Live Chase Streaming

[Steve Miller TX]

One very important thing to consider which I don't see much if any discussion about is: How is your streaming video protected? Are there watermarks or bugs on the video stream to prevent theft and unauthorized use? Are there audit and archiving capabilities available should you need to pursue legal remedies for unauthorized use?

I can tell you from personal experience that media outlets among others will swipe it and use it for their on-air broadcast and you'll never know....and you'll never get reimbursed. This happened last year when streaming from Hurricane Ike.

What about rights to your stream and the archived video? Are you sharing it? Do you have exclusivity? Are you sure?

Food for thought.

 

[Jason Foster]

Steve is right, and that is the big part of the problem with streaming. Now I know most people are just streaming because they think it's cool, and want others to see what they are seeing. So if it's broadcast on TV, great! But for those who seek protection, then it's important to understand the risks, and the steps need to protect yourself and your video.

Additionally, trying to sell people on one service over the other (almost seems like the thread should be put into marketplace section sometimes). Bottom line to me is if you want chasers to see your stuff without having to put a lot of effort into advertising when and where you are streaming, most of the chaser oriented streaming sites are good. If you want to appeal to a larger audience and do more programming and such, then look at other services. The free sites are just as good or better in some situations, it just depends on what you want to do with it. It also depends on how much you want to spend. Sometimes there's no more cost than a cord from the PC to camera. In some cases not even that (laptop with built in camera), so whatever you want, it's there.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

BTW, thought I'd ressurect this thread today due to a fairly good example of what I was talking about in some of the earlier posts in this discussion. Today, somebody (not me) linked Roger Hill's stream of the awesome Pleasanton tornado to FARK.com. As I've said before -- the performace aspects of WMV vs. Flash aside, the general public does not like Silverlight. The following discussion thread (warning: angry people using vulgar language that I don't endorse ahead) highlights this over and over again.

http://www.fark.com/cgi/comments.pl?IDLink=4455183

BTW, those were awesome streams Roger and Brian -- the live tornado shots were unreal!

 

[Jay McCoy]

I only saw a few jackasses talking bad about Silverlight and microsoft in general. I wouldnt say the general public doesnt like it when only a few out of many complained. And it sounds like those guys hate microsoft stuff in general. I have never had an issue with silverlight. Dont see what the big deal is. I watched Rogers stream like a kid on christmas with only a few dropouts. Incredible shots. If I have to DL a small program to be able to watch that then fine by me.

 

[Adam Cartwright]

Just an side comment, I work in the IT industry and do a lot of hiring and staffing. Right now the demand for Silverlight developers is out the roof. I can't find enough skilled Silverlight developers to keep up with the job demands and open positions, but I have software developers focused in other technologies sitting on their butts. Seems like a pretty good indicator that Silverlight is gaining adoption and is a real player.

 

[GlennMartin]

I have a suggestion for people who live stream. You might consider making 10% foreground and 90% sky instead of 50-50 in your frame.

Good suggestion, another is stop following the dang left splitter! Actually I appreciate the streaming efforts Its nice to flip on your pc and see whats going on in the field even though the quality is often somewhat poor and the connection issues are many but I imagine in 10 years we will have 100 percent connections and crystal clear video for the lazy armchair chaser.

 

[Scott Hammel]

My favorite line from the fark link..."Aurora! There is going to be lots of pollution after all those meth labs get blown apart." Hahaha...Anyway, I haven't had much problems with Silverlight running on my mac.

 

[Chris Koetters]

I was really excited to use Severe Streaming but Im starting to thank now that I may have to go with someone else. I have been waiting for my Windows Media account for over a month now, so I have been trying to get in contact with them and nobody from Severe will return my phone calls or emails. I have sent them emails on 6/19, 6/20, and 6/27 to both the info@severstudios and also Kory's email. I have also made numerous calls to both the hot line and to Kory's phone with no answer from either. I was going to test this out the free service and then upgrade but if this is how there customer service is, I might be better off spending my money elsewhere.

I am not the type of person to bash a company, but I really expected much better service.

