WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:09.440 For decades, the only way to broadcast news events in a timely manner was to 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:11.920 have a huge budget for like a truck that 00:00:09.440 --> 00:00:16.880 had editing stations inside it and a satellite link to your local station 00:00:13.920 --> 00:00:22.240 where it could then be broadcast to the masses. But personal technology has 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:26.320 changed this though in a huge way. First was the everybody has a camera 00:00:24.400 --> 00:00:31.359 revolution that allowed the World Trade Center bombings to be captured from many 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:35.600 different angles. albeit in very very low quality for the most part. Then the 00:00:34.239 --> 00:00:42.160 next big thing that happened was broadband internet and the ability for 00:00:37.760 --> 00:00:44.879 anyone for well next to no cost free 00:00:42.160 --> 00:00:51.680 right YouTube to be able to broadcast whatever video it was they'd captured to 00:00:47.800 --> 00:00:54.640 anyone. Then social took the internet by 00:00:51.680 --> 00:00:58.480 storm in the late 2000s once mobile internet connections were pretty much 00:00:56.399 --> 00:01:04.159 ubiquitous. So you were guaranteed almost if anything crazy was going down, 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:09.119 someone was there with a connection talking about it. Following that, more 00:01:06.720 --> 00:01:14.640 internet infrastructure improvements, HD online, as well as video streaming gave 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:18.920 rise to sites like just.tv and later the 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:21.159 gaming focus twitch.tv, which leads us 00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:25.400 finally to the next chapter. Thanks to the unstoppable 00:01:23.759 --> 00:01:31.240 onward march of technology, for less than a few 00:01:27.880 --> 00:01:35.680 thousand, an individual can equip him or 00:01:31.240 --> 00:01:37.920 herself with a live reporting backpack 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:43.280 that allows footage and personal commentary to be broadcast almost 00:01:40.920 --> 00:01:46.340 anywhere live. 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:58.960 So this is it. Everything in front of me is what is needed to build your very own 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:03.600 DIY reporter backpack. So for me, it starts with the laptop. This is a UX303 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:07.920 from ASUS. This is actually the same one that I used in my can you edit 4K video 00:02:06.320 --> 00:02:12.080 on a laptop video, which you can check out over here. And the reason I selected 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:16.879 it again for this project was A, I already had it, and B, it's got a Core 00:02:14.640 --> 00:02:22.160 i7 Skylake processor, which allows me to get a good enough HD video stream for, 00:02:20.480 --> 00:02:25.599 you know, to be better than what anyone's going to be broadcasting from a 00:02:23.760 --> 00:02:31.280 cell phone, as well as the fact that it's thin and light and has reasonable 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:35.440 battery life. Now, obviously, a laptop doesn't do anything on its own. So, in 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:40.720 terms of software, XSplit, who actually sponsored this episode, the DIY reporter 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:43.920 backpack episode, has provided us with a copy of their XSplit broadcaster 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:47.920 software, which is going to allow us to take our multiple camera inputs, uh, 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:53.200 switch between different inputs and broadcast directly to twitch.tv, which 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:56.560 obviously wouldn't be the normal destination for something that's not 00:02:54.879 --> 00:02:59.680 about gaming, but we have a Twitch account and they're cool. So, uh, we're 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:04.080 going to go ahead and we're going to do our our our testing over on there. Now, 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:07.920 as good as the battery life is on this laptop, um it's not going to be enough 00:03:06.239 --> 00:03:13.760 for what we're trying to do. So, I picked out the cheapest, highest 00:03:10.200 --> 00:03:16.879 capacity 19vt output battery bank. In 00:03:13.760 --> 00:03:19.440 our case, it's a Rav Power 23,000 mAh 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:23.200 battery bank off of Amazon, and I threw that in the backpack. Next, next came 00:03:21.760 --> 00:03:29.519 the capture device. So, we've got an Elgato HD60 here. This allows us to take 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:31.440 an HDMI input from our camera and