Tutorial: How to Turn Your PC or Mac into a Portable Live Streaming Station for Under $1000

Creating a Composite Shot

One very cool Wirecast feature is the ability to mix the two streams into a separate shot that I can switch to during the production (Figure 6, below).

Figure 6. A composite shot combining the presenter and the presentation created in Wirecast. Click the image to see it at full size.

You create the shot by choosing Add New Shot (Figure 7, below).

Figure 7. Choosing Add New Shot

Then you double-click the shot to load it into the Shot Editor window. Then you choose a template to get started (Figure 8, below).

Figure 8. Wirecast’s Template Chooser

In the Shot Editor, click each shot (A and B), and then the video to assign the video to the shot. Then click the icon indicated in Figure 9 (below) to resize the videos. In this project, I’ll make Shot A larger than Shot B by pressing the Alt-key and dragging with my mouse and adjusting the PowerPoint and the talking-head video in turn.

Figure 9. Customizing the composite shot in the Wirecast Shot Editor. Click the image to see it at full size.

You can also crop the sides of the shots by clicking the familiar crop icon. You can even import a still image to insert into the background. Once the composite shot is created, you deploy it in your program just like any other (Figure 10, below).

Figure 10. Click the composite shot as you would any other shot to make it live in the program. Click the image to see it at full size.

Using Wirecast on Multiple Computers

Note that Telestream makes it easy to use Wirecast on multiple computers. You can download the demo version, and when it’s time to go live, delete the serial number from one system, and enter it into the demo system to take it live.

Combined with the inherent portability of the AV.io units, you’ve got the ability to broadcast from any system in your office with USB 3.0 ports. Or, since the bundle is so inexpensive, you can just buy multiple copies.

Portability and Affordability

If you’re looking for a portable and affordable way to add live streaming capabilities to one or more computers in your office, the Wirecast AV.io bundle is a great option.

For more information about this bundle, contact this video's sponsor, Videoguys.com, at 800-323-2325.