Review: Digital Rapids TouchStream

All of the TouchStream’s inputs are on the back of the unit (Figure 5). The version I tested used an analog capture card that contained two video inputs (composite and s-video) and four audio inputs (a built-in unbalanced 2-channel RCA and a dongle-based balanced 2-channel XLR input). An SD-SDI version has a multipin connector with an adapter that has two SD-SDI inputs, and an HD-SDI-equipped version with a single input as well as a loop and two outputs also exists. This BNC-heavy second option is capable of a single HD-SDI or SD-SDI input (SMPTE-292M and SMPTE-259M, respectively).

Figure 5. TouchStream has no connectors on the front,housing all audio, video, USB, and Ethernet ports on the rear of the device.

Input resolution, as well as video and audio settings, are chosen after choosing the base project selection. This is the reverse of the way that the traditional ViewCast Osprey card would do it.

Digital Rapids has rethought the selections in terms of inclusive project shortcuts. This allows two projects to be set up exactly the same, with the same format and bitrate but with different audio and video inputs. This way, only a single choice on the touchscreen could yield a change to a number of settings, including the inputs, allowing for rapid reconfiguration in the field.

The other benefit to this model is the ability to launch multiple formats at one time: Starting with projects (say, for instance, a Windows Media 9 project) and then accessing the codecs subsection allows one to add a Flash codec.

For those concerned about the CPU utilization when stacking multiple codecs together, a MIPS graph would be an ideal scenario calculator prior to attempting to stream multiple codecs and bitrates. The TouchStream doesn’t yet have a MIPS graph, but it does have a robust number of real-time statistics including buffer usage, dropped frames, and overall CPU utilization.

Once a project is chosen, the user is then presented with another set of buttons, one of which is the Output button. Output displays the unit’s output choices of an archive recording as well as one or two broadcasting options (Figure 6).

Figure 6. During setup, aproject can be simultaneouslyarchived and streamed.Archives can be storedinternally or on an externalhard drive.

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