Producing a high-fidelity mobile lifestream has traditionally been an expensive endeavor: it's costly to get started, and costly to keep the show going on. I've been piecing together a lifestreaming rig for myself that aims to solve both these issues.

​

Since Christmas, my broadcast has been going out to the world through the backbone of this setup: an Intel Compute Stick STK2m364CC that I purchased for just over $260. The audio video feed is piped in using NDI, eliminating the many headaches I experienced using my own RTMP server and an RTMP server in the cloud. The rig handles 1080p30 like a champ.

​

If you've never seen one of these in action before, you'll be impressed. This is what the future of personal computing looks like.

​

https://imgur.com/gallery/JlEbgco

​

As I embarked upon this project, it quickly dawned upon me that proving this concept a viable alternative to the current gold standard could help democratize lifestreaming, ushering in a new wave of lifestreamers from all walks of life.

​

Now I'm not sure why no one else has been messing with tiny computers like these, but they're quite capable, and they sip power. I've been an avid reader of gadget blogs and hardware review sites for a long time, and took a keen interest in the current era of mini PCs since I came across the Kangaroo Mobile Desktop in the early part of 2016.

​

I wrote up a page detailing my setup and published it at http://yetieater.com/lifestreaming-rig/

​

I hope you'll be as impressed as I was by the performance of this little rig.

​

I'd be amused to see a slew of gently-used LiveU Solos flooding the market. It's about time for that to happen: the LiveU Solo is dead.