turn 00:03:29.519 --> 00:03:36.000 that into something that XSplit can understand, which leads us, I guess, 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:40.239 pretty well into the camera. Now, this is a pretty high-end model. This is a 00:03:37.760 --> 00:03:44.000 Canon XA20 that we use for our channel, Super Fun Videos. But what I like about 00:03:42.640 --> 00:03:49.280 it and what I would recommend that you guys look for is something with an HDMI 00:03:47.040 --> 00:03:53.760 output as well as something that accepts a couple of audio inputs because we're 00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:58.560 going to be using one of the XLR inputs for a lavalier microphone from road that 00:03:56.400 --> 00:04:02.959 I'm going to wear on myself and the other one for a shotgun microphone that 00:04:00.799 --> 00:04:07.439 is forward- facing so that I can collect sound from whatever event it is that I 00:04:05.040 --> 00:04:14.319 am actually looking at. Remember guys, sound is as important as video for 00:04:11.200 --> 00:04:16.959 capturing an event or a moment of some 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:21.600 sort. Now, I do have a big beefy battery on it, but I'm going to pack my charger 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:26.400 with me anyway because right here I have a second battery bank option. This one 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:31.600 has two USB outputs, but more uniquely an AC output. So, as long as I'm 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:36.280 carrying around the power brick adapters for any of my devices, I can use this 00:04:33.840 --> 00:04:40.080 charge tech unit here to get supplementary power with that thing 00:04:38.400 --> 00:04:47.520 plugged into the camera. It lasted for hours and hours and hours and hours. 00:04:43.440 --> 00:04:50.000 Next up is my MiFi 4G hotspot. So, this 00:04:47.520 --> 00:04:53.440 was actually provided by Belle and they gave me an unlimited data plan so that I 00:04:51.840 --> 00:04:58.479 didn't have to use my phone for this whole wacky experiment. And uh other 00:04:56.880 --> 00:05:01.360 than that, I don't know really what else to say about it other than if you're 00:05:00.080 --> 00:05:04.880 going to pick up one of these for this purpose, make sure you have enough data 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:08.160 on it. And number two, make sure you have one that allows you to plug into a 00:05:06.400 --> 00:05:12.800 computer via USB or some other connection so that you don't have to go 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:16.800 4G to the mobile connection and then Wi-Fi to the laptop. It is an option, 00:05:15.440 --> 00:05:20.240 but having a hardwired connection between this and the laptop is a little 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:24.639 bit better. For this one, I'm going to choose an outer wall of the backpack so 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:28.639 that it has as unobstructed an access to the cellular network as possible. Not 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:32.000 that it really makes a huge difference. For our last two pieces, the 00:05:30.400 --> 00:05:37.360 aforementioned remote, which I will be taping onto my ARM, allowing me to start 00:05:34.479 --> 00:05:41.560 and stop my broadcast and change scenes without actually digging into the 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:46.000 backpack. And finally, my handy dandy reporter's 00:05:44.320 --> 00:05:51.120 helmet. This will keep me safe when I am 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:55.919 covering live events. And thanks to Brandon's Bongo Tide selfie stick on the 00:05:53.759 --> 00:06:00.400 top of it here will also allow me to have my face be in the shot so I can 00:05:58.080 --> 00:06:07.600 give commentary on whatever it is that I'm looking at. So with all that out of 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:07.600 the way, let's go live broadcast 00:06:09.160 --> 00:06:15.280 something. Oh, we have nine viewers apparently. 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:21.360 Okay, so is it the world's most elegant solution? I think we all knew the answer 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:23.199 was no. This, my friends, is the future. 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:28.720 There's not a whole lot happening around here, but uh maybe down this mysterious 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:32.280 back alley. If there was anything that was going to happen though, you can be 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:37.120 assured that I would be ready, me and my trusty uh counterpart, 00:06:35.440 --> 00:06:41.600 that I wouldn't actually need. That's another thing that's really great about 00:06:38.479 --> 00:06:43.840 my whole future of uh future of live 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:49.280 broadcasting concept is that thanks to the selfie helm, you no longer need a 00:06:47.280 --> 00:06:54.280 camera person to accompany you to tell you about uh I have definitely patented 00:06:52.479 --> 00:06:58.960 the crap out of the selfie helm. It's a selfie stick attached to a 00:06:57.280 --> 00:07:04.560 helmet that protects you from the people who hate you. And you can rest assured 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:10.319 you're wearing a selfie helm. There are people who hate you. 