[EuroPython] Videostreamin' ?

[Christian Scholz]

HI!

>> I wanted to propose to stream parts of the conference live via internet
>> and eventually Second Life. I'd bring the camera anyway and streaming
>> can be done either via http://ustream.tv (very easy setup, just plugin
>> the camera and click the Record button, flash plugin) and/or via
>> Quicktime Streaming Server. The latter would be needed for livestreaming
>> it into Second Life (which I would take care of).
> 
> Sorry to leave you waiting for so long without a response! As I've said in 
> various places, I think the FOSDEM videos were done very well, although I 
> only looked at the downloads - I don't know if they did actual streaming - 
> and I have seen streaming from conferences like aKademy done fairly well, 
> too. Here's a page I just saw about this very kind of thing:
> 
> http://wingolog.org/archives/2006/07/07/so-you-want-to-stream-a-conference
> 
> However, one very important aspect of the FOSDEM materials, and quite probably 
> the other materials too, was the open format employed. For many users, 
> Quicktime is either inaccessible or involves pacing on the version treadmill  
> set in motion by Apple. And whilst Flash is a widespread phenomenon, it too 
> has similar limitations.
> 
> This is only my personal opinion, though. If you're enthusiastic about 
> streaming stuff and this is the way you want to do it, then I don't want to 
> rain on your parade. However, if there's all sorts of additional work 
> involved (extra servers, more software), I'd rather see it directed toward 
> providing materials in open formats, myself.

Well, I'd rather go with Flash and/or Quicktime just because it's the 
easiest to setup plus you have directly e.g. a community at ustream.tv 
which would be exposed to something different and (hopefully) 
interesting to them.

Quicktime would be my other choice because unfortunately Second Life 
only supports Quicktime streaming at the moment and it would be a nice 
marketing thing to have it streaming there where people can even meet in 
front of the screen and discuss about what they just see.
(we even shortly had some sort of backchannel from the Second Life world 
into the Plone conference back in September where Martijn Faassen was 
in-world and asking (more of a fun question though) to the speakers.

So for me it actually would be easiest to stream via flash to ustream as 
this would only involve a network connection (and eventually a network 
cable as it is more reliable than Wifi). ustream.tv can also record btw 
and you can download the videos (as flash videos) afterwards so there is 
maybe even a way of converting it to other formats.

As for Quicktime I probably would need somebody to provide a server with 
good network connection who is willing to install Darwin Streaming 
Server on it. This might be the bigger problem I assume so I guess I'd 
go with ustream.tv.

I will of course also record some of the stuff and this can be converted 
to whatever format afterwards (but also here I usually go with quicktime 
usually for comlounge.tv as it's supported by the most players out there 
and esp. on the iPod).
I am just not sure how much work this converting might involve and if I 
will have time for that but I can definitely provide the material so any 
body could actually step in.

Ok, as I will bring my camera anyway we can also see then what is 
possible and what is not. Everything should be setup fairly quickly.

cheers,

Christian


-- 
Christian Scholz                         video blog: http://comlounge.tv
COM.lounge                                   blog: http://mrtopf.de/blog
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Second Life Nick: Tao Takashi
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