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- 7 Jul, 2024
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Welcome to the fascinating world of remote production, a dynamic and evolving field that is reshaping the landscape of broadcasting and media production. This book can guide you through the many remote production software and hardware options available today. It will also review fundamental concepts and specific technologies that make it possible such as NDI, Dante, SRT, RTMP and many more acronyms with which you will become familiar. Whether you are a seasoned broadcast professional, a media student, or simply a technology enthusiast, this book will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of how modern broadcasting is adapting to the challenges and opportunities of the digital age.
This blog post is part of a series designed to be used in either of two ways; reading it in sequence (chapter order) or using it as more of a reference book; reading any individual chapter or section as you like. This means that you’ll notice some necessary duplications, especially in the defining of terms and variations in which details are explored. One important caveat; there’s a LOT of information here, but don’t let it scare you. Live remote production doesn’t have to be overly complex in order to be successful. This book is about providing options for addressing the many different types, sizes, scopes and needs of the productions that you’ll encounter.
My first experience with remote production was a simple one. I was approached by the team at EasyLive (now LiveU Studio) to test out their cloud production software in 2017. The StreamGeeks were a small three person team operating our live show out of West Chester, PA. Once a week, we would use vMix to produce our live stream, learning from our mistakes, and chatting with our online community. Around this time we had just upgraded our studio to NDI. We still relied on SDI for many of the video connections, but we were transitioning to IP and the benefits were exciting. Our producer, Mike, would mix together our audio and video sources using vMix and stream our show to both YouTube and Facebook at the same time. Wow, streaming to two destinations at the same time, incredible right? (I believe this was before restream.io was a thing).
Getting to the point here, EasyLive wanted us to use their cloud-based video production system. It was new to us but it gave us several interesting benefits. The first benefit was a redundant backup in the cloud. If our in-studio stream went down, which it did from time to time, EasyLive would keep the RTMP connection to our content delivery network (CDN) alive. One time I knocked the HDMI connection out of our LiveU Solo on our mobile broadcast. I didn’t realize this until 5 minutes later, but at least EasyLive kept our stream alive, so I could get it fixed without losing our audience. The slide below was one of the first compelling reasons I ever found to start producing video in the cloud.
Most live streams will slowly build up an audience over time. When a live stream goes down, most viewers are lost. With cloud redundancy, lost viewership can be avoided in many cases. EasyLive was purchased by LiveU in 2022.
EasyLive allowed us to host an image or a short video that would play when the stream went down. Seeing an image replace the lost video feed was my first realization of the power of cloud-based video production. It didn’t take long for us to use the cloud for more than a redundant back-up.
In future live streams, we tested mixing together multiple RTMP inputs allowing us to switch back and forth between our in-studio vMix production and a mobile LiveU backpack video feed. These live streams were some of the most interesting to watch and enjoyable experiences of my career. Our audience simply could not believe their eyes when we switched from an “in-studio” production to a mobile broadcast that could walk down the street and hop into a car.
A mobile broadcast using a battery powered LiveU LU600 backpack streaming to EasyLive.
While the StreamGeeks operate on a small scale, in 2019, I was introduced to Ryan Salazar from Broadcast Beat, who showed us how to take things to the next level. At the 2019 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show, we got the chance to be part of a large scale remote production. The Broadcast Beat team was tasked with covering interviews from all over the Las Vegas Convention Center. Tess Protesto (my co-host) and I were asked to help host the official NAB show live stream, and it would be the first time we were truly connected to a professional remote production team.
2019 was at the peak of the Broadcast industry before the pandemic.
During the event, we were accompanied by a dedicated video crew, equipped with mobile production technology that would allow us to communicate with the Broadcast Beat studio team in Florida. We used an online intercom system called Unity Intercom which had multiple channels available for the on-site crews to communicate using their smartphones’ cellular connections.
Broadcast Beat studio in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.
As on-camera talent, we received in-ear monitors so we could hear the technical director and know when we were going live. Each camera man had a LiveU LU600 backpack sending high quality RTMP video streams back to the Broadcast Beat studio. It was a whirlwind of an experience that still impresses me to this day.
My involvement with remote production technology did not stop there. Through my role as Chief Streaming Officer at PTZOptics, I continued to engage with our team to help build Hive, our remote production software. Hive was designed with a special focus on PTZ camera movement tools. Hive was released at the 2024 NAB Show, and it won Best Product for the remote production category.
PTZOptics Hive showing the joystick tool.
Hive includes some interesting new ways to move robotic cameras which was something we felt the industry needed desperately. Many of the challenges we discovered about remote production over the years, we were able to solve with Hive. For example, Hive features a “Share” button which makes collaborating with others in a virtual video production environment as easy as sharing a Google Doc.
In 2024, 50% of attendees at NAB were first timers. This was apparent in the types of questions people asked and the way the show has shifted in some areas from traditional “Broadcast” to newer “Live Streaming” and “Remote Production” interests. As “Broadcast” becomes more synonymous with high-end television, “Live Streaming” has become aligned with everyday video production for a wide-array of use cases. It’s interesting to watch the industry changing before our eyes.
Overview of the Book
This is an advanced book that covers a lot of ground. If you are in the early stages of your education process you may want to check out The Basics of Live Streaming, The PTZ Camera Operator Handbook, The Unofficial Guide to NDI, The Unofficial Guide to OBS or The Unofficial Guide to vMix which are all available on Amazon. This book is structured to provide a comprehensive exploration of remote production, guiding you from foundational technologies to in-depth information for practical applications. You can also take the accompanying Udemy course and receive a certificate for your education in remote production. This may be a helpful tool in securing work for future remote production jobs such as: remote camera operator, remote color correction specialist, remote video producer and remote graphics management.
How you can benefit from this book:
- Gain a deep understanding of the technologies and tools that power remote production, including detailed examinations of software and hardware solutions.
- Learn how to streamline operations and manage remote production projects successfully, enhancing both productivity and product quality.
- Be inspired by the potential of remote production to transform the broadcasting industry, encouraging forward-thinking approaches to media production.
Growing demand for remote production technical expertise:
There is strong and growing demand for remote production expertise. If you are interested in getting certified for remote production you can take the Udemy course which accompanies this course and includes a certificate.
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS CHAPTER:
The adoption of remote production has been pivotal in modern broadcasting for several reasons, including:
- Efficiency and Cost-Effectiveness: Remote production reduces the need to send large crews and sets of equipment to event locations, significantly cutting down travel and logistics costs.
- Flexibility: Producers can manage multiple events from a single location, increasing the number of productions that can be handled simultaneously.
- Scalability: As needs fluctuate based on the event size or type, the production setup can scale more readily without the constraints of physical infrastructure in many cases.
- Pandemic-Proof: The need to isolate and participate from home and other locations hasn’t stopped creative production pros, including on-camera talent, from creating live content.
