Livestream Musings

I'm pretty stubborn...as I pointed out today. Especially about wanting to get things right in ministry. However, I'm learning that our livestream process is going to be an evolution in growth and patience for me. All in all, I was pretty happy about the significant steps forward we took this Sunday. Especially after last week.

Paden and Jason were tasked with rebuilding our streaming system from the ground-up. This is an incredibly steep learning curve for a church our size with a limited staff. However, what we've come up with is on par with what churches 10 times our size are doing. For Paden, who has clearly worked the hardest, this has meant stepping-up his learning curve with regards to technical know-how. For example, prior to the last few weeks, none of us really understood:

1. Stream encoding
2. Video latency
3. RTMP protocols
4. Using ProPresenter with livestream
5. Streaming platforms (OBS)
6. And so much more...

I am so proud of our staff and the results. And while we've stopped the livestream hull from hemorrhaging, we recognize there are several leaks that need to be tended to in the coming weeks. Some of which, you may have noticed this morning. Here's what you can look forward to in the coming days and weeks:

1. Latency adjustments (this has to do with the video being in sync with the audio). It isn't as simple like being on Zoom or FaceTime. You can't just turn it on and it all works in sync. Livestreaming requires the operator to make finely tuned latency adjustments as the video and audio pass through layers of programming before arriving to your video screen.
2. Multi-streaming to Facebook and Youtube. While our app is available to a vast majority of you on Apple TV and Roku devices. We recognize some of you would like to watch our livestream on SmartTV's and Amazon Fire devices, both of which have YouTube, but are not compatible with our app. We are looking to add these options as soon as we are able.
3. Smoother transitions with words on the screen. Again, this isn't a simple process to put music lyrics and bible verses on your screen in real-time. We are still learning what works and what doesn't while also seeking to understand the execution of the process. Remember, we are trying to design a solution that allows for one thing to be shown on the livestream and another to be shown in-house, anticipating the day our in-person gatherings resume. 

As you can see, the learning curve is steep and we've come a long way from Instagram live. Thank you all for being so patient with us and so understanding. I really do believe within the next two Sundays, we'll be pretty dialed-in and reliable from Anthem to your home.

Happy Easter 2.0,

PAC.