The popularity of  live and ondemand video streaming portals like Mogulus (now Livestream)and Ustream have brought an onslought of content to the web. Now there are affordable solutions for  video content creators who are looking for ways to improve their broadcasts and to  create lower thirds, use green screen and do more on the fly–without a studio. I have done my research and tested two of the major players in this software space: Wirecast and BoinxTV.

The first one I tested was  Wirecast. From their web site: Wirecast is a live production tool that allows everyone to easily broadcast live events and create professional webcasts from any location – all you need is a computer and an internet connection. One thing I noticed from the start the software is for Mac or PC and therefore making it available to more users. Wirecast also lets you stream HDV cameras. One thing that I was disappointed with Wirecast is the user interface, it is not intuitive, As of this writing there were no video tutorials on how to use Wirecast–you download tutorials as a pdf. you would think that since telestream acquired in 2008 of the European-based Vara Software Ltd. they would use Screenflow to create these tutorials. (By the way, I absolutely love Screenflow in my opinion it is one of the best screensharing programs.)

Live Streaming: I tried Mogulus it worked very well and Ustream was rock solid. I hooked my Canon XL-2 via firewire and the stream worked well. The built in streaming makes Wirecast my first choice for live broadcasting on UStream or Mogulus or if you are streaming to any provider.

The second one I tested was Boinx TV . From their web site: BoinxTV turns your Mac into a TV studio for creating Live to Disk, Live to Internet and Live to Stage video. I totally agree, the interface is easy to use and users for editing software will appreciate the layer priority. Af first the interface looks intimidating for first time users, but there is a easy search button at the bottom of the interface to find what you want.

In my test I hooked up one camera–a Canon XL-2 to my 17 inch MacBook Pro 2 GB of RAM and recorded live video and put lower thirds in, no capturing video just straight to hard drive, of course I was a little nervous so I had a tape backup because it was a “real” job I had to do, but it worked perfectly.

Rich Herard of Herard Media Group said “(Boinx TV)..Great, rock solid, we can do a three camera shoot in the field and put in graphics and lower thirds and it is a super time saving tool.”

Live Streaming on Boinx: I had to install third party software and on a laptop it was quite cumbersome to stream live, they have a lot to do to make it better for live broadcasting. I did upload to uStream and Mogulus, but it was hard to put effects on my live stream.

Pricing:

Wirecast: $449 with optional HD upgrades.

Boinx TV: $499 or $199 if you purchase the sponsored edition which has the Boinx logo on the end of each of your videos.

Both of these pieces of software are fairly new to the market and for me I love the competition, both companies will have their marketshare and we as the consumers can only win. I recently showed both of these pieces of software to veteran TV producers and they were both impressed. Whatever software you choose, Live TV Production has come to your computer, so go grab your camera!