回顾:Wowza clearaster

[Editor's Note: The Clearcaster Event was postponed until January 24. 你可以 点击这里观看采访并阅读文字记录.]

Wowza clearaster是一个经得起未来考验的产品, industrial-strength hardware encoder with outstanding software robustness with its interface with Facebook Live, which is just what you need when venturing into the 野生, 野生, 西方仍然是现场活动制作. 虽然6美元,价格标签会使许多潜在买家望而却步, those who can afford the unit will find the reliability and performance worthwhile. 郑重声明, 为6美元,495, you also get three years of updates plus dedicated 24/7 technical support.

The best way to understand ClearCaster’s feature set is to realize that its purpose built for Facebook Live. Not just the service, but to serve as the encoder in Facebook’s own studios. This means that the feature set was customized for Facebook, not to compete with other live streaming hardware encoders. 举个例子, most encoding appliances support local storage of archived video, either internally on a hard drive or via an external drive connected via USB. At the moment, ClearCaster doesn’t offer this feature, but probably will down the road. 类似的, 该设备目前只支持Facebook Live, 虽然这在未来可能会改变.

Because Wowza’s development schedule for these features wasn’t fixed at the time we wrote the review, let me briefly outline our plans for sharing what we know about the ClearCaster unit. 第一个, this review will discuss the results of our tests with Facebook Live, 以及我们对当前特性集的了解. 周四, 12月14日, 美国东部时间下午2:00, I’ll be joined on the 流媒体 Facebook account by Wowza’s 安东尼Lozaro, who will lay out the development schedule for ClearCaster for the next few months, 回答你们的任何问题.

好了，继续复习.

ClearCaster硬件

ClearCaster is a bright orange 1RU rack-mountable computer with controls on the front and I/O on the back (下面的图1). 本机接受HD-SDI和HDMI输入, with HDMI outputs for a monitor and USB ports for a keyboard and mouse, though you likely won’t need the keyboard and mouse since you control most operation from Facebook directly, 不是ClearCaster. 不过这款手机支持wifi, 它目前只支持有线以太网连接, and there currently are no audio inputs other than the audio coming in with the video source.

图1. clearaster前面板

The unit can’t mix the incoming signals; it’s either HD-SDI or HDMI. 用这个I/O和一个嘈杂的风扇, the ClearCaster was clearly built to serve as an encoder in a computer or server room, fed by a TriCaster or other hardware or software video mixer.

格式及服务

As tested, ClearCaster supports Facebook Live only with 1080p 60 H.264编码输出, currently the only encoder that supports larger than 720p resolution to Facebook Live. clearaster可以接受高达4K的输入, 然而, which it will transmit to Facebook Live once the service supports it. ClearCaster is ready to stream VP9 and HEVC to Facebook Live, though the service doesn’t currently support these codecs for input.

再一次。, while today ClearCaster broadcasts only to Facebook Live, Wowza计划为该部门增加更多目的地, with the ability to transmit the same stream to multiple destinations simultaneously, 带宽允许. This functionality will be critical to companies and service providers who need to support multiple social media and other outputs.

关于硬件本身, 前面板上有电源开关, 一个带有按钮控制的小液晶面板, plus connector indicator lights on the extreme left for 网work, Facebook配对, 相机输入, 还有直播. 后面板(下面的图2)包含HDMI和HD-SDI输入端口, 两个HDMI输出端口显示, 以及USB和键盘连接器. 在操作过程中, 你几乎肯定会想要连接一个HDMI显示器, 虽然键盘和鼠标绝对是可选的, 至少对大多数操作来说是这样.

图2. 清理卡斯特后面板

连接Facebook Live

Wowza bills ClearCaster as “incredibly simple” and it certainly is that. You set up the unit by plugging it in, connecting a monitor, and plugging in Ether网. 打开这个装置，它就会引导你到清道夫.wowza.. Com，在那里输入一个代码来配对设备(下面的图3). Then you follow a few simple menu options to pair the unit with Facebook, which allows you start broadcasts from within the Facebook Live interface.

图3. 硬件配对