Live Business Brief: Learn About Live Streaming Video Productions
As I mentioned in my last blog post [When it Comes to Live Video Streaming, Watch This Space], as we look to extend the amount of time somebody spends on our websites from tens of seconds to tens of minutes (so that you may have a reasonable amount of time to tell your story), I have discovered the hidden power of Live Streaming Video Productions. I am now ready to share what I’ve learned with you.
Having spend the last three months researching, testing, implementing and documenting what works and doesn’t work in the Live Streaming Video Productions space, I have developed a Live Streaming Video “Business Brief” that will bring you up to speed on the do’s and don’ts of this exciting new sales, marketing and ultimately organizational-enhancing technique.
For the details, visit the brand new Ask Scott Whitney microsite. Depending on the response, I may limit participation to ensure I’m able to answer each person’s questions. And because this is an invitation-only event, you’ll need to follow the easy instructions found in the video to receive the URL and password required for participation.
I look forward to presenting you with this fascinating content. See you at the session!
When it Comes to Live Streaming Video, Watch This Space
2009 marks the year of business-based online video. There is no question about this trend.
Because the time a visitor spends on your website is usually measured in tens of seconds versus tens of minutes, you’ll find that online video, with its ability to capture a person’s attention quickly using both sight and sound, is becoming a top five imperative to those who expect their online presence to do more than act as an e-brochure.
Not surprisingly, the power and immediacy of live television has made its way into the online video world as well. Say what you will about the “old media” of television, millions more people seek it for entertainment and education than do those online. This has lead many companies to begin putting into place Live Streaming Video as part of their marketing/branding/online revenue-generating practices.
For quite some time now, I have been working out the details of a professional-level Live Streaming Video concept that, according to the feedback we’ve received so far, is right on the mark. In the next week or so, I will announce a free training event that will walk the participant through each of the areas to consider when preparing to launch your own Live Streaming Video event. (Not surprisingly, the free training will be. . .wait for it. . .via our own Live Video Stream.)
Keep an eye on this space. I will announce the registration for the free training on this blog. Hope you’ll join us.
How to Connect a Tricaster to Ustream.tv in Five Easy Steps
NEW NEW NEW: We’ve just be selected as a NewTek reseller for the Tricaster product line! Press release to follow soon. . .
One of the first things we wanted to do with our new Tricaster was to be able to live stream from the PodWorx studio to Ustream.tv, the free online video streaming service, using the Adobe Flash Media Encoder that is integrated within the Tricaster system. After hours (okay, actually a couple days) of “try this, test that”, we finally discovered and documented a easy-to-follow and repeatable method to initiating a live streaming video event using our Tricaster and Ustream.tv. Here’s the scoop:
1: Test the Windows Media Streaming Capabilities
Before testing the Ustream.tv connectivity, I wanted to make sure that our Tricaster, which is behind a router/firewall, was able to stream to folks outside of our network.
The Tricaster manual does a nice job of walking you through the Port Forward/find your external IP address process. You’ll have to decide what port you want your video to stream from–I used 8181 because it was a port number not being used by any other computer on our network. Once you learn your true outside IP address, write it down.
Once that’s done, from within the Tricaster Live Production console, select the Record/Stream tab and select a “pull:” Stream Type. In the Port field, I used 8181. Click the Stream Live Output button. It will turn red when streaming has begun. The Location field fills in automatically once you started streaming (which you should be doing now). More importantly, the IP address that is auto-entered IS NOT the IP address to the outside word (if you’re behind a router).
On a different computer, fire up Windows Media Player. To load your stream, you’ll want to go to File, Open URL (CTRL-U) and enter your stream’s IP address with port. (On some versions of WMP, right-click on the top bar brings up the menuing system.) Your URL will look something like this: http://25.345.343.33:8181
In our experience, it takes about 10 seconds to buffer the video and then viola, you’ve got a streaming video!!
Now that you’ve proven that you can stream outside your network, you’re ready begin your Ustream.tv stream.
MORE TRICASTER / USTREAM.TV INFORMATION
Since originally writing this post, both Ustream.tv and NewTek (the Tricaster manufacturer) have changed their configuration. As a result, most of what was originally written became obsolete. Subsequently, we’ve received several requests to provide phone-based assistance in this matter. To that end, we offer the following one-on-one Tricaster/Ustream.tv connectivity session by clicking the PayPal button below:
For
$495$225, we will:
- Analyze your Ustream.tv configuration for mistakes/omissions
- Test your existing Ustream.tv configuration with our Tricaster to ensure connectivity is possible with your existing Ustream.tv configuration
- Provide you step-by-step direction to configure your Tricaster for Ustream.tv connectivity
- Provide Tricaster and Ustream.tv step-by-step direction for launching your live streaming video
- Provide answer to any questions you may have about Tricaster and/or Ustream.tv configuration
Furthermore, if we are unable to deliver each of these items, we will refund your money. No questions asked. Guaranteed.
All of this will be accomplished in one hour or less. In other words, in one hour or less, you will no longer be dealing with connectivity problems. Instead, you will be streaming your content to Ustream.tv, with no more worries on how to do so.
Have a question about how this works? Please give us a call. Our number is 702.395.5268.
Finally, congrats on your Tricaster investment. I can tell you, it’s a great tool! We’ve been making money from our Tricaster investment since late January of 2009 and, with the exception of a few “features” we’ve had to work around, are pleased with our Tricaster.
Live Video Streaming Podcasting Q & A
We have been spending much of the last couple weeks planning and implementing some new video capabilities within the PodWorx studio. To test our streaming video capabilities, we will be offering a live Q&A session meant to answer any of your podcast questions.
More information (date/time) to follow.
