Wirecast - Live Streaming Software

Wirecast - Live Streaming Software

Looking for the best live streaming video software?  Maybe your wanting to to start a live talk show, or broadcast a live event and want to stream the event live over the web while it’s actually happening.

Wirecast is designed to help you build and broadcast detailed multimedia dynamic webcasts.  Wirecast has a host of great features allowing you to plugin multiple cameras, integrate your movies and images with simple drag and drop functionality, and much more to create superb live streaming broadcasts that will impress your target audience.  Wirecast doesn’t require expensive or dedicated hardware like other software, and will easily run on your Mac or even a PC if needed.

Feature Highlights

* Support for multiple cameras
* Stream at multiple bit-rates
* Real-time Chroma Key
* Remote computer desktop input
* Built-in Title Engine
* Amazing 3D Graphics
* Multiple Layers
* Easy to use User Interface

Visit the Wirecast website for further details.

Wirecast Main Window

Wirecast features a main window with two main areas.  The top area is called the live broadcast list and the lower frame is the shot list which has a image thumbnail so you can see the contents of the shot.  The broadcast area on the top of the window is what Wirecast will broadcast to your viewers (or save to disk if needed).  Wirecast uses the concept of shots as a way to construct your presentation.  A Shot contains media and settings for that media. As shot can be as simple as a still photo, or very complex such as a live camera with a title and background music. In its simplest form, a Shot contains one piece of media, such as a JPG.

Shots are important because they allow you to configure a lot of information before production time. This enables you to concentrate on creating a good production.

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Other Wirecast Features

Transitions
Other notable Wirecast features include transitions which allows you to alter speed and also allows you to select from a range of transition types like smooth, swing door, cube and many others providing you with a rich and dynamic transition options. 

Control Panel with Drop Down Menus
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Wirecast Layers
Wirecast allows you to use several layers. Layers are drawn on top of each other (composited) in this order: Title is on top, then Foreground, Normal, Background and finally Audio.  Although layers have names such as “Audio” and “Title”, you do not need to use them as such: they are simply suggestions on how to use these layers. The “Audio” layer does not specifically control audio in Wirecast. It’s just like any other layer where you can put media. Since it is composited at the bottom of your composition, it’s a great place to put audio-only shots.

Auto Live
Auto Live means that any change you make on the Main window is automatically made live. This mode is very useful for those users who wish to set up all of their shots at once and then simply single click on shots as they run their presentation. The downside of this one-click method is that you are limited to only one shot change at a time. Once you click on a shot, your viewers see it. AutoLive was designed to address this issue.

Broadcast Settings
The top part of the window is where you can add multiple settings for the same broadcast. You might use this to create a broadcast with many bit-rates (for users who may be on different internet connections). You might also use this to record to disk as the same time as you create your presentation. The “Encoder Preset” popup defines how your broadcast will be encoded (what “codec” to use).

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REQUIREMENTS

MAC OS X

  • Mac OS X Panther 10.3.9 or greater (Mac OS X 10.4.8 recommended)
  • A Quartz Extreme capable graphics card
  • QTSS/DSS 4.1.3 or later is needed for automatic “announce” unicasting
  • A supported GPU is required for Core Image and GPU video compression acceleration
  • Intel® or PowerPC G3 processor. (Core Duo or G5 recommended). At least a 500MHz CPU is required
  • Intel® Core Duo or dual G5 is required for HDV decoding

Visit the Wirecast website for further details.

WINDOWS

  • Windows® 2000 or Windows® XP (32-bit version), latest service packs recommended
  • Microsoft® DirectX 9.0c
  • Apple QuickTime 6.5.2 or better (7.1.3 recommended)
  • 32 MB AGP or PCI-Express graphics card with 3D acceleration (GeForce® or Radeon® class card recommended)
  • Minimum specification CPU for live video encoding : Intel® Pentium® 4 processor at 2.3 GHz or higher with 512 Mb of RAM or more. (Pentium 4 3GHz recommended)
  • GeForce® 5200, Radeon® 9600 or better for Chroma Key

Visit the Wirecast website for further details.