How to Do a Live Webcast

These days it is possible to run a webcast from your own home as long as you have the above hardware and software. You also need a phone line that connects to Internet with a high enough (300 kpbs) upload speed to transmit an audio stream. Note: When you are surfing the Internet, you are downloading. Your download speed won’t help those who try to connect to your server, because the server must push the content to them, or they must pull it from the server. If you have a cable modem or DSL line, the chances are that will do it. However, you will need to have a static Internet Protocol address (one that doesn’t change) rather than a dynamic one. The point here is that if you don’t have a static address, the address could change during the webcast and you will lose your listeners. If you haven’t done this before, you should probably start with an audio (not video) source, as the requirements are much higher for video streaming. Once completed, this project will allow you to direct visitors from your website to the media server to listen to streaming content (music, voice commentary, etc.)

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A computer capable of running Windows Server 2000 or 2003 (Should have at least 1GB random access memory and have a 1GB or faster megahertz processor)
• Windows Server 2000 or 2003 software from Microsoft
• High Speed Internet with Static IP Address
• Live Audio or Video Source
• Sound Blaster compatible Sound card
• Configurable wired router

1. Install the Windows server software according to the instructions accompanying the software and Configure your server by setting the Administrator password and setting up user accounts. You should have an additional one for yourself besides using the Administrator logon.

2. Make sure that you have Internet connectivity. After you can satisfactorily connect to the Internet, you can configure the media server.

3. Download the Windows Media Encoder at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=5691ba02-e496-465a-bba9-b2f1182cdf24&displaylang=en. Run the install program.

4. 
    
   Fig 1

   From the Start Menu, run Administrative Tools>Windows Media. Choose Unicast Publishing Points from the menu on the left. (Fig. 1)

5. 
    
   Fig 2

   Figure 1 shows the menu. Identify the machine name as in Fig 2. In this case, it is lucky. Type in the port number, which is typically 8080 for media service.

6. 
    
   Fig 3

   Run the Windows Media Encoder that you just installed. Select Broadcast a live event from the 1st screen as shown in Fig 3.

7. 
    
   Fig 4

   Your sound card should be recognized in the Device Options panel. Fig. 4.

8. 
    
   Fig 5

   Select Pull in the next screen. Fig 5.

9. 
    
   Fig 6

   Figure 6 shows the Server and Publishing Point settings. The server name and settings should reflect your server’s name and URL.

10. 
     
    Fig 7

    For an audio webcast that is primarily voice, choose 19kpbs for speed. This will work even if you are using an older server with only 1GB RAM

11. 
     
    Fig 8

    The Attributes tab lets you identify your program, author etc.

12. 
     
    Fig 9

    Change the settings on your website that will link to the webcast to the IP address of the media server. When the settings have been completed, click Start Encoding from the menu bar. Your webcast will begin.

Tips & Warnings

• You do not need to have a registered domain, as long as you can point to the IP address of your media server. That is, you must already have a website that you are going to use to direct the users to listen to your media program.
• You can simply connect a microphone to the media server’s sound card and speak into the mic to create the webcast. You can also play an existing file using the Play On demand option on the Media Server. If you have music or voice coming in from an external device (phone or CD player), you can connect it to the line-in jack on the sound card.
• It will not be effective to try to use the same machine for a web server and media server at the same time. For one thing, your users will be competing with one another for bandwidth on both servers. Also, you will usually configure your server as a web or media server, but not both.

[phartman]

on 10/20/2009 Please see the above comment on 1/8/2009. You would need a wifi account besides the dsl at your home, so that you could upload the stream to the media server.

[hsb401]

on 10/19/2009 hi i would like to know what r the requirements for video webcasting....as i want to design a website for the same.....so kindly pass some info on the same at [e-mail]

[adekunlekunle]

on 1/12/2009 need to create a webcasting site where anyone can log in, say their stuff and save it onto my site


[e-mail]

[phartman]

on 1/8/2009 I didn't specifically deal with video webcasts, just audio. Video would have far more requirements. For example, you could not transmit over the phone line into the sound card on the server. You would undoubtedly have to use a laptop with wifi in the field and connect directly to the server over internet. This requires a lot more technology and expense than the modest audio webcast I am proposing.

[pierre10]

on 7/28/2008 What type of camera do I need? And how to connect it to get the video to stream? I very new at this :>|