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Telestream Wirecast 4: From a Dream to a Stream
In the last couple years live streaming has become an integral part of the video production landscape. Where clients used to ask for just video they are now asking for web broadcasts of their corporate events. Telestream has offered their streaming program, Wirecast, for several years now. Their newest version, the Wirecast 4, offers both a simple solution for the basic streaming need as well as an arsenal of options for more complicated webcasting situation. With the Wirecast 4 you can capture and encode either using your internal inputs of your computer, or Wirecast 4 is compatible with capture cards from Blackmagic, Matrox, and Viewcast as well other capture devices, like the Teredek Cube and LiveU Backpack. With this compatibility, Wirecast 4 will work with most broadcast and consumer high definition cameras. On the broadcast end of your live stream, Wirecast 4 can work with a streaming server as well as the major streaming services like Ustream, Livestream, Justin TV, and Twitch TV just to name a few.
Almost everybody has watched a live stream of a major sports event or a concert, but many clients want to broadcast their presentation or meeting while keeping their budget at a minimum. With Wirecast 4, not only can you take feeds from multiple cameras and mix them with the program, you can take feed from another computer. This means you can mix that PowerPoint of a key note speaker with up to 7 video sources total without the need for a switcher. You can also mix in built-in titles, lower thirds, or add a transition to spice up the stream of that presentation. If your location isn’t up to par, you can add your own background using a green screen and Wirecast’s real-time Chroma key feature. Wirecast 4 can encode the file in Windows Media, Flash or Quicktime and stream it to multiple destinations and bitrates. With Wirecast 4, the concept of streaming your corporate event or presentation isn’t a complicated venture anymore, but a simple solution that can be done with one piece of software and a streaming service.
Has your camera and video production crew used Telestream Wirecast 4? What do you think about it? Do you use a different streaming program that you think works better for your application? Please share with us your experience about the streaming world.
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