I hope you enjoy this series of articles on Justin.tv. I found it more interesting as I dug deeper into the site and its lifecasters... enjoy!
George
September 24, 2007
Lifecasting Justin.tv Style (Justin Kan & iJusine)
By George Wilkinson
Where iJustine and Fans Make an Interesting Combination of Interaction and Synergy
I was in the midst of writing about new technologies emerging for distribution and transmitting high quality video over wireless broadband systems, but I was diverted by a desire to investigate equipment used for the low-tech solutions of YouTube quality distribution video over the Internet. That led me to Justin Kan (http://www.justin.tv/Justin), who mounted a camera and microphone to a hat he wore to stream video and audio in wireless mode to the Internet anywhere he went. That is where I discovered a new form of an online social community called “lifecasting.”
Justin Kan is the founder of Justinl.tv, a San Francisco Internet startup that provides a way for a video blog to stream live video/audio over the Internet in a social context where viewers with a web browser can select any of the members on his site and view their live streams. Streaming video from a camera of yourself in your room is not new. You may recall the JenniCam many years ago where you could see video of her in her home streamed over the Internet or the MIT student taking his video camera mobile and viewing the Internet with an optical eyepiece over his head to view the computer, a computer and a keyboard integrated into his clothes. Put those two together and you got Justin.tv, 24/7 lifecasting gone mobile.
I wanted to determine the equipment they were using to do this when I was surprised to find someone featured on Justin.tv that I had previously corresponded with a few months earlier, Justine Ezarik, on a totally different subject. At that time I had no idea she was lifecasting (http://www.justin.tv/iJustine). She has several more links on her site page representing her extensive online presence where she makes a jesting claim, “I am the Internet.” She must be trying to muscle out Al Gore or something.
It was at Macworld conference where Justine made some interviews with exhibitors on the show floor at the same time Justin was roaming about the show with his hat-equipped web cam and broadcasting live audio/video wireless to his Internet site, which could be viewed by anyone in real-time. The two met and she soon became one of the site’s first new lifecaster on Justin.tv and today remains the most popular one according to the site statistics.
continued...
Lifecasting (Justine Ezarik’s Journey) - continued
Justine Ezarik’s Journey
Justine is freelance graphics designer and video editor from Pittsburgh. She is also known for everything from her slapstick comedy videos to hosting productions and representing other firms commercially. This industrious tech-savvy young woman may also be on a new technological social wave. She’s also very talented, attractive, photogenic, charming, astonishingly witty and obviously smart—a great combination for success. At age 23 she has plenty of time for opportunities to formulate and explore them as they arise.
Many people have come to know Justine for the widely publicized video she produced and posted on the Internet featuring receipt of her first iPhone bill, a 300 page one that included nearly 30,000 itemized text messages, that was shipped to her from AT&T by mail, that was so large it came in a box! Even mainstream media picked up the story and interviews of her ensued by CNN, NPR and several others.
Getting very curious about lifecasting in general, I monitored this innovative site for a while, especially Justine’s since I knew who she was. After viewing her stream at various times during the day and night over several days, I noticed something about lifecasting on Justin.tv that you might not notice at first that made it unique and interesting. This caused my technical article to morph into one about a new social phenomenon riding on the crest of current technology using inexpensive equipment, albeit somewhat low in quality generally.
With a live chat room adjacent to the video widow, an interesting element to what Justin.tv brings is that people in the chat room can now comment on the video as it is happening in real-time. The synchronization and interaction between the chat and the video is where it starts to get very interesting because the two are now allowed to relate to each other and lifecasting takes on a new perspective that has not received much attention. Also, since the lifecaster has audio, they can respond verbally to the chat interactively, such as answering questions or just commenting on what is being said by the participants.
continued...
Justine is freelance graphics designer and video editor from Pittsburgh. She is also known for everything from her slapstick comedy videos to hosting productions and representing other firms commercially. This industrious tech-savvy young woman may also be on a new technological social wave. She’s also very talented, attractive, photogenic, charming, astonishingly witty and obviously smart—a great combination for success. At age 23 she has plenty of time for opportunities to formulate and explore them as they arise.
