Play The Game 2009 Conference – Visions for sport in times of crisis

We’re very pleased to announce that our parent company Streaming Wizard, www.streamingwizard.com have been chosen as the streaming provider for the Play The Game 2009 Conference.

This prestigious event is taking place at Coventry Cathedral from the 8th – 12th June.

We’re responsible for delivering the live sessions to a global audience of several hundred viewers and this year’s subjects range from match fixing in football to the Beijing Olympics and future developments in global sports.  

               World Class cyclist and 3 times Tour De France winner Greg LeMond addressing the conference

You can tune in LIVE to watch by clicking the link below.

http://www.playthegame.org/conferences/play-the-game-2009/live-streaming.html

All sessions will also be available to watch on demand after the event.

**Update from Jens Sejer Anderson from Play The Game....**

"Midway through Play the Game, a conference which gathers highly qualified speakers with courage to speak out on the true global problems and challenges to international sport, it is a pleasure and relief to know that, thanks to Streaming Wizard, our Play the Game conference is reaching out to people who could not make it to our host city, Coventry, this week.

Streaming Wizard has rendered excellent assistance in helping us reaching distant target groups. The service is efficient and to the point, and the technical quality of very high standard. Our main expert audience is not big in figures, but of great importance, and the footage will serve us as useful documentation in the years to come for all who fight for honesty in sport. "

Jens Sejer Andersen - Director, Play The Game

If you’d like to see your event broadcast live just call us on 01242 587734 or email info@flashstreaming.co.uk

Until next time…..

Flash Streaming Shortlisted for Best Streaming Service 2009

ISPA Award Finalists Announced Following Highest Ever Number of Entries.

The Internet Services Providers’ Association (ISPA) has announced the finalists for the 11th Annual UK Internet Industry Awards.

Competition for finalists’ places was particularly fierce this year with a record amount of entries from companies across the Internet sector. The announcement of the finalists follows three months of rigorous testing of entrants by ISPA’s technical testing partners, Epitiro.

So we’re delighted that, after meeting some tough judging criteria, Flash Streaming has once again been shortlisted as a finalist in the ‘Best Streaming Service’ category.

If you’re already a client you’ll know why this is! We’re extremely proud of the level of service we provide to all our clients, on both the technical level and in the customer service given to all clients.

So, in total, that’s 4 nominations and 1 win for the team here now – and we’re really hoping to make it the double this year!

If you’re not yet a customer and you’d like to see for yourself why we’re consistently ranked amongst the best in the world, get in touch today on 01242 587734 and we’re more than happy to offer a free trial and demonstration of our services to business users.

Until next time….

Live Streaming for Graduation Ceremonies

Well, if my inbox is anything to go by this week, the Graduation season is nearly upon us again. It’s generally around this time the emails start to arrive from those preparing for this summer’s ceremonies.

Each year at www.FlashStreaming.co.uk we provide live graduation ceremony streaming services to an increasing number of universities and colleges.

Every year thousands of students graduate and most graduation ceremonies are massively over-subscribed. This often means that there is a limit to the number of families and friends that a graduate can invite along (usually 2). Children are almost universally unwelcome too, resulting in many families feeling excluded from sharing in the big day.

Live streaming can let those that want to watch the ceremony actually view the proceedings live – from anywhere in the world with a PC and an internet connection. Suddenly family and friends, not only locally but globally, can join in and be a part of the day.

Flash Streaming also allows you to record the ceremony and then make it available to watch ‘on demand’ after the event for anyone who wasn’t available at the time.

All the university or college needs is a camera source, a PC running the streaming software and a reasonable internet connection to send the stream to our servers.

For large scale events we can provide both camera operators and encoding technicians if required.

In either case, we also provide the code required to embed the streaming player within your website.

Get in touch with us today on 01242 587734 and we can offer no obligation advice and guidance regarding any type of streaming service.

Watch & learn - using streaming in education

Streaming media has the great potential to be one of the most effective and technologically advanced tools for education.

With continued movement away from old-fashioned learning, more and more educational institutions are implementing, or plan to implement, streaming media in their education process and curriculum.

Streaming technology can help to transform education from the traditional classroom/teacher or lecture theatre/lecturer format into more global, technology-based, ‘learner-centric’ types of education and training.

One of the appeals is that streaming technologies leverage existing educational practices, in particular, the traditional lecture / classroom format.

Broadcasting lectures live over the web, or recording them and then making these available on demand after the event (or both) means utilising streaming media can greatly increase the reach and impact of any individual lecture.

The use of streaming media for education and training is not just restricted to use by Universities, Colleges and Schools, it is also being widely used by many commercial and non commercial enterprises. At www.flashstreaming.co.uk we have clients using online video to provide instruction in everything from yoga to playing the guitar.

Streaming media is also being widely adopted for use in medical and dental training. Video has been an established and invaluable tool for this type of training for many years.

