Written by Robert Vaughn
So you want to stream to Facebook, YouTube, or Twitch? You look around and find out you can do it from your phone. But what if you want to mix few cameras, add slides or titles, and then send your video like a professional program to your social media site? That is more complicated. You can search online and follow advise from YouTube videos, or ask others who did it. Everyone will tell you to stream live video can be complicated. I came across a website that specializes in streaming video equipment. You can buy from them equipment, rent equipment, and live stream to many social media sites at the same time.

Let's start with buying equipment: The Streaming Store came up with equipment bundles recently. These packages were designed to fit different video setups and budgets. You can select bundles of 1 to 4 cameras with a mixer and an encoder, or just simple capture cards with software. The components of the Streaming Store bundles were tested to work. You can select an end to end streaming solution based on your preferred manufacture, or available budget. I like Blackmagic Design, and I found few discounted bundles that have cameras, mixers, and streaming devices. Buying a hardware equipment bundle saves money and time. This can be an advantage if you need to put together a system for your Church or work place.

The Streaming Store also has a rental department where you can rent video encoders or mixers, and all equipment is designed to help you with one thing: to stream live video. Their rates are affordable. The only annoying problem: they rent only to Canadian customers. What if I live in the New York or in London? there are local rental houses available in every major city, but not all of them have the right equipment for live streaming. If you live in London for example, look at the packages the Streaming Store offers and ask your local rental house to give you the same.

Last, the Streaming Store promotes live streaming with their streaming service called Videolinq.com. Videolinq is a cloud service that let you send one 1080p stream in, and replicate and send out up to 25 live streams! You can send this stream to Facebook, YouTube, Periscope, Twitch, and to many other social media sites, or to your own streaming video provider. The cost of this service is simple: you pay $1 per hour per stream going to social media sites, or $0.25 per GB of data transfer used if you use the Videolinq network to host your live video.
Since technology keep changing, and one should not spend too much time or money getting what they need. I wanted to know what it will take to stream live video to Facebook, YouTube, and Livestream. I contacted 3 online stores: Videoguys.com, Sweetwater.com, and Streamingstore.com. The first two told me I need 3 encoders to stream to 3 separate providers. The Streaming Store gave me two options: all I need is 1 encoder. I could use a capture card + a software program like Telestream Wirecast on a Mac or Windows computer, or I could buy a $699 Teradek Vidiu encoder (no computer needed). If I want to mix few cameras, they told me to get a discounted price Roland mixer with Teradek Vidiu encoder bundle. Next, they suggested to use a cloud service like Videolinq, and that service will stream my 3 streams out to Facebook, YouTube, and Livestream.
Online video is a commodity everyone use, and we should no longer get frustrated finding the right equipment or streaming service. Today we can stream live video from our phones, from anywhere. Finding a capture and streaming equipment should not be so difficult, or cost a fortune. Let's continue keeping all this simple!

Robert Vaughn is an independent consultant who likes to write about technology.