Streaming Religious Services

kartvelo

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Aug 12, 2003
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Our church is planning to live-stream one (unattended) service per week to maintain a sense of community. The guy in charge of technology for the parish doesn't know how to accomplish this, but he has an iPad and bought himself a nice iPad tripod with this very purpose in mind, assuming the solution would be related to the use of his iPad. I've suggested that he use his iPad together with Facebook Live. He's not on FB, however, and doesn't feel like downloading it and creating an account.

What is another solution that he can implement by tomorrow morning without doing any shopping?
 

bsj

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Dec 6, 2003
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Central NJ SoSH Chapter
I'm a fan of Zoom. No fancy equipment needed, but its a great platform. Also, allows all the callers to connect via their own webcam which I think could foster that community feel you are going for. Free basic plan, goes up from there (I pay $15 a mo for the low level paid plan)
 
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SumnerH

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Jul 18, 2005
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If he doesn't want to buy anything or do a lot of work setting up something, then he's going to have to set up an account somewhere. If it's an objection to Facebook in particular, Twitch and YouTube Live are worth looking at.

Zoom has a 100 person limit if you're not paying for an account, which might or might not be enough for you.
 

bsj

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SoSH Member
Dec 6, 2003
22,774
Central NJ SoSH Chapter
If he doesn't want to buy anything or do a lot of work setting up something, then he's going to have to set up an account somewhere. If it's an objection to Facebook in particular, Twitch and YouTube Live are worth looking at.

Zoom has a 100 person limit if you're not paying for an account, which might or might not be enough for you.
Bigger issue for the free accounts is the 40 minutes IMO
 

kartvelo

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If he doesn't want to buy anything or do a lot of work setting up something, then he's going to have to set up an account somewhere. If it's an objection to Facebook in particular, Twitch and YouTube Live are worth looking at.

Zoom has a 100 person limit if you're not paying for an account, which might or might not be enough for you.
It's not FB in particular. It's anything he's not already familiar with.

The church has a couple of laptops, but their webcams are not as nice (I assume) as the cam on his iPad.
 

kartvelo

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Here's my hot take:
He's not going to spend a penny. He's not going to install an app on his iPad. He's not going to be satisfied with anything less than excellent production values. And he wants the answer now.
 

kartvelo

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I'll recommend Zoom to him as both a short- and long-term solution.
My concern, of course, is that if he's intimidated by installing FB on his iPad,....
 

kartvelo

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Convinced him to use FB. All went well, for now. He might be looking for a longer-term solution eventually, but the parish is broke, so he might just run with this for a while.
Thanks for everyone's input!
 

gtmtnbiker

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Jul 15, 2005
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My church had trouble with streaming last Sunday. Crashed our website a couple of times. I passed along the recommendations for YouTubeLive & FB Live. The guy says that his concern is getting the stream cutoff because the service provider thinks the music is copyrighted. Is that a valid concern?
 

GeorgeThomas

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Apr 4, 2007
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Virginia
That typically is right. We didn't previously stream our services. That may have changed recently for them. They should check who provides their licenses. CCLI has waived the need for broadcast licenses so that churches can stream their services at this time.
 

kartvelo

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Although "workers at places of worship" are on the list of "essential employees," I'm not interested in going in to live stream another Mass next weekend if I can avoid it. Is there any way for the church musician (at home) and the pastor (at the church) can set up a Zoom meeting together and stream it live, on either Facebook or the parish website?
 

NDBoston

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Oct 22, 2003
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Although "workers at places of worship" are on the list of "essential employees," I'm not interested in going in to live stream another Mass next weekend if I can avoid it. Is there any way for the church musician (at home) and the pastor (at the church) can set up a Zoom meeting together and stream it live, on either Facebook or the parish website?
Yes, but there is a delay between Zoom and Facebook Live when it's streaming so you need to be aware of that. It also requires you to have a paid license of Zoom and I recommend some practice meetings so it's configured correctly.

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115000350406-Streaming-a-Meeting-or-Webinar-on-Facebook-Live