Posted on 08 August 2008 by Dr. Robert White
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In my last two posts, I went over some of the history of how I got started and brought you up to speed with some of the basics as far as simple hardware that you probably already have so that you could start podcasting easily.
Today, I am going to outline the hardware I currently have that allows me to not only podcast, but videocast too!
Just a note here, I did not start out with all of this equipment. I have added it to my studio a little at a time and all of the equipment listed below has been funded by income from podcasting.
The Computer Equipment:
I use two PC’s in my studio, a Toshiba Notebook (1.8ghz CPU, 1.5gb RAM) and a Clone PC Desktop. I have two webcams, a standard webcam (hooked to the desktop PC) and a Digital Video Camera (hooked to my Notebook). I have three external hard drives (2 – 160gb and a 320gb) hooked to the Notebook. I have an Alesis MultiMix 8 USB Mixer hooked to the Notebook. I have a Shure SM-58 Microphone and headphones hooked to the Mixer and my main phone service is provided by MagicJack VOIP Phone Service.
The Software:
I use several pieces of software in my studio. ManyCam Virtual Webcam (for special effects while streaming), Audacity for audio editing and creation, Windows Movie Maker for video editing and WordPress Self Hosted Blogging Software for all of my blogs.
The Services:
I use uStream.TV for live, video streaming. I have a Deluxe Hosting Package from GoDaddy, so I host my own podcasts, videos, downloads, etc. Quality Conference Call is my provider for my free, 250 person phone bridge for calling into the show live.
If you haven’t noticed a pattern here, for the software and services, the main ingredient is, they are all free! (Except for the Deluxe Hosting Package, of course).
I guess my point here is, you don’t have to spend a lot of money in order to support this hobby and that this hobby can support itself when monetized properly.
Ok, now let’s talk a few minutes about producing a live, interactive video stream. It’s really not as difficult as you made believe. First, you will need to setup a free account at uStream.TV. Next, go to Quality Conference Call and setup a free account and get your free 250 person phone conference line. After that, make sure you have your uStream account, profile and show page setup the way you want. I have a great video series I will be posting here in the next few days that covers this for you (in case you need any help). Print out the instructions for your phone conference bridge (so you can have them handy when you need them) and go ahead and make a test call to the phone bridge and make sure you know how to login as a moderator and start the call. If you get the web based version (I think you should, it’s free too), login to the web based conference manager and make sure you know how to see how this works. The conference manager lets you see who (by their phone number) is coming onto the call and you have the options of muting, unmuting and dropping them from the call.
After you have mastered the phone bridge, go to uStream and hit the Broadcast Now button (usually found at the top of the page) and make sure uStream can see you camera and microphone. Now, unless you are using Skype to call into the phone bridge and you have your PC setup to broadcast the audio across the Internet, no one watching your stream will be able to hear the audio from the phone bridge. You could use a speaker phone, however, this might cause some echoing or feedback, so this is something that is not highly recommended. Since my audio goes through my USB Mixer and my phone service is VOIP, I can easily send the audio from the phone bridge across to uStream so everyone can benefit from the conversation.
Ok, once uStream can see your camera and mic, and you have mastered the phone bridge (or at least can get the call started), next, you will want to add something like Manycam to your setup and this will allow you to put text on the screen, funny effects, scrolling text and more. You could even put the phone number of your conference line on the screen for your viewers to calls you easily.
Now, schedule a time to produce your show, let your viewers know when it will be on, and make sure to go into uStream and use the scheduling tab so that your show can be put on their Guide and then get ready to start your show!
I know it sounds like a lot. But really, once you get the hang of it, it’s not realy that bad. You can watch me live, every Friday Night at 8:00pm EST by visiting http://www.newmediapro.tv (that’s my live page for my uStream channel) and I will take you through these steps and more on my Podcaster Training Show.
Ok, that’s all for today. But don’t worry, there is still more to come in this series. How much more? Who knows, keep watching this space to find out!
See you next time…
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