The ability to deliver educational and training content via the web has greatly reduced overall costs traditionally associated with delivery of video content. Once completed, the streaming content can be reused time and again – no re-editing, no DVDs or VHS tapes to produce and distribute, and no copies of your content left lying around!

If you’re considering using video for education or training, talk to us here at Flash Streaming – our team has helped many clients add streaming media to their training resources and programs with great results. Email info@flashstreaming.co.uk or call us on 01242 587734

Until next time…..

U.K. Online Video Viewing Audience Grows

10% in 2008 to Nearly 30 Million Viewers

Are you ready for some staggering numbers? Com Score, the leading digital video metrics resource, has just released the numbers for January 2009 – and they are truly impressive.

In the UK alone we watched 4,000,000,000, yes that’s FOUR BILLION, online videos in January 2009 totalling over 280 million hours of content.

More than 80% of UK Internet users are now regularly viewing video online. This represents a paradigm shift in our viewing habits – and advertising revenues have also shifted to reflect this.

In 2008 the internet accounted for 24.8% of total UK media spend, only just behind the 26% share held by the TV ad sector, according to Group M, the combined media planning and buying operation owned by Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP group.

And 2009 is widely accepted to be the year that internet advertising spend will overtake spending on traditional forms of media.

Your website is an important part of your company’s overall presence and using every available tool to make your message unique and memorable is essential, particularly in difficult market conditions.

The impact video can have on visitors to your site is nothing short of remarkable.

The table below illustrates just how remarkable this has been for some major internet brands.

Video is by far the most engaging, memorable media available – and it does not have to be prohibitively expensive. Producing a professional video ‘short’ (generally 45 second to 1 minute long) to advertise your products or services on your website can cost significantly less than a small brochure run or a large mail shot.

We have many clients who are not large corporate or multinational organisations all reaping the rewards of adding quality Flash Video to their websites.

Get in touch with us today and we can answer any of the questions you may have regarding adding on demand flash video to your website.

Until next time…

Something to munch on?

This week I thought I’d share one of the recent projects we’ve been involved in here at FlashStreaming.co.uk

We were approached by Frank PR, marketing consultants to Nestle to assist in the production of their newest project, a human powered KitKat vending machine installed at Victoria Station in London.

Japan has already got the world hooked on sushi, tamigotchis and karaoke and now Brits are set to be wowed with this latest craze from the far east for people powered snack machines. The project is part of the latest KitKat promotion and the innovative vending machine is part of the latest Kit Kat ‘Working Like a Machine’ campaign, which plays off the idea that people are overwhelmed with the monotony of everyday life and so need to take a break.

…another happy customer!

So, how do we fit into the picture? Essentially the actor employed to be the ‘man in the box’ had the ability to blog live to the outside world about life as a machine. The box itself also housed a small camera and encoding station installed by FlashStreaming.co.uk that captured a day in the life of a human vending machine. This content is now to be used in the ongoing campaign set to run in the spring.

This is just one of a wide range of jobs that we have undertaken in February, we have just provided the live streaming from the UK National Squash Championships from Manchester and the VMWorld conference from Cannes. With campaigns also in the offing from Utility Warehouse, VInspired and several others, this Friday sees us to the end of another very busy month!

Time for a break anyone?

If you have an idea or an event, get in touch with us at blog@streamingwizard.com  No matter how odd you think your idea is, we won’t laugh – and we may have even seen it before.

Until next time…..

“I’m getting married in the morning…”

Well, not quite – but with spring rapidly (!) approaching, many couples will be in the final stages of their planning for their big day.

Exactly a year ago today I was in New Zealand, going through the last minute preparations and getting ready to marry the love of my life. My good lady is a Kiwi so the decision had to be made as to where to hold the big day. With my family being more able to travel we opted for an NZ wedding but our thoughts were with those in the UK who would not be able to attend.

This is a situation that many modern families face as we have all spread out across the globe. Having close family as a part of the wedding is of paramount importance for most.

For those not able to travel, or with families in different countries, live Flash Streaming offers a fantastic way to ensure everyone can be a part of your wedding.

Flashstreaming.co.uk  were responsible for the first ever live streaming wedding from Ely cathedral in Cambridgeshire and have since provided wedding streaming services for many couples, with the service growing in popularity every year.

A camera, a PC and an internet connection is all that is needed to ensure your family can watch your wedding ceremony as a live flash webcast from anywhere in the world!

We will provide the streaming service and the player needed to display your live wedding webcast on the internet. We can also provide a personalised page for your guests to view the ceremony if required.

If your big day is approaching you’ve probably got a fair bit on your plate anyway, so you’ll be pleased to know that adding a live flash webcast to the ceremony is not a technically difficult or expensive thing to do – and you can relax knowing that family and friends from around the world can join you for your celebrations.

Drop me a line and I am more than happy to offer help and guidance to those about to tie the knot – regarding streaming that is, anything else and I’d probably be a bit out of my depth!

Ah - thinking about it, I’d better go and buy an anniversary present….