Many people have come to know Justine for the widely publicized video she produced and posted on the Internet featuring receipt of her first iPhone bill, a 300 page one that included nearly 30,000 itemized text messages, that was shipped to her from AT&T by mail, that was so large it came in a box! Even mainstream media picked up the story and interviews of her ensued by CNN, NPR and several others.
Getting very curious about lifecasting in general, I monitored this innovative site for a while, especially Justine’s since I knew who she was. After viewing her stream at various times during the day and night over several days, I noticed something about lifecasting on Justin.tv that you might not notice at first that made it unique and interesting. This caused my technical article to morph into one about a new social phenomenon riding on the crest of current technology using inexpensive equipment, albeit somewhat low in quality generally.
With a live chat room adjacent to the video widow, an interesting element to what Justin.tv brings is that people in the chat room can now comment on the video as it is happening in real-time. The synchronization and interaction between the chat and the video is where it starts to get very interesting because the two are now allowed to relate to each other and lifecasting takes on a new perspective that has not received much attention. Also, since the lifecaster has audio, they can respond verbally to the chat interactively, such as answering questions or just commenting on what is being said by the participants.
continued...
Lifecasting - continued (Going Mobile)
Going Mobile
Another significant aspect of lifecasting the Justin.tv way, the camera can go mobile while still streaming to the Internet. The setup is fairly simple. A standard webcam with audio that is connected to
a laptop computer equipped with a wireless transmitter card, such as the Sprint EVDO, is all it takes to hit the road.
When Justine packs up her equipment in her room to hit the road, streaming without interruption, her fans refer to it in the chat room as a “road trip” and you can see the excitement level in the chat rising fast.
Watching the video, the chat room people assume the first person of the camera, “Were going on a road trip!” They began to annotate her every move and comment on the places she is at and the surroundings or other people in view of the camera. This is when the chat room begins to work into frenzy of comical commentary annotating everything seen on camera laced with frequent satire.
Some of the chat room participants are obviously very intelligent individuals from the way they comment to the words they often choose. But their humor is sometimes so hysterical you can’t help but “lol” (laughing out loud in chat talk). Anyone of these comical chat members could qualify as a writer for any of the late show comics––they are that good.
One night the chatters where taken along with Justine in the car with her family who were going to dinner at a restaurant. In the true spirit of iJustine, as she likes to refer to herself on the net, the chat room conversation took the “iMom, iDad”, and even “iGrandma” format as they commented on her family. Justine is probably unaware of how funny the chat room becomes when she is mobile because she is not able to view the chat text and has no idea how hysterical some of her fans can get while describing the activities of her and those around her as seen by the camera.
Watching this take place in the way it does is reminiscent of the Steve Allan show many years ago that, one of the people who formulated today’s late night comedic shows. Occasionally, the NBC studio would place a camera outside the studio, on the street, right at the intersection of Hollywood & Vine while Steve Allan would make hilarious comments about the people the camera saw passing by the camera or waiting at the intersection to cross. This is actually a rebirth of that technique except the entertainers who make the comical comments are the lifecaster‘s fans.
continued...
Another significant aspect of lifecasting the Justin.tv way, the camera can go mobile while still streaming to the Internet. The setup is fairly simple. A standard webcam with audio that is connected to
a laptop computer equipped with a wireless transmitter card, such as the Sprint EVDO, is all it takes to hit the road.When Justine packs up her equipment in her room to hit the road, streaming without interruption, her fans refer to it in the chat room as a “road trip” and you can see the excitement level in the chat rising fast.
Watching the video, the chat room people assume the first person of the camera, “Were going on a road trip!” They began to annotate her every move and comment on the places she is at and the surroundings or other people in view of the camera. This is when the chat room begins to work into frenzy of comical commentary annotating everything seen on camera laced with frequent satire.
Some of the chat room participants are obviously very intelligent individuals from the way they comment to the words they often choose. But their humor is sometimes so hysterical you can’t help but “lol” (laughing out loud in chat talk). Anyone of these comical chat members could qualify as a writer for any of the late show comics––they are that good.
One night the chatters where taken along with Justine in the car with her family who were going to dinner at a restaurant. In the true spirit of iJustine, as she likes to refer to herself on the net, the chat room conversation took the “iMom, iDad”, and even “iGrandma” format as they commented on her family. Justine is probably unaware of how funny the chat room becomes when she is mobile because she is not able to view the chat text and has no idea how hysterical some of her fans can get while describing the activities of her and those around her as seen by the camera.
