Technology Matters

Posts tagged Streaming

Streaming Nation

Jan05
2012 Written by Mauldor

I want to take you back all the way to 2007, this is when the first sites started to come up which allowed anyone with a computer, webcam and a microphone the ability to have their very own TV show if you like. Back in them days, of course, we had no adverts and there was many people jumping on the bandwagon to start their very own show. If we look towards the tech shows of the time, two people were ahead of the game; this being Chris Pirillo & Leo Laporte. These people were no strangers to TV, they used to be on the USA show TechTV and many people strived to be like them, the same sort of show, the same graphics and even the same format. I wish to chart the rise and the fall of Tech Shows in general and look towards the future. READ MORE »

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Streaming Movies to Justin.TV via VLC

Dec19
2011 Written by Mauldor

Recently I tested streaming a movie to Justin.TV via wirecast and this worked very well indeed, the quality was as good as watching it local and it played without breaking up, lagging or anything like that. There is a few issues with using Wirecast though, the first is the fact it can only play certain file types (mostly MP4) and second, you have to babysit the process to swap movies. After some searching, I came across JTVLC - this can stream content from VLC which in turn can use a playlist.

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Do we really need DVD these days?

Jul24
2011 Written by Mauldor

We have seen that the new Mac Mini is now void of any drive to insert DVD’s into and f you look at any of the latest tablet / laptop type computers – they too have no drive to insert any DVD’s into. You may ask yourself what if you wanted to install the operating system, what about playing DVD movies and god forbid you wanted to sabre some data to cd to send off right?

I wanted to use this post to look at ways to show that in fact CD/DVD as a medium is in fact dying out and there is always a way around doing things better using other media, namely memory sticks.

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Posted in Tech, Thoughts - Tagged , , , , , , , ,

All-In-One PVR – does one exist?

Jul03
2011 Written by Mauldor

Underneath my TV is a collection of boxes, each with a different purpose in life and it was this that got me thinking – why is there not a combined all-in-one device that does all of these functions and more? What devices then are under there? The first is the cable tuner but this can be swapped out for a Freeview HD recorder for example. Freeview by the way is the UK Free to air channels and there is 50 TV channels and 24 radio stations. Next up is my DVD player, this is not used as much these days but always handy to have.  Last on my list is my media player, this can handle movie’s streamed from my NAS box and such. My Goal device would be all of these combined into one box that connects to the network – but, do this thing exist?

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Justin.TV taking a few wrong turns?

Mar20
2011 Written by Mauldor

The Streaming site Justin.TV has made a few core changes “for the good of the end users” and this has caused some head scratching in my behalf as to why would they feel that these would be a “good” thing? The first thing they did is introduce a new player which now has a constant bar on the bottom.

This means when you embed the player, instead of been hidden away (the controls) until you need them – they are right in your face. My Guess is too many people had no idea where the volume control was and such on the old player. Next up we have splitting of Chat rooms – when it feels there is too many in one room, it puts you in room 2 and so forth. What this means is the mods will be in room 1 while people are going wild in room 2. I have not come across an IRC Server that has problems with 200+ people in and feels the need to split into more rooms, I have no idea what this achieves. Lastly then – the IOS Justin.TV player / broadcaster which used to be free is now $4.99 – wow is all I can say and I suspect nobody will buy this anytime soon.

I also heard (through the grapevine) that they are extending the channel bans for anyone playing music, a lot of people play music in the background and banning them will drive people away. They have to do this I guess for copyright issues.

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Upgrading the Network to gigabit

Feb01
2011 Written by Mauldor

ZY_GS-108B

While I already have a gigabit network running, there is not enough ports to allow all the computers to connect via gigabit which means some are locked to 100mbit and the rest are on wireless (a mixture of Wireless N and Wireless G speeds). Converting your network to gigabit gives you a boost in speed and the cost is very low these days as you will see. A Quick recap on what I already have – I am on 50mbit / 5mbit Cable Internet via Virgin Media which is connected to a D-Link 615 Router (Supplied by Virgin media as part of the install) which features Wireless N Speed but only 4 ports at 100mbit. I have a 5 Port Netgear gigabit Switch which is a bit dodgy on the 5th port – this means I can only have 4 computers (or NAS Boxes) max that is on Gigabit.

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Choosing the right media device

Sep11
2010 Written by Mauldor

(Betamax for the win)

Technology moves on and people try and find easier and better ways to manage and watch media, be it video, pictures or even music on there TV. It was not that long ago that it was quite simple, you bought a DVD Player that suited your price range and features, plugged it into your TV and you can now go out and buy movies on DVD. Storing 100′s of Movies presented an issue and there had to be a better way – and now there is, media streaming devices come in many shapes and sizes as well as cost and functions – this post serves as a grounding on what to look for.

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Streaming HD Video

Aug28
2010 Written by Mauldor

As ISP’s provide faster bandwidth speeds, webcams get higher resolution and computers get faster and more core’s – it begs the question – can you now stream in full HD resolution to offer the best video possible as well do it on a free service? I recently watched what was claimed to be full blown HD Stream but after making this full screen and seeing ‘jaggies’ on the diagonal lines (such as the nose for example) – I questioned if this was really HD and what was at fault.

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Ustream vs. Justin.tv

Jun20
2010 Written by Mauldor

I thought I would revisit the age old Ustream.TV vs. Justin.TV debate and look at how they have changed, problems encountered and write something from the end-users point of view – after all without people visiting and interacting with the chat, you might as well be talking to yourself. The quick background is that these sites along with others allow anyone with a webcam and a microphone to stream a live show, anything from pointing the webcam at some kittens to a full blow show with lower 3rds and transitions.

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Host Videos on your Own Site

May09
2010 Written by Mauldor

You make video’s that are longer then 10 minutes and you have your own site normally with unlimited space and bandwidth but you bang you head on the wall wondering how you are going to get the video’s on your web site right? I did a bit of research and could not believe how easy it was to have your very own video on your site without using or paying for extra services.

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