Webcasting in Connect is simple and inexpensive, even free.

We will discuss:

• Free and paid Webcasting services
• Camera requirements
• Audio requirements
• Setting up
• Using the uStream broadcaster

Webcasting Services

Here at Concursive, we often use a free Webcasting service called uStream. You can visit them at http://uStream.tv and set up an account. uStream is ad supported, although their ads are relatively unobtrusive. If you prefer to broadcast without ads, uStream does provide that capability, however you will have to pay. The more viewer hours you generate per month, the more you will pay. Unfortunately these services need to generate revenue, and there is no free lunch.

There are other free and paid services, but we have found uStream to be reliable and easy to use, and we have embedded the ability to use these services directly into Connect.

uStream also provides a free, easy to use, and quite powerful broadcasting application called the uStream Producer that you can use from a desktop or laptop computer, or from many smart mobile devices including Android, iPhone and iPad. The Producer makes it simple to configure your camera and microphone, connect to the uStream back end, choose your "channel" if you've configured more than one, save a permanent version of your broadcast for later viewing, and start/stop your broadcast. The uStream Producer can be downloaded directly from the uStream site. For more information from uStream about how to broadcast using their service, follow this link:

http://www.ustream.tv/support-center/broadcast

Equipment

• The camera - you will need a video camera capable of live broadcasting or webcasting. The camera will connect to a computer or mobile device via a USB cable or a FireWire cable, although USB is much more common today. We use a plain old camcorder, a Sony, with FireWire connection, which works great with our Apple Macbooks. If you will be broadcasting from your computer, most webcams, including those built directly into laptops, will work fine. For more information about cameras that work well with uStream, see: http://helpcenter.ustream.tv/content/recommended-cameras-and-equipment
• The Microphone - for simple broadcasts where you are sitting in front of a computer or laptop, the built-in mic will work just fine. Similarly, if you are using a webcam or prosumer camera, the built in mic will be fine, and if you are using the uStream broadcaster, that application will recognize the mic and use it. If you will be doing a more sophisticated broadcast where the subject if the video will be further away, you might want to invest in a directional microphone or a wired or wireless lavalier microphone. If you have multiple microphones connected to your computer, the uStream Producer should recognize them all and allow you to choose which one to use.
• Miscellaneous Equipment - Depending on your broadcast requirements, you may need or want some other equipment, including a tripod for your camera, cables to connect your camera and/or microphone, extra batteries for your camera or microphone, or external power supplies and extension cords. At Concursive, we keep a duffle bag with all the equipment we are likely to need for a shoot. We have added to it over time, and it has saved our bacon on occasion.

Setting Up

Once you have found a camera and microphone that work, and set up your uStream account, you will need to set up Connect with the proper features to allow your customers to view your broadcast. The process is simple, but does require you to edit some simple content. If you are uncomfortable with this part, Concursive Support will be glad to help you.

The first thing you will need to decide is where your broadcast viewer will be located on the site. If the site is your own (you own it), you can use the main Webcasts tab, but there are other options as well.

Many profile types, including Groups, Organizations, and others can have their own Webcasts tab. Ask your site Administrator is your profile does not have one. Additionally, you can embed a Webcast viewer in any Blog post or Wiki.

The procedure to embed a viewer is simple, and is done in two quick steps:

• Step one: log in to your uStream account, and navigate to the channel you will be using. Most organizations will only have one channel. On the Channel page will appear a viewer, and near the viewer will be a link that provides an embed code. Simply click that link, and copy the odd looking embed code to your clipboard. Once you have the code in your clipboard, proceed to step two.
• Step two: navigate to the content area in your Connect site where you want to embed the video player. Press the edit link to get into the content editor. Type any introductory content you would like tom present to the user. Click the "video icon" at the top of the editor (it is a graphical icon that looks like a couple of frames of movie film - see example below), and paste in the embed core you copied ton your clipboard in the uStream field. Save the new video content, and then save the overall content.

That's it! You should now have an empty viewer on that page.

Trying it out

The final step is to test your capability to broadcast end-to-end.

• Log in to the uStream Broadcaster you previously downloaded and installed
• Set up your channel
• Select your camera and audio source
• Turn the volume down on your computer speakers to avoid feedback while you broadcast
• Click the Broadcast button