Re: Video Streaming Services - Status and Survey

["Stephen Goodman" <spgoodman@earthlight.net>]

Bad marks for Adobe for not supporting Windows 7 - still!  The only 
software 
that crashes under Win7 is the Flash 10 Player, and the FME only produces 
a 
mono signal.  At least from here.  Check out the Stereo Test I did: 
http://lnk.ms/4kN55 - Any suggestions?

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Rainer Straschill" <moinsound@googlemail.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2010 11:15 AM
To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
Subject: Video Streaming Services - Status and Survey

> Hi everyone,
>
> those video streaming things have been the #1 cool thing for me in 2009, 
> and I continue to do a bi-weekly performance series (first official 
> session this Saturday) and have done daily ones this past week since 
> Sunday. Also, Rick's festival has been transmitted nearly in full (and 
> archived online), so there's even a looping relationship here...on to 
>some 
> findings and a call for your inputs to these topics.
>
> My own experience:
> I have worked with three services in total: ustream.tv, justin.tv and 
> livestream.com. At least livestream also has a "premium" version with a 
> hefty price tag, but all of those offer "free" (meaning ad-financed, no 
> charges for viewer or presenter) accounts.
>
> What they have in common:
> They're free, allow you to record your shows and make them available for 
> posterity, and allow embedded players to be placed e.g. on your website 
> and viewing them does not require registration for the viewer. All of 
>them 
> allow you to transmit via a browser-based flash plugin or with the free 
> Adobe FME software.
>
> The lowdown on all three of them:
> a) ustream:
> This is the one where I started, and where I have the most experience 
> with.
> Nice:
> *   the system of announcing your own shows, following other people etc. 
> seems laid out fine. There also seems to be a large viewer crowd.
> *   there are some basic editing functions for your archived videos 
>which 
> are, as I might say, sufficient.
> Not nice:
> *   they have a service which allows cueing in other performers (called 
> "co-hosting"), drop in clips form youtube etc. Unfortunately, the last 
> time I checked (at the VSV festival in October), these functions were 
> flawed or didn't work at all.
> *   even when using the FME encoder, you still need to run the web 
>browser 
> plugin, which can be an issue for older computers (and "older" here 
>means 
> anything with a passmark below 900).
>
> b) justin:
> Nice:
> *   This is the simplest of the three. Set up your account, download the 
> xml file for the FME, fire up the FME.
> Not nice:
> *   Well...doesn't offer that many nifty features as the others do.
>
> c) livestream:
> This seems to be the most powerful one of the three in terms of features.
> Nice:
> *   A nifty wealth of features, including some configurable banners at 
>the 
> start of the video etc. There's the so-called "studio", which allows you 
> to also upload videos, create an on-demand playlist, define storyboards 
> for a live (or archived show), cue in other performers etc.
> Not Nice:
> *   There are some limitations to the free accounts. First one is you 
>need 
> to get your channel certified to be allowed to transmit to more than 40 
> viewers. This is not a big issue, as it's just filling out a form and 
> waiting for a day or so.
> *   More limitations for free accounts: the biggest is that you are 
> limited to a 500kbps stream bandwidth and 4:3 aspect ratio.
>
>
> Ok, now it's your turn. More observations to add? Other services which 
>do 
> something like that? Comments? Questions?
>
>
> Yours,
>
>             Rainer
>
> -- 
> http://moinlabs.de
> Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/moinlabs