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:12.560 many of them. I'm one of them. Even 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:17.599 though I invented the selfie helm, I invented the selfie helm solely so that 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:22.720 I could identify the people that I hate. This bongo tie system could use some 00:07:19.520 --> 00:07:24.479 improvement. I think a stiffer mount. 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:28.440 There we go. That would give us a bit more of that like GoPro look. Definitely 00:07:26.400 --> 00:07:35.639 a lot less bounce while I'm while I'm standing. There's a guy running away. He 00:07:31.840 --> 00:07:35.639 probably stole that camera. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:44.080 So, we're back in the studio. I consider this project to be a huge success, 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:47.919 actually, which doesn't necessarily mean that there aren't some things we could 00:07:45.520 --> 00:07:53.520 do to optimize the experience. So, I talked about it while I was streaming, 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:55.599 but the mount for our selfie camera, the 00:07:53.520 --> 00:08:00.160 webcam that we were using here, oh, I never mentioned the webcam in the setup. 00:07:57.280 --> 00:08:04.319 It's a C920 from Logitech. So, the mount for this could be more optimal. a little 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:08.479 bit of motion dampening but with a little bit less bounciness uh would 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:13.199 probably be best. And if we could find a lighter selfie stick that might help as 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:17.360 well. Um in terms of the battery configuration, right now the camera 00:08:15.280 --> 00:08:22.560 lasts for like hours and hours and hours, but the laptop only lasts for a 00:08:20.400 --> 00:08:26.639 few hours. So I think finding a way to balance those two might be a good 00:08:24.960 --> 00:08:31.440 approach if I was going to try and build something like this for everyday use. 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:35.839 Uh, that's another thing. I could have done a better job of cable management of 00:08:33.599 --> 00:08:39.200 of all the different wires and cables to make sure that I could get it on me a 00:08:37.599 --> 00:08:43.519 little bit more easily, as well as being able to extract the laptop to change any 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:49.279 settings and then put it back more easily would be another optimization I 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:51.519 would make. And I don't know. I guess I 00:08:49.279 --> 00:08:56.240 guess that's that's pretty much it. The only real change then if you wanted to 00:08:54.000 --> 00:09:01.120 do something like this would be to get a more powerful maybe a quad core laptop 00:08:58.880 --> 00:09:05.680 if you wanted to broadcast in 1080p at higher bit rates. From my perspective, 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:10.959 720p 2 megabit, which is what we were doing on the ultraast encoding preset is 00:09:08.880 --> 00:09:14.640 I would consider good enough for amateur news reporting. But depending on what 00:09:12.880 --> 00:09:20.080 you're going for, you might want to up the ante a little bit. Which I guess 00:09:17.760 --> 00:09:26.000 leads us into the conclusion. This video is not about this setup really anyway. 00:09:23.680 --> 00:09:31.279 It's more about the broader idea of the democratization of 00:09:27.880 --> 00:09:33.680 news. I mean 20 years ago, 10 years ago, 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:38.640 even 5 years ago, this would be completely unattainable, a way of a way 00:09:36.160 --> 00:09:42.720 of doing this reliably and with sufficient quality. Whereas now, I mean, 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:46.720 yes, this setup is like $5,000. Although 2,000 is the camera. You don't have to 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:51.279 do that. And that laptop is pretty nice as well. it is somewhat attainable for 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:57.760 real people if they were willing to save up the money and it was really important to them to do this and this brings with 00:09:55.519 --> 00:10:01.920 it some major advantages as well as some disadvantages. So sort of the 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:05.519 disadvantages is that journalistic training can be beneficial. I mean, 00:10:04.160 --> 