Hi all! In this article, I would like to talk about how the IT team of the online hotel booking service set up online broadcasts of various corporate events.
There is a special meeting room in the Ostrovok.ru office - "Big". Every day it hosts working and informal events: team meetings, presentations, trainings, master classes, interviews with invited guests and other interesting events. The company employs more than 800 people β many of them work remotely in other cities and countries, and not everyone has the opportunity to be physically present at every meeting. Therefore, the task of organizing online broadcasts of internal meetings was not long in coming and flew into the IT team. Let me tell you more about how we did it.
So, we need to set up online broadcasting of events and their recording with the ability to view at a convenient time for the employee.
We also need to make watching broadcasts not only very easy, but also safe - we must not allow access to broadcasts to get to strangers. And, of course, no third-party programs, plug-ins and other devilry. Everything should be as simple as possible: open the link - watch the video.
Ok, the task is clear. It turns out that we need a video hosting site that provides users with the services of storing, delivering and displaying videos. With the possibility of limited access and opening access to all users of the domain.
Welcome to YouTube!
How it all began
At first, everything looked like this:
- We install the Panasonic HC-V770 video camera on a tripod under the projector;
- Through a microHDMI-HDMI cable, connect the camcorder to the AVerMedia Live Gamer Portable C875 video capture card;
- We connect the video capture card via a miniUSB-USB cable to a laptop;
- On the laptop, install the XSplit program;
- Using XSplit, we create a broadcast on YouTube.
It turns out like this: the speaker comes with his laptop to the meeting room, connects to the projector via cable and shows the presentation, and those present ask questions. The camcorder films the screen on which the slides are broadcast and records the overall sound. All this comes into the laptop, and from there XSplit broadcasts the recording to YouTube.
Thus, all interested employees who could not attend the meeting were able to watch the live broadcast of the presentation or return to its recording later at a convenient time. It would seem that the deed is done - we disperse. But not everything is so simple. As it turned out, this decision had one, but a very important drawback - the sound on the recording was of very mediocre quality.
From this minus our road began, full of pain and disappointment.
How to improve the sound?
Obviously, the built-in microphone on the video camera did not pull out the entire meeting room and the speaker's speech, for which everyone watched online broadcasts.
But how to improve the sound quality in the broadcast, if it is impossible:
- turn the room into a full-fledged conference room;
- put wired microphones on the table, because the table is sometimes cleaned, and the wires always interfere with everyone;
- give a wireless microphone to the speaker, because, firstly, no one wants to speak into the microphone, secondly, there may be several speakers, and thirdly, those who ask questions will not be heard.
I'll tell you more about all the methods that we tried.
Solution 1
The first thing we did was to test an external microphone for the camcorder. To do this, we purchased the following models:
1. Microphone RODE VideoMic GO - the average cost is 7 rubles.
2. Microphone RODE VideoMic Pro - the average cost is 22 rubles.
The microphones are connected to the camera and it looks something like this:
Test results:
- The RODE VideoMic GO microphone was no better than the built-in microphone in the camcorder itself.
- The RODE VideoMic Pro turned out to be slightly better than the built-in microphone, but still did not satisfy our needs in sound quality.
Good thing we rented microphones.
Solution 2
On reflection, we decided that if a microphone costing 22 rubles only marginally improved the overall sound level, then we need to act big.
So we rented a Phoenix Audio Condor (MT600) microphone array worth 109 rubles.
This is a 122 cm long panel that is an array of 15 microphones with a 180-degree pickup angle, a built-in signal processor to combat echo and noise, and other cool goodies.
Such a monstrous thing will certainly improve our situation with sound, but ...
Test results:
In fact, the microphone is undeniably good, but it is only suitable for a separate small conference room. In our case, it was located under the projector screen, and people on the other side of the room could not be heard. In addition to the mode of operation of the noise reduction, questions arose - it periodically cut off the beginning and end of the speaker's phrases.
Solution 3
Obviously, we need some kind of network of microphones. Moreover, they are placed throughout the room and connected to a laptop.
Our choice fell on the MXL AC-404-Z web conferencing microphone (average cost is 10 rubles).
And we used these not two or three, but SEVEN at once.
Yes, the microphones are wired, which means the whole room will be wired, but that's another problem.
Most importantly, this option did not suit us either: the microphones did not work as one whole array that provides high-quality sound. They were defined in the system as seven individual microphones. And you could only choose one.
Solution 4
Obviously, we need some kind of device designed to mix audio signals, and sum multiple sources into one or more outputs.
Exactly! We need... a mixing console! In which microphones would be connected. And which would be connected to a laptop.
At the same time, due to the impossibility of wired microphones on the table, we need a radio system that will allow you to transmit an audio signal using a wireless connection, while maintaining sound quality.
Plus, we need a few omnidirectional microphones that can be distributed around the table during the presentation and removed at the end of it.
Deciding on a mixing console was not difficult - we chose the Yamaha MG10XUF (average cost - 20 rubles), which connects to a laptop via USB.
But with microphones it was more difficult.
As it turned out, there is no ready-made solution. So we had to turn an omnidirectional miniature condenser headphone intoβ¦a tabletop microphone.
We rented a SHURE BLX188E M17 radio system (average cost - 50 rubles) and two SHURE MX000T / O-TQG microphones (average cost per piece - 153 rubles).
With the help of boundless imagination, we made of this:
β¦ this:
And the result is a wireless omnidirectional miniature condenser table microphone!
With the help of the mixing console, we gave gain to the microphones, and since the microphone is omnidirectional, it captures both the speaker and the one who asked the question.
We bought a third microphone and placed them in a triangle, for greater coverage - so the quality of the recording becomes more voluminous. And the noise reduction does not interfere at all.
In the end, this was the solution to all our problems with broadcasting to YouTube. Because it works. Not as elegant as we would like, but it works on the conditions that were at the beginning.
Is this a victory? Maybe.
The battle for Helm's Deep YouTube is over, the battle for Middle-earth more interactive broadcasts is just beginning!
In the next article, we will tell you how Youtube was integrated with the Zoom remote conferencing system.
Source: habr.com