Telestream Announces Wirecast Gear Live Production and Streaming System

Telestream, the leading provider of digital media tools and workflow solutions, today announced Wirecast Gear, a portable computer workstation fully configured for live event production and streaming. The easy-to-use system allows anyone to broadcast professional live productions in a matter of minutes with a fully configured system built for live event streaming. Wirecast Gear comes installed with Wirecast Pro live streaming production software. It is ideally suited for marketers, educators, corporate and online trainers, event producers, sports broadcasters, worship service staff, news gatherers and anyone who wants to deliver professional live streamed productions out of the box. Wirecast Gear will be demonstrated at the upcoming IBC tradeshow, and will start shipping in early September with prices starting at just $4,995.

“With the explosion in popularity of live streamed video, everyone from event producers to educators to marketers are looking for ways to communicate via live video,” said Scott Murray, Vice President of Desktop Products at Telestream. “With Wirecast Gear, we made a lot of design decisions that make it ideal for the kinds of environments that people doing live production, switching and streaming need. We have built a product that makes it easy for anyone to start a professional live stream, at a price point that makes it affordable.”

Portable, convenient design

Wirecast Gear comes with four professional video input ports with options for either HDMI or SDI, housed in a compact, powerful hardware system. At only 9.85 inches deep and taking up 1.3 rack units (RU), the versatile Wirecast Gear workstation can be inserted into a travel case or fitted with the included rubber feet and placed on a desktop. Solid state drives, as opposed to traditional spinning hard drives, makes Wirecast Gear ideal for transport, less prone to failure and guarantees maximum performance.

Robust computing power

Wirecast Gear is built on a Windows 10 Pro 64bit platform with i7 Intel processors, 16GB of memory and a 250GB system drive. The unit also includes multiple network connectors, USB-C ports, as well as digital display outputs to create an optimal production environment.  

“With Wirecast Gear, you don’t have to be a computer technician to start streaming. You can take this computer out of the box, put it on your desk, plug in some cameras, and start streaming a live event,” added Murray. “But, the other great thing about this system is that it’s a solid Windows 10 Pro 64bit computer. So you can use Wirecast Gear in your live production environment for live streaming, but then you can also use it as a workstation. It’s a streaming appliance and a workstation - which makes it a very  appealing ROI proposition.”

Powerful live production features

With Wirecast Pro pre-installed on Wirecast Gear, users can start streaming the moment it comes out of the box using the powerful production features of Wirecast including:

  • Multi-camera live switching
  • Mix live camera sources as well as video, images, computer desktops and more
  • Instant replay
  • Playlists
  • Built-in titles
  • CHROMA key support
  • Virtual sets
  • Live scoreboards and more

Wirecast’s built-in encoding engine allows users to stream high-quality H.264 video and AAC audio over RTMP, RTP and Windows Media protocols for maximum flexibility. Users can stream directly to 30-built-in destinations including Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Microsoft Azure, Akamai,DaCast, Wowza, as well as record a version for later use.

Wirecast Gear also comes installed with Switch Plus (to enable users to play, inspect and correct all their media files) and NewBlue Titler Live (to easily create or edit fully animated titles and lower thirds).

Pricing and availability

The Wirecast Gear system, which includes a keyboard and mouse, comes in 3 versions and will begin shipping in early September.

Wirecast Gear 110 ($4,995)

  • Wirecast Pro
  • 4 HDMI ports
  • 250 GB storage (~5 hrs of HD video*)
  • NewBlue Titler Live standard
  • Great for basic live event production and streaming

Wirecast Gear 210 ($5,995)

  • Wirecast Pro
  • 4 SDI ports
  • 500 GB storage (~10 hrs of HD video*)
  • NewBlue Titler Live Advance w/NDI
  • Perfect for sports broadcasters

Wirecast Gear 220 ($7,995)

  • Wirecast Pro
  • 4 SDI ports
  • 2 TB storage (~40+ hrs of HD video*)
  • NewBlue Titler Live Ultimate
  • Advanced live streaming             

*Based on h.264 1080p 29.97fps medium quality. Higher or lower quality settings will affect total video storage

Also released is Wirecast GearCare, a robust and affordable program that extends Warranty and Support for Wirecast Gear to three years. Wirecast GearCare includes full Wirecast/Switch Premium support for direct access to Telestream technicians, Next Day Air advance replacement should the system fail, and access to the latest versions of the software.

Wirecast Gear can be purchased through Telestream's network of qualified resellers, or online through the Telestream store http://www.telestream.net/wirecast/wirecast-gear.htm.

About Wirecast

Wirecast is the only cross-platform, all-in-one live streaming production software that enables capture, live production, and encoding of live streams for broadcast to multiple servers and platforms simultaneously. Wirecast is ideal for streaming or recording live internet shows, broadcasting breaking news and sports, streaming live concerts and games, transmitting church services, corporate meetings, lectures and more. Pro production features include live scoreboards, 3D virtual sets, chroma key support, advanced audio controls and more.

More information is available at www.telestream.net