Duncan MacOwan's Page

Hi Duncan,

It is hard to recommend the best solution without more details. However, if you want to broadcast a 'one-off', 'one-way', 1 hour conference then Ustream could be worth a try. I have not used it for an actual project as we have our own technology, but it does look good and worth experimenting with.

If you are talking to a mid-size or large client with the potential for ongoing broadcasting requirements or a range of video on demand requirements, I would recommend a bespoke solution. If this is an option I have a range of sample links for some existing web TV systems we have created for clients and their production companies and some very interesting ones in development that include delivering live and VOD through the same viewing points.

The usual suspects you mention are mainly used for multi-delegate two-way communication 'meetings' rather than 'one-way conference broadcasts' although by virtue of what they do you can broadcast a conference to large numbers as well, but it is not the route I would go.

With regards to video cameras. I am a Sony fan. They are everywhere, the accessories are everywhere, so if you get caught out and need something you haven't got it's easy to get the bits you need. Service centres are everywhere and global support is excellent. If you can try and go up to around £800 or so, it will be worth it in the long run. I would look out for the following on any camera:

1. Make sure that it has firewire output/input (additional composite and s-video an advantage)

2. Buy HD (on tape or Flash, but not on HDD only)

3. Try and make sure that you have control over video gain. If you are in low light areas and gain automatically gets turned on then it can make the image grainy and there is nothing you can do about it. Having control over frame rate, gain and iris is important for streaming live events.

I could go on, but hopefully I have read your questions correctly and the answer are of help. All the best, JR