Digital Video - December 2008 - (Page 32)

CLICK TO PLAY satellite industry about 11 years ago when I co-founded IP Access International [www.ipaccessinternational.net]. Brian Roland is a two-time Emmy winner and Discovery Channel producer with 35 years in the industry. We decided to productize TodoCast out of necessity for serving customers who were using our satellite network for streaming video — specifically, videographers doing onsite production where there wasn’t adequate Internet bandwidth. One of our longtime clients is Arnold Schwarzenegger, who loves the camera and goes on-site for freeway openings, forest fires and other newsworthy events around California. At one point, we were talking to Mark Cuban about outfitting a Range Rover for a trip down to the tip of South America to be featured on HDNet. Features like stream authentication, pay-per-view and revenue collection were added as we improved the product. TodoCast as a standalone company still leverages IPAI’s technology. A primary goal is to develop a network of 200 to 300 videographers who invest in our system and use it on a daily basis. provide to the control is encoded and uploaded via the satellite as Flash video, even though the satellite system itself is format agnostic. Would you offer the TodoCast solution without the satellite connection? Bryan Hill: No, but I don’t think anyone else is going to go into the satellite business just to do what we do already, because it’s very expensive. We’ve spent years making our business model work based on what IPAI offers us, which is a pretty rare synergy. From Canada to Argentina, you can point your camera at a newsworthy subject with our guarantee that a satellite rather than a local Web hosting service is transmitting your bits to the server. If you have money and your reputation riding on a broadcast event, you can’t depend on even a T1 from a local provider. This is especially true in places like Las Vegas, where there can be lots of cameras wanting broadband access. You’re just dead in the water if it’s not there when you need it. Our reliability also supports our credibility in the social networks of videographers and viewers we’re trying to establish. An example is the equestrian community that one of our videographers has built using TodoCast, which is about 60,000 strong based on his live coverage of equestrian events. We take care of his member authentication and communication, as well as his online storefront. Down the road, we plan to provide ways for different communities to interact based on common interests. As a TodoCast customer, we provide you with a customizable, event-based home page template and tools to sell pay-per-view tickets to people who visit that page. If you have an existing Web site, you can link to your TodoCast page and drive traffic there. If you have a library of existing video assets, you can upload them to your TodoCast channel without using our live event acquisition process. In what other vertical markets besides live news can TodoCast deliver the goods? Reality TV? Adult? Bryan Hill: We’re open to all verticals as long as they’re legitimate and the appropriate people are watching the content. In terms of unusual events, our videographers have covered such things as submarine competitions in San Diego, but we think the true appeal is the anything-can-happen nature of live coverage coupled with the intimacy of watching it on your computer as opposed to on your TV, no editing, as it happens, maximum latency 30 seconds. Plus, an audience can develop loyalty to a particular TodoCast videographer as opposed to a channel or a network. A recent event where TodoCast as an indie-friendly alternative really shined was during something we took care of for the LAPD. Back in 1969, there was a string of murders by a construction worker who buried his victims under an L.A. freeway that was being built. Investigation led to excavation, and the families of the victims were able to get a front row seat thanks to a TodoCast videographer being able to get inside the media line and even closer to the dig than the major network trucks could. Local TV stations came to TodoCast while this was going on with substantial offers for that footage. DV www.dv.com Figure 2. Webcasting like it’s 1999. Take me though some typical production scenarios. Brian Roland: Coming from a video production background, what really intrigued me about TodoCast was how fast you can arrive at a location, push one or two buttons, plug your camera into the encoder and be live on the Internet, basically within five minutes. Producers who know what they want and have done it all the old way are especially interested in our system. The main components are all wired together. When you get the kit, you plug in three lines from the dish to the back of the control unit. When you set up to shoot, you plug your camera into a pigtail on the front [composite, component or SDI], warm everything up, let the dish find the satellite, and you’re good to go. I’ve used a 300' RJ45 cable for the connection between the camera and the control unit with no degradation in the signal. We can recommend some third-party wireless technology for this part, but we don’t yet offer it in the basic package. The control unit has a drive that captures the footage you’re acquiring if you want to upload assets to our server via FTP, or you could use a camera that records directly to disk and then play the output into the control unit when you’re done shooting. Whatever you 32 dv december 2008 http://www.ipinternational.net/ http://www.dv.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Digital Video - December 2008

Digital Video - December 2008 Contents DV Expo Gallery First Look: Ultimate 35MM Lens Adapter Vidock GFX Pro Videostudio Pro X2 Instant Expert The Making of Roman Close-up: Dave Ruddick Crypto Camerawork Click To Play DV101 Production Diary

Digital Video - December 2008

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