Watching this take place in the way it does is reminiscent of the Steve Allan show many years ago that, one of the people who formulated today’s late night comedic shows. Occasionally, the NBC studio would place a camera outside the studio, on the street, right at the intersection of Hollywood & Vine while Steve Allan would make hilarious comments about the people the camera saw passing by the camera or waiting at the intersection to cross. This is actually a rebirth of that technique except the entertainers who make the comical comments are the lifecaster‘s fans.
continued...
Lifecasting - continued (At Home)
At Home
Later, when Justine arrived back to her apartment from the family dinner, she was looking for a cable to connect a new 1TB hard drive and a comical drama ensued. The video pi
cture showed her pulling up a very large spaghetti bowl of cables lying on the floor, looking for one she could use. “Nice rats nest” one observant mentions as they begin to annotate her every move.
Unable to find the right one, she decides to rush out to Wal-Mart late at night in hopes of scoring the right cable, a chatter quickly notes, “no makeup needed for Wal-Mart.” Having a hard time finding the correct cable and visually disappointed, a word of comfort comes from someone in the chat room saying, “Will someone please giver a hug” in hopes that someone in the store might bring comfort to her at a time like this. The humor of Justine and fans, just like lifecasting, never stops and even a midnight trip to Wal-Mart with the webcam in tow now becomes a venture for the rest of us.
Sometimes her maneuvering while on foot takes on a radical sweeping motion of the camera makes for a bumpy ride and you see them messaging comments like “I’m so disoriented…I’m getting dizzy… Motion sickness time.” Sometimes she might make a quick run to a store and leaves the camera in the car, still streaming the video. Even though she is not in the picture, the chat room keeps going with contextual comments “I’m getting warm in here…I am beginning to sweat now… Help! I’m running out of air… hope she comes back soon!” Sometimes she puts the camera in her purse for transportation to her vehicle so you do not see where she lives and the chat room keeps going making comments like “In the purse we go… We’re in the bag now… I think I’m in her womb… I feel like my dog!”
continued...
Later, when Justine arrived back to her apartment from the family dinner, she was looking for a cable to connect a new 1TB hard drive and a comical drama ensued. The video pi
cture showed her pulling up a very large spaghetti bowl of cables lying on the floor, looking for one she could use. “Nice rats nest” one observant mentions as they begin to annotate her every move.Unable to find the right one, she decides to rush out to Wal-Mart late at night in hopes of scoring the right cable, a chatter quickly notes, “no makeup needed for Wal-Mart.” Having a hard time finding the correct cable and visually disappointed, a word of comfort comes from someone in the chat room saying, “Will someone please giver a hug” in hopes that someone in the store might bring comfort to her at a time like this. The humor of Justine and fans, just like lifecasting, never stops and even a midnight trip to Wal-Mart with the webcam in tow now becomes a venture for the rest of us.
Sometimes her maneuvering while on foot takes on a radical sweeping motion of the camera makes for a bumpy ride and you see them messaging comments like “I’m so disoriented…I’m getting dizzy… Motion sickness time.” Sometimes she might make a quick run to a store and leaves the camera in the car, still streaming the video. Even though she is not in the picture, the chat room keeps going with contextual comments “I’m getting warm in here…I am beginning to sweat now… Help! I’m running out of air… hope she comes back soon!” Sometimes she puts the camera in her purse for transportation to her vehicle so you do not see where she lives and the chat room keeps going making comments like “In the purse we go… We’re in the bag now… I think I’m in her womb… I feel like my dog!”
continued...
Lifecasting - continued (Lets Have Coffee
Lets Have Coffee
The fans also play close attention to what is going on around her, like when they saw a strange looking man in the background and someone tries to warn her “Weirdo alert!” Sometimes they even try to keep her on schedule or just focused. All this may not be so obviously funny, but when you’re watching the live feed and in
the context of the time the chat room comments can get absolutely hilarious.
Every time she is seen moving her fine blond hair back out of her face, you see a line in the chat room, called appropriately “!hairflip.” The explanation point triggers an automatic count by the site and then displays the count in text following it; at last count it was 3713 hairflips and growing at frequent intervals.
