Portable, Non-Proprietary Streaming Hardware?

bandini asks: "My job occasionally has me running encoders for live webcasts in locations that demand a high degree of portability and flexibility. It's usually required that we provide redundant encoders, so my current setup consists of two rack-mounted WinXP machines and a KVM tray/switch in a very large, heavy, awkward case. In this age of powerful, small-form-factor computers, what kind of new configuration can I seek to relieve myself of some of the headaches of hauling around this giant case?" "I would use a pair of laptops but we want to keep using the Osprey capture cards that we've invested in, which will take multiple A/V inputs, including XLR balanced audio. We want to keep the setup as modular as possible so that the input devices, monitor, KVM switch, either computer or either card can fail without causing a catastrophe. We want to avoid the highly integrated and very expensive dedicated machines on the market. Ideally, the whole setup would break down into a couple of carry-on sized bags, and any one component could be replaced with readily available parts. Also, I've been looking for a good online community dedicated to live streaming issues, but haven't found anything yet. Any constructive input will be deeply appreciated."

Comments

Non-Proprietary hardware

[Toba82]

Are you really asking for Non-proprietary hardware? That's extremely uncommon, even for non computer-related hardware. Ever noticed how everything says 'patent pending' on it?

Of course, you probably only care about the software interface being open, not the design of the hardware. Carry on.

Shuttle

[Chernobog]

Get some Shuttle XPCs

On-camera high-end mics and DV/USB - encoder

[jgaynor]

"I would use a pair of laptops but we want to keep using the Osprey capture cards that we've invested in"

I think before you change your hardware you're going to need to change your mindset. The Osprey cards are fantastic (ESPECIALLY their XLR input capability) but anything requiring such a large PCI card wil almost mandate a deep-chassis 2u form factor. I recently broadcast a friend's wedding and had the same problem - it's difficult to get good audio/video with standard laptop hardware. I settled on a good DV camera with an add-on quality microphone connected to a USB ATI TV-Wonder and was VERY happy with the results. At only a few hundred K/second (church broadband), the encoding was the clear bottleneck in the A/V quality. On top of that, I was taping using the DV cam the whole time so I had a very high quality copy of the action for later post-processing and packaging for the bride and groom.

For the professional? A good DV cam (maybe PTZ, audio inputs required though) ouputting raw DV to two sources - a high-capacity DV recorder and a beefy laptop acting as the encoder. The recorder is there to prevent the encoder from seeing the akward minute-long outages you encounter when switching tapes (I ran into this problem last month).

Re:On-camera high-end mics and DV/USB - encoder

[vertinox]

Yeah... What the parent said.

My suggestion (and I've seen a relative who does DV do this) is to get an SKB rackmount case with wheels ( you know the ones you see the roadees use at concerts) and put your rackmounts in there. That way you can wheel it around if need be and it won't get too banged up when you travel with it.

Laptops won't really do well for ecoding on the fly.

Re:You must be new here

[SanityInAnarchy]

Any constructive input will be deeply appreciated."

Ha. I predict a suggestion of a pair of linux powered toasters at some point.

I, for one, suggest a pair of Linux powered toasters. Of course, you could always go with BSD powered blenders...