When Video Just Doesn’t Work Out Right

Several months ago, I started simulcasting my Friday Night Shows on video services, such as uStream and Stickam. Over time, there have been a number of issues with these services and recently, I started simulcasting again after being off video for a time. What I have found, at least for my purposes, is that none of these video streaming services can handle 1 to 2 hour long sessions, reasonably.

Last week, I recorded my show using Stickam. The recording went well, or at least, seemed to, and it even let me save my recording. All was good until I went to look at the saved recording and oops! it was gone! Not even an archived copy, nothing, as though I had not even attempted a recording at all! At least with uStream, I had something I could look at, however, it was usually in segments and not a complete show.

Anyway, I have decided to drop the video all together for now and concentrate on the audio podcasting for the show. Making the audio better, more music beds, etc. and not worry about doing video, with the exception of the occasional YouTube video or screencast.

I will talk more about this on my next episode of Podcaster Training so that I can better explain exactly what is going on here, so that I don’t discourage someone from doing video. That is not my goal here. My goal here is to keep you informed as to what is happening on my show and I will continue to keep up with the video streaming services and when they are more up to par with what I am doing, then try it again!

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Podcaster Training: Using Video as a Platform for Podcasting

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Ok, you got a webcam for your PC and now are looking for a way to utilize it. You have a podcast and like to watch YouTube videos and you see Chris Pirillo and Leo LaPorte use their cameras to lifecast and do their shows and you start thinking that this would be a neat thing to do too!

But wait! How do you go about doing this video thing anyway? Well, before you jump in with both feet, prepare to sink before you swim! Producing a video show is a lot harder than it looks, believe me, I know!

Tonight, we will discuss how to get started producing videos for your podcast. Don’t mistake this as going straight video, because, you aren’t ready for that, just yet! Like with anything new, you must learn to crawl, then learn to walk, before you can learn to run with it.

Let’s look at crawling:
Start by making sure your webcam or digital recorder or whatever type of camera you are using, is properly hooked up to your PC. Next, go to SuperWebCam or ManyCam and pickup a copy of this free software for adding effects to your camera streaming. There is a commercial version of this type of software called VidBlaster that you may want to look at later, once you are up and running.

Now, install and setup the software you chose to download. Go to the Source area of the software and see if your camera is detected. If it is working properly, you should see images streaming from your camera (most likely you, if it is pointing to you, of course). This will help you to determine if your camera is setup and operational. Once this step is completed, you are ready to move on to the next step.

Ok, the next step is to actually produce a video. I’m not gonna cover how to produce a YouTube video in this lesson, however, I will go over how to “go live” to produce a live, interactive podcast with your camera.

In order to “go live”, you will need to go to a live, video streaming service, like uStream, Justin.tv or Stickam, just to name a few, and setup a free account. Once you have your account, you are ready to “go live”!

Now, in order to do this video thing right, take some extra time and get your clothes, hair, face, etc. in order, because unlike traditional podcasting, people will actually see what you look like and like always, appearances count!

Depending on the streaming service you chose, you will have a broadcast or go live button that will open up a broadcast window in your browser. This window will allow you to record, broadcast and even set your audio and video quality settings. You will have an option to choose your camera and audio source, such as a microphone, and then, you are ready to broadcast your show to the World!

I said earlier that producing a video stream is harder than it looks. Here’s why. Think about your podcast or live show you are currently producing. You can usually take a few minutes before the show starts to prep, get your notes together and then call in and go for it. With video, you must give yourself enough time to make sure your equipment is functional, that your streaming service is working, your PC has been rebooted before you do this so that you have enough CPU resources, and then you have your show notes ready and your audio is working and THEN you are ready to start your show. Video, as anyone that does this, takes longer to prep for than an audio show does. This is just the nature of the beast.

So, there you have it, in a nutshell. Going video by itself is easy enough to do, however, if you want to do audio and video podcasts at the same time, make sure you have enough CPU resources (a fast enough and powerful enough PC) and enough bandwidth to handle both. Otherwise, you may find your video stalling, freezing or simply not working at all and your audio may suffer too with breaking up or dropping out. Doing both isn’t for the faint of heart. You have to really be prepared to do this and make sure your equipment is up to the task too. If you have an older, slower PC with little RAM memory, then you most likely won’t be able to make video function with the audio podcasts at the same time, but maybe by itself without the extra overhead of the audio podcasting.

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This Week’s Topic: Podcasting/Videocasting Legalities

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Last week on Podcaster Training, we started discussing this topic, however, due to my Internet connectivity in Rhode Island and the technical issues with Stickam, I will restart this discussion this week and will do so on Talkshoe (no video this week) as an audio only show.

