We had posted about setting up a TV studio in your basement ala Leo Laporte a few months back and it has received a few hits from folks out there. This past weekend we brought our setup online and broadcast/webcast our first live show for Radio Free Red Deer – independent music from the heart of Alberta.

Here’s the show . . .

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Here’s the setup . . .

Cameras: Canon DV camcorder connected via firewire, Samsung 8mm camera connected via USB VidBox convertor;

Lighting: three CFL daylight bulbs in aluminum clamp-on reflectors;

Audio: Shure SM-58 mic, Behringer mixer – connected via USB interface;

Software: Vidblaster video mixer – trial version;

Feed: Ustream.tv

Here’s what we learned . . .

Vidblaster needs a more powerful computer than what we ran it on. It’s a great piece of software but it does get finicky. A quad-core PC or better running in a clean environment (no background processes) would improve the performance. We had a problem with video/audio sync which is directly related to the hardware according to Vidblaster’s support forums. For our next show we will connect directly to Ustream.tv and that should align the audio and video.

Be prepared for anything…equipment failure, mis-cues, etc. After all it’s live and anything can happen.

It’s more fun if you have others to share the workload – and the fun! Multi-tasking can get hectic.

TV (and any video for that matter)  is more than audio with pictures. It needs to be visually appealing so lots of graphics and even full motion visuals add to the viewer experience. Watching some guy talk into a mic can get boring. Since this show is all about music I think we can get away with an emphasis on the audio with less visual content.

What’s next . . .

We would like to go on locations and broadcast live bands performing at some of the venues in the area. Once we work out some of the syncing problems this will be our next step.

Broadcasting live events other than music is something else we would like to do. The key requirement is availability of internet bandwidth. Without some form of reliable and consistent high-speed connection live video fails.

We’ll keep you updated on our progress. If you’re out there doing this type of live video via the web, let us know and we’ll feature your show and share your work.

Dean

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