Frequently something like this gets mixed with a current event. Like the time she got on a mechanical bull at a restaurant in LA on Sunset Blvd. and someone typed, “MAJOR hairflip coming!” And then, there are chatters who throw bricks at someone; well, you will just have to figure that out yourself. Least we forget the “chicken dance.” That is one that cannot be described in any manor in an article; you just have to see one to understand, but it is a popular item of request among the lifecasters.
continued...
The fans also play close attention to what is going on around her, like when they saw a strange looking man in the background and someone tries to warn her “Weirdo alert!” Sometimes they even try to keep her on schedule or just focused. All this may not be so obviously funny, but when you’re watching the live feed and in
the context of the time the chat room comments can get absolutely hilarious.Every time she is seen moving her fine blond hair back out of her face, you see a line in the chat room, called appropriately “!hairflip.” The explanation point triggers an automatic count by the site and then displays the count in text following it; at last count it was 3713 hairflips and growing at frequent intervals.
Frequently something like this gets mixed with a current event. Like the time she got on a mechanical bull at a restaurant in LA on Sunset Blvd. and someone typed, “MAJOR hairflip coming!” And then, there are chatters who throw bricks at someone; well, you will just have to figure that out yourself. Least we forget the “chicken dance.” That is one that cannot be described in any manor in an article; you just have to see one to understand, but it is a popular item of request among the lifecasters.
continued...
Lifecasting - continued (Site Features)
Justin.tv Site Features Are Full of Treats
In yet another feature of Justin.tv, the video is archived on the site for each lifecaster, so go back and watch anything from the past using a built-in calendar and time feature. Another feature is segmented videos of the archives that anyone online can view and edit themselves and post as a segment call a viewer “highlight,” yet another form of interaction with viewers. Still another type of edited segment called an “Episode” is segmented and posted by the lifecaster. You can browse any of these and play them back at will.
Just to show you how interactive her chat room fans become, when she is on a flight to another city, someone in the chat room finds out her flight number and post a flight tracking site link others can use that graphically shows the progress of her flight across a map of the US, in real-time, allowing everyone to follower her trip progress while in route.
In another instance, while in her car with the webcam on her while driving, one of her fans identified the radio station she was listening to, phoned the station and had a song dedicated to her on the air at the same time. Yes, as soon as she gets out of her neighborhood, the chat room webcam comes out of her bag and onto the dashboard, streaming her picture and sound while she is driving.
The interactive aspects also manifest themselves in other ways. She periodically monitors Justin.tv, reading the chat and seeing how her web cam is working. Often times she participates in the chat to interact directly with them by typing responses to them. When that happens, questions and comments for her start pouring in at a ballistic rate that becomes like a high-tech humor fest. It puts my brain into overload trying to keep up with the text moving across the screen at supersonic speeds.
All of this takes interactivity to a new level and what makes this new type of blogging so interesting and entertaining with nonstop humor. It must be a group synergy kind of thing I think!
The number of viewers is displayed next to the video picture and I have seen it as low as 6 and as high as 30429. One time she was shown sleeping in her bed (she stays clothed while camera is on) with 302 viewers. In an observation that one chat member made, “604 eyeballs watching one girl sleep.” Why, who knows, but possible they are hopping to see something not likely to happen on camera.
Sure, there are the normal slugs in the chat room that try to ruin it with derogatory or viral remarks about her and those around her at times in violation of the rules of conduct. But just like a pro should, she will just ignore it and not give such demented behavior any reward. Also, some chat participants continually violate other rules established for the chat room, such as typing in caps or spamming the site. The chat room is supposed to be moderated, but they never seem to do anything about it, which is unfortunate because it dilutes the good practices most respectfully adhere to. They should be more aggressive with violators.
continued...
In yet another feature of Justin.tv, the video is archived on the site for each lifecaster, so go back and watch anything from the past using a built-in calendar and time feature. Another feature is segmented videos of the archives that anyone online can view and edit themselves and post as a segment call a viewer “highlight,” yet another form of interaction with viewers. Still another type of edited segment called an “Episode” is segmented and posted by the lifecaster. You can browse any of these and play them back at will.
Just to show you how interactive her chat room fans become, when she is on a flight to another city, someone in the chat room finds out her flight number and post a flight tracking site link others can use that graphically shows the progress of her flight across a map of the US, in real-time, allowing everyone to follower her trip progress while in route.
