As more churches start live streaming, you start to hear more myths about it. If you ask a question on any church tech Facebook group or even at a conference, you'll get a variety of answers. Sometimes, they represent legitimate opinions about what's best in a given situation. Other times, they're ill-informed, based on a limited amount of experience, based on what used to be true, or even just “I-heard-someone-say-that” kind of reasoning.
The process of live streaming has been streamlined, so it's easy to believe that it's simple. This has led to a lot of misconceptions.
Equipment myths: “Just use your smart phone.”
Smart phones are wondrous things. They enable things that would have been science fiction just a few years ago. Live streaming is one of those things. There were early attempts like Qik, but smart phone live streaming has really only come into its own recently.
Still, is your phone the end all be all of live streaming?
No.
The necessarily small camera sensor and lens in smart phones don't allow the kind of flexibility that a professional camera does. While it's possible to hack together a system that mounts a servo-controlled lens to a smart phone, it's not as good as a professional camera with a large sensor and lens.
This doesn't take into account the additional visual interest that running multiple cameras through a video switcher provides, either.
In an effective live stream, you need to provide a good balance of context from wide angles (to help the audience feel like they're in the room) and detail from close up shots (so they can get a sense for the smaller details, which often have the most emotional impact).
“You need a computer.”
Most of the time, when someone is saying this, they're talking about a traditional desktop or notebook computer, used for encoding. You can stream with a smart phone alone, although that's usually far from optimal, but you don't need either one.
Encoding appliances like the Teredek Vidiu, the Boxcaster, the ChurchStreamer, and others can take an HDMI (or sometimes SDI) input from a camera or video switcher.
While technically, these devices are computers of a sort, they're not the general purpose computer that you think of when you think of computers. They're dedicated encoders, built for streaming and only streaming.
“Plug in a webcam and you're good to go”.
It's possible to live stream from a webcam. People do it all the time.
The problem comes from the circumstances surrounding church live streaming. Webcams are designed for short distances, so they have wide angle lenses. In an office for one on one video calls or in a conference room, this is exactly what you want.
In a room designed to hold 100 or more people, you'd need to get the webcam really close. Probably having it on the front row or closer would be best.
"We can do it with our existing equipment, can't we?"
This one depends on what you have. If your church is already doing television ministry with three HD cameras running through a video switcher and have a recent high-end computer with video capture or an encoding appliance and good internet, the answer is “Yes.”
If you have an iPhone 3g or security cameras, the answer is “No.”
Sadly, more churches fall into the latter category than the former. So, live streaming will probably require the purchase of some equipment.
Start with your assets. Maybe you have some of what you need. Better equipment will give you better results, if your people know how to use it.
Be careful of the tendency to either under-buy, thinking “good enough” for now is good enough for the future, or over-buy, thinking, “We'll figure it all out eventually.”
Buy with the future in mind, but your church probably doesn't need the same equipment that Lakewood Church (Joel Osteen's church) is thinking of upgrading to in two years either. Look at your current capabilities and add equipment that will enable you to grow, not into a billion views a week, but into a larger online congregation than you hope for.
If you have 500 people attend in person, plan for 100 online, not 100,000. Fifty is probably what you'll get, but twice that is an awesome goal.
Live streaming service myths: "We can just use Facebook, YouTube, etc, and it should just work! For free…”
There are two parts to this one. Let's start with “…it should just work.” Live streaming isn't the dark art of the past, but there are still problems that make it less than 100% reliable 100% of the time.
Large companies like Facebook and Alphabet (owners of Google and Youtube) can't provide the kind of one-on-one attention that a volunteer-driven live streaming ministry might need.
Because they're so large, they're also big targets for copyright holders to go after. While most churches won't run into huge problems, those that do may have trouble finding a person to address their concerns, even when they do have the proper licensing in place.
Also, when there's something as simple a problem with the interface, reports of the issue may fall on deaf ears.
The other problem with this myth is the “for free” part. There are equipment and licensing requirements that churches should be aware of. Performing copyrighted music in person is specifically allowed in the law in the U.S., but live streaming is different. So, you'll need a live streaming license unless the creators of all the music your church performs have been dead for a long time.
Does your church have enough internet upload speed? That might cost you, too. “For free” isn't totally free, even if the live streaming service is.
People Myths: “Anybody can do it”
Live streaming is easier today than ever before, but it still requires both artistic and technical skill-sets.
Nearly anybody can hold up a phone and go live on Facebook. But, what happens when something goes wrong? Can just anybody troubleshoot what's wrong? Can just anybody create an engaging live stream for an hour, capturing all the important events to draw the viewer into the action? No.
“You need a professional”
This might seem to contradict the last myth, but it doesn't. There are some very capable amateurs who prefer to never be paid for their work. Likewise there are professionals who are new to live streaming, have dubious skills, or just don't give it their best.
Either way, it comes down to the talents of the individual. Video is one of those skills that you can learn in school or by practical experience. Don't discount a talented teen or assume an expensive professional will be worth what they charge. Either might give you great results. It's the individual, not the title.
"You will have to hire a production staff”
Volunteers are the cornerstone of many successful and high production-value live streaming ministries. You might be surprised to find out that the big church down the road is using volunteers for their live stream, but a smaller church is using paid professionals.
Don't be afraid to hire people if you need them or if you have a valued volunteer that could take things to the next level, if they just had more time to invest in the ministry. It depends on your situation.
"Only a big church can do it”
In 2000, a video ministry may have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for the most basic system, but today it can cost a fraction of that.
Likewise, a high quality production used to require several people to pull off. Today, that's not always the case.
Your live stream might not look as good as network television if you don't have the people or equipment that they do, but that doesn't mean that with some creative thinking and training, you can't get most of the way there.
The Mevo streaming camera can, for only a few hundred dollars, mimic a multi camera shoot. Apps like SwitcherStudio for iOS do the same thing with a network of smartphones and tablets. They're not the same as a purpose-built system, but they're better than the tech that was available for similar prices in the past.
More people than ever before are shooting video, too. Maybe the retired people in your congregation have gotten quite good at it. Likewise, teens now dream of YouTube stardom and might be better at video than you'd suspect.
Most of these myths are rooted in either current or past facts. Whether it used to be true, but advances in technology have changed things, or changes in culture have given people new skills, always investigate myths to find the truth.
Today's awesome free service could become tomorrow's tale of caution. Yesterday's cautionary tale could easily become tomorrow's best practice. Things are changing so quickly that these myths may soon become true, too. That's the way technology is today. Keep researching to separate myth from reality.
