stream

I have spent countless hours since my vacation working on setting up a live video stream. It works in a sense but not how I would like it to run. I really do like the features that Webcammax can add to the stream, however the problem is the processing time it requires. It adds about 1-2 seconds of delay to a video stream that means that the audio will be heard 1-2 seconds before the video displays.

Audio/video sync problems drive me nuts. If a channel on TV is out of sync I will almost certainly change to something else or turn it off.

I have been in contact with Webcammax customer service, trying to drive some initiative to capture audio and video and allow throughput to your software (in my case the Ustream interface) at the same time. I am not concerned that there will be a 2 second delay, only that audio and video synced. At the reception of my service request I was told by customer service that my case was passed on to the technical team. That was 7 days ago, since then (2 days ago) I sent an email asking the status of my issue and have only received the standard “we will respond withing one business day” response.

I worked in technical support in the past and I know how much of a pain in the ass it can be to deal with hundreds of people everyday, but it is in the best interest of the support person to manage expectations. An email simply stating that it could take 1-2 weeks to obtain a solution wouldn’t have made me extactic but I would have accepted that.

This is turning into a rant about Webcammax support when even their support hasn’t been overly negative. Shame on me I suppose - but I really, really want this to work and I can’t afford to buy an iMac to host the stream.

But it’s nice to dream

I have not posted in so long now that this feels foreign. I was off from the 9-5 for 2 weeks and that totally screwed up my routine. I thought that it would be easier to post while I wasn’t working but that couldn’t be more from the truth, it is that much harder.

I spent the beginning of the first week with my family down in Wells Beach, ME; a spot that I have been going to with my family since I was a little guy. It was a nice break with everyone, but no time for posting given the time spent at the beach and the shopping that was done. Got a new toy that I will use for the new live stream, a Samson C01U mic. It turns out that one of the few authorized retailers in New England has a store in Portsmouth, NH. That’s only a 20 minute drive from Wells and there are no taxes in NH, plus the fact that I don’t have to pay shipping, it made the price way better that an Ebay purchase.

Another toy I received as a gift was a new bluetooth adapter for my cell phone. In the province of Quebec it is now illegal to drive while talking on the phone so this will be of good use. Thanks to my parents for this one… much appreciated. I will be doing a review of that shortly, but so far a like it!

So look for some postings including video to start cropping up. My intention is to have the live stream setup, schedule live appearances and post videos to YouTube and the blog. If you have any questions, email me at marcus@hamaker.net.

I have been planning on starting a video stream on TheSleepGeek for quite some time but it takes planning and decent equipment. First I decided to use our family DV camera for the video source because it has good optics (Canon Optura 10) compared to most webcams. Next I plan to get a Samson C01U or C03U which has become the podcasting standard it seems for good quality audio and easy usability. Both those models are USB which will make them easy to connect and configure.

The problem after doing all this that is that the image that I am sending to my community is very generic. I don’t think for a second that my mug can hold viewership on the stream alone and so with ideas that I am admittedly stealing from Chris Pirillo and Leo Laporte, I need someway of adding other content to the video stream.

This is where Webcammax comes in! With all of the preparation and setup that I have already mentioned, I still would have an incomplete package in my eyes. Webcammax is allowing me to add features to stream that otherwise would be impossible. I am quite aware that there are products for OSX that people have raved about, but I don’t have an OSX system to dedicate to running the stream. With Webcammax I can manipulate exactly what I need to on the video stream so that I can enhance the viewers experience, all from my Windows machine.

from www.webcammax.com

The installation is as simple as it should be as far as I am concerned… Next, Next, Next - Finish Love those!

After that I opened the program (keep in mind I am running a demo version) and immediately I was greeted with a view of myself through the camera. The image is quite clear and in comparison to the preview window on the camera itself, I can’t complain.

Let’s get to the specifics of what I wanted to do and how Webcammax made it pretty easy to accomplish.

1. Add a topic to the top of the stream - This was done by creating a new text effect, modifying the text to the font, size and colour I like then saving it.
2. Add a black background to the topic that is the entire width of the image - After placing the topic from step one I noticed that the black background behind it was only the width of the text. I found that I could make an effect from an image so after creating a black bar in Paint (just make a black bar the width of the incoming source, for me this was 320 pixels) I did that and re sized it to fit close to the topic. The grouping order is as it is listed, so if something is over what you want to see, move it down the list.
3. Add the address of the live stream page to the bottom of the stream - This is important to me because I would like to record my better tips and tricks and upload them to Youtube or another similar site. This was as simple as step 1, just create a new text effect and move it to the desired location.
4. Add a live capture of a chat window - This is where things are slightly more complicated, but it works well. I have a copy of XChat open and logged into my chat all the time on that computer so I can monitor activity as it happens (actually when it starts to happen :)). I now used one of the PinP (picture in picture) sources to do a screen capture. I edited that to take a certain size capture and placed it over the area of XChat that I wanted people to see. After that I was able to move the image itself in the preview window to where I wanted it in the stream.
5. (not done but I have seen how to do it on a Youtube video) Add a scrolling image for sponsor logos - This is very easy. You can create a new effect, include your images and set a time to display each one. Then place it where you like on the screen.

I am very pleased with the product thus far and I am excited about it’s versatility. I have made a stream that is very similar to that of live.pirillo.com, which I know is very clean and works but the flexibility of Webcammax is good enough that I know I can make something original in the future.

It is also important to not that this is not the only way tho use Webcammax. It also has many effects and features built in that would make it useful for playful webcam chat over the most popular instant messengers, or for a professional internet video conference.

There is only one caveat which is to make sure you have a fairly powerful system with a lot of RAM to run Webcammax. Every effect and source seems to tax the processor and too much can bring your computer to a halt. Verify their system requirements before jumping in blindly.