Going live on TV via Skype
Cory Bergman March 12th, 2008
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.
12 Comments Add your own
1. Z | March 12th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
KCRA did this for a statewide bike race last month. They were able to go live from the one of the chase cars.
2. Joe Rosemeyer | March 12th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
We did, in fact, do this in mid-February for the AmGen Tour of California.
3. Joe Rosemeyer | March 12th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
As a note, it was via an aircard and laptop.
4. Aaron Slavik | March 12th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
There was also live GPS tracking on the route.
5. Cory | March 12th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Hey KCRA guys… if you send me a note with some details/links/screengrabs, I’ll post something. I think folks would be interested in how you did it and how it turned out.
6. Allen | March 13th, 2008 at 7:12 am
What did it look like? Was there a big delay?
7. Aaron Slavik | March 13th, 2008 at 8:17 am
For KCRA 3, 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.
The CNN analyst was probably using a wired connection and wasn’t moving around too much… and as a result the quality would be considerably better.
8. Jason | March 13th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Is there any advantage to Skype over a service like Mogulus or UStream when it comes to mobile video? Couldn’t you put both of those on air too? I like that you can embed the latter two on your website directly as well, and I don’t think you can with Skype. But, I keep hearing about TV stations using Skype. Just curious.
9. z | March 13th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
skype’s new beta combined with a handful of logitech cameras seems to provide better on-air performance at this point.
10. tdc | March 13th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
too bad they didn’t stream this live (click tdc).
thanks go to m.malone
11. mekahlo | March 14th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
we, nbc los angeles’ digital channel, use skype nearly dialy to interview bloggers and some guests live on the air.
we also used a similiar system to broadcast a new verzion live broadband phone during the LA Mararthon.
12. Brett Ramsey | May 9th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Would love to find out more about this as for a small Community Station on the other side of the world it opens up so many possibilities.
I mean what software/hardware do you use to get the shot from Skype out and on to the screen, and do you need to feed it into a TBC first?
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