BlogTV is another website which allows anybody armed with a webcam and a microphone to broadcast there own show online for others to watch, chat and interact with the show. In this review, I will be going through some of the features you can expect from this service, what it offers and a view on why it may be better or worse then the others out there.

The Show Page

The Viewers get to see a page which includes the Stream itself, the chat box to the right and below all of this there is the various Comments and show description. You can add people as Friends and they appear on your list (even if they are not in that show) and operators get to manage the people from here such as Ban, Kick and mute. They also embed the chat into the stream which is good if featured on the front page or on any recording – so you get the full experience even after the show has finished.

Broadcasting

When you hit “Broadcast” – you get a page come up that allows you to set the Language and Section you wish to appear in, email everybody informing that a show is about to go live, Twitter and even an Embed code for various pages. You can skip this step and proceed to the broadcasting console should you wish.

The next page that comes up is in fact the very same as the normal Viewers page except you have “Start Broadcast” or a new feature “Start HQ Broadcast”. As this will be your Broadcast – you have more features listed on the chat box to the right – such as Perma Ops and Banned users. If you do click “Start HQ Broadcast” – you end of a page showing you this:

This now means a good few of the Streaming sites provide a means to broadcast in high Quality using FME, I have not tested this and no idea of the restrictions for upload (as with Mogulus) but its good none the less.If you start a Normal Broadcast this is the console you get up:

You can choose your Camera, the Audio device along with the Start Broadcasting button – note the rest are Greyed out until you Go Live which makes sense. Also notice there is other shows listed on the top – so your cross advertising other shows.

Recording Shows

Once you do Broadcast – the other buttons now light up and one is the recording. The good thing about the recording of shows is that any of the chat that is going on will be saved and displayed on the said recording, this means your viewers won’t miss out on what was been said while you made the recording.

Pro Account and Adverts

Personally I think this is the cheapest “Pro” Account of any of the services and as you can see it offers no Adverts but this is not mistaken for Adverts on your Video, this is so that YOU do not see adverts on any of the streams / site, a normal user will still see adverts on your videos. The recording allows upto 30 minutes – so I have no idea the length of a Non-Pro user, less then 30 minutes I imagine. People can “Gift” you a Pro Account as well – so this is a good idea.

Settings

You get one page where you set everything – which includes information that does not seem relevant to the show such as what industry you work in and such, maybe BLOGTV are selling the Info to pay for the services? The Mini BIO is what people see when they enter your room or on your description.

Categories

One of the important things needed for any show is viewers and it is important that people can find you. You can break down the shows into Country, gender and also by type which is not as easy located as you would think. The fact I can bring the results down to show only UK based Streams for example is a very good one but I don’t think they are too bothered about which section you live in. I did some testing a while back to see how long it took from going live till someone came into the chat room and it was pretty quick though the numbers never grew too much over time.

Chat Clients

While it is handy that a person can open a web page and chat right alongside the show is good, the ability to keep the bad people out is made that much harder and this is were I always prefer a proper IRC Server as it means I can not only run a BOT to aut manage the room but lock the room down if things get bad. On the plus side though you can restrict chat to only registered users and it does get saved on recordings – so not all bad.

Adverts

When you first go into a room, you get a 6-10 Second advert then the show starts plus there is the normal adverts at the bottom as there seems to be on all services these days. I am wondering if you bought a Pro Account (as a Viewer) you would not get any adverts which is handy. Do not forget you can Embed the Video on your own site and get around the problem that way – though this wont stop the adverts on the stream itself.

Conclusion and thoughts

BLOGTV seems popular with Youtube people though I found a lot of people on there were just after watching young girls, remmeber they have a age limit on there broadcast of 16 and this is to protect people, try and get around this (if you are younger) and it won’t take long for your show to get shut down. I feel all broadcasting sites should impose this rule pesonally – Min age is 16 no matter what. I do like BlogTV over say Justin & Stickam but it dos not feel as professional as the rest – maybe aimed at a different Audience.

I had some inspiration that I should go on a purge of all the web sites that I personally think I should stop using, I slept on it overnight to make sure it was not a flash in the pan idea that I would regret later and once my mind was made up, I went on a purge of all the site I had registered and used.

USTREAM TV

The first casualty was Ustream.TV – this was of no use to me and I had my fill so armed with this I made sure I deleted the Video’s I had recorded, removed the show and finally the user accounts, I Mirrored this on my IRC Client, no more shall I be on there for whatever reason, be it watching shows or broadcasting.

BLOG.TV

BlogTV

The Live Streaming Site – BLOGTV – has changed the lower age limit from 13 Years old to 16 Years old, this means anybody who is or looks younger will probably be reported and taken off air. I see this as a Good move personally as it stops the underage been preyed on by those weird people out there though I am sure they will still attempt to stream and create accounts.

I suppose the better way is to find a way globally to confirm your Date of Birth – not sure how this is possible.

Live Streaming – Has it advanced any?

