Live Video Director Jeremy Elder at the helm at Saddleback Church's, Lake Forest, California campus. “Teradek’s new Wave monitor/encoder is an easy choice for smaller churches that want to start streaming,” says Elder, “but I could also see it working for us at a class or an event, going straight to social media where we’re not going to worry about getting it into our main system."
As live video director for Saddleback Church, Jeremy Elder has to keep an eye on emerging video technology and trends. Creative video has been a key ingredient for the evolution of his church. Based in Lake Forest, California, it is the largest church in California and one of the largest in the United States, with several campuses across the state and around the world. Elder recently took time out for a closer look at a new compact and versatile HD live streaming monitor, the Teradek Wave.
Designed to simplify both the setup and live streaming experience, Wave doubles as an HD encoder and a daylight-viewable seven-inch touchscreen monitor. It can handle a switcher’s 1080p60 output or single camera production, and promises to simplify the streaming to popular social platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Wowza, or Vimeo. In fact, Wave can be set up with any RTMP-based destination. With a price tag of just under $1,200, it offers creators a number of powerful features they might not expect from such a portable package.
“Essentially, you just pull it out of the box and you are pretty much set up, and you don’t need to be a video expert to get started.”
Jeremy Elder, Video Director, Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, CA
“It was a bit of a surprise to see a Teradek device with a screen,” notes Elder, “but it certainly makes a good first impression. The minimal design reminded mse of an Apple product, and with the combination of features it offers, you have everything you need to start streaming right there.”
After pressing Teradek’s new Wave into service, Elder could envision a number of uses for church technical teams, one of the most important being for churches just starting into streaming. “One of the biggest surprises was Wave’s ease of use,” he notes. “It didn't require any complicated configuration at start up–it just worked. So that was nice.” With Elder’s experience, he was able to get a stream going in about 15 minutes. “Essentially, you just pull it out of the box and you are pretty much set up,” he says, “and you don’t need to be a video expert to get started. First-time users of Wave, he says, don't have to have a strong IT background or much experience. “With any kind of social media or video background–even just a little–anyone is able to use it.”
A problem-solver
Wave can solve a number of problems because of its well-thought-out design. It can sit on tabletops using its included leg stands, or be mounted to a camera rig using the top or bottom ¼-20 mounting points. Easily accessible battery plates are hot-swappable and a USB-C connector keeps the Wave powered on for longer productions. And, to avoid mid-stream drops, there’s an option to split the video bitrate by bonding several internet connections together. Wave’s flexible bonding features allow for the use of Ethernet, cell, and WiFi connections, and, like Teradek’s popular Vidiu Go device, you can combine any or all of them to facilitate one video stream. Wave’s software is also optimized for use with the company’s subscription cloud platforms, Sharelink or Core.
“With a seven-inch touchscreen, it’s a lot easier to configure and monitor the stream than on a tiny LED while you're actually shooting.”
Jeremy Elder, Video Director, Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, CA
In addition to the unit’s good fit with beginning streamers, Elder likes the pragmatic benefits that Wave offers for location work. “With a seven-inch touchscreen, it’s a lot easier to configure and monitor the stream than on a tiny LED while you're actually shooting,” he says. “I could also see this unit having a place in a larger video production setup where you want to get a stream back to your broadcast room or main campus broadcast facility, or when you want to do internal streaming from one campus to another.” Elder points to his own team's demanding remote shoots. “It can become quite a process,” he says, “from the moment you're done shooting to driving back to offload the footage, then editing it and uploading. All the while you’re in transit, there are other team members waiting to do their part, say, get Bible verses and developing graphics, things like that. Being set up to work in tandem using streaming could make the process a lot smoother and more efficient.”
A social media facilitator
Even within Saddleback Church’s large video infrastructure, Elder can see benefits of having a portable encoder/monitor available for his teams. It could be especially useful, he says, for projects where the church might need to push out quickly to social channels. “It's nice to know you have something like this that is simple to set up and can be used almost standalone. It could give us the flexibility to break off a feed and just use a Wave to send a dedicated stream to one platform, where we could just plug it in and go and not really have to worry about it.”
Wave dynamically backs up video clips to Core in the background, so you can immediately share clips to your social channels–even before the event ends.
For users who want to simplify their workflow, streaming using Wave and Teradek’s Core cloud service facilitates sending streams to multiple destinations at once. Plus, users can unlock even more destinations that support SRT, MPEG-TS, and Teradek decoders–all accessible right on the Wave touchscreen. Core also makes it easy to record your stream for easy access and backup. Wave dynamically backs up video clips to Core in the background, so you can immediately share clips to your social channels–even before the event ends.
“Teradek’s new Wave monitor/encoder is an easy choice for smaller churches that want to start streaming,” says Elder, “but I could also see it working for us at a class or an event, going straight to social media where we’re not going to worry about getting it into our main system. I'd see that being a really good way to use it.”
For more information on Teradek’s Wave visit https://teradek.com/pages/wave.