In another instance, while in her car with the webcam on her while driving, one of her fans identified the radio station she was listening to, phoned the station and had a song dedicated to her on the air at the same time. Yes, as soon as she gets out of her neighborhood, the chat room webcam comes out of her bag and onto the dashboard, streaming her picture and sound while she is driving.
The interactive aspects also manifest themselves in other ways. She periodically monitors Justin.tv, reading the chat and seeing how her web cam is working. Often times she participates in the chat to interact directly with them by typing responses to them. When that happens, questions and comments for her start pouring in at a ballistic rate that becomes like a high-tech humor fest. It puts my brain into overload trying to keep up with the text moving across the screen at supersonic speeds.
All of this takes interactivity to a new level and what makes this new type of blogging so interesting and entertaining with nonstop humor. It must be a group synergy kind of thing I think!
The number of viewers is displayed next to the video picture and I have seen it as low as 6 and as high as 30429. One time she was shown sleeping in her bed (she stays clothed while camera is on) with 302 viewers. In an observation that one chat member made, “604 eyeballs watching one girl sleep.” Why, who knows, but possible they are hopping to see something not likely to happen on camera.
Sure, there are the normal slugs in the chat room that try to ruin it with derogatory or viral remarks about her and those around her at times in violation of the rules of conduct. But just like a pro should, she will just ignore it and not give such demented behavior any reward. Also, some chat participants continually violate other rules established for the chat room, such as typing in caps or spamming the site. The chat room is supposed to be moderated, but they never seem to do anything about it, which is unfortunate because it dilutes the good practices most respectfully adhere to. They should be more aggressive with violators.
continued...
Lifecasting - continued (iJustine & WebDog)
“iJustine” and “WebDog” Lifecast Each Other, Simultaneously
An interesting event took place recently at the Photoshop World conference in Las Vegas when two lifecasters met and interviewed each other. Max Wilson (aka WebDog http://www.webdogpro.com) has his stream on Justin.tv also http://www.Justin.tv/webdog. Along with Humphrey Cheung (http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/33759/113/) they interviewed iJustine at the same conference where Justine was lifecasting while working as a representative of xTrain (http://www.xtrain.com). Now you have two lifecasters, both streaming live, interviewing each other at the same time on the exhibit floor. Both streams could be viewed simultaneously while this was happening, yet another interesting consequence of lifecasting gone mobile. Both have it recorded in their archives and you can playback each one’s video of the same event from either perspective, or cam view so to speak.
continued...
Lifecasting - continued (Lisa Batey)
Why Not Multiple Streams, And Even a “Bot”
Lifecaster Lisa Batey (http://www.justin.tv/nekomimi_lisa) has taken video streaming to a new level with up to three cameras and windows plus a new stream from a webcam associate in Tokyo, or more, on one channel and she even has a second channel on Justin.tv. She tells me that one camera is not enough to show her life as completely as she wants; one at work, two or three at home and of course one to go mobile. Now that is a well-connected video blog.
She has been video streaming her video on the Internet for a long time (http://en.wi
kipedia.org/wiki/lisa_batey). Even before Justin.tv she was streaming her video by way of UStream (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nekomimilisa), which she also has ported to her Justin.tv channel. “I’ve been online for years. My camera is part of me now… of my daily life” she says. She recently added a stream from Japan on her channel, so mobile has no boundaries. In fact, she has streamed from Japan herself and plans to return to do the same.
No doubt some of her regular viewers feel a part of her life as well and actually form a personal bond. They share her while streaming from her workplace or at a bar or restaurant. At home you can see her working with her cameras and video blog equipment, chatting with her viewers in the chat room or talking to them directly with the audio feed. You can also see her more mundane activities such as watch TV or doing housework or even sleeping. All of her activities and moods at home are exposed to streaming; working, napping, watching TV, crying, drunk, happy, frustrated; its all there. “Communications and understanding and community between people is so important for a webcast,” she says.
continued
Lifecaster Lisa Batey (http://www.justin.tv/nekomimi_lisa) has taken video streaming to a new level with up to three cameras and windows plus a new stream from a webcam associate in Tokyo, or more, on one channel and she even has a second channel on Justin.tv. She tells me that one camera is not enough to show her life as completely as she wants; one at work, two or three at home and of course one to go mobile. Now that is a well-connected video blog.
