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The app, available free for OS X devices, provides a live monitor of the video stream, in addition to other functions.
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One thing that really set the Vidiu system apart from other systems is its ability to function completely wirelessly.
Once upon a time, near the start of my career I worked as a freelance camera operator for a company that streamed basketball games. The system we used to stream the games was state of the art at the time. It required a camera, a converter box, a computer, and a local network that we had to set up. All of this gear cost a small fortune and fit neatly into a backpack that weighed a metric ton. If that wasn't bad enough, I then had to find power, which was never in an optimal camera position, for all this gear.
I reminisce about these good old days because the new Teradek Vidiu system basically does everything our system did in a single device that is small enough to fit in your pocket. If the size wasn't impressive enough, the price tag of $699 is easily less then 25% of what all the gear we used cost us at the time. All of that to say I was excited to see how far this technology had advanced. There are a couple of really great features in the product; the small size, great user interface, and a feature rich app make the Teradek Vidiu an impressive piece of technology.
Zooming in
The first things you notice about the Teradek Vidiu is the size; it's really small. Only slightly bigger than a pack of cigarettes and weighing in at only 5 ounces, it's small enough to mount comfortably onto a camera. But despite its size, there are a lot of features packed into this tiny package. The large OLED display takes up almost all of the height and is large enough to make the interface easy to read. The joystick navigation buttons make it easy to navigate through the very intuitive menu hierarchy. This small platform also has a variety of connection ports, including USB for charging the battery, HDMI for video input, 1/8-inch mic/line input for optional audio, along with power, Ethernet, and headphone jacks.
Setup took about 20 minutes, most of which was setting up the free Ustream account. The API-level integration with Ustream makes streaming video as simple as logging in, once you have everything set up. However you also have the option to stream to your Content Delivery Network (CDN) or Vidiu's generic real-time messaging protocol (RTMP) interface that allows you to stream your live video content to a Wowza server or the platform of your choice at any time.
The Vidiu HDMI input allows stream resolutions up to 1080p, over dual-band MIMO Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or via a single 3G/4G USB modem. It will accept all the regular video resolutions, including 1080p 23.98/24/25/29.97/30, 1080i 50/59.94/60, 720p 50/59.94/60, 576p, 576i, 480p, 480i and either 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratios. Vidiu utilizes H.264 encoding compression and AAC audio at up to 5 Mbps. H.264 is a great compression codec due to its high quality and low file size, making it the perfect delivery codec for Internet-based video distribution.
One thing that really set the Vidiu system apart from other systems is the ability to function completely wirelessly. The internal Li-ion battery will run 90 minutes before needing to charge through the built-in USB port, making this a great solution for, say, a multisite church that is meeting in a local high school. However, where this product will really shine in the house of worship environment is in small churches that want to get their messages online. Take, for example, a church that has a single video camera that is recording its message. That video has to be captured, edited, compressed and then pushed to the Internet. That is a working timeline of potentially several man hours, the Vidiu system could save all that time by just delivering the video straight to your CDN where it could be archived for video on demand (VOD). This could give your staff back some hours and save them from a painfully dull post-production process. The argument could be made in that circumstance that the Vidiu pays for itself over time.
App-propriate performance
The last really important feature of the Vidiu broadcaster is the great app, available for free for OS X from the app store. Once connected to the Internet, Vidiu creates its own network that an OS X device can utilize to connect to Vidiu. The app allows you access to the entire menu hierarchy so you can make changes remotely or stop and start broadcasting. The app also provides a live monitor of the video stream, which looked good. There was some delay from Vidiu to iPhone, but that is to be expected. The app itself has a very simple graphical user interface; large buttons, easy navigation and an intuitive menu hierarchy make this app a really good remote control surface.
When it comes to streaming your message to the Internet, there are solutions to fit almost any circumstance. To stream content, all you really need is a computer and place for the video to go. What I like about the Teradek Vidiu system is that it costs less than a solid computer, takes up almost no space, can be utilized wirelessly—and it's easy to use. This is a great solution for multisite churches, smaller churches or pretty much any situation that requires video delivered to the Internet. I also see this as a solution to get video to an overflow room that you can't run a cable to. As long as you can get wireless signal into the room and get an HDMI cable to the Vidiu, you can pretty much get video anywhere you need it.
