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View Poll Results: Do you use a Mac or PC to run your broadcast ?

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  • Mac

    5 26.32%
  • PC

    12 63.16%
  • Both

    2 10.53%
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Thread: Mac or PC?

  1. #11
    IAIB Broadcaster
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    I use both and would agree that a PC is best for streaming and if at all possible an i7 or better with lots of RAM and a good video card.

  2. #12
    Senior Member cseeman's Avatar
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    I use both Mac and Windows but I'll layout some of the advantages of Mac.
    I'll mention that I use Wirecast which is cross platform.
    I have a number of things to say so I think it's best to make separate posts.

    Mac

    AIC and ProRes
    In Wirecast I can record to hard drive using Apple Pro Res (if FCP is installed) or Apple Intermediate Codec.
    These codecs are high quality for post production workflow. This is mission critical to me when I need to edit of course.

    The edit can range from clean up to breaking down a program. If you follow analytics (you can if you upload your shows VOD to Youtube) you'll find shortly that the viewer fall off is radical if you're uploading a typically long stream. I can break down a show so each guest or segment can be a separate upload. Viewers can watch just what they're interested in and, in fact, I can know what they're interested in based on both views and fall off.

    Editing
    Editing a GOP based recording, whether H264 or WMV followed by and export encode followed by YouTube (or any other OVP) encode is going to result in significant quality loss compared to AIC and ProRes. AIC and ProRes hold up in the Post process better than GOP based recordings.

    Recording
    Recording a high quality IFrame codec such as AIC or ProRes uses less CPU resources than recording a GOP based codec.

    Playback
    If you're using recording segments to play back on a future stream, playing an AIC or ProRes source (and you can use the latter on Windows as well) is much lighter on the CPU.
    Last edited by cseeman; 04-25-2012 at 08:15 AM.

  3. #13
    Senior Member cseeman's Avatar
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    Thunderbolt
    It will start to roll out on Windows this year but for the time being it's a major Mac advantage.

    Blackmagic have 4 video i/o devices, two of which are already shipping.
    Matrox MXO2 has adaptors for PCIe, Express Port, Thunderbolt. These allow for connectivity to desktops and a variety of laptops.
    AJA IO XT is the only Video I/O with Thunderbolt daisy chaining.

    Uncompressed Video
    With Thunderbolt I can use uncompressed video in most any 2011 Mac including MacMini, MacBookAir, MacBookPro, iMac. This works with HD-SDI and HDMI. This allows use of inexpensive consumer cameras with spectacular uncompressed quality.

    Great Analog Conversion
    Additionally most of these devices also allow analog Composite or Component connections with much higher quality results than converting to Firewire or USB2.

    Flexible
    Unlike a PCIe card, I can move the box from computer to computer easily. MXO2 allows use with desktop as well since it has direct PCIe. Blackmagic devices are powered from the Thunderbolt port so there's no extra power cord needed. That's a big plus when you need to be mobile.

    Recording to external hard drive
    When not using a "Tower" you need to record to an external hard drive (not good to record to system disks running the OS and Apps). Thunderbolt leaves your firewire 800 port available for connecting to fast hard drives in a variety of configuration. Also most Thunderbolt hard drives have pass through, allowing you to put the drive in the middle of the chain and the Video I/O at the end unless you have AJA IO XT which also has passthrough. Keep in mind a Thunderbolt port is like a daisy chain capable 4x PCIe slot. iMacs have two Thunderbolt ports as well.

  4. #14
    Senior Member cseeman's Avatar
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    Bootcamp
    All modern Macs run Windows. One computer and I can use the operating system of my choice. When booting into Windows you can use any Windows only software and hardware you'd like. Yes you can even use Windows only video cards and GPUs. Yes there are some Windows advantages so, depending on your needs, you can choose. Want to take advantage of the better webcam drivers Windows offers. You have that option. Want to record to ProRes or AIC, you can use Mac. Wirecast runs on both. Macs runs both OSs. Chose what you want when you want.

