Skype Video for "Live On Location" Television
Take a MacBook with embedded webcam, add Skype video and mix into a WiFi Connection
Amber MacArthur is a local Toronto-based technology reporter who not only does daily television broadcast reports for CityTV but also has her own CommandN.tv online video podcasts. Last Wednesday at mesh 2007 I found her in one of the conference hallways broadcasting live to CityTV's local cable information station, called CP24, being interviewed by an anchor back at the studio. The viewers would see the anchor while Amber appeared on a display monitor beside the anchor (unfortunately I had no way to capture the actual broadcast).
As her video source she was using her MacBook's webcam, capturing the picture via Skype for Mac and sending it out over the conference's WiFi network back to the CP24 studio where they were receiving the video on another Skype client and putting it up on the flat panel display monitor in the anchor's studio. Because this was a live broadcast, she did use a mobile phone for the audio as they could not risk any audio degradation due to packet loss, etc. She did say that had it been a recorded event, they would have used Skype as they can then edit out any audio problems.
Amber uses Skype for Mac quite extensively for her own podcast interview recordings and has a Cyberspeaker for Mac to assist with these recordings. CommandN is produced weekly every Wednesday and can be uploaded to iTunes for viewing on a PC and is also available in several other formats. Recently she launched Webnation, another weekly technology show produced for broadcast on CityTV but also available for download via iTunes; once again Skype plays a key role in its production.
I'll be watching for a future opportunity to capture an actual broadcast as viewed over my cable service. And there should be a contest for the most innovative application of Skype; this would be a winner!
Tags: Amber MacArthur, Skype video, Skype for Mac, webcam for TV, mesh07
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Comments
Absolutely love this stuff with Skype video. Take a peek at this post where I ran the technical side of a venue where a large group of folks watched a projected Skype video where the speaker was in Sydney, Australia and the group was watching in Minneapolis, MN
Posted by: Steve Borsch | June 1, 2007 08:40 PM
More about Amber MacArthur: birthday 26 June, her AmberMac typepad blog, IMDB profile, facebook, myspace, twitter page (about once every other day), YouTube and Canadians for Net Neutrality.
Posted by: Phil Wolff | June 1, 2007 11:58 PM
Interesting, but I think it's not enough reliable (need of good WiFi, QoS problems), and the AV quality are very limited (webcam, appropriate light, etc).
Posted by: Kobaljov | June 2, 2007 01:01 AM
CityTV is a high quality production operation; for instance they are the only local station doing newscasts in HD. If there were the issues mentioned above, they would not be using Skype Video . As mentioned I will be looking for future programming to record.
Posted by: Jim Courtney | June 2, 2007 02:39 AM
Thx for the post! I've been using Skype video at Citytv since I started in the fall. It's proven to be very dependable, and it's quick 'n easy way to hook up to anyone around the world.
On the show I host, Webnation, our team uses Skype video each show to do a web cam interview - we've chatted with comedian Tom Green, journalist Arthur Kent, and web celeb Ask a Ninja via Skype. There is an intimacy about doing web cam chats on broadcast TV that you don't get when you stick a huge pro cam in someone's face. Our interviewees are often at home relaxing, which adds a casual tone to the chats. All of our chats are done over Wi-Fi at an Internet cafe - all we ask is that the interviewee wears headphones to reduce any echo.
In short, it's good fun experimenting with this type of tech...even if we have an audio or video challenge now and again ;).
-Amber MacArthur
Host, Webnation, Citytv
http://www.citynews.ca/webnation
Posted by: Amber Mac | June 2, 2007 10:21 AM