ARCATA, CALIFORNIA, April 14, 2008 – StreamGuys, Inc., a streaming media and content delivery provider based in northern California, deployed a live video webcast on behalf of the Long Now Foundation, a San Francisco-based non-profit organization (www.longnow.org). The webcast, produced by Shoulder High Productions of San Francisco, featured a seminar from genetic scientist Craig Venter, Founder and President of the J. Craig Venter Institute and Co-Founder and CEO of Synthetic Genomics. The seminar, which took place on February 25 at the Herbst War Memorial Theater in San Francisco, focused on Venter’s development of whole genome shotgun sequencing and the his current initiative to create a synthetic genome. Shoulder High Productions produced the event using a suite of production equipment that included Panasonic P2 HPX500 tapeless cameras, and MAC laptops to embed graphics into the video and to capture a live feed directly into an Apple Final Cut Pro system. StreamGuys received the live feed via a Digital Rapids Stream Z encoder and built a robust streaming architecture featuring a Windows Media server bank to deliver the stream live to viewers around the world. The 400kbps stream was encoded in the Windows Media format at a 480x270 window resolution to present a high quality, 16:9 aspect ratio image to viewers.
“StreamGuys remotely received the final encoded feed of the show and in the end took the most important part of the process off of my shoulders,” said Christopher Baldwin, owner and producer for Shoulder High Productions. “As a producer I know how to design the event, engineer and operate the production equipment, edit the program and produce the feed. My experience ends at the point of setting up the infrastructure for end user streaming and having the knowledge to handle the hosting blend at the backend. StreamGuys provided the expertise on format, bit rate speed, encoding size and picture resolution, and implemented the server bank to successfully stream the event to end users.”
Shoulder High Productions, which specializes in environmental and cultural sustainability productions but also services the broader production community with Podcasts, DVD production, marketing materials, and television programming, has teamed with StreamGuys in the past for live and on-demand webcasts for the Long Now Foundation, the William and Hewitt Foundation and the Northern California Grant Makers Society. Baldwin believes that live webcasting is now a crucial service for both the corporate and nonprofit communities in terms of reaching a wider audience and building for the future.
“Live webcasts are very useful for people who need access to events but are unable to attend the live presentation. More importantly, they are valuable for a company or organization that is trying to build membership or to make a groundbreaking announcement,” said Baldwin. “Until recently, the quality of live streaming video has been one of my major reservations. I am now confident that we have the pieces and partnerships in place to produce live streaming events to the web with superior quality in SD or HD, and it has repeatedly proven to be a worthwhile experience for the organization and the audience. StreamGuys helps make this possible with a competitive price plan, superior understanding of the technology and an excellent track record of satisfied clients.”
“Professional videographers concerned with quality rely on solid production values to create live event webcasts that showcase professional content in a world of user-generated content,” said Jonathan Speaker, COO of StreamGuys, Inc. “The old adage of garbage-in, garbage-out applies especially to online video, where compression is carefully balanced for both delivery and quality. The outcome sets the standard for higher quality productions in online video, and partnering with professional videographers such as Shoulder High Productions helps to relieve the pressure of producing a successful event with pristine video content.”