For broadcasting with a digital HD source, we generally recommend products from Blackmagic Design . Please not that we do not recommend blackmagic USB devices, as they tend to have compatibility issues.
Other Capture Devices
When connecting your equipment to your encoder, select the best available port coming our of your camera and/or video switch. The list below shows video input options in order according to quality (best to worst).
If the best output your equipment has is S-Video or Composite, a high end capture card is not necessary. Typically a very low cost ($15-50) card will give you roughly the same quality as a $1000 card.
Telestream Wirecast - PC and Mac - $495. Our #1 recommendation. Best video quality (x264) and feature rich. A church discount may be available if you call sales.
OBS Studio - PC and Mac - Free A high quality encoder (x264), but limited to a single output stream. This is the preferred encoder if you only need one stream level or don't have the budget for Wirecast.
XSplit - PC Only - $60/year. An up and coming live streaming tool worth mentioning. Best video quality (x264) and feature rich. Not as polished as Wirecast, but has some interesting features.
We recommend NOT using any of the following: