Wirecast Exciting Tool for Video Streaming

Posted by Derrick on May 10, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | Read the First Comment

Wirecast is an exciting tool for video streaming.  It holds many advantages over Free Live Streaming tools such as Windows Media Encoder, QuickTime Broadcaster and Flash Media Encoder.  Wirecast is a little more than a Live Encoder as it supports streaming with PowerPoint, Keynote and .PDF files. You can also deliver streams to different Streaming Servers so you’re not tied to one format for streaming delivery.  One of the main items that separates Wirecast from other encoders is that it’s a full production switcher in software.  You have a Program View, Preview View, Transitions, Lower Thirds, Effects, Videos for Playback and many other elements that you can use to enhance your webcast. Wirecast also provides one of the easiest ways of to add Picture-N-Pictures to your Webcast.  Attend one of our 1-Day Wirecast Live Streaming Trainings to learn more about this exciting webcasting tool.

Archiving Presentations for Flash Streaming without Streaming Live

Posted by Derrick on January 16, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Archiving presentations for Flash Streaming without Streaming Live is a workflow that you can use with Telestream’s Wirecast tool.  For those of you that are not familiar with Wirecast, it’s a software-based Live Encoder available for Mac and PC.  The live encoder lets you perform tasks that you’ve only dreamed of.  For this post I wanted to shared Wirecast’s ability to Archive your PowerPoint, Keynote or .PDF presentation along with a Web Cam or Video Camera.

Under the Broadcast Settings if you click the + button to add a new destination, instead of choosing a streaming server for the Destination you can choose Record to Disk.  You can customize you output location and filename of your file to archive.  For Flash you have the option to record files with the .f4v or the .m4v wrapper.  Once you adjust your settings you can then turn on the Record to Disk mode without Streaming Live by clicking the Broadcast button. Click stop Broadcasting when you presentation is done.  You’ll have to be sure to use the Desktop Presenter to display your PowerPoint, Keynote or .PDF presentation in Wirecast. When you finish recording your presentation you can upload your .f4v or .m4v video to your Flash Streaming Server.

To learn more about Recording to Disk and other features of Wirecast make sure you attend one of the FREE Episode Encoder, Wirecast and Sawmill Professional Trainings in your area.  Training sessions are coming up in Orlando on Jan. 22 and in Ohio on Feb. 19 in 2010.  You can also attend in Chicago, Las Vegas and New York.

Tool for Encoding to MP3 audio files on the Mac

Posted by Derrick on October 15, 2009 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

If you need to encode MP3 audio files on the Mac then using tools such as Episode and Sorenson Squeeze are obviously good choices for this.  There are MP3 encoding presets already built into both applications.  If you’re trying to save money a free tool that you can use is called Audacity. This tool was first recommended to me by Brian Alves, one of the world’s leading podcasters and host of The DV Show.   If you have AIFF source files Audacity can encode them.  To use Audacity for encoding MP3 files you’ll need to download and install the Audacity application and the LAME mp3 encoder available on the Audacity website under downloads.

Working with Videos in Sorenson 360

Posted by Derrick on September 12, 2009 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Today we’ll be discussing working with videos in Sorenson 360. Now if you thought Sorenson Squeeze was an amazing compression tool, wait until you get a load of his big brother for video delivery Sorenson 360. When looking at the available features of this tool since its May release it boasts a lot of excitement right out of the box.  Many times individuals and organizations that want to host videos on-line have to set-up a server for the video delivery but Sorenson 360 takes that job off your plate because it is a Video Delivery Network.

Let’s now look at the Video section in 360.

After logging into Sorenson 360 you can click on the Video tab to access your videos.

On the main page of the Video section you can get a quick snapshot of the Video Title, Description, Format, Upload Date, and Number of Views.  You can also sort through the videos that are Live, Retired and in the Trash. Sorting by Upload Date, Title and Number of Views is another option.

Now, let’s look a little bit further into the features in the Video section of Sorenson 360.

If you click on one of your videos you’ll get access to many other items.   You can choose a Player Style, Player Size, copy Embed Code and copy a Permalink. In this area you also have the option to Edit Title, Edit Description and Password Protect videos.  If you want to make a video Live, Retire it or Trash it this is where you’ll do it. Lastly, this area will give you quick access to video metrics and settings used during encoding. Wow, and that’s only the Video section of Sorenson 360.

To get more hands-on instruction on using Sorenson 360 attend one of our 2-Day Video Streaming and Compression classes.  It’ll be featured in Day 2 of the Authoring track.

Performing Log file analysis with Sawmill

Posted by Derrick on May 26, 2009 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Consider performing log file analysis with Sawmill. If you have some log files that you need to analyze, Sawmill is an excellent tool for this purpose. The log analysis tool can process almost any log on the planet. What’s also nice is you can customize reports, use macros, apply filters and zoom in to analyze data even more. With Sawmill you can resolve domain names, create users, assign user roles and perform a host of other task. A feature I think is very cool is the ability to create users accounts and assign them a Statistics Visitor role. This means you can have the user log-in from anywhere with Internet access to view stats without having access to Administrative settings. There are many more features found in this tool. You should at least download a 30 day trial of Sawmill. Get some Firewall, Web Server, Streaming Server, System, or FTP logs and analyze them with this tool.