The Transition to Video - Part 4

It’s been a few days since my last post in this series and I apologize for being away. Since my last post, a few things have changed and that’s just another part of the transition. I started this journey to video by using uStream.TV and have been using this service for a while now. Recently, they (uStream) have been having some issues with video freezing and chat rooms disappearing and not coming back. These are minor frustrations in any live show, and I know that there isn’t any “perfectly stable” service, at least, not for free!

Now, when it comes to live, video streaming, you do have a few choices. I’m not going to name them all here, however, I am looking at and testing Justin.TV and will give it a full run through on Friday Night. I have been testing Justin.TV all week and so far, so good. They have some good things and some not so good things, but as free services go, they offer everything a live, video streamer needs to produce a good show.

I have already changed my Live Page to reflect this change, so Friday Night, that’s the place to find me easily.

I will talk more about Justin.TV on Friday’s Podcaster Training Show. It will still air at 8:00pm EST.

I have been asked, “Has this transition been easy for you?”. The simple answer is, no. No transition is ever easy as there will always be pitfalls and other stumbling blocks that must be overcome. One of my biggest stumbling blocks has been having to start over again rebuilding my audience. I had a steady rising number of listeners on my live, audio program and it took more than 75 episodes (roughly about a year and a half) and when I went to my video format, I lost most of my “faithful” listeners. Now, don’t get me wrong, this told me a lot about who was listening to my show.

So, now, I am working to rebuild my listeners and viewers. I didn’t pick up many new viewers on uSteam and I am hoping that Justin.TV will prove differently. Just during my brief testing, I had live viewers checking me out, so this shows promise. Remember, Time will tell, it always does!

Even though this isn’t going to be easy, I will remain persistent and continue to produce my shows. In fact, in about a month, I will be starting a series on building and audience. I will be discussing most of the techniques that I am using to do just that.

Well, that wraps it up for for this post. More to come!

See you next time!

Popularity: 40% [?]

The Transition To Video - Part 2

Previously, I outlined what lead me to this transition. In this post, I will outline the equipment and software I am using to give you a better idea of just what you can do with very little outlay of cash.

As most of you are already aware, just by following my blog posts or listening to my shows and podcasts, I like the term “free”. But then, who doesn’t, right? Also, I don’t like paying retail for anything and will research and search high and low to get the best deals. That’s just who I am, when it comes right down to it.

Ok, that said, let’s get started!

To begin with, I already had the equipment and software in place when I made this jump to video. It wasn’t always that way. So, let’s go back in time a bit and I will bring you up to date on how I got started and then upgraded my way to what I have today.

When I first started podcasting, I had the plastic $5.00 desk mic that came with my PC. It was hooked into the mic port of my sound card and I used a set of headphones from my daughter’s cd player (the cd didn’t word any longer). The headphones were plugged into the speaker port of my sound card. Money out so far, $0.00 (unless you count the $20.00 I spent on the cd player in the first place). I had a decent Internet connection through Comcast and after searching for podcasting software, I started using the free audio editor, Audacity (I told you before, I like free!).

Ok, still very little money out since I already purchased the PC and was using it for other things, I don’t consider that in my scenario here. Ok, I now had everything in place to start recording podcasts. I then had to locate a host. There are several good podcast hosting services that are free and/or low cost. I chose one and started uploading my podcasts.

Alright, now as you can see, with very little money spent and using items you may already have, you can start podcasting. If you had to purchase a mic, you could go to a number of places and spend from $25.00 and up for a separate mic and headset or a headset with a mic.

Next, going video. Video podcasting or videocasting is a little more complicated. Even though some PC’s come with webcams now, yours may have not. You can purchase a decent webcam for as little as $16.00 and up to $199.00. Most digital camcorders have a function to act as a webcam, so if you own one, check to see if it does and you may already be set.

However, let’s step back just a moment here. Before I went video, I got into live, interactive podcasting. I was introduced to Talkshoe about two years ago. I started with my podcasting setup and didn’t have to layout any more money as this service is free and they host your podcasts for free as well. After listening to some of my recordings, I noticed I sounded tinny. This was due to my mic (remember, the $5.00 desk mic) so I went to Radio Shack and purchased a Shure SM58 and converter to plug in to my sound card. Replacing my mic gave me a more professional sound to both my podcasts and my live shows. I spent $49.00 for the mic.

