Frequently Asked Questions
General
There are many advantages to live streaming a funeral or memorial service. You may have friends and family spread out all over the world who are unable to attend, or maybe you have someone who is vulnerable and would find attending the funeral service difficult. Furthermore, with concerns over large gatherings and taking long journeys, live streaming can relieve a little anxiety over the attendees’ safety.
Following the coronavirus pandemic, the concept of live streaming a funeral service has now been totally normalised. Many churches and funeral directors now offer our services as part of their arrangements. Affordable solutions are now available, and for the cost of one plane ticket, you can now live stream a service anywhere in the world.
We always ensure we act completely professionally, discreetly and respectfully.
Take a look at our What to Expect guide to find out more.
It may initially feel weird to have someone with a camera present at such a sensitive time. However, we do everything we can to completely blend into the background and not intrude on the day. We dress appropriately, stay out of the way, and make sure that you can focus on the day at hand.
Many of our reviews mention that they didn’t even realise we were there – take a look for yourself.
Everybody’s situation is different, and we want to ensure we have something we can offer to anyone and everyone.
Our services start at just £95 to enable you to stream the funeral service with equipment you already have, while still benefiting from many of our premium features. We also have a crematorium webcasting solution, which is designed to offer a more personal and premium viewing experience than the crematorium can offer in-house. Finally, our professional live streaming services provide the best in-class for funeral streaming, giving the virtual guests the next best thing to being there in person.
While we ensure that our funeral video services remain affordable, each funeral service is different, as are your requirements. For each funeral, we put together a quote based on what/how much you want us to capture. It’s important to us that we are totally in tune with what you want, so please get in touch.
The in-house systems installed in crematoria and churches often have extremely low-quality video/sound, or have the camera fixed in an awkward or unnatural position. Obitus and Wesley Media are the most commonly used systems throughout UK crematoriums. If you are unsure, please always ask for an example of their work.
If you would rather use a professional funeral live stream service, you can let them know you would like a professional to film for you.
You are more than welcome to talk to us to put us in touch with the venue if needed.
Finally, a crucial difference is that our cameras are manned by professionals who continuously follow the service. This means we can start the stream outside as the funeral procession arrives—something that the crematorium cannot offer.
Not at all. We provide all of our internet sources to ensure we know our streams are high quality and reliable. We use mobile bonding to connect multiple data sources simultaneously. We will have a network on each of the 4 major providers (EE, Vodafone, Three and O2). This allows us to stream from anywhere, whether a church, crematorium, cemetery, burial ground, the family home, or any other venue.
We also operate mostly on battery power. However, if we need to connect to mains power, we ensure our equipment is PAT tested.
Absolutely. We offer hosting of the live stream or video for as long as you need. As soon as the stream is over, it’ll be available to you via the same link, and we will only remove it if you ask us to.
Before the funeral, you must:
- Inform the funeral director and ask them to contact us if they wish to do so.
- Obtain consent from the venue hosting the funeral. Without their permission, we may be unable to live stream at the funeral.
- Seek permission from any ‘performers’, such as organists.
- Advise the congregation in advance that the funeral will be live-streamed or videoed.
We can set up a funeral live stream in a couple of minutes if necessary. However, we recommend thirty minutes to allow us to test camera positions and check audio and uplink quality.
We always plan to arrive 90 minutes to 2 hours before the service is due to start.
While we provide our own internet connection and backup battery power, we recommend that access to both power and a network connection be made available as a fallback.
We will also need approximately 1.5 metres square for the funeral streaming equipment and operator.
Our team always dress smartly and respectfully when attending a funeral. We do all we can to minimise our presence at the service and to ensure the funeral live stream goes smoothly.
We require payment in advance at the time of booking confirmation. This can be made by BACS or all major credit or debit cards.
Upon booking confirmation, an invoice will be issued containing payment information for the funeral streaming service.
The first 100 miles of travel from our team’s location are included. Miles thereafter are charged at 0.45p per mile.
Accommodation is not included and is rarely required.
Unfortunately, no. Even if the graveside service is taking place just after the church service and is on the same grounds, it would still count as two locations for the funeral live stream.
Filming & Streaming
Absolutely. If you’re looking for advice on live funeral streaming using your smartphone, please take a look at our Stream a Funeral Yourself service.
