Trying out Justin.TV as a possible video platform

As most of you are aware, a few weeks ago, I went to a straight video format using uStream.TV and then podcast my audio after the Podcaster Training Show. Lately, uStream.TV has been experiencing video freezing as well as the chat room goes A.W.O.L. (Away Without Leave) and doesn’t come back!

Instead of trying to put up with even more distractions, I have reset my Live Page to reflect the video and chat room for Justin.TV. I have been doing some testing over the past couple of days and getting used to the broadcast interface and I must say, I like some of the features that they have built-in!

So, Friday Night, I will be broadcasting on Justin.TV and will see how well this holds up under actual broadcast conditions. My tests have went very well and so far, thanks to their automatic quality control, I have had no video freezing and the chat room has not went away one time!

As a point of reference, you might just want to go to the Live Page on Friday Night, in case I have to switch to a different platform. I don’t anticipate this happening, however, this will be the way to keep up with me in the interim!

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To Blog or Not To Blog, That is the question!

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Whether you have a business or just want to keep up with family, a blog is a very essential part of your online presence today. In this episode, we discuss the pros and cons of having a blog or not having a blog.

Of course, most of the hosts of this episode all have blogs, for business and other reasons, and so I figured that the discussion might become a little biased. Boy, was I wrong! The opposite was true, inc fact, as the discussion went for more than an hour and even carried over into the Business 101 Segment as we discussed Press Releases and Public Relations in Business and the importance of having a blog was discussed during this segment.

Josh didn’t make it this week, so we went onto the Wordpress News and talked about the new BluBrry Plugin for Wordpress (as used here now! See the player below) and then we moved onto Patti’s Broadcasting Tips. Patti is now incorporating video tips into her segment since we have segued into straight video for our live format now.

The After Show went for more than an hour and it is now podcasted for those that are interested. I will include a separate player below for the After Show podcasts.

uStream had a few issues with locking up and continually restarting the recording. I am podcasting the audio from a local recording now, so the lockups and freezing will not affect the podcasts recording any longer. I may be looking for a different video service, but the Live page will continue unaffected by this change.

Podcaster Training After Show

Podcaster Training August 8th, 2008

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Transition to Video - Part 3

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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