In the last decade the outlook of the live production landscape has been shaped in monumental ways. There were a half dozen products that were ground breaking, game changing innovations that altered the scene of the video world. Because of these cutting edge products, the price of production has come down--$5,000-$10,000 couldn’t buy you things you can now get for less than $1,000. This is great news for churches, because adding production value now doesn’t have to be a budget busting event.
Because of these cutting edge products, the price of production has come down--$5,000-$10,000 couldn’t buy you things you can now get for less than $1,000.
The latest product in the growing trend of affordable but awesome live production tools is the Sling Studio. The Sling Studio is a portable, wireless, multi-camera broadcasting platform. It’s capable of monitoring, recording, switching, editing and streaming live video. This alone is a feat unto itself, but on top of that Sling Studio does all of this wirelessly. The entire system is BYOC (bring your own cameras) and it’s ready to go.
Speeds and feeds
The system is impressively simple; it is composed of a hub, wireless camera link, and console app. The camera links have an HDMI type D (read really small) for Input and a USB port for charging. They are capable of transmitting video at 1080P60 using an H.264 codex up to 300 feet to the hub. They are small enough to fit on a shoe mount and not be out of place.
They are small enough to fit on a shoe mount and not be out of place.
The hub has an HDMI Type A connector so it can receive one camera source directly in. On the output side, it features an HDMI Type C connector supporting up to 1080p60 video output of program/quad view. It also has two channels of embedded audio over the HDMI connector. If you need analog audio, there is a 3.5 mm port for a line-level, two-channel unbalanced input as well. The four monitored sources and controller app are connected via 5 GHz 802.11ac connectivity. To connect to the Internet for livestreaming there is a Dual-band 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz 802.11ac. This can feed all your standard favorite streaming providers including; Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, Twitter/Periscope, Livestream, Ustream, Restream.io (we all stream) or RTMP. There is also an SD card slot for on-board recording and a USB port for hard drives and SSDs. The USB port also supports an expander for wired Ethernet connectivity. The last ports are for power; there is an A/C port for standard power, but there is also a port on the bottom for connecting a battery for up to 3 hours of totally wireless battery life.
The app actually comes in two flavors, Capture and Console. The capture app turns your iPhone 6 or higher or your Android 5.0 Lollipop or higher into a camera source. The Console app runs on an iPad and controls the Hub. It allows you to monitor four sources and switch/mix those sources live. You can also import your own graphics and videos, create text overlays and lower-thirds, update the scoreboard and use dynamic compositions like picture-in-picture and a quad view.
How it works
Simply, attach the camera link(s) via HDMI to your cameras of choice, or use the Capture app to attach smartphones. These all sync to the hub wirelessly. Once all the camera sources are synced you can control and mix the sources from the app. The app functions as a multi-view and interface in one. At this point you run into the only issue I could find in the system: the latency of the app. It isn’t as responsive as a hardware switcher. I guess all the wireless capability comes at a price. The good news is the entire system has some built in latency, so if you are trying to cut on the down beat, you should still be able to.
This leads me to my favorite part of the entire system, the NLE integration. If at this point you are thinking to yourself “it’s pretty cool” this is where it goes over the top. Once the production is completed, it’s not done. The SD slot on the hub records a couple of options, Program, 4 up, and my personal favorite, everything. When I say everything, I mean everything, all the raw camera feeds along with the program feed. Which is cool, but not the best part. Via a Final Cut X plug in or an Adobe Premier Extension, those feeds can show up on the time line, transitions and all, with each camera as its own layer. Everywhere a camera was live, the layer would be enabled and where it’s not, that layer is disabled. If you didn’t like the position of a cut simply slip it to a different point. Didn’t really want to take camera 2 there? Fine disable it and enable camera 3. All the information is there and laid out like an editor’s dream come true. Fixing a show in post has never been this easy.
Between the ease of use and the intuitive nature of the product, it is an amazingly good fit for the church market.
I don’t remember when I had as much fun with a product review as I had with the Sling Studio. I also don’t remember the last time I had a product where I wished I had twice as much space on this page so I could cover all the little details. I assure you this article is highlights only; there are some things I left out of for the sake of space.
As an IMAG director, the Sling Studio isn’t going to be replacing production switchers for IMAG just yet. In the past I have been a huge supporter of each audience (auditorium, online and overflow) having its own view of the service. While I do think it’s the right way to do it, I acknowledge it is not usually financially responsible. I have always encouraged getting a larger system and using parts of it for each audience. This would be the first time I suggest two totally separate products, and I think the Sling Studio is a great turnkey online option. The Hub comes in at $999 and each camera link is just $349, the cellphone app is free, so it’s not a huge financial burden. Between the ease of use and the intuitive nature of the product, it is an amazingly good fit for the church market.
