Broadcasting a Zoom meeting

In this article, we will discuss the hardware needed to stream an existing production setup. This setup assumes existing camera or camera switching device output via SDI or HDMI, primary content or content switching via HDMI, and professional program audio output. We will walk through the optimal capture devices used for a simple setup

Prerequisites for broadcasting a Zoom meeting

• A Licensed user with the Webinar Add-on (500, 1000, 3000, 5000, 10000, or 50000)
• Zoom desktop client for Windows or macOS: version 3.0 or higher
• 1.8Mbps up/down for 1080p
• Existing production video system
• Existing production audio system

Hardware Overview

Equipment List

Computer

• Streaming computer that meets the minimum specifications
  • Quad Core Intel i5 2.3Ghz or higher processor
  • 8 GB RAM, Dual Slot
  • Adequate i/o - Anker USB-C Hub for Mac users
    
    • 1x USB 2.0
    • 1x USB 3.0
    • 1x Ethernet
• Monitoring computer with headphones for stream validation

Video Capture

• HDMI Capture: Magewell USB Capture HDMI Plus
• SDI Capture Inogeni SDI2USB3

Audio Capture

• Line level audio output
• Alesis Multimix 4 USB

How to configure a Zoom meeting broadcast

Note: These configurations are for BROADCAST and STREAMING only. 2-way communication is NOT possible with these settings, and would require display(s), microphones and speakers with appropriate audio processing.  See design guides for preferred Zoom Rooms hardware designs

1. Prepare for your broadcast.
   • See Getting Started with Webinar
   • If needed, review streaming articles:
     
     • Stream to YouTube Live (meeting or webinar)
     • Stream to Facebook Live (meeting or webinar)
     • Stream to Facebook Workplace (meeting or webinar)
     • Stream to a custom service (meeting or webinar)
     • Custom live streaming watermark
2. Launch Zoom and select your devices
   • Select the desired Capture Device as your Camera input:
     • For more information, see How Do I Test My Video?
   • Select the Alesis Multimix 4 USB as your USB Microphone Input
     • For more information, see Testing Computer of Device Audio
3. Preserve Original Sound
   • This must be enabled at the account, group or user level.
     • See the Preserve Original Sound Article
   • Go to Settings>Audio>Advanced> Click "Show in-meeting option to "Enable Original Sound" from microphone
     • As this is a one-way broadcast, we will not need to transmit any audio processing such a acoustic echo cancellation, noise reduction or auto gain control.
     • In Meeting, click "Enable Original Sound" to optimize the audio from the microphone capture
4. Enable Group HD Full HD 1080p
   • This must be enabled at the account, group or user level.
   • See the Group HD Article
5. Test your setup by joining the meeting with another computer.
   1. Validate video quality
   2. Validate audio quality & level

For a full Zoom Rooms studio experience, please see ProAV Production Studio (2-5 People)