How to receive in Wowza audio from a soundboard?

[Joel_Ackerman]

I’m hoping someone can provide a creative solution. We are currently using inexpensive IP cameras to acquire from organization soundboards the audio to go with the video the camera picks up. That allows us to get consistent, quality sound, even when the viewer switches to different video views from other cameras in the same location. We use a patch cord from the soundboards to an audio input jack on the camera. The camera model has been discontinued, and I can’t find a reasonable replacement from other vendors; they don’t contain audio input jacks.

Can anyone suggest an inexpensive approach we can use to obtain from sound boards the audio, stream to be merged with a video stream in our Wowza server? Thanks! Feel free to email me directly at info@communo2.com

[Karel_Boek]

You can set up a separate audio encoder (a hw-encoder, but could also be a PC with an audio capture card and Audacity, AltaCast, Edcast, OBS, VMix, or other encoding software) and encode the audio to a compatible format, then send it to the Wowza server as an audio-only stream. On the Wowza server you can merge audio and video with the AVMix plug-in

[Joel_Ackerman]

Thank you for your ideas! A separate audio hw-encoder would still need a way for the stream to get to the server. So it sounds like the PC is the way to go.
The clients I would bring this solution to will be real novices, requiring a very easy-to-use solution. Of the encoding software systems that you mention, can you suggest one that is a) low-cost (preferably free) and b) very easy to set up and use?
Thanks again!

[Karel_Boek]

You can check out the websites of the individual software packages to see their prices (if any) and features. One thing that may be worth to look at, is if the software package offers a template function, so you can hand out a template file to your client, which they can import in the software, and then just click one button to start streaming.

Remember, you can’t beat the price-time-quality triangle.