Streamline Your Portable Streaming System, Part 3: Switchers, Streaming Appliances, and Portable Encoders

Monitors

A final thing you want to consider with these small, portable units, is finding a way to monitor them. I recommend the MMT Monitor2Go FHD HDMI portal monitors for portable production (Figure 10, below). These monitors interface with your iPads, but they take an HDMI input. Other models on the market offer USB input, but there is some lag on the screen. Using HDMI gives you high resolution with minimal lag. You can fold the Monitor2Go flat, and run it on battery power if needed. This is a great choice for portability as well.

Figure 10. MMT Monitor2Go FHD

For a larger monitor, I recommend the 23" Acer H236HL (Figure 11, below). I’ve tested all the Acer models in this line. They include a variety of inputs, among them VGA, DVI, and HDMI. It comes with the stand shown in Figure 11, but you can remove the stand without a screwdriver and use it flat. Even though these are bigger than the Monitor2Go models, they’re great for portable productions.

Figure 11. Acer H236HL

To wrap up, with the exception of the just-released NewTek TriCaster Mini, what I’ve presented in this series are the various portable production components that my company uses to capture and stream events. You’ll need to figure out what works for you and what doesn't, and mix and match as required. I recommend that you put together a kit that you can use on call so that, when you get hired to shoot and stream events at the last minute, you’ll still be able to take the job and deliver a high-quality production. The gear described here should also enable you to do that at a relatively low cost, because most of the equipment discussed here sells for under $10,000, including cameras, switchers, and so forth.

Based on the success that we’ve had with this equipment, I believe you can't go wrong with anything discussed in this article when putting together a solution that works for you for your business. That said, it’s also important to keep an open mind and be flexible when putting together a streaming solution. When dealing with different clients and venues, you have to make sure that you get all the details before the event and look at all the things that the client is requesting to make sure you can deliver what they need. This will enable you to provide rock-solid streams with minimal headaches and establish a good reputation in this industry.