A link will be provided to watch the live funeral stream (see example). It’s designed to be easy to use, so there are no downloads or logins required; click the link, and the stream will appear.
The same link will be used after the service to enable your friends and family to watch the service again if they can’t do so live.
Yes, our video player for the live stream can be used on all modern devices, including smart TVS, smartphones, tablets, game consoles, computers, and laptops.
By design, search engines will not index the page containing the funeral live stream, and the video will only be available if you know the unique, direct link. Upon your request, we can also password-protect the funeral streaming page.
Unless you have opted to stream to Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, Instagram, or YouTube, your funeral live stream and video will be locked to work only on our website.
Yes, you can watch the stream on any smart device, including phones, tablets, and Smart TVS. Simply copy your private URL into your search bar, and you’ll see the page containing the video.
If you prefer to stream to your TV using the YouTube app, just let us know, and we’ll make that possible.
We use the latest technology in the streaming market to split the video image of the funeral streaming into packages and send it across any internet source available to us. This includes Ethernet, WiFi, and all major mobile phone providers such as 02, EE, Vodafone and Three.
Our enterprise-grade server then interprets the multiple signals, and the video is stitched back together to show your funeral live stream within milliseconds of the service.
We will have our own backup batteries to run the equipment, but power access is always recommended for a funeral live stream service.
We arrive at every service with a minimum of four mobile broadband providers and have packages with EE, Vodafone, 02 and Three Mobile.
We will check the venue through the service provider’s website in advance to make sure we bring the best connection available. However, we cannot guarantee 100% uplink time.
If, in the worst-case scenario, it is not possible to stream or the stream fails, we will have a backup recording on the camera that will be uploaded to the video player as soon as possible (typically within 12 hours).
Commonly Asked Online
There are various ways to watch a funeral online, such as through live streaming services or virtual attendance platforms. How to watch a funeral online depends on the preferences of the family or organisers and the technology available to them.
Depending on the arrangements made by the organisers, you can watch a live stream of the funeral later through recorded videos or replays. Can you watch a live stream funeral later if you miss the initial broadcast? Yes, many funeral streaming platforms offer recorded versions for viewing at a later time. We offer this as standard with unlimited playback options.
Funeral live streaming services are platforms that enable individuals to attend funeral services virtually from any location with internet access. They offer a way for friends and family members who cannot be physically present to participate in the ceremony and pay their respects remotely.
There are several steps to live stream a funeral, starting with selecting the appropriate equipment, such as a camera and microphone. Setting up the equipment in a discreet location within the venue ensures minimal disruption to the service. Let the Funeral Streaming professionals handle it all or stream it yourself—read the full guide here.
The ability to live stream funerals provides a practical solution for situations where in-person attendance may not be feasible. Can funerals be live-streamed to respect the privacy and wishes of the family while still allowing distant relatives and friends to participate? Absolutely, live streaming offers a respectful and convenient way for mourners to pay their respects from afar.
The best way to live stream a funeral is to ensure you have the necessary equipment, such as a high-quality camera and microphone, to capture the service effectively. The best way to live stream a funeral involves selecting a reliable streaming platform that offers privacy settings and technical support for seamless broadcasting. Here at Funeral Streaming, you can hire all the equipment you need from us or hire a professional to handle everything for you.
Live streaming a funeral requires setting up the necessary equipment at the venue, including cameras, microphones, and internet connectivity. How does live streaming a funeral work technically? It involves ensuring a stable internet connection to transmit the audio and video feed seamlessly to the streaming platform. Funeral Streaming offers a private streaming platform for you to stream a funeral yourself, or one of our professional operators can handle and film everything for you.
The Funeral Streaming team
Contact Us
Location
The Funeral Streaming team operates remotely across the UK to ensure we can be available for whomever needs us. Therefore, we do not have a physical office.
Contact Details
Email Us: hello@funeralstreaming.co.uk
Tel: +447599438921
If we don’t answer straight away, please leave a message, and one of our team will get back to you as soon as possible. Alternatively, you can send us a message via the contact form.
Operating Hours
Monday – Friday
9:00am – 5:30pm
Our phone lines and emails are manned as much as possible during regular operating hours. However, if we do not answer, we may be at, or travelling to/from, a funeral.
We endeavour to answer any enquiries within 1-2 hours, including during weekends or public holidays where possible.
