Ram for video
-         Windows XP-         Windows Media Encoder 9

Note: other configurations will work, although this is a good basis to work from when selecting a PC.

3. A source

Your Live broadcast can come from a camera or microphone attached directly to your encoder, a video or audio mixing board, or a file.

Note: the quality of broadcast you can send out is directly proportionate to the quality of input into your encoder; use the best possible equipment and wiring, or the best quality file, to get the best broadcast.

* Below is a link to a popular speed test site which has test points located all over the globe.  All you will need to run this test is a java applet (which they will have you download if you don’t already have it installed).  It’s as easy as installing the applet then clicking the start test button.

Here is the link to the test site…

http://www.broadbandreports.com/speedtest?more=1

Simply select a test location nearest to you and then follow the directions.  The number that you will be interested in is the Kbps number, this will give you a basic idea of what your connection can handle.  The typical DSL connection has around 2044 kbps down and 768 up.