Two iPhones and iPad used for NBC 'Today Show' outside broadcast

AppleInsider

The iPhone has shown its usefulness in one unusual work-from-home situation, with NBC Today Show host Al Roker revealing the use of two iPhones and an iPad as part of his remote broadcasting setup.

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Al Roker's iPhone setup for outside broadcasts (via @alroker/Twitter)

The coronavirus has forced many businesses and organizations to keep their employees at home where possible, with those affected being set up to do their jobs remotely. While many office-based roles can easily traverse to home-working environments, broadcasters are having to work out alternate ways to get their stars on-air, and sometimes broadcasting live.

In a Twitter post on Friday, Al Roker revealed his setup to broadcast for NBC's "The Today Show," filming live from outside his home. Roker appeared on-air live during the show, which appeared to operate as a typical outside broadcast to onlookers, but the tweet showed it was not a normal setup.

Yes. Made it to Fri-yay. Here's my backyard setup for @todayshow and @3rdhourhourToday iPhone is Live U, other iPhone is return. iPad is prompter. And a LED light panel and an iRig/Sennheiser mic combo pic.twitter.com/DomHW57KTf

-- Al Roker (@alroker)

March 27, 2020

Roker advised he used a pair of iPhones to film his segments, with one iPhone 11 Pro used as the main camera while the other was a "return." Using applications such as LiveU, the live feed from the iPhone's camera was sent directly to NBC's server, with the return iPhone showing selected video streams and clips provided by production, allowing Roker to have visual contact with other members of the team.

As well as the dual iPhones, pictured on stands, Roker also used an iPad as a prompter, an LED light panel, and a combination of a Sennheiser microphone and iRig hardware to provide audio.

LiveU is a live video transmission and streaming platform, one that NBC has extensive experience using. After becoming a shareholder of Euronews in 2017, NBC News and Euronews discovered they both used LiveU systems, and have since started to share video files between the organizations on the platform.

Given the video quality afforded by the iPhone's camera, as well as services like LiveU, it is probable that NBC has used similar iOS-based setups for outside broadcasts in the past, or at the very least, will consider doing so in the future.

As for home users who may live-stream on services like Twitch or film vlogs for YouTube, the tweet demonstrates that a relatively small collection of consumer-grade hardware can achieve high video production values.

indieshack

I have noticed in the past few days, a *lot* of home-based broadcasters have airpods in their ears, so I assumed there's some Apple-based setup that's being favored.

Beats

And people still claim iPhones are overpriced.......

michael scrip

Beats said:

And people still claim iPhones are overpriced.......

It's funny because we're talking about a guy who gets paid $10,000,000 a year as a TV host... and he has two iPhones and an iPad.

seanismorris

michael scrip said:

Beats said:

And people still claim iPhones are overpriced.......

It's funny because we're talking about a guy who gets paid $10,000,000 a year as a TV host... and he has two iPhones and an iPad.

And, 2 of the 3 were probably supplied by the company.

Beats

michael scrip said:

Beats said:

And people still claim iPhones are overpriced.......

It's funny because we're talking about a guy who gets paid $10,000,000 a year as a TV host... and he has two iPhones and an iPad.

Yes so iPhones are overpriced.....

/s

$10,000,000 a year and still can't afford a television camera?

The point wasn't that he had 2 of them but how versatile these things are. Never in the history of man has a product been this versatile. A computer and a camera of that caliber alone top the price of an iPhone 11 Pro.

michael scrip

Beats said:

michael scrip said:

Beats said:

And people still claim iPhones are overpriced.......

It's funny because we're talking about a guy who gets paid $10,000,000 a year as a TV host... and he has two iPhones and an iPad.

Yes so iPhones are overpriced.....

/s

$10,000,000 a year and still can't afford a television camera?

The point wasn't that he had 2 of them but how versatile these things are. Never in the history of man has a product been this versatile. A computer and a camera of that caliber alone top the price of an iPhone 11 Pro.

Oh I agree with you... I was just being silly...

iPhones are not overpriced.  If they were... there wouldn't be a billion of them out in circulation.

Beats

michael scrip said:

Beats said:

michael scrip said:

Beats said:

And people still claim iPhones are overpriced.......

It's funny because we're talking about a guy who gets paid $10,000,000 a year as a TV host... and he has two iPhones and an iPad.

Yes so iPhones are overpriced.....

/s

$10,000,000 a year and still can't afford a television camera?

The point wasn't that he had 2 of them but how versatile these things are. Never in the history of man has a product been this versatile. A computer and a camera of that caliber alone top the price of an iPhone 11 Pro.

Oh I agree with you... I was just being silly...

iPhones are not overpriced.  If they were... there wouldn't be a billion of them out in circulation.

Hard to tell when someone is joking or serious online but this argument springs up often. Apple has spoiled the population and we take everything for granted. We want more for less nowadays. Imagine an iPhone in 2005? The Ataris of the 80s were worth about $1,000 adjusted for inflation and those could just play video games.

Still blows my mind when people use an iPhone for professional non-phone applications.



https://www.devost.net/2009/06/18/23-devices-my-iphone-has-replaced/

michael scrip

Beats said:

Hard to tell when someone is joking or serious online but this argument springs up often. 

To be fair... you introduced word "overpriced" into this thread... and I further derailed the conversation by talking about the millionaire who is the subject of the article. My bad...

But anyway... you're right.  It's amazing all the things we can do with the device in our pockets.

