IF26 - Livestreaming/Recording

IndiaFOSS Conference
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IF26 Livestream Volunteer call on July 16. Attendees: @Muneer_S @Shree_Kumar

Meeting Minutes:

  • We discussed how things went last year, our wins and losses, along with the things that worked well, to find solutions for the things that went wrong. The major issue last year was audio. We had to rely entirely on the vendor, and they did not cooperate. This year, we will get our own audio equipment and feed it to the vendor. Another issue was setup friction with the OBS speaker template. We had to carry around a USB drive, run a Python script, and make manual adjustments in OBS, and even then, some talks still went out without the speaker name or talk title(last minute adjustments). This year, we will not display speaker names or talk titles on the livestream, to eliminate that friction during streaming. We were promised a fast ethernet connection last year but didn’t get one, so we had to rely on an untested Wi-Fi network. At one point, the network went down and the stream nearly ended. This year, we will thoroughly test everything in advance.

  • This year there will be 8 devrooms and 2 main tracks, meaning 4 tracks will run in parallel.

  • We will both record (we used a vendor for this last year) and livestream the entire conference.

  • We will source livestream volunteers from the Point Blank Club at Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, Kumaraswamy Layout, Bengaluru. They are have been enrolled to help run the devrooms, and as part of that, they will also help with the livestream.

  • We also discussed not covering the audience during Q&A or panel discussions, since that would require an extra camera that wouldn’t be used for the rest of the conference.

  • This year, we’re focused on correcting last year’s mistakes, refining the workflow, and doing some experimentation.

  • @Muneer_S will write simple documentation for volunteers to follow during the livestream.

  • Meetings will be held every Thursday at 9 PM.

Action Items (this week):

  • @Shree_Kumar will book four cameras and some audio equipment from HasGeek.
  • @Muneer_S will research the requirements for streaming the conference to our custom website as well as YouTube.

Last Year’s Planning: https://forum.fossunited.org/t/technical-volunteers-for-video-and-livestreaming-for-indiafoss

Weekly Meeting Link: Jitsi Meet

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Ok so here’s what the initial quotation for camera+accessories looks like (excludes audio + cables for now), per day:

SN Item Cost Count Total Comment
1 Sony FX3 Camera 2800 4 11200 4 parallel tracks
2 Sony Lens 24-70 F2.8 1200 1 1200 For smaller capacity devroom
3 Sony Lens 70-200 F2.8 1300 3 3900 For Audi 1,2,3
4 7080 Tripod 400 4 1600
5 V-Mount batteries 250 4 1000 Day long power
6 Liliput 7 inch monitor 400 4 1600 For camera technicians use
Total 25000
After Discount 18450 We didn’t ask for this :slight_smile:

Each camera needs a technician for operation. Basically, he ensures the camera follows the user, but more importantly - he ensures the camera is operated safely and it’s not our liability if something happens to the expensive equipment. Technician is also a resourceful chap who can try solving any problems as they arise, keeps thing running smoothly. Each technician costs 1400 a day on Saturday. Costs are double for sunday - 2800 per person. So technician cost is 1400 * 4+2800 * 4 = 16800

Overall cost = 18450 * 2 + 16800 = Rs 53,700 + 18 % GST => Rs 63,400

On top of this we’d have to rent audio equipment, maybe some accessories like cables etc. We’ll also buy a couple of video capture cards as spares, and one big ticket item - a 2 TB portable drive for video storage. We’re well under budget for now.

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IF26 Livestream Volunteer call on July 23. Attendees: @Muneer_S @Mohd_Yasir_K_N @Shree_Kumar

Meeting Minutes:

  • @Shree has sent the advance payment for the cameras. It is now being processed.
  • @Muneer shared findings after researching how doable streaming is to our own custom website, as well as to YouTube.
  • Workflow can be arranged in a way that streaming to YouTube and the custom website is isolated, using an OBS plugin so that streaming to YouTube happens directly from the venue, while the custom website streaming happens on a cloud infrastructure.
  • Although streaming to our custom website is not as straightforward as streaming to YouTube. When we stream to YouTube, we send the stream once from the audi to YouTube, and its infrastructure takes care of the rest. But when streaming to our custom website, there are a lot of factors to consider, such as the total data transfer the VPS provides, network speed, and reliability. For instance, if 200 people are watching the stream on our custom website in 1080p, that’s 4-5 Mbps per person, so 5 Mbps × 200 = 1 Tbps. For 4 parallel streams (Main Audi 1, Main Audi 2, and 2 Devrooms), that’s 4 × 1Tbps= 4 Tbps. We certainly don’t have such speed in the venue, and basic cloud plans don’t offer such speeds, so we’d either need a $10 VPS plus a CDN to serve users (costing around $200-250) or an expensive monthly-based plan (from my findings, only monthly-based plans offer such high speeds with a guarantee). Both options are expensive, which raises the question of whether it’s worth it, or if there’s a cheaper alternative.
  • Volunteers are currently researching how we could do this more cheaply or cleverly. The end goal is to have a space for free software enthusiasts to enjoy the conference online.
  • Other than this, things are pretty straightforward. We’ve made plans to eliminate all the friction we had last year, and last year’s team has experience running the livestream, so other than experiments, we don’t have a lot to do over these next 2 months.
  • Although recording the whole conference is new this year, we handled the video vendors last year, so we know how the recording from the cameras can be handled. We’ll record the slide screens within OBS.
  • Planning to keep the livestream templates in a repository so we don’t have to rely on a USB drive, and any volunteer can do the setup using only the internet.
  • We’ve also planned to get to the venue prior to the event to make sure we get everything we were promised and to test everything, so there’s no last-minute rush.
  • On the volunteering sync, @Tablaster suggested restreaming from YouTube to the custom platform, excited to hear more about that.

Action Items (this week):

  • @Muneer_S and @Mohd_Yasir_K_N will research streaming to the custom website more efficiently.
  • Meetings will be biweekly from now on.
  • Next meeting on 6th August, 9:00 AM at Jitsi Meet
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call today at 9:00 PM

not 9:00 AM, sorry about the typo

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IF26 Livestream Volunteer Call - August 6

Attendees: @Muneer_S, @Mohd_Yasir_K_N, @Shree_Kumar @Jasil

Meeting Minutes:

  • Shree booked the camera and paid the advance.
  • He has been trying to find the person who did the network setup at the venue last year to find out what went wrong.
  • This year, we are trying to get more technical volunteers for the livestream and for the venue network setup.
  • He also mentioned having a discussion with the AV vendors from last year to try to sort things out. If that doesn’t go well, we will go with the initial plan, which is to capture the audio ourselves with our rented equipment, use it for the stream, and feed it to the AV vendors for the venue speakers.
  • Alternatively, if we go with the AV vendors completely, we will have a backup plan this time, just in case.
  • Muneer shared his thoughts on streaming to our own custom website. Due to high cost estimates, he suggested doing it as a DIY project and applying the learnings to the next IndiaFOSS.
  • Jasil shared his ideas on how it could be done, either DIY or at a larger scale.
  • The team showed concerns about cost, reliability, and lack of experience.
  • Shree suggested coming up with a proposal for how we plan to do it and its requirements, and leaving the decision making to the organizers.
  • We also discussed doing a local broadcast of the stream at the venue, so people there can easily watch it without using the internet.

Action Items:

  • Team will do further research and prepare a proposal.
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IF26 Livestream Volunteer Call - August 13

Attendees: @Muneer_S, @Mohd_Yasir_K_N, @Shree_Kumar, @Jasil , Mithilesh

Meeting Minutes:

  • Muneer shared his insights on streaming with PeerTube. Even for a DIY approach, it seems unreliable.
  • Jasil shared his findings and two approaches to do the stream, along with estimated costs.
  • There is a little more to confirm; after that, we will share the whole architecture here.
  • Shree is still trying to talk to the person who did the network setup last time but hasn’t had a chance yet.
  • Shree mentioned we will be renting cameras for the volunteer team who will be doing photography and social media content for the event.
  • Mithilesh shared his ideas on how the local broadcast could work.
  • The team discussed the venue network’s reliability, which remains a concern for the whole stream.
  • OBS provides one destination to stream to by default; using a plugin, we can stream to multiple destinations (YouTube, custom website).
  • With four parallel streams going, assuming 6 Mbps per track, 4×6 = 24 Mbps would be the required bandwidth from the venue to stream to YouTube alone. With the custom website added, it will be twice that. Unreliable network bandwidth at the venue could ruin both streams - though that’s ultimately in the hands of the networking team.
  • Yasir mentioned another approach: using a relay server to which we stream, and from there it streams to YouTube and the custom website.
  • However, the failure of the relay server could bring down both YouTube and the custom website streams.
  • The team concluded this topic by agreeing to trust the networking team and do further research.

Action Items:

  • Shree will try to talk with the networking contact and the AV vendors.
  • Mithilesh will research further about the local broadcast and share his insights on the next call.
  • Jasil will prepare the proposal for the custom website, sharing figures and requirements.
  • Yasir and Muneer will check the source record plugin on OBS and help with overall research.
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