    Virtualized OS
    Different than Bootcamp Virtual Windows (Parallels or Fusion although I prefer the former). There are times when I want to run a Windows program while using Wirecast Mac to record in AIC or ProRes. One example is using the often more capable Windows version of Skype. With Desktop Presenter (and I can run one on EACH virtual OS in addition to the native OS on the same computer) I can grab the Skype call and the Mac OS will get the video and audio. There's also a variety of other Windows programs I might use or show while streaming. BTW this isn't limited to Windows. I can run any number of other OSs as well such as Linux/Ubuntu. Chrome, etc. All without losing the Mac specific features I like which including recording to AIC or ProRes or using Thunderbolt peripherals.

  5. #15
    Senior Member cseeman's Avatar
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    CamTwist is Mac Only
    It gets a special mention. Sure there are many screengrabbers on Windows but nothing I know of that's as feature rich as CamTwist. It's free. Wirecast sees it as another source just like Desktop Presenter (and you can use both at the same time). CamTwist includes RSS Feed Ticker, Text Scrolls, various clock timers that count up and down in various ways, weather bug, Twitter, IRC, iTunes song and many other unique elements. All can be brought in and can be keyed over any number of shots in Wirecast. Granted I'd love to see some of these incorporated into Wirecast directly though.

    Quicktime filters
    Wirecast can access Quicktime filters in the Mac version. Of course most are artsy/silly but there are useful ones that allow you to adjust Hue, Saturation, Luminance, Gamma. This is great if you need to color correct a shot and can't easily access the camera and especially good if you're trying to match shots.

  6. #16
    Senior Member cseeman's Avatar
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    Thunderbolt on Windows with Mac
    Magama PCIe Thunderbolt Expansion
    http://www.magma.com/thunderbolt.asp
    So your Thunderbolt Macs can use PCIe cards but the kicker is Magama is reporting on how their box is working with Windows. They're using Bootcamped Macs. It seems that the Windows Thunderbolt rollout may be hitting Ultrabooks first (Asus, Acer, Lenovo). On the other hand you may be able to use Thunderbolt on higher powered Windows systems sooner by using a Mac. Consider a Quad Core i7 MacBookPro or iMac (which has two Thunderbolt ports).

    Blackmagic Digital Cinema Camera?
    Admittedly not tested yet as it's not shipping yet (July)
    http://www.blackmagic-design.com/pro...ccinemacamera/
    The camera appears to have LIVE Thunderbolt output. Imagine using this almost micro 4/3 sensor camera with Live Thunderbolt out without using a Video I/O box at all. The shallow Depth of Field capable camera can blur out the backgrounds when you're streaming from less then stellar locations.

  7. #17
    Senior Member Linuxcooldude's Avatar
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    If you want more power on the Mac side you need a Mac Pro. Mac Pro 8 core with two HDMI capture cards for camera inputs into Wirecast. Video editing done with Final Cut Pro X and occasionally iMovie. IMO and talking with other people I think Wirecast works better on Mac's then the PC side. I think because it originally started on Mac and crossing over any software on a new platform has its problems. It could of changed since then too.
    <a href=http://www.justin.tv/linuxcooldude target=_blank>http://www.justin.tv/linuxcooldude</a>

  8. #18
    IAIB Pro Broadcaster
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    Quote Originally Posted by Linuxcooldude View Post
    If you want more power on the Mac side you need a Mac Pro. Mac Pro 8 core with two HDMI capture cards for camera inputs into Wirecast. Video editing done with Final Cut Pro X and occasionally iMovie. IMO and talking with other people I think Wirecast works better on Mac's then the PC side. I think because it originally started on Mac and crossing over any software on a new platform has its problems. It could of changed since then too.
    I am running my production on a Hackintosh. This is for the very reason that I believe Wirecast runs much better on OS X. I went down the Hackintosh route because no Mac has enough PCI-e slots

  9. #19
    IAIB Broadcaster robistech's Avatar
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    I own an 8 core Mac Pro that would be more than sufficient to run my broadcasts, but I find that I have a lot of PCs laying around, and PC parts, and this ended up making me go the PC route for broadcasting. Now I still incorporate both a Mac Pro and Macbook Pro into the mix (desktop presenter, and great encoding machines!) but my broadcast machines are all windows.

  10. #20
    IAIB Broadcaster JaseRossi's Avatar
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    I am using all PC's for Skype and for using Wirecast. You can't beat the power VS price.
    Jase Rossi | Founder, Lead Reviewer and Host of ReBoot! The Anything and Everything Gaming Podcast at www.Nerdmunky.com


    Follow me on Twitter :@jaserossi


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