She has been video streaming her video on the Internet for a long time (http://en.wi
kipedia.org/wiki/lisa_batey). Even before Justin.tv she was streaming her video by way of UStream (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nekomimilisa), which she also has ported to her Justin.tv channel. “I’ve been online for years. My camera is part of me now… of my daily life” she says. She recently added a stream from Japan on her channel, so mobile has no boundaries. In fact, she has streamed from Japan herself and plans to return to do the same.No doubt some of her regular viewers feel a part of her life as well and actually form a personal bond. They share her while streaming from her workplace or at a bar or restaurant. At home you can see her working with her cameras and video blog equipment, chatting with her viewers in the chat room or talking to them directly with the audio feed. You can also see her more mundane activities such as watch TV or doing housework or even sleeping. All of her activities and moods at home are exposed to streaming; working, napping, watching TV, crying, drunk, happy, frustrated; its all there. “Communications and understanding and community between people is so important for a webcast,” she says.
continued
Lifecasting - continued (Lisa’s Bot)
And the Bot? Meet Surveyor…
Now seen in Lisa’s house. Yes, she has small robot crawling around her floor at home (http://surveyor.com/srv_info.html) that is in development. The java-based code “allows a viewer anywhere in the world to access the robot in my apartment… it’s just cool,” she says, in taking the technology capability further into other possibilities.
A lot of the content on sites such as Justin.tv do not exhibit the spark and excitement that some have and others simply serve a different purpose. Lisa though is excited working with all this technology and would like to see a business model develop that would support commercial content, such as a “long-term travel channel for my part… this media is perfect for it,” she says. Ok, all you venture capitalists, listen up!
Lifecasting - continued (The Technical Side)
Finally… The Technical Side
The video picture is good quality generally if the foreground is lighted well and nothing in the scene is moving. However, when something in the picture frame is moving quickly or the camera is moving so everything in the picture is moving fast, objects are a blur because of low frame rates required to keep the video bandwidth at a minimum for wireless and Internet streaming.
At times the picture becomes very pixilated due to bandwidth restrictions. If this happens often you will loose the picture entirely because the video in the buffer runs out and it has to fill the buffer again before refreshing the image.
These problems with the video are common in this type of setup. The entire process of pumping live steaming audio and video through a computer with a wireless connection to the Internet is all very bandwidth limited. In addition to buffering the video, it is highly compressed to reduce the bandwidth of the signal even more.
The way compression works, it relies on passing only the data that changes from frame to frame. If the camera is moving too many pixels (picture elements) change and the data rate climbs rapidly under this situation. However, as the bandwidth provided by the infrastructure of an ISP increase over time, you will begin to see the transmission quality rise as a result and less of these frustrating artifacts.
Technical improvements are available now that could improve the lifecasting experience. If you take your mobile rig into a bar, low light levels and high background noise limits its value in those circumstances. The audio in general is very problematic when mobile.
This could improve vastly with current technology such as digital audio processing that could compress the audio so the dynamic range is not so sever and filter out unwanted background nose and clutter, but that would be too expensive for the average lifecasters to afford. There are other ways to improve both audio and video quality with currently technology, but this medium has yet to have a financial model to support such improvements.
The worst part about taking lifecasting mobile is the rig in tow, a webcam with microphone and a very large purse or bag for laptop, batteries and cables (see Let’s Have Coffee). It is a bit too bulky and could probably be much smaller and lighter with better equipment that is now available no, although very expensive for commercial enterprises or us civilians.
I know for certain that the US military is currently spending huge amounts of our tax dollars on research for mobile video streaming and compression technology development. It is very important to the military to develop this technology to a high degree of performance so it can used to send small airplanes (very small) and robots into harms way before soldiers have to enter a territory that will lower the risk to our soldiers. Both are planned to have lethal weapons on some that can be fired at will by a controller anywhere in the world, so the quality must be superb. See.. Lisa is not far off with her domestic bot experimentation.
Military technology always and eventually filters down for civilian and commercial entities, even the lifecaster community eventually. Maybe one day, Justin, Justine, Lisa, WebDog and other lifecasters will have a wireless camera hid in a small hair clip with the transmitter and processor attached to their keychain... just a thought.