It reminds me of this Radio Shack ad from the 90's.  Almost every device on this page can be replaced in some form with the iPhone today!



https://www.huffpost.com/entry/radio-shack-ad_b_4612973

bjshourt

The covid-19 pandemic has caused an epidemic of bad sound for video from isolation production using the built-in mikes on phones, iPads, laptops, and desktops that is made worse by bad room acoustics. It’s easy to do better sound. Connect & select the mike on corded or cordless earphones. If you’re using your body mike be sure to select the input to which its receiver is connected. 

Beats

michael scrip said:

Beats said:

Hard to tell when someone is joking or serious online but this argument springs up often. 

To be fair... you introduced word "overpriced" into this thread... and I further derailed the conversation by talking about the millionaire who is the subject of the article. My bad...

But anyway... you're right.  It's amazing all the things we can do with the device in our pockets.

It reminds me of this Radio Shack ad from the 90's.  Almost every device on this page can be replaced in some form with the iPhone today!



https://www.huffpost.com/entry/radio-shack-ad_b_4612973

@"michael scrip" 

Wow I misread your comment as the "Radio Shack ad from the 80s" and my mind had no problem with it. If you think about it, the 90s weren't that long ago yet this ad looks like it could have been printed much, much earlier. Crazy how forward Apples products brought the world.

And even today I'd rather have an iPhone than all those specialty products combined.

There is an old picture of all the products iPhone has replaced sitting on a table. I can't find it but it's eye opening.

But I did find this:

lorin schultz

AppleInsider said:

[...] the tweet demonstrates that a relatively small collection of consumer-grade hardware can achieve high video production values.

No, the production values are not what a broadcaster would normally accept, but “good enough” under the circumstances.

The reasons for deploying iPhone setups are:

- low cost compared to typical production equipment, which matters when faced with suddenly outfitting a lot of bodies for remote broadcasting all at once. Most reporters already have iPhones. 

- easy for non-technical people like reporters to operate.

- quick and easy to integrate with existing broadcast infrastructure like Dejero (and apparently LiveU).

linkman

I wonder why an iPad was not used for the return monitor? With a larger screen it would have better visibility than an iPhone. I imagine that there could be other aspects such as convenience, redundancy, etc. that could outweigh that benefit.

alexandis

linkman said:

I wonder why an iPad was not used for the return monitor? With a larger screen it would have better visibility than an iPhone. I imagine that there could be other aspects such as convenience, redundancy, etc. that could outweigh that benefit.

I thought about the same.

retrogusto

I guess all of those people who were troubled by Apple’s use of “Pro” in their product names can stop worrying now. 

razorpit

michael scrip said:

Beats said:

Hard to tell when someone is joking or serious online but this argument springs up often. 

To be fair... you introduced word "overpriced" into this thread... and I further derailed the conversation by talking about the millionaire who is the subject of the article. My bad...

But anyway... you're right.  It's amazing all the things we can do with the device in our pockets.

It reminds me of this Radio Shack ad from the 90's.  Almost every device on this page can be replaced in some form with the iPhone today!



https://www.huffpost.com/entry/radio-shack-ad_b_4612973

An iPhone can't replace those booming Mach 2's. And you can't say "Ah, breaker one-nine, this here's the rubber duck. you gotta copy on me, pig pen, c'mon?" on an iPhone.

With that said I love my Valentine One Gen 2. Just wish I had somewhere to go where I could use it now.  

StrangeDays

lorin schultz said:

AppleInsider said:

[...] the tweet demonstrates that a relatively small collection of consumer-grade hardware can achieve high video production values.

No, the production values are not what a broadcaster would normally accept, but “good enough” under the circumstances.

The reasons for deploying iPhone setups are:

- low cost compared to typical production equipment, which matters when faced with suddenly outfitting a lot of bodies for remote broadcasting all at once. Most reporters already have iPhones. 

- easy for non-technical people like reporters to operate.

- quick and easy to integrate with existing broadcast infrastructure like Dejero (and apparently LiveU).

So you refute the claim that iPhone 11 Pro “can achieve high video production values”? I find that an odd thing to refute, considering countless commercials and feature films have been shot on iPhones these days. Certainly they look excellent. That isn’t to say in-studio or even remote shooting gear isnt better, certainly they are. But that doesn’t also mean iPhone 11 Pro with some accessories isn’t high-quality.

lorin schultz

StrangeDays said:

lorin schultz said:

AppleInsider said:

[...] the tweet demonstrates that a relatively small collection of consumer-grade hardware can achieve high video production values.

No, the production values are not what a broadcaster would normally accept, but “good enough” under the circumstances.

The reasons for deploying iPhone setups are:

- low cost compared to typical production equipment, which matters when faced with suddenly outfitting a lot of bodies for remote broadcasting all at once. Most reporters already have iPhones. 

- easy for non-technical people like reporters to operate.

- quick and easy to integrate with existing broadcast infrastructure like Dejero (and apparently LiveU).

So you refute the claim that iPhone 11 Pro “can achieve high video production values”? I find that an odd thing to refute, considering countless commercials and feature films have been shot on iPhones these days. Certainly they look excellent. That isn’t to say in-studio or even remote shooting gear isnt better, certainly they are. But that doesn’t also mean iPhone 11 Pro with some accessories isn’t high-quality.

Don't put words in my mouth. What I wrote is exactly what I meant. There's no secret message or hidden agenda.

My point was that there was no one in the station bubbling over finally having a chance to experience that high-quality iPhone image quality, particularly since the image quality is limited to what one can transmit over LTE. The decision to use them is based on other considerations, and under normal circumstances they wouldn't.