The various web sites out there offering the ability to stream live about 6 months ago was new and fresh, had no advertising and easy to find various streams to whatever took your fancy. Basically anyone can set up a web cam and stream but it take bandwidth the cater for many people and this is where they come in, you in fact stream to one server, needing about 400kbps upload and the server relay’s this out to as many as thee bandwidth allows. Bandwidth / Servers are not Free or even cheap for that matter – so why did they offer such a thing (much in the same way YouTub offers Video’s in this sense).

Advertising

One Way to claw some of that money back is to put advertising across the pages and even the live stream as a means to get some income back in but this maybe only works if people are actually clicking on them. I have noticed all of the main players (Ustream, Stickam, BlogTV, Justin.TV) have adverts on there video now – the reason why the stream’s is people were embedding the Stream on there own pages and by-pasing the adverts (replacing them with there own in fact).

People get annoyed with the advertising

I have seen either by the forums or other means people make statements such as:

“I did not give them permission to put adverts over MY Stream”

or

“They should give me some of the revenue – it is me providing the content”

What people seem to have forgotten is that the service has to be paid for in some fashion, it is Free, if you want Advert Free Live Streaming – then you will have to either find something that is paid for or run your own (lot of upstream required).

Moderation

There is nothing more annoying to the vistor then coming to a room, having a chat and then getting kicked off or even banned for what is deemed for no reason. You have no real course of action to complain other then changing your IP and attempting to come back but personally you are fighting a loosing battle. Remember that as they get rid of people – that is one less person who is visting there stream and for every subject, there is many people streaming about it. One some streams, the only thing you loose from the above is the ability to type messages – many have there chat embeded in the stream or in the case of Justin.Tv for example – you can see the chat anyhow even if not logged in.

Tech Streams

I just want to give a special mention to the MANY tech Streams out there – while I give them credit for sitting there and giving free tech support (or at least trying to), you do get what you pay for and not all the advice given will be any good or for that matter be any better then Googling it. Remember also it is hard to type the exact problem – imagine trying to explain an icon on the task bar which comes up and goes quickly, easier to speak but most won’t have voice comms going.

Where are they all heading?

Quite simply I see many of the Live Streams and people as a passing phase and many will move onto something else at some point. I am only speaking about myself in this respect as the things I used to do 1 year ago for example, I do not do now and I find it hard to see someone a year from now still streaming 24/7 unless they have nothing better to do. I see ISP’s bringing in more Capping of data and the streaming sites charging or limiting the time.

USTREAM.TV

Ustream has a font page where they have featured, most viewed and Popular and this lists a handful of streams you can watch. If your stream has been accepted into the right section (Tech, People etc) then this is another way people can find out about you. If you are outside these realms, there is little chance people can find you. The Chat server is an IRC sever hosted by Ustream but with one email to support, they can swap you to others. There is also an option to stream via Flash Media Encoder for better quality.

The Built in Chat allow for basic Admin duties but you won’t see who is joining and so forth. There is many programs which allows you to watch stream away from the web page such as StreamDesk for example. I find it easier to visit the site, use the POPUP window of just the video and join the stream via an IRC Client. Ustream offers both good and bad ideas and not easy to find the type of stream you are looking for.

JUSTIN.TV

Justin.TV is very similar but is ubale to allow people to use an IRC Client – they do have a server but unless your name is on a White List – you will never get in. This means all of the chat is focused on the web client they present. They do have groups and a means for people who stream to place there video in the right area – such as Tech for example. For moderation – they have SLOW Mode (a 10 minute time out from typing) and a Ban – which is all managed on your account. I found the stream very choppy either streaming myself or watching. Due to lack of IRC options – I am not in favour of this site.

BLOGTV.COM

BlogTV is another one I came across – On inspection I noticed it had the streams broken down into Country such as USA, Russia and UK for example – this allows me t personally find something in my own time zone instead of having to wade through all the USA Channels (which are on-line but asleep). Within this there is also Types such as Tech, LifeTV and various others – so finding the right type of show should be easy and if you hosted a show, an easy way for people to find you. I have no idea if it has a IRC Server, I personally coud not find the info on how to connect. On the subject of the Video – watching shows and people talk but I cannot see there moth move – this means it is a very low FPS and not able to capture the lips moving.

Live.Yahoo.Com

This is pretty new and not as many shows stream, people can add there picture into the bottom which is either good or bad – depending on what you want to do. The chat can be managed so that for example the chat is disabled when you are not broadcasting – this would stop spammers for sure. The quality of the picture is good but it is not suited to mass chatting – more of a MSN type program really. Chat is on the screen once again and easy enough to manage though I always prefer an IRC Client to manage these things.

Thoughts and Conclusions
You could set up a stream using any of the one’s above and there is probably more out there that I have not even mentioned. My View is that ustream seemed more professional BUT you could run a show for 5 days solid and not have one visitor as nobody would even know you were streaming. The other sites are good in the idea they present BUT without a proper IRC Server for Chat – I feel this lets them down. It is possible though for one more option:

1. Test them all out and work out which gives best quality.
2. Embed the Video Only on your own Web Site – which you promote to all.
3. Set up your own choice of IRC Server and use a Java Program for chat if required.
4. Diable all Chat on the Video site and put a link for them to register.

Feel free to try them out – watch a few streams and see how it goes, they all have there Pro’s & Con’s.