© 2007 George Wilkinson, george@atssupport.com
The video picture is good quality generally if the foreground is lighted well and nothing in the scene is moving. However, when something in the picture frame is moving quickly or the camera is moving so everything in the picture is moving fast, objects are a blur because of low frame rates required to keep the video bandwidth at a minimum for wireless and Internet streaming.
At times the picture becomes very pixilated due to bandwidth restrictions. If this happens often you will loose the picture entirely because the video in the buffer runs out and it has to fill the buffer again before refreshing the image.
These problems with the video are common in this type of setup. The entire process of pumping live steaming audio and video through a computer with a wireless connection to the Internet is all very bandwidth limited. In addition to buffering the video, it is highly compressed to reduce the bandwidth of the signal even more.
The way compression works, it relies on passing only the data that changes from frame to frame. If the camera is moving too many pixels (picture elements) change and the data rate climbs rapidly under this situation. However, as the bandwidth provided by the infrastructure of an ISP increase over time, you will begin to see the transmission quality rise as a result and less of these frustrating artifacts.
Technical improvements are available now that could improve the lifecasting experience. If you take your mobile rig into a bar, low light levels and high background noise limits its value in those circumstances. The audio in general is very problematic when mobile.
This could improve vastly with current technology such as digital audio processing that could compress the audio so the dynamic range is not so sever and filter out unwanted background nose and clutter, but that would be too expensive for the average lifecasters to afford. There are other ways to improve both audio and video quality with currently technology, but this medium has yet to have a financial model to support such improvements.
The worst part about taking lifecasting mobile is the rig in tow, a webcam with microphone and a very large purse or bag for laptop, batteries and cables (see Let’s Have Coffee). It is a bit too bulky and could probably be much smaller and lighter with better equipment that is now available no, although very expensive for commercial enterprises or us civilians.
I know for certain that the US military is currently spending huge amounts of our tax dollars on research for mobile video streaming and compression technology development. It is very important to the military to develop this technology to a high degree of performance so it can used to send small airplanes (very small) and robots into harms way before soldiers have to enter a territory that will lower the risk to our soldiers. Both are planned to have lethal weapons on some that can be fired at will by a controller anywhere in the world, so the quality must be superb. See.. Lisa is not far off with her domestic bot experimentation.
Military technology always and eventually filters down for civilian and commercial entities, even the lifecaster community eventually. Maybe one day, Justin, Justine, Lisa, WebDog and other lifecasters will have a wireless camera hid in a small hair clip with the transmitter and processor attached to their keychain... just a thought.
© 2007 George Wilkinson, george@atssupport.com
September 23, 2007
The Cast of Life-casters Keept Growing!
The article on Justin.tv is finally in the final draft. And will be posted soon. It is the first article I have written on the technical aspects of an online social phenomena, but I found this one too tempting to pass up. What I found out was a curious interactivity going on when combining real-time live video coming from a web cam with live chat.
It started with just Justin Kan who started the video blog Justin.tv, then included a popular life-casters on his site, Justine Ezarik. I then noticed another tech-savvy caster Lisa Batey, who brings more interesting technology into the mix and somewhat different perspective on lifecasting.
Although I mostly write about technology, this one morphed into something different and was one of the more interesting articles I have written lately. Check out the article posted here in draft soon.
It started with just Justin Kan who started the video blog Justin.tv, then included a popular life-casters on his site, Justine Ezarik. I then noticed another tech-savvy caster Lisa Batey, who brings more interesting technology into the mix and somewhat different perspective on lifecasting.
Although I mostly write about technology, this one morphed into something different and was one of the more interesting articles I have written lately. Check out the article posted here in draft soon.
September 10, 2007
New Article on Justin.tv Posted Soon
A research project for high quality wireless video distribution morphed into something very different once I reached Justin.tv lifecasting site.
Transfer
This blog is being setup temporarily to post new blogs added by George Wilkinson until the new web site for Advanced Technological Services is completed. Some old blogs will be copied to here, but this will be mostly for new ones.
My Taming of the Beast series and a few others will definitely be posted here.
My Taming of the Beast series and a few others will definitely be posted here.
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