NCast Live Streaming Equipment for Events

Hank, CEO of NCast, kindly donated some live streaming equipment!! We have the NCast Presentation Recorder, which is mounted on the pillar where other AV equipment is.

NCast Presentation Recorder

Set up

Hopefully all of this will already be plugged in for you when you go to run a live stream, except for the video input (since the camera and cable is kept in a locker)

Things that can be plugged into the NCast Presentation Recorder:

• Ethernet
• Power
• Audio input
• Video input
• Computer monitor input (like for power point slides)

Power

This is the power supply that came with the NCast Presentation Recorder.

NCast Power Supply

Audio input

The top of the audio mixer has 1/4 inch stereo, and that is connected to the 1/8 mono "Line In" of the NCast Presentation Recorder.

Top of audio mixer where the 1/4 stereo comes out of the Alt Output R/4 and L/3

Audio Mixer Top Outputs

NCast Presentation Recorder where the 1/8 mono goes in. It should be plugged into "Line In", NOT "Mic In" (since the audio gains etc are already set by the mixer)

NCast Presentation Recorder Input and Output

Running a live stream

Camera

We have a Cannon Vixia HFR800 Camcorder. This is currently in the Reponsible People locker and there is also a 25ft HDMI extension cable and a folding tripod. PLEASE put this away after events. It needs to be hidden to be protected from opportunistic theft. The HDMI needs to be plugged into the NCast Presentation Recorder "HDMI In".

Cannon Vixia Camcorder

Audio

All of the inputs are being mixed by the mixer, unless the red "RUDE SOLO LIGHT" is on (above the Master knob on the bottom right). You can include audio from videos or sound in the presenter's computer with the Chrome/HDMI/Apple TV volume control knob (assuming the presenter is one of these).

The bottom knob of each column is the volume, and the top black knob of the first four columns are the amplification -- you can adjust these to get the correct volume out of the speakers.

A/V Audio Mixer

Multicast software

If you are connected to the Noisebridge network, you can access the live streaming software via http://PRGN2MB-111214-0152.noise . The username is admin and the password is ncast.

This is what you'll see after logging into http://PRGN2MB-111214-0152.noise . The part of the layout with the person's head and shoulders is the PIP (Picture In Picture), and the part with the bar graph is the Main. You can select different layouts here.

NCast Software Main Screen

Static images on stream

To change the logo shown on the screen, click the channel layout from the main screen

Logo

NCast Main Screen Channel Layouts

Hit Customize Overlays

NCast Channel Layout Config Screen

Upload an appropriately sized logo

NCast Edit Logo Overlay Screen

Text

From the main screen, hit Sources > Overlays

NCast Main Screen With Sources

Hit Edit for the overlay that is On

NCast Text Overlay Config Screen

Now you can edit the text, background color, and foreground color.

NCast Edit Logo Overlay Screen

Arranging camera and presenter laptop on stream

Our camcorder has an HDMI input to NCast, and the Chromecast/AppleTV/Laptop is the VGA input. So normally you would select PIP to turn on output to the PIP part of the layout. If you want the camera to be small and the presenter laptop to be big in the stream output, you can select HDMI for PIP and VGA for Main. If you want the camera to be big and the presenter laptop to be small, you can select HDMI for Main and VGA for PIP.

NCast Video Layout Setting

Preset layouts that are popular are:

• #4 -- small video, large presentation, text overlay, Noisebridge logo
• #5 -- video only
• #10 -- large video, large presentation, text overlay, Noisebridge logo
• #21 -- large video, large presentation only