Until next time…

Flash Players – from simple, to flashy!

At Flash Streaming we firmly believe the viewing experience for the end user is of paramount importance. As broadband speeds have grown, so has people’s access to better and better quality streaming media.

With the wide scale adoption of flash, your content can be viewed by the majority of internet users with no additional software other than their standard browser.

The delivery mechanism for flash video, i.e. the actual player application, is a key link in the chain.

The JW FLV Player is the Internet’s most popular and flexible media player and is our chosen player here at Flash Streaming and for our main site www.streamingwizard.com

Why? – Quite simply it is the most versatile player we have found so far. It supports playback of FLV for on demand streaming and live streaming over RTMP.  It can also support various playlist formats.

The look of the JW player is fully customisable and we generally recommend a simple skin to start off with. In fact, our content management system actually generates all the player code required. You simply upload your videos to out flash streaming servers, generate the required code from within the CMS with a few mouse clicks and then cut and paste this code into your website.

An example of a simple player, with basic controls:

The player above is generated from within your Flash Streaming account management screen – you simply define the player size and controls and our CMS does the rest.

The ‘skinning’ functionality of the JW player allows technically adept users to completely customize the look and feel of the player.

An example of a re-skinned player:

In addition, for advanced users, a wide range of customisable settings and an extensive JavaScript API is available. Its ‘plugin’ architecture allows you to easily extend the player with features such as sharing, recommendations, searching, analytics and ad serving.

With such a wide range of features, and a fantastic community of users, the JW player really does add to the services we provide for our clients here at www.flashstreaming.co.uk

If you're not yet streaming, or are less than happy with the current service you're getting then get in touch with us. We are ALWAYS happy to offer advice and guidance based on our experience of what works for clients

Drop me a line! - blog@streamingwizard.com

Until next time....

Live Streaming 101

If you’re running a live event, adding streaming can add a whole new dimension. Live Streaming has become the chosen way to engage a wider audience for your live events.

Here at Flash Streaming, we have streamed everything from concerts for Keene and Radiohead to corporate presentations and seminars. Streaming weddings and church services are also extremely popular.

If you’ve not looked at live streaming before it’s good to know that there are a few rules of thumb for producing a great end result.

Great end results really start with a great camera….

It may sound obvious but you cannot produce a really good end result with a usb webcam! If you only want  to broadcast a 'close up' shot from your office then a webcam may suffice.

For larger venues and events a better camera will be required.We often get asked what sort of camera you should be using. This is very hard to judge and will depend on type of event and, largely, your budget. ‘Retail’ DV cameras start around the £300 mark, professional kit like the Z1 above start around £1500-2000.

2. PC / Encoding card / encoding software.

Essentially you need a composite video feed and unbalanced XLR audio from your camera or mixing desk. This needs to be fed to a PC with a capture card and streaming software in place. This PC then sends the stream to our servers for distribution.

A reasonably high end PC with Windows XP installed will suffice as the base for an encoding machine. For the encoding card we recommend the Osprey 210 Capture Card - this can be purchased from us.

The Adobe Flash Encoder software can be obtained free and allows you to stream your live broadcasts to our streaming servers for distribution. You can also use this same software to record your broadcasts locally for later use.

Connectivity

You will need to ensure the upload speed of the network at the event location is sufficient for streaming - A 320x240 player size will require around 300k upload speed to look professional.

 __

We can of course provide producers, camera operators and encoding engineers (with all necessary equipment)– allowing you to concentrate on running your event.

If you would like details of our live event services or some more information about running encoders and streaming services at your own events just give us a call on 01242 587734 or email me – blog@flashstreaming.co.uk

Until next time.....

Flash, Firewalls and Frustration

‘I can’t see my streams…’ is a cry that we sometimes hear from clients using our on demand or live flash streaming services.

Whilst most business users and almost 100% of home users can see flash movies with no issues, there are some instances where the correct port to allow flash streaming is blocked by the network security settings.

Without wishing to bore those who don’t need to know, or lecturing those that already do, here’s a quick rundown on how flash is delivered to the end users desktop.

Most user’s set up looks something like this…

So the firewall that is necessarily designed to protect you can also cause issues when trying to view streaming flash.

Ports & Protocols

The internet runs using as series of rules (or protocols) that allow data to be passed over the internet. This website address http://www.flashstreaming.co.uk like all others uses the http (hyper-text transfer protocol for those who need to know) and uses port 80 on your network. Flash Streaming however uses the rtmp protocol (Real Time Messaging Protocol) to communicate and therefore needs port 1935 to be accessible.

If this port is not available you will not be able to see flash streaming content – either live or on demand.

Your network administrator will be able to open this port to allow you to see your streams.

Other types of streaming need other ports to be open – this and a range of topics for other streaming media formats are covered on our main Streaming Wizard site here: http://www.streamingwizard.com/services/faq/index.asp

If you need further information regarding Flash, or opening ports just drop us a line at blog@flashstreaming.co.uk

Until next time…..