00:10:11.279 there was that, mind you, there was that recent situation with the shooters down in the States where the journalists were 00:10:09.760 --> 00:10:16.240 running around disrupting evidence and all that, but in general, they go 00:10:14.160 --> 00:10:20.000 through school for a reason. And just having everyone willy-nilly running a 00:10:17.839 --> 00:10:25.600 mock with cameras, recording everything is a privacy issue potentially as well 00:10:22.560 --> 00:10:27.120 as a a factual information issue because 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:33.279 these people don't have the necessary training. With that said, I would also 00:10:30.160 --> 00:10:34.880 tend to believe that an individual who's 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:40.480 doing this out of passion, not necessarily to get paid, is going to be 00:10:37.839 --> 00:10:44.800 more inclined to attack the news stories that they feel are important rather than 00:10:42.959 --> 00:10:49.200 the ones that necessarily drive ratings and sponsorships for their news station 00:10:46.560 --> 00:10:52.800 in order to maintain the massive staffs that a regular news station would 00:10:50.800 --> 00:10:57.120 maintain. So, let me know in the comments below. What do you think? Is 00:10:55.279 --> 00:11:00.320 this a step in the right direction or should we leave it to the professionals? 00:10:58.880 --> 00:11:05.200 Which I guess leads us pretty well into our sponsor spot, which as I'm sure the 00:11:03.040 --> 00:11:10.640 uh college educated among you figured was coming, is XSplit. So XSplit is the 00:11:08.079 --> 00:11:14.640 live broadcasting software that we use on the WAN Show, as well as for pretty 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:18.399 much anything else that we do, including this really cool stream I did a little 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:21.360 while ago where I actually built a whole computer with a couple of different 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:24.560 inputs, a couple of different views. You can just switch between scenes with a 00:11:23.040 --> 00:11:28.720 hotkey, whether that's on a keyboard next to you or on a controller on your 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:33.680 ARM. Yeah, that's right. Xplit allows all the usual video streaming platforms 00:11:30.959 --> 00:11:37.839 to be streamed, too, and has great game capture features that allow you to 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:42.480 capture your games with pretty much the click of a button. But there's more. 00:11:40.079 --> 00:11:46.399 Today, you can save 10% off a personal or premium license for XSplit by using 00:11:44.880 --> 00:11:51.120 offer code Linus at the link in the video description. And yes, my friends, 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:57.440 there is even more. We are actually doing an XSplit license giveaway over at 00:11:54.640 --> 00:12:02.320 the linesttips.com forum. So check that out. Then if you don't happen to win, 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:06.880 you can save 10% and try out the broadcasting software that we use here 00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:09.839 at Lionus Media Group. So thanks for watching today, guys. If you disliked 00:12:08.560 --> 00:12:13.760 this video, go ahead and hit that dislike button. But come on, I got like 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:19.200 a keyboard strapped to my wrist. Hello. Come in bass command. I read you bass 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:22.320 command. Can you hear me? Anyway, uh if you like the video though, hit that like 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:26.160 button, get subscribed, and maybe even consider supporting us by buying a cool 00:12:23.920 --> 00:12:26.160 shirt 00:12:26.920 --> 00:12:31.600 like this one by changing your Amazon 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:36.240 bookmark, one with our affiliate code, instructions for which are up there, or by supporting us directly on the forum, 00:12:34.880 --> 00:12:39.360 or maybe even buying our Christmas album. Mind you, by the time you're 00:12:38.160 --> 00:12:42.959 watching this, it might be after Christmas, so but don't don't worry too 00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:47.519 much about that. Anyway, if you're looking for something else to watch now that you've done all of that stuff, 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:50.160 check out Yeah. Check out the promotional video for our Christmas 00:12:48.800 --> 00:12:54.399 album. Even if you don't care about the Christmas album, if you don't want to buy it, I think it's pretty funny. Even 00:12:52.880 --> 00:12:57.680 if it's after Christmas, it's just ridiculous. It's us singing. It can't be 00:12:55.920 --> 00:13:03.680 that bad. It is that bad, but that's why it's funny. Don't forget to subscribe. See 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:03.680 you next time.