CNN’s Jeffery Toobin did a live shot from a Maui hotel via Skype.
Update: KCRA used Skype to go live from a moving vehicle while covering the Tour of California bicycle race a couple weeks ago. “Our photog had a little 3CCD DV cam plugged into a Macbook via Firewire; he sent the video back to the station using Skype and a Verizon aircard,” writes Joe Rosemeyer, KCRA’s Digital Executive Producer. “Back at the station, we pulled it up fullscreen on a PC that has a scan converter and routed it through the control room.” Rosemeyer sent us a link to a video clip so you can take a look for yourself. “The video quality isn’t perfect, but, that’s really not the point.”
Adds KCRA’s Aaron Slavik, “There was a slight delay on video, but not much. The picture, because we are in HD, had to be shrunk down to keep the quality decent. The big issue with ANYTHING that mobile is the compression, the amount of motion involved and the ability to keep the data level constant. There were certain areas, because these factors, that we had a great picture from and some where we didn’t.” When you think about, there are lots of applications for this kind of technology (the Slingbox approach, too), not just for TV but also the web.