I started a few more shows and was really getting into the live, interactive scene. I wanted to get more out of my experience by introducing audio into my live shows. I had been using the phone to call into Talkshoe (this made getting in easy) and I researched a little more and started using Gizmo Project and calling in via Talkshoe’s SIP Interface. Gizmo allowed me to play different WAV files and the listeners on Talkshoe could hear these files being played. This made the experience almost like a terrestrial radio show. Gizmo was a free download. I also played around with a software program called Voice Emotion (they had a free and a paid version) that allowed me to also play MP3 files over Talkshoe too. I experimented with different ways that I could dial into Talkshoe and one popular method was using Skype Out. Skype is a free download, and the Skype Out give you the way yo call regular land line phones using the Internet. Skype Out is around $38.00 per year.

Ok, this brings us to about a year down the road at this point. I wasn’t getting the results I wanted with my audio, quality, etc. and I started looking into a USB Mixer/Soundboard to hookup to my PC. There are several out there ranging from about $149.00 and up. I finally decided on an Alesis MultiMix 8 USB Mixer. I tried a few others and ended up sending them back as they did not perform the way I needed them to. The Alesis on the other hand, did! I picked mine up, new in the box, for $89.00 on sale. It retails for $149.00. Once I plugged in the mixer, it became, for all practical purposes, my sound card. Also, it allowed me to play my MP3 and WAV files using WinAmp or other players and this audio would go over Skype into Talkshoe very nicely. After getting the mixer setup the way I liked it, it became an intregal part of my studio.

In my next segment of this series, I will go into my entire setup including my video equipment and let you see, from my perspective, another part of my transition to video.

See you next time!

Popularity: 37% [?]

The Transition to Video - Part 1

Ok, before I begin this update, I’m going to step back a minute and bring you up to date. In case you haven’t been following this saga, the transition to video started several months ago. As many of you know, because you follow me on Twitter, Pownce, Tumblr or any number of other microblogs, or you are an avid listener to some of my shows, I had plenty of audio issues and other technical related issues while using Talkshoe.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I still believe Talkshoe is a good place to start live, interactive programming and after using them for more than a year and a half, they served their purpose in helping me to evolve away from live audio podcasting.

Anyway, I digress. When the issues started getting in the way of me producing my shows and I started losing live listeners and possibly download listeners (gauging from my stats), I knew it was time to take a serious look at other platforms.

I had been producing audio podcasts before I went live and then continued producing the audio podcasts along with the live podcasts and when video started becoming a standard to podcasters, I jumped in with both feet and produced pre-recorded videos as well as simulcasted my video and audio podcasts live. This was working out well for me until the audio issues at Talkshoe became worse. Now I had to make a decision as to whether or not to continue the live audio podcasts or just go straight video.

So, I did what any other podcaster would do in this situation and I sent a plea out to my listeners and subscribers to get their opinions on this move. If you have been reading my blogs very long, you already know that I had a very displeasing amount of comments come in. Displeasing in the amount of ZERO comments on this subject. However, I made a few calls to trusted friends and collegues and finally made the jump to straight video.

Now, the best was yet to come! Three weeks ago, after this decision had been made, I attempted to simulcast my shows on Talkshoe and uStream at the same time. And, you guessed it, Talkshoe still had audio issues that prevented me from doing this, so I had my first video only show that night. Went fantastic and no audio issues.

The following week, after I had announced my decision was final, I was going to do just one more show on Talkshoe. Well, as though it had been planned in advance (and it wasn’t I assure you), Talkshoe listeners could not hear me (with the exception of one listener) and even though I could hear everyone else, still no go. The show started late that, but after logging into my own phone conference bridge and then my mic mute button stuck, I was finally on the air, video only again.

Last week, I ran, start to finish video only and was able to work out some minor audio issues on the phone bridge BEFORE the show started, I mean that’s what the pre-show is all about anyway, and I had a nearly three hour show, again, issue free.

So, in conclusion, the transition to video has been a little rough around the edges, but needless to say, I am video only and am still podcasting the audio, on my own servers and with my own RSS feeds, so starting with the Month of August, using the Blubrry Statistics Program and Feedburner, I am able to track my subscribers, downloads and listeners and I am looking forward to many more issue free shows in the future.

I will post a second part of this post soon outlining what I have put together so that if you are thinking about this type of transition, you can have a leg up on knowing what to do.

Popularity: 38% [?]