Biographical Information

Articles for Anthony Burokas

Cloud Production Is a Lie

I've noticed in Restream and other cloud streaming tools that when I have multiple people on, or when I'm playing back a video that exists on their server, my CPU load goes up. The conclusion is that these "low-end" cloud solutions push some processing back onto our computers. It's not all happening in the cloud. This is a direct contradiction to what we're led to think "in the cloud" means.

Which Is Better for Sports Production--More Cameras or More Ops?

Typical broadcast-level sports productions are massive, with dozens of cameras and operators all over the place, and dozens more people working in and around the production trucks. So how does one, independent producer make their content more like "the big league" when there isn't a dozen people to help?

Live Streaming Gear at NAB 2025: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

While trade tariff wars loomed outside the halls for NAB 2025, inside on the show floors, and in various locations around the Las Vegas Convention Center, and in the cloud—because some companies feel the need to pre-announce their new gear so you go to the show knowing what you want to check out—the message was all about doing more, faster, better.

All-in-One (AIO) Production Tablet Live-Streaming Devices

This article focuses on AIO tablets for live production and streaming—devices so little that you really can put the smallest of them in your back pocket. The larger ones will travel well in a jacket pocket. The only thing they don't include is the cameras.

Outage at the Oscars: Producing Live Streams Is Harder Than it Looks

The Oscars were broadcast March 2nd on Disney-owned ABC and streamed on Hulu. However, the livestream was reportedly beset with problems.

The Blurring of Shared Experiences Via Streaming

The shared experience of enjoying a program that's happening at (or very near) the same time as reality is gone. YouTube, Facebook, et al. are typically 20 or more seconds behind when the event happened. Streaming services and apps can have their own pathways and delays. Add more viewers or more processing, and it can get longer.

Making Your Streaming Gear Purchases Before Higher Tariffs Kick In

Do you have a plan to purchase electronics and other gear in 2025? You may want to accelerate those purchases to the end of 2024 because President-Elect Trump demonstrated in his first term that he had no issue with dramatically increasing the cost of appliances for Americans with previous tariffs, so there's no reason to expect him not to do it again.

Review: Magewell Director Mini 3.0

All-in-One (AIO) live production devices leverage the latest mobile CPU and GPU power and integrated capability, with real hardware connections for multiple HDMI ports, ethernet, headphones, audio input, and more—all from one manufacturer so there's just one update cycle to track. Magewell recently came out with the 3.0 update to their Director Mini AIO production tablet (Figure 1), and they are pushing the envelope with what these little powerhouses can do.

To Cloud, or Not to Cloud? A Live Streaming Producer's Dilemma

Maybe we've been looking at "the cloud" all wrong. It doesn't have to be some 3rd party place we push all our live streaming production elements to. Let's start looking at the production space right in front of us as "the cloud" and see what opportunities that opens up. What do you think?

Orphaned Tech: Struggles With Legacy NDI Gear

Not every new customer has the bank to buy all new gear. It's typical to buy used gear, get it running, and then upgrade only as the need and cash flow dictate. But a challenge comes with using older NDI gear.

Review: Blackmagic Design Micro Studio Camera 4K G2

The Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K G2 has nice upgrades, great capability with the USB-C, and high-quality recording to external SSDs. The HDMI out is a welcome feature as well in terms of monitoring and being able to change settings wherever the camera might be used.

Streaming Is Easy, Until It’s Not

When it comes to electronics, it's easy to look at advertised features and believe that tech will provide everything you need. But no matter how powerful and integrated it is—perhaps even because of how integrated and powerful it is—you need professionals to run it to ensure you look your best. Streaming may seem easy, but as with any business role, only expertise will make it look easy, even when it's not.

The Lure of New Gear

As the march of new tech accelerates, it begs the question: Do we wait a bit to see what new gear can offer, or do we go with what's available now, even if might seem a bit older

Review: BirdDog X1 20X PTZ Cam

Anthony Burokas introduces streaming producers to a brand new BirdDog in the new X1 PTZ cam, which departs from past models with a new design featuring a Wi-Fi antenna, Halo Tally, AI Tracking, an industry-first e-ink display for confidence monitoring.

