When
Steve Kirschner decided to turn a home into a state-of-the-art
recording studio and make The Guest House Live (www.TheGuestHouseLive.com)
"the first recording studio and jam space on the
Internet that gives the world a 24/7 backstage pass,"
he knew it was going to need streaming technology of
exacting specifications. Specifications, as it turned
out, that only hardware and software from ViewCast -
in combination with six custom programs developed by
LiveStreamWorks - could provide.
To
offer viewers a unique look at new artists and a bird's-eye
view of the music and artistic process, the innovative
Web site would require not only high-quality streaming
video, but audiophile-quality streaming audio as well.
And with seven live cameras scattered about the house-turned-recording
studio (expanding eventually to 16 cameras), some type
of streaming/encoding management software tool would
be needed as well.
"The
first question," said Kirschner, "was how
do we get this out to the world sounding as good as
possible?"
Kirschner
had ambitious plans for The Guest House Live. He planned
to broadcast live shows, rehearsals, recording sessions
and jam sessions by up-and-coming bands and well-known
musical acts. He wanted both live and archived content
available on the site at all times.
"We
decided on streaming media, and then the question became
what technology do we use," said Kirschner. "Our
technical team, led by Patrick Arkins, did much of their
research online and kept coming across ViewCast's Osprey
cards. They were a logical choice in light of their
flexibility and cost."
Working
with ViewCast, Arkins was able to evaluate several models
of the Osprey line and settled largely on the Osprey-220
analog capture card due to its pro-geared audio breakout
box for video and audio inputs - including adding XLR
connectors which provides balanced stereo audio inputs.
The
Guest House Live's technical team encountered additional
challenges along the way. To keep things simple and
cost-effective, musicians needed to be able to operate
the live equipment and edit and post clips to an on-demand
library without learning a half-dozen complicated computer
programs.
To
that end, The Guest House turned to custom software
developers who created a suite of tools to simplify
and automate the streaming and editing process. One
custom tool automatically loads the streams and even
pages the operator if the stream fails to load for any
reason. Another tool starts and stops cameras' streaming
according to a user-defined schedule. When the tools
were delivered and worked effectively at The Guest House
Live, Arkins and his team formed LiveStreamWorks, which
now sells a full suite of "StreamTools" -
tools "that a non-technical person can use to accomplish
serious streaming."
Delivering
the content to users at a variety of bandwidths presented
additional challenges for the Guest House.
"The
thing about multi-bit rate streams is that, while you
can specify the rates for video and deliver video appropriate
to dial-up or faster connection speeds, you can't specify
different audio rates for each stream," said Kirschner.
We were already treating the audio with specialized
hardware so listeners had the best possible experience,
but we wanted to provide that to both dial-up and broadband
users."
To
accomplish this, Kirschner said they were looking at
doubling their hardware investment - and then some.
"We
were frustrated that we were going to have to double
the number of cards, PCs and number of racks. We were
looking at tens of thousands of additional dollars.
In order to fit all that additional equipment into the
house, we were also going to have to knock out a wall.
Basically, we were looking at multiplying our technical
issues by two," said Kirschner.
And
then ViewCast released its SimulStream software. The
cost comparison was easy.
"Now
we're back to using six computers and I don't have to
knock out a wall," said Kirschner. "We purchased
SimulStream, put in the key, and it ran with no problems."
Content
creators of streaming media typically encode several
different streams of the same media in order to provide
the best possible viewing experience over both modems
and broadband connections. Different formats (e.g. RealMedia,
Windows Media) and bitrates (dial-up, broadband) are
often provided to address user's preferences. With existing
capabilities, content creators repeat the encoding task
for each file, or use multiple cards in parallel to
speed up the process. With SimulStream, multiple encoding
tasks can be launched simultaneously. By taking what
used to be four-to-six separate encoding tasks and making
it a single session, SimulStream reduces encoding time
up to 83 percent while greatly improving the video and
audio on the resulting streams.
In
addition to solving their immediate audio challenges,
SimulStream solved some unforeseen problems. Some rooms
had multiple cameras with multiple audio feeds. "The
audio had to be able to handle everything from acoustic
to wailing electric guitars. When you have that kind
of range, it's going to need some tweaking. SimulStream
simplifies this by allowing us to run one audio source
for three cameras," said Arkins.
Osprey
SimulStream also increases the physical density of encoding
tasks for web broadcasters. Other companies provide
systems-only offerings limited to four streams per system,
while the ViewCast Osprey SimulStream with a single
Osprey Video card allows an infinite number of streams
- limited only by the size of the system's CPU capabilities
and specific encoding tasks. This allows previously
unattainable encoder density for professional and large-scale
webcasting applications
"We
couldn't achieve the audio experience we're currently
achieving for broadband through dial-up without SimulStream
- or additional computers. It's meant half the hardware
investment, half the management headaches and half the
supplemental software investment," said Kirschner.
Click
here for more information about Osprey SimulStream!
About
TheGuestHouseLive:
The Guest House Live offers Recording Studios and
Clubs a turn-key program for streaming and archiving
their content over the Internet. |
About
LiveStreamWorks:
LiveStreamWorks offers a complete suite of tools
and services for managing medium to large-scale
or around the clock streaming operations and creating
database-driven clip archives on the Internet or
an Intranet. |
Steve
Kirschner, Chairman
770-246-1700
[email protected]
www.TheGuestHouseLive.com
|
Patrick
Arkins, President
1-888-990-1500
[email protected]
www.livestreamworks.com |
