Live Broadcasting on the Thai-Myanmar Border

Two countries separated by a river:

It’s sunrise and the sky is painted pink on the river delineating the Thai / Myanmar border in a town called Mae Sot.

We’re here for the second anniversary of the Myanmar coup and I am working alongside correspondent Jonathan Head and our producer Thanyarat Doksone and are primarily doing live broadcasts.

At this stretch of the river, the crossing is only 20m wide and you can frequently see people wading across the thigh high water, carrying items back and forth; food, bicycles, parcels. A separate economy is being developed here, we even saw a man from the Myanmar side drop an inflatable raft from the Myanmar side, walk it over to the Thai side, and give a “VIP crossing” for two monks whose teeth are still tinted red from the chewing of betel nut.

This is an informal crossing – one of many on Thailand’s porous border – and authorities don’t seem much to mind.

Technology for Live Broadcasting

For today’s live broadcast we are using the Sony A7siii with an HDMI out to a LiveU600 unit. Equipment has greatly simplified over the years, live broadcast used to take satellite transmission devices like a BGAN which also need a computer intermediary as well and we used to use much larger cameras with SDI out.

Now we are on the LiveU600 unit with an intuitive touch screen menu. Most recently before our current set up we were using an older model of the liveU and a larger camera being the Canon C300 which is considerably larger and heavier. Now that we can get good audio out of my A7Siii thanks to XLR-K3M, I am almost exclusively using the Sony A7siii.

The XLR-K3M allows the signal of XLR mics to record directly into the camera. With the XLR-K3M we are allotted two XLR inputs and can technically also get two more channels (four in total) by using the the third channel on the K3M with a mini jack adapter.

Then some more personal accessory gear, I have a small pouch that I keep on my side attached to my belt and a fanny pack. These two pouches always carry necessary but small items that if forgotten will ruin the entire trip and render it useless. Both pouches carry extra camera batteries, AA batteries for my lapel mics, headphones, extra mini XLR cables and memory cards.

Challenges of Broadcasting During Sunrise

Our first live broadcasts started at sunrise, making it a good challenge. Waking up at 5am, we hit the road with our car packed by 6am for a 30-minute drive to the location of the border river crossing. The constant change of light at sunrise presents a unique challenge, with the background changing from a beautiful pink to a brighter, softer light. To accommodate for the fast-changing light, I brought mini LED lights and a couple of reflectors, adjusting my ISO from 16,000 at the start and by the end, i had brought my ISO all the way back to 100. For a noon broadcast, we used a reflector to ensure even lighting on Jonathan’s face to match the background of the sparkling river, mountains, and sky.

My equipment list when out in the field:

• Sony A7siii camera – https://amzn.to/3lh13yW

• XLR-K3M – https://amzn.to/3xdcXwh
• LiveU600 unit
• Mini LED lights – made by iWata – these are fantastic and cheap https://www.amazon.com/Photography-Rechargeable-3000K-5500K-Space-Saving-Videography/dp/B09GYK922S?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=fstopfrenzy-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=afc21c3cd7a1ce2ecc7b983ed6f7efc4&camp=1789&creative=9325
• Reflectors
• Lapel mics
• Headphones
• Extra mini XLR cables for wireless lapel mics
• Memory cards
• Loads of batteries for the Sony A7siii
• AA batteries for our wireless lapel mics