 

[J Kinkaid]

I was really excited to use Severe Streaming but Im starting to thank now that I may have to go with someone else. I have been waiting for my Windows Media account for over a month now, so I have been trying to get in contact with them and nobody from Severe will return my phone calls or emails. I have sent them emails on 6/19, 6/20, and 6/27 to both the info@severstudios and also Kory's email. I have also made numerous calls to both the hot line and to Kory's phone with no answer from either. I was going to test this out the free service and then upgrade but if this is how there customer service is, I might be better off spending my money elsewhere.

I am not the type of person to bash a company, but I really expected much better service.

Why not go with Chasertv for $40 a year ? I think that it's important to look at the past history of streaming service providers before you decide. Some have some lawsuits against them and harass there former clients. Email Scott and Steve if you have any questions or send them an im in spotterchat and I am sure that they will respond the same day.

 

[kenny_allen]

I am not the type of person to bash a company, but I really expected much better service.

Chris,
I apologize you did not get your account information yet. Kory will be contacting you ASAP to assist you and I will look into your account as well.

For those individuals that continue to perpetuate rumors and lies about our company on this board and other places, please call the Secretary of State's office in South Dakota and find out if we have ever been sued or have any litigation pending against us. The answer is NO. Stop trying to spread nasty and false rumors.

People like Andy Gabrielson, Roger Hill, Brett Adair, Jay Cazel, Bart Comstock, and others work with SevereStudios Inc. because we give them A+ service.

If there are streaming accounts not setup, and we are a little bit behind, it is my fault. I have been sick since the beginning of June, as I had Hyperplasia of my parathyroid glands and had major surgery. I just returned to work this week after three weeks of recovery. On top of this, my father is gravely ill with Brain Cancer. Needless to say, my life has been complicated the last month. Kory has done a great job of doing his job plus adding in my responsibilities to his work load. Kory and I are doing the best we can to give the FREE streamers the best services for the best price, FREE. All of our paid clients are always taken care of immediately, even when one of us is on leave from work. For priority service, please call 1-866-WX-LIVE-1 anytime. We have found that email communication does not always work, thanks to firewalls and filters.

Thanks for your time and thanks for your interest in SevereStudios.com!

 

[Scott Weberpal]

People like Andy Gabrielson, Brett Adair, Jay Cazel, Bart Comstock, and others work with SevereStudios Inc. because we give them A+ service.

Who? Who? Who? and Who?

 

[Scott Bennett]

Obviously there are many options when choosing a FREE service. Services such as www.livestream.com and www.ustream.com come to mind too. Their setup is instantaneous and you are streaming right after registering.

Both the ChaserTV and SevereStudios platforms have many setup hurdles because of integration with other systems. CTV for example needs to program your stream into our cloud computing servers, phone system and web servers. We also need to create the custom watermark and secure player for your stream by hand. Since both services only serve about 100 users automation is not really possible.

At CTV the $40 “Charge” was put in place so that everyone had a level playing field, everyone on the service gets the same support and pays the same amount. There is not a list of 5 chasers to reduce the list down to when bragging; obviously we have quite a list of veteran and new chasers alike and each and every one brings something to the table. With the exception of our front page that features some of the first “users of our service” everyone gets the same attention. We don’t sell or broker video so the $40 fee is the only revenue stream we have to provide the service.

I hope that helps explain why it may take a bit to get things setup with either service. I also wanted to provide a little clarity on the FREE vs Charge thing since it came up again.

Both the team at CTV and SS are weather nuts too, so at times you may find them out chasing when you place a setup request.

I think Kenny is on top of your issue now, good luck and be safe!

 

[Doug Mitchell]

Do you get a free lightbar with that 40 dollar a year fee?

 

[Scott Bennett]

Do you get a free lightbar with that 40 dollar a year fee?

*Lightbar optional and NOT included.

 

[Jason Foster]

I guess none of the services offer any sort of individual channels either, or the ability to host unique chats within their video stream? What about more branding. How about advertising....is there anything that says it's prohibited to embed an video advertisement in the middle of a stream with the chaser related streaming sites?