Logic Pro 8 webcasting from Logic?

S

studioj

Logician
Hello-

Can anyone think of a way I might be able to stream the audio and video (QT movie) coming from Logic over the web?

Thanks for any ideas-

j
 
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First thing to do is export the audio to your QT movie from under the main Options menu, so you have one consolidated file with the both the audio and video together. At that point Logic has done it's job, and you can move on to uploading it to whichever web server you need to.
 
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I'm talking about live, realtime playback from Logic though...so someone might be able hear things as I change them, or locate through a project...and also see the video as it plays back inside of logic...

I'm pretty sure the audio side of it isn't too difficult but I was thinking there might be some creative solution using something like netcast with audiohijack...a firewire converter and/or dvcam...or maybe leopard screen sharing. Haven't quite been able to rap my head around it yet though.

thank you for any thoughts
 
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You can definitely use a tool like Audiohijack or Wiretap Pro to reroute the audio from your speakers to a regular hardware "input" device which can be used by any webcasting solution.

No additional hardware is required.

If you also want to broadcast what's on your screen (or some prerecorded videos), the same webcast tool would have to support screen recording or broadcasting, which many of them do.

A great one I have been using is called BoinxTV, which allows for multitrack real time video transitions and webcasting, and they have a solution for webcasting your screen as one of the video inputs.

It would allow you to broadcast what is coming from your speakers as well... I am not sure if you would need Wiretap Pro in this scenario. (It may have this functionality built in).
 
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I've been using VNC for the visual (both mac and windows clients are supported and are free). In my experience Vine Server (VNC) is more reliable than Apple's built in service even though they use the same ports. For audio streaming, I use Nicecast (which is way better than Apple's solution for live audio streaming). Typically the audio lag is about 1 or 2 bars, but I have experimented with this complete setup on several occasions, and I'm confident I could run remote sessions this way. Of course, the hard part is configuring your firewall to forward all the related ports correctly. Have fun!
 
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ha, just as your post popped in I was testing nicecast with the new version of skype which has screen sharing. It seems the lag starts at only a hundred ms or so and then the nicecast audio slowly drifts later. I wonder why the audio stream slows down over time? Of course the viewer can't control the screen like with your VNC setup but I'm just looking for a way for someone to review a work in progress sort of thing...my problem is of course there is video involved which any sort of lag would create problems for correct viewing. Procaster looks to be an interesting high quality solution but it is PC only now and your broadcasts are put out to the world to see unless you pay $350 per month for the pro version (lite is free). More thoughts welcome!

thanks-
 
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You can screen share without allowing control in VNC, so no worries there. But the sync problem is an impasse, to be sure. I wish Apple would build audio/video sync into Logic. In fact, I'll put that on the wish list. :)
 
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I tried vine server and cotVNC but it seems I'm getting the smoothest response from Leopard screen sharing on my local network. but key commands in logic do work better using vine server. I couldn't get the maxdepth bit command line to work in vine server to lower the color depth (and hopefully get faster smoother response)...do you know how the command line should read?

I guess if the latency was consistent in nicecast you could temporarily set the start time of the movie to later while the project is being reviewed, or would it be earlier? hmmm
 
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The first and only time I used Apple's screen sharing, I was getting dropped a lot. Vine never did this to me. Furthermore, Vine is a more useful VNC solution anyway since it can run (the way I use it) as a system daemon and allows a connection even before you log in. This is what I think makes it more stable.

I would not even try to get these to sync, personally. What's needed is sophisticated programming to delay screen shots with the audio buffer, which is effected mostly by the client connection. You will never be able to predict this, me thinks, without the video and audio being sent in the same packets of data sent to the client (a unified software solution).

As far as bit depth, I've always controlled that on the client side, but that's a good point. Having to spit out millions of colors when you really only want to send 256 kinda sucks. I found a PDF that contains the command line info you alluded to. You just schooled me, so thanks :) Too bad that isn't just an option in the preferences of the server. Bummer.
 
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here's a thought...what if I slaved another mac to my main system and ran video inside that system (synced through MTC in logic, protools, whatever), and offset the video start time to account for the nicecast latency? Then screen share that system while the viewer is listening to my main system's nicecast....would it work? is the nicecast latency consistent enough to provide accurate playback for a minute or two?
 
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Manual offsetting will never work in a reliable way, because the variable is controlled not only by your network but also the clients (which you cannot measure). I think you'll need to follow the advice of an earlier post in this thread which suggested sending your audio and video out of your Logic mac to a unified broadcast device or Quicktime video server.
 
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You could also just do a private session on ustream.com, which can read right from your camera, which you can intern feed from your Logic mac. In other words:

Logic Mac > video camera with A/V inputs > Mac or PC connected to the Ustream site.

Yaaaaaaay, cheap!
 
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Cool, Ustream...so can I set the desktop (Logic) as a source of my isight (how?), or would I play the video out of the firewire port into a canopus or something similar and cable that (plus my audio) into a DV cam hooked to a second computer running UStream? or am I complicating this? I already have those tools so beats $199 for the BoinxTV software. Thanks so much for your help.
 
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I don't think BoinxTV would work anyway. I don't think you can use a live Logic window as an input source for Boinx. I might be wrong, but their input list does not include this feature.

You need two computers. 1 with logic. One connected to Ustream. One DV or similar cam with AV inputs connected to the Logic mac (so you need a monitor to A/V cable with your monitors set to mirror). This feeds the DV cam which is automatically detected by Ustream on the other computer.

When I said this was a cheap option, I only meant that if you already owned the camera and the second computer. ;)
 
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alienimplant said:
I believe only audio from Logic can be used as an input source for Boinx.
Click to expand...

BoinxTV can definitely use the screen as an input. (I've seen the information on how to do it somewhere). I can imagine it can get weird because you will have BoinxTV on the screen as well, which takes a lot of screen real estate). A two monitor system might work better, but you will also have to be concerned with processor usage with both BoinxTV, Logic, and your podcasting software chewing up cycles.

Here's an overview of the inputs available (although it's not very descriptive):
http://www.boinx.com/boinxtv/overview/inputs/
 
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Oh, cool! Good to know!! I agree the CPU issue is a drawback. The screen thing isn't so bad because you can set Boinx and hide it from view. Man, I might even try this out then. It might be a viable work around after all. If I can successfully run a Logic session using VNC and Nicecast, then why not this solution? But I don't want a podcast. I want to broadcast to a web page. Any thoughts?
 
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So hey! i got it to work with Ustream and 1 computer...but had to install soundflower for the audio. video is a little choppy but not bad at all...and in perfect sync with the audio! I routed Logic's output to Soundflower (using soundflowerbed to monitor the output) and then selected soundflower as the input source in the broadcast. Ustream lets you stream your desktop using a little free program called camtwist. I'll keep experimenting with this and report back. Maybe camtwist would enable boinx to do its thing with the desktop. With a canopus and DV cam I might be able to do the movie window only and with better quality...hmmm, and your 2 computer setup would probably have better stability taking load off the logic machine. many options...cool

thank you!
 
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