Is the AI Powering Your AI-Powered Gear Really AI?

A lot of products tagged as "AI-powered" were doing exactly the same thing before AI. But labeling their familiar features as "powered-by-AI" makes the same tech seem fresh and innovative.

Buyers' Guide: Live Streaming Software

This article takes a look at 12 options you can pick from when looking to produce live-switched video: Boinx mimoLive, Broadcast Pix ChurchPix, Ecamm Live, ManyCam, OBS Studio, PRISM Live Studio, Vizrt TriCaster, Telestream Wirecast, vMix, Vimeo Livestream Studio, and XSplit Broadcaster

The End of NDI As We Know It?

NDI runs the risk of fumbling the ball on the 20-yard line—squandering the nearly decade lead they have in IP video by not enforcing that licensees integrate all of the standard. I write this in the hope that they re-establish what the NDI standard means: that to license NDI, and display the NDI badge, a product must be 100% compatible.

OBSBOT Tail Air AI-Powered PTZ Streaming Camera

This review will look at an interesting suite of products built around the innovative OBSBOT Tail Air PTZ cam, which has entered the NDI ecosystem. The individual cameras retail for $499, and OBSBOT lent Streaming Media three of them for this review, as well as a couple of accessories to show off how they can work together in a studio or field production.

All-in-One Streaming Tools Let You Do It All—But Should You?

Today, we are seeing a similar conglomeration of features and abilities in today's production hardware, enabling one person to "do it all!" This begs the question: Should you do it all?

For Live Streaming Producers, Tables of Gear Are Still a Good Idea

While the All-In-One live production and streaming tools grow and mature, let's make sure we keep backup solutions in mind to ensure a successful production—even if it still means a table full of gear.

Review: Magewell Director Mini

Magewell's new Director Mini is a mini marvel. This 5.5" "all-in-one" production tool with a $1,299 street price can mix multiple inputs and do picture-in-picture graphics, audio mixing, recording, streaming, and more, as IEBA's Anthony Burokas explains in this in-depth review.

With Social Video Sizing, Serve Your Viewers What They’re Hungry For

The customer wanting to watch your stream on Insta does not want a horizontal video shoehorned into a vertical frame. The customer watching the horizontal version doesn't want the vertical slice with the same thing blurred out behind it to fill the frame. Each of those customers is hungry for that particular experience. It's your job to give your customers what they are hungry for.

8 Lessons Surfing Can Teach Live Streaming Producers

I had the opportunity to try and learn to surf earlier this year. I'm very glad that I took the lessons because I soon found out how hard surfing really is. While trying, failing, getting hurt, watching, and learning, I saw some parallels between my lessons on the water and the streaming business—which isn't quite as easy as it looks either.

‘Bulletproof’ Needs to Be a Standard Feature for Production Gear

There's a lot more imperfect gear on the market than ever before—gear we can't count on from gig to gig. Gear that can't deliver reliable video. Features that work and then don't. Devices that connect and then don't. We've lost core reliability. Bulletproof needs to be a feature.

Review: Skyglass: Movie Effects Camera App

Want to generate and produce videos in dynamic, detailed, and customizable virtual environments using nothing but the built-in video capabilities of your smartphone plus a single subscription-service app? Skyglass Movie Effects Camera App makes it possible, and IEBA Communications' Anthony Burokas explains how.

Producing for FAST? Take it Slow

FAST programming needs space for the commercials. Unless you intentionally craft that space into your show, it just slices into your content randomly, ruining the mood of narrative content and frustrating viewers just as the show was getting to the "good part." Watching YouTube content on a Roku device is like this now. The random "pop" to commercials in the middle of a scene is very annoying.

Buyers’ Guide: Cellular Bonding Solutions

Thanks to bonding and some of the other technologies discussed in this guide, the days of sending glitchy, buffering video to viewers should be behind us. Read on to learn about the many options available, at a wide variety of price points, to ensure that streaming professionals can deliver the best video possible.

