We have been running custom built PC’s with capture cards and software from Digital Rapids as well as Digital Rapids pre-built Touchstreams, but we are growing sick of stability issues resulting in everything from halted streams, frozen software to bluescreens.
I’m now looking for more stable and maybe more dedicated encoder solutions. By dedicated I mean encoders which sole purpose is to encode in contrast to Digital Rapids that is built on the multi purpose Windows-platform.
Can you help me find what I’m looking for?
What kind of inputs do you want? Nothing custom or “dedicated” for me (although I use them for a dedicated purpose), but I’ve had great stability using Mac Minis and Mac Pros, generally using Blackmagic Intensity input cards/boxes and Wirecast software. I know of other stable systems that use the free Flash Media Live Encoder software in place of Wirecast too, but I haven’t personally gotten off the ground with that.
The Macs are the expensive part (particularly the Mac Pros), but in theory all of those components and software are also Windows compatible, so it might be worth a shot on your existing hardware. The Blackmagic Intensity Pro or Shuttle is pretty affordable, and Flash Media Live Encoder is free (and Wirecast has a free demo).
Oh yeah, those stupid F4V files. They do have a Linux/Windows tool to convert those (Adobe F4V Post Processor, f4vpp):
http://www.adobe.com/products/adobe-media-server-family/tool-downloads.html
Or you could record to mp4 live using ffmpeg or using Wowza.
I’ll let others chime in on those connections – I’m more of an HDMI/component/VGA person…
It’s still there – the generic download link for all of the tools is near the top of that page (“Download the tools”):
http://www.adobe.com/go/fms_tools_samples/
You have to sign in with your free Adobe account (or create one) to get to the downloads.
Thank you susta.
It should have SDI and XLR inputs. We have already tested Wirecast and FMLE. Wirecast still has problems with drop frames and FMLE (when using H264) can only archive a F4V file which wont do in our post production workflow.
I’m thinking of something running Linux and price is not a factor.
Do you know if that F4V tool is still up for grabs? Looks like the download link has been removed.