Guam Quality Low Budget PTZ Church Streaming

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Quality Low Budget Church Streaming

Summary

After reading positive reviews from others using Sunba network based security cameras for church streaming, I decided to give them a try. I then added a network security camera joystick controller and the OBS gstreamer plugin to reduce latency, and the result was a very decent 3 camera workflow for under $1000 (we already had a good computer in place). The camera presets have worked especially well for moving quickly between different participants for Zoom / in person hybrid Bible study.

Equipment Details

  • Switcher: OBS Studio (free) with GStreamer plugin for RTSP sources (details here: Low Latency RTSP Source in OBS)
  • Primary Cameras: Sunba PTZ 20X Optical Zoom (405-D20X ECO Edition, under $200 here)
  • Camera PTZ Controller: LEFTEK ONVIF network based controller (under $200 here)
    • Although these can control multiple cameras, the gstreamer Sunba camera feed in OBS freezes when switching the controller to a new camera, so it is smoother and easier to purchase 1 controller per camera.
  • Logitech C920 webcam for wide shot
  • Stream destination: Zoom / YouTube / Facebook (no recurring costs, besides Zoom subscription)
  • Sound: direct output from church sound board into computer
  • Headphones: OneOdio® A71 Wired Bass Headphones - Brown purchased online for local pickup at American Music here.
  • Slides capture: USB HDMI capture card + VGA to HDMI adapter card (in progress)

OBS Zoom Notes

OBS has a virtual camera which works great with Zoom, however it does not include audio as of Jan, 2021. We were able to use the virtual audio cable as a work around for this by setting it as the monitoring device in OBS and the source in Zoom. I also set this input to be monitored via the headphone jack on one of the monitors, so that I can listen to the OBS output that is going to Zoom too.

Results

Agat-Santa Rita Seventh-day Adventist Church YouTube Channel

Background

I have documented my work on the Collegedale Community Church Webcast over the years, but have also done some lower budget live steaming in Guam since moving to the island in 2010. Our initial workflows used Wirecast streaming to YouTube with an old Canon XH A1 video camera connected to a computer via firewire, a Logitech webcam as the second source, and XLR audio from the sound board connected to the Canon camera.

Eventually we started experimenting with OBS, but it would not recognize our Canon video camera via firewire. After doing some research we purchased an analog HD component dongle for the camera, an HDMI converter, and an HDMI capture card and never looked back at the firewire cables. We also added a newer Sony A6000 HDMI source, and have used remote iPhone cameras connected to Google Hangouts On Air to live stream 5k/7k Fun Run events.

More recently during the 2020 pandemic I have gotten back into church streaming with a new low budget workflow, and I have also helped set up a mid range studio for both pre-recorded and live production at the end of 2020.

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