This topic came as a result of me being asked about the legalities surrounding playing copyrighted materials (music, podcasts, etc.) on live video streams such as uStream.tv. My interest was peaked when I was told that as long as you don’t record the video, you can play whatever you want. Well, that didn’t sound right to me, so I started researching this and came up with a complete show on the subject.

Now I am no lawyer by any stretch of the imagination, so anything you hear in this podcast (which comes complete with a disclaimer) is not to be taken and used as law. I’ll talk more about that tomorrow night.

In the meantime, if you are interested in hearing more about this topic or if you have first hand knowledge that you want to share, join us Friday Night at 8:00pm EST on Talkshoe Show ID 16829. I am broadcasting this on my live page as well at http://www.newmediapro.tv (again, audio only, no video this week) for those who might beusing my Live Page to catch the show.

See you tomorrow night on the show!

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The Return to Talkshoe - A Necessity or Just A Good Idea

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For the faithful few that was on The Podcaster Training Show Friday Night, you already know what I’m going to say about using Stickam to produce a show. Needless to say, it may work for Leo LaPorte, but it sure didn’t work for me! Aside from having Internet connectivity issues in Rhode Island, the Stickam issues didn’t help matters at all.

Ok, so let’s take a step backwards for a minute and review what brought us to this stage in our podcasting evolution. Nearly two years ago, I started live, interactive shows on Talkshoe. Having produced pre-recorded podcasts and doing live teleseminars and training prior to that, Talkshoe provided me with a platform in which to build an audience and promote my shows, products, services as well as myself. All of this, I did until the technical issues started creeping into my shows. When it seemed that these issues would not or could not be fixed, I made a very hard decision to leave and go to a straight video format using uStream. It didn’t take too many episodes to realize that uStream was not the right platform to host a show like mine. Too unstable and too unpredictable.

Over the course of a few months, I have tried no less than six different video streaming platforms. Including uStream, Justin.tv and Stickam, just to name a few. Yes, there are more out there, however, it is now very apparent that these services are not ready for shows like Podcaster Training, they are ready for the kids down the block that want to play their video games live so that the world can see them “at their best” or the person(s) that want to just sit and talk live on a chat room while everyone watches them do this!

So, after last Friday’s little glitches with Stickam, I had a long talk with Jeff Chandler, my Co-Host, about leaving the video arena and going back to audio. Knowing that Jeff uses Talkshoe on a regular basis and the fact that I still have an active account there, the decision was made to “get back to basics” and start producing an audio only show once again.

Beginning Friday Night, September 12th, 2008, at 8:00pm EST, we will resume The Podcaster Training Show on Talkshoe at Show ID 16829 (same as it was before). I will be using the Talkshoe RSS Feed as well as my new RSS Feed for this show, so if you have subscribed to the new feed, you won’t have to go back in order to keep updated.

To answer the question at hand (see the title above), this move back to audio is out of necessity (partly) to keep the show alive and kicking and also a good idea, since at this time, there is no other platform like Talkshoe that I can rely on to keep the show alive.

In any event, be sure to join us on Friday Night for our return to Talkshoe show!

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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!

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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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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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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.

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The decision has been reached…

Earlier this week, I put out a blog post talking about having to make a decision to go straight video or just keep things as they are right now (doing both Talkshoe and uStream at the same time). I also asked for comments to be posted to help me make this decision.

As you can imagine, I was, needless to say, underwhelmed by the response. No, you read that right, underwhelmed. I had zero, zip, nada, zilch (ok, enough Rob) responses to help me make this decision. So, instead, I called on a few friends, also Show Hosts, and got their opinions. After listening to them and then going over everything myself, I finally reached a decision.

Tonight, will be the last simulcast on Talkshoe. Don’t misunderstand my reasons for doing this. Talkshoe is still a good company and I realize they are offering all of these services for free. This decision has been a long time coming. I have held off doing this (going straight video) for some time now, because of the listeners. However, after the past few weeks of audio issues, well, let’s just say that I have to start over rebuilding my audience again.

The loss of listeners both live and download only, has been incredible. So to this end, I will start over fresh beginning next Friday Night. You will be able to catch the live show at http://www.newmediapro.tv and I will podcast the audio to a new RSS Feed for those who want to continue downloading the Friday Night Podcaster Training and Business 101 Shows. The new feed will be http://feeds.feedburner.com/ NMPPodcasterTraining for Podcaster Training and for Business 101 the new feed will be http://feeds.feedburner.com/Business101Chat

The main web sites will remain the same and if you are already subscribed to the blogs, you will not have re-subscribe again. The new RSS Feeds are for the audio podcasts only.

I will be sending out a special audio podcat to each of the shows currently hosted on Talkshoe to let the download only listeners know how to get ahold of the new feeds. I will do that this weekend.

So, there you have it! I will make the announcement tonight on the show, so if you read this after hearing the announcement, you’ll understand why it’s here first.

Popularity: 27% [?]