How to Live Stream Church Service

In this modern era, it is quite the blessing to have the ability to connect with one another at our fingertips. For those who are in circumstances that limit their physical presence, accessibility to the church community can be made available through live streamed church service. 

This article will provide you with some best practices, necessary live streaming equipment for church, and how to live stream church service directly from your house of worship. 

How to Live Stream Church Service

Internet Connection

A stable internet connection is the most important aspect in live streaming your church service. It is this fiber that connects you to your audience. A hardwired connection is key here, as WiFi can often provide a spotty connection. 

In terms of internet speed, you will want a minimum upload speed of 5 Mbps if your video resolution is 720p, and 10 Mbps upload speed if your video resolution is 1080p. If you can achieve a faster connection, that is ideal. If you can reach a speed of 20 Mbps or more, you will have more margin for any instability or interference, the more Mbps the better!

Another common concern is bandwidth. Dedicating this connection to only live streaming and not sharing it with other users will strengthen the stability of this connection. A final note to consider is the bandwidth limitations your audience may have and how this may impact your decision when choosing what resolution and bitrate to use for your stream.

How to Live Stream Church Service

Computer

A computer with a powerful processor will be one of your biggest assets as you live stream your church service. As in all things, there is a balance to find between processing power and cost. 

When looking for live streaming equipment for church, look for something with a high-end CPU. This is something that most newer Mac and PC computers can provide. A CPU cooling system is another important consideration to keep your equipment safe from risk of overheating. 

Some useful standards:

• Processor: 2.5 – 3.5 Ghz (for 720p-1080p streaming) 
• RAM: 8 – 16 GB
• Hard Drive Space: 2 GB of free space
• Cables: USB 3.0 and USB C (for higher bandwidth connections to capture cards)

How to Live Stream Church Service

Capture Cards, Encoding Software, & Hardware Encoders

The live streaming software on your computer is used to encode -or convert- the audio and video captured into a digital format that you can provide for playback on your preferred streaming platform. The equipment necessary for this is capture cards, encoders, and software. A capture card converts the video signal from a camera or switcher to a digital format that your computer can recognize. Encoding software then receives this data from the capture card, and then encodes that data for streaming to a platform. 

Hardware encoding is another option separate from software encoding. A hardware encoder is a device dedicated to encoding video into a compressed format suitable for streaming. This option requires more infrastructure and space to be fully utilized and also typically requires more technical experience than software encoding. We recommend giving us a call if you are looking for hardware encoding solutions. If the bandwidth you are working with is inadequate, some hardware encoders have a special feature of bonding connections from ethernet, wifi, cellular modems, and mobile devices.   

With an abundance of encoding software options on the market, it can be hard to know which decision is best for you. The most important considerations to note are multi-bitrate streaming systems and their compatibility with your operating systems. 

Some of our personal favorite softwares:

• Wirecast
• vMix
• OBS Studio

How to Live Stream Church Service

Streaming Platform

When determining how to live stream church service, choosing the right streaming platform is all about finding the best fit for your church and its members. This is another market with countless options, which makes finding the right match all the more attainable. You may want to consider linking it with your social media platform or embedding the videos directly onto your website. 

Some features that may be important for you to consider are pricing and bandwidth charges, security, and customer support. Depending on your specific needs, it may be wise to focus on a platform that offers multi-bitrate streaming to optimize your streaming quality or maybe which platform can provide you with the best analytics.

Some of our personal favorites:

• Vimeo Livestream – https://livestream.com/
• YouTube Live – https://youtube.com
• Facebook Live – https://www.facebook.com
• Dacast – https://www.dacast.com/
• Twitch – https://www.twitch.tv/

How to Live Stream Church Service

Cameras and Switchers

While your smartphone can provide your church with the necessary equipment to live stream service, a proper camera system will greatly improve the quality of the viewer experience. A multi-camera setup will be your optimal choice. When looking at camera equipment, your best options will be multiple HD PTZ (Pan, Tilt, Zoom) cameras to give you ultimate flexibility for angles, zoom, and pan. This will provide you with dynamic coverage of your church service. 

Some of our personal favorites:

• AW-HE40SW

https://pro-av.panasonic.net/aw-he40

• AW-UE150 4K

https://pro-av.panasonic.net/aw-ue150

We strongly recommend utilizing a multi-camera setup to provide your live streamed service with the most engaging experience. To do this, you will need a video switcher. A video switcher is the device that allows you to switch between your chosen cameras (and even graphics/video playback). From here, the video switcher will send your video to your computer and onto your encoding software. This will then convert your video and audio into digital formats for streaming services, such as Youtube, FacebookLive, etc. 

Our personal favorite:

• ATEM Television Studio Pro 4K

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/atemtelevisionstudio

How to Live Stream Church Service

Audio

Once you have all of your live streaming equipment for church service, learning how to live stream church service with the added component of audio will be an important focus. The quality of audio for your live stream is dependent on the quality of equipment in your sound system. A basic checklist includes microphones, mixing console, preamps, good room acoustics, and of course a talented sound engineer.

One of the best tips we can give you is to avoid using a camera or a smartphone’s microphone. For the best sound quality, it is crucial that the audio used to live stream your church service comes directly from your mixing console and better quality microphones. There are two best methods to convert this audio to a digital format from the console. One option is to use a USB audio interface, which can be used to convert the audio. Alternatively, some switchers or capture cards can be used to embed the audio in the video.

Another important aspect of live streaming audio is making sure audio and video are in sync. The best approach to this is to do an audio sync test to determine if your audio needs to be delayed. Depending on the time it takes to process the video, the audio timing may need to be tweaked to allow for both the signals to arrive in unison on the stream.

Some of our personal favorites:

• Audio Video Sync Test: Use this helpful video to run an audio sync test for your next stream. https://www.youtube.com/AVsynctest
• Audio Console: Allen & Heath Qu Series is an amazing offering of mixing consoles for any Church AV needs. https://www.allen-heath.com/qu-series/
• Wireless Microphones: Shure ULX-D is a great system. https://www.shure.com/ulx-d_wireless
• Choir Microphones: Shure KSM137 is a perfect choice for your next choir performance. https://www.shure.com/ksm137

TIP: If you are looking for tips on choosing the best choir mic, this page provides excellent insight. If you have live music, instruments and/or choir, etc, we welcome you to give us a call, and we are happy to guide you in the right direction. Our contact info can be found at the bottom of the webpage.

How to Live Stream Church Service

Stream Production

Once all pieces are in play, behind the scenes production will bring the spark to your live streamed church service. The person who manages the production of the live stream can set themselves up for success by creating a spreadsheet detailing the run-of-show, providing cues similar to those used in theater production. 

When making these cues, there are many angles to plan ahead for. First, one should consider shot framing and utilizing different cameras during different parts of the ceremony. Next, take note on which audio devices get used at which part of the service, so there are smooth audio transitions.

Depending on the size of your congregation and production, it may also make sense to get your production team on radios. This allows your production manager to call out the cues to the whole production team as the live stream takes place. SPL has many different kinds of production communication solutions for this and can help advise you on what system would be best. 

How to Live Stream Church Service

We hope this article helped give you a better understanding about some of the best practices on how to live stream church service, what to look for in your live streaming equipment for church, and provided some helpful tips along the way.

As always, here at SPL we love hearing from you and are happy to answer any questions you may have along the way in the production of your live stream church service. Be sure to hit the “contact us” button at the bottom of your screen to reach our team at any time!