How to Do a Live Webcast
With today's advanced technology, anyone can create a live webcast -- a live broadcast streamed on the Internet -- from the privacy of their own home. In the past, webcasts have generally been of large events, like concerts and premieres, but with the accessibility of technology, many people have been using webcasts as a form of blogging by speaking directly to the camera. Live webcasts are also useful for professors and teachers, as they can record any classes -- with the consent of students -- so students who missed that class or others interested in the material being instructed can see what was taught. You can create your own live webcast using a free live streaming website and a webcam.
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Instructions
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Create an account on a live streaming website such as Justin.tv, Ustream and Livestream.
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Create a channel on your account. The channel is where viewers can watch live webcasts, find information and updates about past and future webcasts, and watch old webcasts. Give the channel a title, write a description of who you are and what you will be broadcasting on the live stream, and tag it with keywords relevant to your theme.
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Send the link for your channel to your friends, family and co-workers, and post it on any blogs you have. You can also copy the HTML embed code and paste it on your blog so your blog visitors can view the stream without having to visit your channel.
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Set up your webcam in the location you want to be filmed from when you are ready to record and stream your webcast. If you are using a camera that isn't installed in a computer, make sure it is hooked up properly and working.
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Log in to your channel. Click the "Go Live!" button on the top right corner of Justin.tv or Ustream, or the "Livestream Your Events" button on the top right corner of Livestream, to begin the webcast.
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Check "Allow" on the "Adobe Flash Players Settings" box to confirm the website can use your webcam for the broadcast.
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Click the "Start" button to begin. When finished, click the "End" button and log out.
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Tips & Warnings
You do not need to have a registered domain, as long as you can point to the IP address of your media server. That is, you must already have a website that you are going to use to direct the users to listen to your media program.
You can simply connect a microphone to the media server's sound card and speak into the mic to create the webcast. You can also play an existing file using the Play On demand option on the Media Server. If you have music or voice coming in from an external device (phone or CD player), you can connect it to the line-in jack on the sound card.
It will not be effective to try to use the same machine for a web server and media server at the same time. For one thing, your users will be competing with one another for bandwidth on both servers. Also, you will usually configure your server as a web or media server, but not both.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Thinkstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images
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Comments
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concise, informative, thank you.
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phartman
Jan 08, 2009
I didn't specifically deal with video webcasts, just audio. Video would have far more requirements. For example, you could not transmit over the phone line into the sound card on the server. You would undoubtedly have to use a laptop with wifi in the field and connect directly to the server over internet. This requires a lot more technology and expense than the modest audio webcast I am proposing. -
pierre10
Jul 28, 2008
What type of camera do I need? And how to connect it to get the video to stream? I very new at this :>|
