Ustream Review: The 在线直播 Service Evolves for New Areas
Utream.tv started life as a Plain Jane live streaming service provider, 与Livestream竞争, 已故的贾斯汀.TV, Bambuser, and ultimately YouTube Live. 从那时起, 该公司已经发展成为一个提供直播和视频点播内容的全方位在线视频平台, which the company calls Ustream Pro广播. The company has also introduced two vertical products; Align, a more secure platform for enterprises and teams, 和需求, 领先一代的产品.
考虑产品的最佳方式是这样的:Pro Broadcasting包括直播活动的平台, uploading and encoding VOD content, creating the player and channel page, and managing and embedding videos. Align provides most of the same functionality, with increased security and authentication options and analytics. Demand bolts onto the Pro Broadcasting product, 增加了强制用户在观看视频之前注册的功能.
I’ll describe Pro Broadcasting first, then Align, and then Demand.
Ustream Pro广播
Ustream提供广告支持的免费试用版，以及每月99美元起的无广告套餐. Plan specifications are available on the Ustream site.
I tested using the Demand plan, which included five channels. I used two: the Streaming Learning Center channel, and the Loose Strings Concert Channel, 我要在7月10日为加莱斯乡村音乐组合开一场演唱会, 2015. 这显示在 图1.
图1. The Loose Strings Concert Channel on Ustream
As with all live streaming service providers, you can watch Ustream videos in multiple places, 包括频道页面, or the page for the channel on the Ustream site, or on any website via an embed code. In the Ustream Channel page, there is Ustream branding above the player; in the embedded videos, 没有. +, 我可以用视频窗口左上角的Loose Strings图片和右下角的logo来定制播放器.
其他自定义选项包括选择背景颜色或图像的能力, 我做过实验, 但最终没有使用. 您还可以控制是否从Ustream的社交消息流聊天, 推特, and Facebook is available in the player. For more extensive customization, 你可以使用Ustream的IFrames功能来定制频道页面内播放器的大小和外观, 我没有测试过吗.
Ustream为您的嵌入式视频提供三种配置:只有视频, 只是社交流, or a larger configuration with player, 社会流, 视频画廊. This flexibility is useful; most other services limit embedding to player only, 强制观众访问频道页面以访问其他视频或留下评论. Ustream also enables embedding into Facebook, which includes the logo and no Ustream branding, 你能看到哪个 图2.
图2. The player embedded into YouTube
在创建通道之后, I scheduled the concert in the Ustream system, 因此，事件通知出现在频道和所有嵌入页面的视频窗口中. I also enabled email capture, 因此，那些计划参加的人可以通过填写姓名和电子邮件地址来注册通知.
在图1的底部, 你会看到两个cd的链接, which I created using Ustream’s extensions feature. Here you can include links to products on Amazon and iTunes, connect the broadcast to your Facebook page, solicit donations via PayPal, 并创建到其他销售产品和服务的网站的自定义链接. Extensions are a very simple way to help monetize your events.
说到盈利，Ustream之前有一个按次付费的选项，但在10月11日被关闭. 1, 2014. 您可以自由地禁用频道页面，并指导所有观众通过您自己的网页和付费墙观看. 或者，你可以使用按次付费的提供商Cleeng，我没有测试过.
内容管理
To create instant interest in the channel page, 我上传了8个组合的演唱会视频到频道的视频管理器, which is Ustream’s content management system. The videos I uploaded are shown on the right of 图1, 你可以选择, 所有您的直播流的录音将被添加到这个画廊. 视频管理器(图3)使用一个类似文件管理器的界面，可以很容易地按列排序. 它有一个灵活的搜索功能，可以让你轻松地找到和选择视频组, 或者管理职能, such as copying to a different channel, 或者删除视频.
图3. Ustream’s expanded video manager
Once uploaded (or recorded and inserted into the gallery), 通过指定多个输入和输出点，您可以从视频中创建多个亮点, so you could divide a concert into individual songs, or a lecture into individual sections. 在视频管理器中, you can also trim any video, 上传到YouTube, 获取嵌入代码, 更改元数据, 然后删除视频.
In an account with multiple channels, all videos from all channels are stored in a master video manager, which makes it easy to share videos among the different channels. 这在Ustream的企业产品中特别有用, 组织中的不同渠道可能需要在哪些地方共享视频.
一个主要缺陷是有限的播放列表功能，该功能允许您将多个视频分组到一个演示文稿中. 在公共场所, this is great for stickiness; the hope is that viewers will click from one video to the next. 在企业中, it’s a convenient way to group several training videos into a single presentation; for instance, the five videos you have to watch when onboarding.
With Ustream, you have two playlist options. 第一个, 当你不在现场时，你可以创建视频播放列表，从你的频道中按预定的时间进行流媒体播放. Or, you can create one playlist per channel, which contains all nonprivate videos in that channel, which is what you see on the right in 图1. This will work in some instances, but since channels are a limited resource, 一个更灵活的播放列表选项，允许每个通道多个播放列表将是一个不错的补充.
Beyond disabling your channel page on Ustream, 您可以将视频的嵌入限制到特定的识别域. When you’re not streaming live, 您可以控制访问者访问您的站点或嵌入页面的体验, either automatically playing through the last recorded video, the aforementioned playlist of selected videos, 或者图像幻灯片. Ustream允许粉丝关注你的页面，你可以看到所有粉丝的身份. Your player can include links to Facebook and 推特, and you can specify the default messages for both services.
Ustream广播
Ustream的优势之一是它是一个可访问的、开放的服务. 您可以通过基于flash的捕获屏幕快速而简单地进行直播, though Flash Player doesn’t deliver optimal quality. 您可以使用大多数商业硬件和软件工具向Ustream广播, 我做了很多测试，并通过iPhone的4G功能将Teradek VidiU Mini连接到Ustream上播放了这场音乐会.
Ustream提供了一个自定义版本的Telestream Wirecast，你可以免费下载30天, 试用版包括播放列表和推特 feed等功能, 你可以在书中读到 我的Wirecast评论. 然而, the trial doesn’t include HD or 多个摄像头 broadcasting, or the local recording to your hard drive. 之后, 制作人工作室售价279美元, 支持高清, 多个摄像头, 本地录音, while 生产商 Pro costs $549 and adds instant replay, 记分板功能, 音频混音.
Ustream直播的默认模式是在云中转码, where the publisher sends in a single stream, Ustream自动将流转换成多个流进行自适应传输. 请注意，您不能在Ustream系统中配置单独的流, though most users won’t really want to. 有一些账户级别, you can encode your own adaptive streams, 但你需要一个现场(或其他云)编码器，以及比Ustream默认模式所需的更多的出站带宽.
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