Church Webcast options for Apple TV or Roku?

[russellhltn]

my daughter's ward recently switched from broadcasting over Youtube to broadcasting over the church Webcast system. With Youtube, she could cast the stream from her android phone to their tv so the family could watch. They have been unable to do that with the church Webcast system. Any ideas I can pass to them?

You might try Cromecasting. That might work. I thought that works with most webpages.

Many laptops have a HDMI outout that can connect to a TV set. If using a phone, there's probably an adapter that can create a HDMI output - it depends on the phone.

[davesudweeks]

Thanks for the advice. I have my TV connected to my desktop via HDMI so we can watch Come Follow Me podcasts, but her desktop computer is in another part of her home. I recommended that to her and she was reluctant to go that route, but I will recommend again (I learned last night she has a working laptop). I think they have a Roku, not a Chromecast unit.

[russellhltn]

I think they have a Roku, not a Chromecast unit.

You can chromecast to a Roku.

[davesudweeks]

Thanks. I don't have Chromecast or a Roku and don't have any experience with either.

[sbradshaw]

I have my TV connected to my desktop via HDMI so we can watch Come Follow Me podcasts, but her desktop computer is in another part of her home. ... I think they have a Roku, not a Chromecast unit.

What kind of Come, Follow Me podcasts is she watching – are they on YouTube? If so, there's a YouTube "channel" (app) for Roku, so she should be able to stream them directly on the Roku without connecting another device.

[davesudweeks]

I have my TV connected to my desktop via HDMI so we can watch Come Follow Me podcasts, but her desktop computer is in another part of her home. ... I think they have a Roku, not a Chromecast unit.

What kind of Come, Follow Me podcasts is she watching – are they on YouTube? If so, there's a YouTube "channel" (app) for Roku, so she should be able to stream them directly on the Roku without connecting another device.

We (my wife and I) watch the Book of Mormon Central "Come Follow Me" podcast (on YouTube) using an HDMI cable from our desktop computer to our TV. That is not the issue.

My married daughter used to cast the YouTube Sacrament webcast from her phone through her Roku if they were home with the sniffles. When her ward switched from YouTube to the church Webcasting page, she told me they have not been able to put that on the TV for her children to watch with them - with 4 little ones, it is difficult for them to pay attention to the phone screen. So, her problem is getting the church Webcasting broadcast to show up on the TV. I think their TV is old enough that it doesn't have a web browser.

[russellhltn]

I think the Roku would be able to go direct to YouTube.

I don't have it set up now, but I'm pretty sure I saw an option to Chromcast from my Chrome browser to the Roku - despite the fact I had never set anything up. The browser simply sensed the presence of the Roku and offered it.

[sirbryan]

Shameless plug for an app I wrote to solve this problem: https://simplebroadcast.app

Background:

I got tired of our Windows laptops deciding to update themselves right before "go" time, and I was unimpressed with the quality of the Teradek and the limited bandwidth of the stream feeding the Church's system.

So I wrote an app that could take a URL to an HLS playlist (.m3u8) and would remain persistent if the app crashed or Apple TV rebooted. When the app is re-opened, it immediately plays the stream it was last given. This is so much easier to give to another tech specialist or high councilman to take and plug into the projector at our remote buildings while I manage the broadcast from the stake center.

I also built a management platform that talks to an internal version of the app, so I get telemetry from the Apple TVs and know that they're having problems before the on-site guys can text me about them. From there I built my own transcoding and delivery solution as well because of limitations of the Church's system.

Eventually that grew to include a web-based player for our shut-ins so they could attend stake meetings. All of that combined then became the solution that we now use for all 17 wards in the two stakes in our city. (I've toyed with the idea of making it more widely available...)

Obviously, the Simple Broadcast Player app works best in a home-use situation if the broadcast URL doesn't change from week to week. Nevertheless, URL's can be emailed or texted, then pasted from an iPhone to the Apple TV via the Remote app (which is now a part of Control center in iOS). The Church's system does have an HLS (.m3u8) link that can be pulled and used with the app. It won't work for YouTube (unless you use the youtube-dl tool to extract the HLS URL from a YouTube feed).

[davesudweeks]

I think the Roku would be able to go direct to YouTube.

I don't have it set up now, but I'm pretty sure I saw an option to Chromcast from my Chrome browser to the Roku - despite the fact I had never set anything up. The browser simply sensed the presence of the Roku and offered it.

Thanks for the advice. I spoke with my daughter again and she said YouTube offered to Chromecast, but when they pulled up the church Webcast from the link sent to them, they did not see that option. They were able to attend in person today, despite a child who was having a rough time with proper Sacrament meeting behavior (they all do from time to time...).