Live broadcast test tonight...

[JeffF]

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mainelights-org---christmas-lights

Thought we'd try a Ustream stream tonight to see how it works. The camera is inside the house looking out a window so you see a couple weird reflections... I'm going to try moving the camera outside tomorrow if it works good tonight.

[edit]
Just noticed there is a weird auto-focus thing going on... I have to update the camera drivers so it'll be offline for a bit.

-Jeff

[beeiilll]

Got to check it out. Nice looking job.

Wish I could have gotten my display up this year but not to be. Hopefully next year.

[JeffF]

Thanks. I bought another one of these Microsoft HD usb cameras at Staples yesterday for $20. They have a pretty darn nice picture imho. I'm going to use the daughters netbook tonight and try to get another camera going showing the show from the front of the house also. I'm surprised they capture the colors as well as they do at night.

I also adjusted the inside camera to get a lot more of our display into frame.

Great... another aspect of the hobby to get into!!!

-Jeff

[edit]
BTW, if anybody likes seeing snow... we have that broadcasting now. :cool:

[JeffF]

Don't think we'll have camera#2 going tonight but camera one now has a better framed picture and audio(albeit it unfortunately includes some wind noise).

Wish I remember who here suggested Ustream.tv because it's way better than Justin.tv imho. Although you do need to visit Ustream with the Firefox browser and AdBlock... otherwise you get hit with ads and commercials.

-Jeff

[rgardner518]

How do you do a live video? What kind of equipment do you need? And if your broadcasting the audio, how do you pick that up? I would like to do this, but need to know more on how!

[huskernut]

ny_yankee_25 wrote: How do you do a live video? I am also doing live video and also using ustream. You have to set up a free account at

http://www.ustream.tv

What kind of equipment do you need? I bought a standard security camera on Ebay, then a USB capture dongle also on Ebay. This dongle grabs both audio and video but for some reason my PC crashed everytime I tried to make an adjustment to the audio level on ustream so I dropped using the audio input to the USB dongle.


And if your broadcasting the audio, how do you pick that up? I am running my show on one PC and the uplink on another so I ran a patch cord from the show PC audio out ( used a Y splitter so one audio feeds the FM Xmter and the other branch I have plugged into the audio in on the other PC that is uplinking. Ustream allows you to select both audio and video sources from those available.

My link to ustream is on my web page

http://www.nechristmashouse.com

on the bottom of the home page.


I would like to do this, but need to know more on how!

[JeffF]

Huskernut has said it all.

We're using a Microsoft Lifecam HD-6000 for audio and video. I just put an old radio next to the camera so it picks up the sound that way. I'd like to do something more fancy but I have enough on my plate so it'll have to wait.

One note about Ustream... if you do as they suggest and use Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder, the video comes out much better imho. It lets you adjust the frame rate, bandwidth, and a bunch of other things so you can really optimize your stream. I've spent way too much time on that stuff the past few days.

-Jeff