Buyers’ Guide: Podcast Mixers for Live Streaming Production

Today's video producers are now able to leverage new technologies that can really help with the live streaming production—especially on-location. By utilizing what are commonly called "podcast mixers," streaming producers can deliver a bit more polish, while also gaining better flexibility in production.

Cloud-Based Streaming Production and the Sound of Inevitability

The production and communication tools we use are ever-more tied to the cloud, and to take advantage of it is to open a door of possibility and additional capability. Where do you want to go today?

What Is Cellular Bonding?

In the absence of widespread high-bandwidth 5G availability, one technology that has been with us for several years remains the most reliable solution for getting your streams to the cloud when Wi-Fi and wired connections are unavailable: cellular bonding.

From Remote to On-Prem Events: The Pendulum Swings

The pendulum has swung back away from streaming for a brief period, but COVID opened millions of eyes to the power, capability, and convenience of streaming—for the providers and the attendees. It also helped a lot of people realize that it's not as easy as it looks. I see the end result moving that pendulum toward more streaming—and more kinds of streaming—in the near future

Everybody’s Streaming

While you were busy streaming, what you think of as "streaming" evolved in­to many different things. Today, what you do when "streaming" is but one small piece of the streaming world.

YoloLiv YoloBox Mini

In this review, I am going to be taking a look at YoloLiv's latest little streaming box, the YoloBox Mini

The Three Tiers of Virtual Events

So, whether it's a quarterly meeting, an annual marketing show, or an industry event like CES or the International Auto Show, we still need in-person events. But how these events recognize and incorporate remote pre­senters and remote audiences will have to change from what was done pre-COVID. The future of events is hybrid, although these hybrid events will take different forms, depending on the event size, budget, and nature and complexity of the off-site elements. There are what I call "Three Tiers of Hybrid," which represent three different ways to bring local and remote presenters and attendees together.

Tech Check Checklist for Remote Production

Stream4us' Anthony Burokas discusses the importance of putting remote guests for pro productions through a detailed tech check before show day, to make sure they look and sound their best and can identify and address any issues well in advance of going live.

Going Pro with Remote Production

You're here. The guests are there. The audience is everywhere else. Here is an article that's chock-full of tips, tricks, and links for making it all come together in your latest remote production.

How to Maximize Reach with Multistreaming Solutions

If you want to maximize your reach without overtaxing your gear, then utilizing some cloud technologies to send your one upload to multiple destinations can multiply the reach of your content.

Camera Upgrades for Remote Streaming Production

As Zoom and other videoconferencing applications dominate our professional interactions, and remote productions and presentations remain a necessary alternative in-person conferences and other events, webcam video is often the weakest link in our remote connections. Anthony Burokas recommends alternative camera sources--smartphones, DSLRs, and better webcams--and explains how to make them work.

Elevating Remote Production in the Cloud

What's the best way to handle a multiday conference with one remote panel event after another, with about 5 minutes between them, maybe less? What if you add video playback, remote slide presentations, and the inevitable last-minute changes?

Virtual Audio Cables for Multi-Source Remote Streaming Production

Stream4us' Anthony Burokas explains how to use "virtual audio cables" from vb-audio.com to connect multiple audio sources when using a laptop for live streaming production with multiple remote guests.

First Look: BirdDog Flex 4K NDI Converters

An exclusive first-look review of the new BirdDog Flex NDI Converter, a tiny device that delivers tally, audio, video, PTZ control, audio intercom, and power via a single Ethernet cable.

Tutorial: Remote Live Production in the Age of COVID-19

With social distancing making in-person live production difficult-to-impossible, Anthony Burokas demonstrates how to produce a professional live show using multiple remote video feeds using vMix Call.

How to Manage Client Expectations

A large portion of my time is spent educating clients on what I do, what I can do, and what I can't do. In particular, what I can't do is key to managing client expectations. By making sure we're both working toward the same goals, we have a better chance of avoiding potential conflicts down the road.

All In On NDI

Many people have gone all in on NDI. But how they use it can be very different from how you might want to use it.

Best Practices for Live Audio Mixing

When it comes to live audio for streaming, there are a few additional wrinkles to consider that don't come into play with audio recording when you aren't streaming live.

