Live streaming is an essential tool in helping churches grow and stay connected with their congregations, while IP-based workflows leveraging technologies such as NDI® are enabling new production flexibility and simplifying video infrastructures. Supporting multiple encoding formats – including H.264, H.265, and NDI®|HX – and multiple delivery protocols including SRT, Magewell’s Ultra Encode family of universal live media encoders offers houses of worship a flexible and affordable encoding solution for applications ranging from live streaming and multi-site video distribution to IP-based production workflows.
While Magewell’s Ultra Stream encoders continue to be extremely popular for users with fairly straightforward live streaming needs, some houses of worship may require advanced capabilities such as additional formats or protocols and higher bitrates. Ultra Encode delivers these enhanced features in an exceptionally versatile platform that goes beyond live streaming.
Ultra Encode offers both H.264 and H.265 (HEVC) video compression for live streaming delivery, letting streamers choose their preferred balance between broader viewing platform compatibility (H.264) and higher quality/bitrate efficiency (H.265). It also supports multiple streaming protocols including RTMP, RTMPS, RTSP, HLS, TS (over UDP or RTP), and SRT (Secure Reliable Transport, developed and open-sourced by Haivision) for maximum flexibility and compatibility.
Ultra Encode can stream 1080p60 video at bitrates up to 16Mb/s. Configurable presets enable easy streaming to YouTube™ Live, Facebook™ Live, Twitch™, or custom targets, with select protocols allowing simultaneous streaming to multiple destinations – ideal for churches that stream to multiple outlets.
In addition to live streaming to your congregants, support for the SRT protocol makes Ultra Encode ideal for multi-site video delivery. Combinations such as H.265 compression and the SRT protocol enable reliable and secure delivery of high-quality, bandwidth-efficient live streams even over unpredictable networks like the Internet, making them ideal for delivering live video feeds between multiple church campuses.
For IP production workflows, Ultra Encode supports NDI®|HX – the high-efficiency, lower-bitrate mode in the popular NDI® IP media transport technology. The bandwidth-friendliness of NDI®|HX enables it to be transmitted wirelessly over Ultra Encode’s built-in Wi-Fi support (wired Gigabit Ethernet is also supported), maximizing flexibility in on-site production and monitoring workflows. Ultra Encode units can be combined with Magewell’s multi-format Pro Convert decoders for robust, end-to-end, live media transport in either NDI®|HX or streaming formats such as SRT.
Learn more at Magewell.