Streaming, in general, is nothing new for churches. Houses of worship have been on the cutting edge of live streaming since before it was cool. Today, streaming is not a complicated process; in many cases, all you need is a camera and an internet connection. While it is possible to stream that way, it’s pretty limited. If you are looking for a turnkey solution for all your mission-critical streaming, AJA, in partnership with Comprimato, has a new offering called Bridge Live, which is pretty exciting. While I have not had a chance to experiment with this product first hand, there are some compelling features. Based on the specs, it seems that if you need video delivered over the internet in any way, shape, or form, or simply to utilize the internet simply to convert between streaming and baseband, Bridge Live can handle it.
If you need video delivered over the internet in any way, shape, or form, Bridge Live can handle it.
Tech Specs
The Bridge Live comes in a very unimposing 1 RU chassis, but don’t let the small size fool you because it is a video delivery powerhouse. The I/O is brilliant because it has the option of 4x3G-SDI or 1x12G-SDI in and out. The great thing about this is that it gives Bridge Live the possibility of doing UltraHD or multi-channel HD. So, if you don’t need a single massive input or output, you can have multiple HD inputs/output. While 4k is all the rage, the multiple HD inputs are an option that should get a lot of attention in the church market.
It also has a display port and USB for the local interface, allowing you to control, route and specify your encodings, decodings to/from SDI, and even setup transcodes. Network connectivity is available via 2x 10Gig ethernet ports. When it comes to moving your content, Bridge Live has a chance to shine. It has lots of supported protocols; RTMP, RTMPS, RTP, UDP, SRT (plus encryption), MPEG Transport Stream, ABR Ladder Profiles, and Hand-off for OTT packaging. When coupled with the variety of codecs for encoding, H.265, H.264, H.262 (MPEG2-TS), and an optional JPEG 2000, the Bridge Live can basically move any video you have via any codec you want to whatever protocol you need.
Use cases
There are many ways the Bridge Live can be used; the most obvious is to stream content directly to Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, or any RTMP. However, because Bridge Live functions as a transcoder, a decoder, and an encoder, it can also be used to stream location to location, making it an excellent option for multi-site churches looking to step into near real time streaming. According to the specs, “Bridge Live can be configured for low latency … Depending on configuration, latency can be as low as 200ms.” Which is basically as real-time as it gets.
Bridge Live can basically move any video you have via the most popular codecs you want utilizing whatever protocol you need.
One of the use cases that stands out to me comes as a function of the Bridge Live being able to handle multiple inputs. So, it’s possible to set up a multi-site to receive multiple video streams. These streams could manifest in many ways, but the possibility that intrigues me is one that my church would use. Here is the scenario: We have multiple locations and deliver a multi-channel feed to each of our sites. One channel is a tight shot of the speaking pastor, and one is a wide shot of the stage. It’s played back in close to real time with the tight image in the side screens and the wide picture on a screen on the stage at each multi-site. Now one of our locations is in a building with a very low ceiling. As a result, the screen is low, so they cannot use the bottom portion of their screen because the audience obstructs it. So being able to encode the regular two shots and then use the third shot as just a graphic overlay would be great. This way, the graphics could be positioned and keyed at each location based on need.
Questions
In the end, there is a lot the Bridge Live can do, but all of these options leave me with questions: how many of those things can it do at the same time? Is it possible to stream to multiple locations and YouTube at the same time? AJA says it can, but we’re curious to see how it performs in a real-world environment. Also, because Bridge Live is multi-input and multi-output, can it encode and decode simultaneously, and if so, to what extent? What is the recommended buffer time when used as a decoder?
While this system appears to be able to do it all, it does come with a hefty price tag of $14,995. There is no arguing the Bridge Live is an expensive system, which means it won’t be an excellent fit for every church. However, for many multi-site churches, this system could be a real game-changer between the multiple HD inputs and the low latency.
