What is a WorshipMetrics Livestream System?

A Livestream System is a tested combination of computer, capture hardware and software that's known to work well together. It's a starting point you can buy built, build yourself, or adjust around equipment you already own.

What size streaming system does a small church need?

Most churches of 100 to 400 seats with two to four cameras and one volunteer need a dependable, simple system: a dedicated computer with professional capture for up to four cameras, free OBS, and monitoring. That's the Essentials (Good) tier.

When does a church need a bigger system?

When the computer has to do more than stream: feeding projectors and IMAG screens, confidence monitors, overflow rooms, instant replay, or more than four cameras. That's when the Better and Best tiers earn their cost.

Good, Better or Best: Which Church Livestreaming System Fits Your Church?

Start with the room, not the spec sheet

Most buying guides start with processors and graphics cards. Churches should start somewhere else: how many people, how many cameras, how many screens, and who’s running it. The right system follows from those four answers.

What a Livestream System is

A Livestream System is a tested combination of computer, capture hardware and software that we know works together, what the industry calls a reference design. Ours come in three tiers. They’re starting points, not prescriptions: you can buy one built and tested, build it yourself from the parts list, or mix in equipment you already own. (See what’s on the Livestream Systems page.)

The four questions

1. How big is the room?

Seat count is a rough proxy for everything else: how many cameras you’ll want, how many screens, and how big the team is.

2. How many cameras?

Count the cameras you have now and the ones you’ll want in two years. Each one needs an input on the computer.

3. Does the computer feed the room, or just the stream?

This is the question churches forget. If the computer only sends the stream online, it can be simpler. If it also feeds projectors, IMAG screens, a confidence monitor for the stage, lobby TVs or overflow rooms, it needs more outputs and more processing headroom.

4. Who runs it?

One volunteer who rotates weekly needs the simplest possible system. A production team with a director can use more.

Match your answers to a tier

If your church…	Start with
Has 100 to 400 seats, 2 to 4 cameras, one volunteer, and streams online	Essentials (Good)
Has 500 to 2,000 seats, a production team, IMAG screens and multiple angles	Studio (Better)
Is large or multi-campus, wants 4K, overflow rooms and broadcast-level uptime	Broadcast (Best)

Essentials (Good)

Up to 4 cameras, multi-platform streaming and recording, free OBS installed (vMix optional), a rack-mounted computer with Magewell capture, and WorshipMetrics monitoring. Most small churches need dependable, not fancy.

Studio (Better)

Up to 8 cameras with instant replay on 4, video to your projectors, IMAG and confidence monitors, vMix included with OBS also installed, and professional SDI inputs for long cable runs. Once a church has screens in the room, the computer has to do more than stream.

Broadcast (Best)

12 or more cameras including 4K, six or more outputs, a workstation-class processor with error-correcting memory, and built-in remote management. For churches where the stream is a ministry of its own.

Reference prices for each tier are on the Livestream Systems page. PTZ cameras are a suggested add-on, quoted in your consultation.

Signs you need less than you think

Your problems are mostly people or process. A bigger system won’t fix a booth only one person can run. (See is it the people, the process, or the equipment?)
You already own a good switcher. You may only need a standalone streaming encoder from our Extras. (See do we need a computer to livestream our church service?)
Your cameras are fine. Keep them. Every tier accepts any camera with HDMI, SDI or NDI output.

Signs you need more than you think

You’re adding screens in the room in the next year or two.
You want instant replay for baptisms, dramas or kids’ moments.
You’re planning an overflow room or a second campus. (See how to put your livestream on lobby and overflow TVs.)

The fastest way to an answer

You don’t have to pick a tier alone. Map your current system, mark what you have and what you need, and send it with a free consultation request. It’s the best way to get the best price: we’ll tell you which tier fits, what to reuse, and whether a single upgrade would do. Prefer to talk? Call 910-WORSHIP.

Using a Blackmagic ATEM? Splitting ATEM Mini jobs for church volunteers. See also when your church outgrows the ATEM Mini · ATEM Mini + OBS.

The big picture: church livestream setup: what you need, OBS vs. vMix vs. ATEM, and a booth volunteers can run.

Good, Better or Best: Which Church Livestreaming System Fits Your Church?

Start with the room, not the spec sheet

What a Livestream System is