Live tomorrow night…

[Ronny Courtens]

Just watched the show and I liked it. Thank you, Bill.

– Ronny

[Craig Seeman]

I think we now have the virtual FCPX User’s Group for those who don’t have a local FCPX group.

[Mark Dobson]

Congratulations to Bill and the AZFCPUG on a really slick presentation. Here in the UK it rolled out at 4am and I think I stayed awake.

Look forward to further episodes that drill a bit deeper into FCPX

[David Eaks]

I wasn’t able to attend due to vacation activities. Will it be posted for on demand viewing? Doesn’t look like it has been posted on the livestream page.

[Bill Davis]

Thanks to all who watched, it was fun to do. Last night was our first foray into LiveStream after two tests on a less robust CDN.. I’m still trying to figure out the best show structure and workflow – since what works best for the live group isn’t necessarily what works best for the web audience and vice versa. Just posting the show capture without massaging it is kinda silly, since who wants to watch 10 minutes of a prize raffle that happened in Arizona months ago?

It IS really cool to be able to reach the whole world with live video from anywhere. But being able to do something isn’t the same as being able to do it well, so it’s a learning curve. Hopefully, every month we’ll improve. Was delighted to hear from the web team that it seemed as easy last night for Remy in Belgium to interact live via the Livestream social side chain during the show as someone down the street. That was something we hadn’t managed before. (and I’m so appreciative, Remy that you got up at 4am local to watch, thanks!).

I also know it’s a risk doing so much basic stuff up front rather than just concentrating on the latest and greatest features and news about X, but if downstream, if I can build a solid archive as “persistent channel content” in my FCP-X Project Library, I should be able to simply ammend and refresh it as FCP-X evolves. That’s the thinking, anyway.

So much to think about in this brave new on-line and on-demand world.

But evolve or perish, I guess.

Anyway, thanks for the eyeballs and comments, much appreciated.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Craig Seeman]

As some may or may not know I’m neck deep into live streaming (It’s part of my business) so I have lots of questions and thoughts about this.

For a time Ned Soltz and I were live streaming the MoPictiv (formerly NYCFCPUG) meetings. We were using Original Livestream, Sony EX1, Teradek Cube, Wirecast. With Wirecast Desktop Presenter we were grabbing the presenter’s computer (Keynote or PowerPoint as well as software demos).

Care to mention the tech you were using?

BTW I think this is an important subject because the “virtual” FCPX User Group would give people someplace to participate live where they have no local FCPX specific user group. There’s also the potential to bring in presenter via Skype and project that locally while “simulcasting” it live.

[Ronny Courtens]

I have appreciated the webcast and I don’t regret getting up at 4 a.m. to watch it. It was indeed fun interacting with Brad and some people I know from the forums while watching the presentation.

If I may Bill, I would like to suggest one thing for the webcast: when you demoed the multicam or when you talked about the keyer all we saw was the FCPX timeline for the multicam or a green screen clip in the browser for the keyer, but we did not see the multicam or the keyer at work. As both these features are among the many things where FCPX really excels it would have been better to see them in action.

I think it is your intention to go deeper into features in coming shows, and when you do this please show FCPX in action because actually showing how easy and yet deeply things can be done in FCPX is what will convince even more people to start using it seriously. It also will attract more viewers to your webcast when people hear they really can see FCPX at work instead of just getting information about what it can do.

Just my 2 eurocents, and looking forward to the next webcast.

– Ronny

[Dave Gage]

[Craig Seeman] “I’m neck deep into live streaming (It’s part of my business) so I have lots of questions and thoughts about this.”

Craig and Bill Davis,

(I’m sorry I wasn’t able to make it, I hope it will be archived online to view.)

I’m also involved with live streaming, although not to large crowds, just small groups of website members, but I also have problems and questions about this.

Bill mentioned using LiveStream. I’ve been using Adobe Connect with lots of issues and will likely try a trial of GoToMeeting in the near future. Fortunately, I’m always in the same “studio” to shoot (a back room of my house), so most of my issues are less complex, but I do have some hardware issues I’d like to discuss.
—

Up to this point, I’ve been using my Quad i7 17″ MBP built-in FaceTime HD camera and mic which works “okay”. I don’t own a stand-alone video camera that the Mac will see, but I am considering buying a Logitech 920 webcam/mic to see if it works better for me.

The main problem with the built-in camera is the lack of controls built-in by Apple, i.e. white balance, color, contrast, exposure, saturation, etc. So, I’ve tried two 3rd party solutions for this: Webcam Settings, and iGlasses. Both have problems.

Anyway, I’d love to discuss this more, possibly in a new thread or offline. I can be reached directly at webmaster3 (at) harmonicalessons (dot) com if that works better than posting. And I do realize that it’s boorish and against web etiquette, but I could even talk on the phone about this. I won’t post the number here, but I could email it to you.

Thanks,
Dave

[Bill Davis]

What tech? Too much at present!

Hardware wise for the Web, one manned and 2 robotic cameras fed via HD-SDI to a new Panasonic digital switcher. Audio was two wireless bodypacks plus a wireless handheld to a mixer – all feeding a TriCaster via phone line to LiveStream. Both the switcher and the TriCaster could take the inputs and do the switching, but that means one brain doing cameras, audio and web output, plus handling the social media interactions. Too much, IMO.

Then there’s the live room audience stuff. A separate audio mix and speakers and video projection from the content laptops.

Next month we add a mix minus audio side chain and a digital hybrid to take a live phone feed, if needed.

During the AJA presentation last night, I was looking at our Livestream on Jeff Way’s iPad, and watching the delay involved. not bad, really, but FAR from allowing a remote presenter to contribute and monitor, as I expected.

What I’m learning is that like many things in this era, it’s actually amazingly easy to get up to mediocre performance with tech stuff. And then the curve gets REALLY steep to try to get beyond mediocre.

Right now, I’m using the traditional production tools and processes I’ve spent a career learning, but I also know that these may not be the best ones for the long run. But you really can’t figure that out unless you do the hard, hard work of trial and error.

And so it goes.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Bill Davis]

[Ronny Courtens] “If I may Bill, I would like to suggest one thing for the webcast: when you demoed the multicam or when you talked about the keyer all we saw was the FCPX timeline for the multicam or a green screen clip in the browser for the keyer, but we did not see the multicam or the keyer at work. As both these features are among the many things where FCPX really excels it would have been better to see them in action.”

Truly, thank you for the “note”, and YES, YES, YES, I agree.
Honestly, this was partially just about time. I had more prep time on my first presentation, and realized for the last one, I’d essentially have to do it “live” in real-time and so I did a much poorer job of hitting many points I should have made. Crafting content that’s tight and doesn’t miss too much – isn’t easy!

I will note, that to my surprise and delight, the Music Video piece got the most “after show” comments at the live meeting from people who were absolutely blown away that in X you can work both above and below the primary. Even people who have been using it for months seemed to have NO concept of that.

You never know what a particular user will or won’t know – and might find to be a hugely important idea for them to see in action, even if its something you and I take for granted.

Another reason I’m pushing so hard to broaden the teaching base of the show to beyond just how *I* do things.

But truly, thanks for the feedback. Feedback is crucial at this stage. I still don’t quite know what the show “should” be. All live? Partially live with pre-taped inserts? Should I present primarily to the web audience as host (what I tried last night) or work more to the live audience and just let the camera “observe the meeting”?

All sorts of plusses and minuses involved in each. But with every show, I can push a few more things into either the “do more of this” or “wow, don’t ever do THAT again!” column.

; )

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.