Review: Cinamaker 2.0 iOS Live-Switched Streaming Solution

Cinamaker 2.0 is really coming together to a solid iOS-based production solution. Standout features include loading and saving projects, the built-in editor, and dedicated chroma key on each channel.

Review: Teradek VidiU Go

I found the VidiU Go to be up to the Teradek standard of professional production gear, now for the mobile, bonded streaming audience.

iOS Multicam Streaming Recording Video Quality Showdown

With the addition of Cinamaker to the field of contestants I discussed in my July 2018 iOS Head to Head article-Switcher Studio and Teradek Live:Air Action—I set out to determine which app would deliver the best video quality for live streaming and live recording.

Review: Teradek Link Pro Backpack and Core

Teradek's Link Pro Backpack offers enhanced MIMO cellular connectivity, plus the reliability of bonded cellular, connected to Teradek's powerful Link WiFi Access Point, and all rolled together in a backpack powered by your choice of V-Lock or 3-stud battery.

Review: Teradek Link Pro Backpack and Core

Teradek's Link Pro Backpack offers enhanced MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) cellular connectivity, plus the reliability of bonded cellular, connected to Teradek's powerful Link WiFi Access Point, and all rolled together in a backpack powered by your choice of V-Lock or 3-stud battery.

Head-to-Head: Switcher Studio vs. Teradek Live:Air Action

Today, producers can direct a professional multicamera live video event using just a few smartphones. Two apps stand out for multicamera live switching, so we put them to the test.

How to Become an iOS-Based Broadcaster

Looking to do professional work for clients on location without having to disassemble a TriCaster studio, one producer found apps for iPad and iPhone that let him connect everything wirelessly and stream it to the web via a cell phone.

NAB 2018: Harmonic Talks SaaS-Based UHD/HDR Live Sports Streaming

Streaming Media's Anthony Burokas interviews Harmonic Director, Market Development Jean Macher in the Harmonic booth at NAB 2018.

NAB 2018: VDMS Talks End-to-End Live Event Managed Services

Streaming Media's Anthony Burokas interviews Verizon Digital Media Services CMO Mary Kay Evans in the Verizon booth an NAB 2018.

NAB 2018: Akamai Talks OTT, Hacking, and DDoS Protection

Streaming Media's Anthony Burokas interviews Akamai Director, Industry Marketing Shane Keats in the Akamai booth at NAB 2018.

NAB 2018: Lightcast Talks Cloud Media Management and Delivery

Streaming Media's Anthony Burokas interviews Lightcast's Andreas Kisslinger in the Lightcast's booth at NAB 2018.

NAB 2018: Magewell Talks UltraStream Standalone Encoders

Streaming Media's Anthony Burokas interviews Magewell's Mike Nann in the Magewell booth at NAB 2018.

NAB 2018: Zype Talks Social Media Multicasting

Streaming Media's Anthony Burokas interviews Zype's Ed Laczynski at NAB 2018.

NAB 2018: Tulix Talks Quality Live Streaming at Optimal Cost

Streaming Media's Anthony Burokas interviews Tulix's George Bokuchava at NAB 2018.

Tutorial: Previewing and Reviewing Client Videos

This tutorial will look at online previewing and reviewing client videos with Frame.io through the lens of a 29-video series produced with a remotely located editor and a client reviewing the videos in development.

Case Study: Mobile, iOS-based, Live-Switched Streaming

Live production and streaming with mobile devices—from capture to delivery—isn't just for hobbyists anymore. But if you're looking to use your iOS device for professional production you'll need to gear up right, and this article will show you how.

Review: Panasonic AG-UX180 4K Professional Camcorder

With its 1" sensor, 20x optical zoom, and extensive array of image controls, Panasonic's AG-UX180 strikes a balance well-suited to the prosumer camera market.

A Buyer's Guide to Cameras and Camcorders for Online Video

New technologies are bringing more options for online video creation. Here are the questions to consider when shopping for a camera.

A Buyer's Guide to Lighting Kits

Learn about the five types of lighting commonly used in video productions, as well as the best uses for each.