I know your posting the live show on ustream, but what about taking the next step and making a podcast available for download on iTunes? or is this already done and I dont know it?
because of the number of eye balls on iTunes, it would be amazing exposure for LetsMakeRobots. eventually you could even have sponsors that would pay real money, or at least throw you a servo once in a while.
I listen and watch a lot of podcasts, and judging by what I've seen from some of them, the LMR Live show is perfect material.
sorry to hear Chris wasnt available this past week (epsiode # 12), but it gave Frits a chance for some spotlight too.
you probably already most of the gear you need, and both of you seem comfortable in front of the camera (or should I say, damn comfortable). now you just need to convince Apple your worthy of the iTunes podcast outlet. (maybe youve already tried that, I dont know).
General tip on lighting: lighting should be behind the camera, keep the light out of the camera eye, and instead point the light at the people. same as when taking pictures indoors - dont point camera at a window where all the light is coming in, blinding the camera eyeball.
I am a ex-podcaster. My wife and I podcasted for over 2 years and 120-something episodes. Thus, as you say, I am pretty comfortable speaking into a mic and hearing my own voice in my headphones. --Actually, it’s funny, a lot of beginner podcasters have a real problem hearing their own voice for the first time --I sure did.
At any rate, I think this simply comes down to downloading the ustream video file, possibly converting it to itunes friendly (I think iTunes is most happy with .mov/mp4) and jzinking it up. I guess there is really no extra work there. I will do some foot work and see if A) one can download from ustream or if it is streaming only B) what it will take to get it uploaded and C) what kind of file size we are talking about. I think crunched down, we are talking about a meg a minute (but that is just my memory of the subject).
I’m pretty sure its possible. I know a guy who does a daily podcast on iTunes - Mac OS Ken (Ken Wray) where he covers all things Apple and Macintosh related, and he does a weekly live show, also on ustream, and he posts it on iTunes as a podcast also. his are about an hour also.
I’m glad to help the cause.
I’ll bet all the robot parts suppliers would love to advertise.
I know I’m putting the cart before the horse here, but I vote any proceeds generated (I feel it wont be long actually) go into buying more podcast production equipment, especially the kind of equipment where all the hosts and participants can have their own little window / corner on a split-screen, etc. I’m sure Rik would appreciate an equal sized window :-) this past week he got spoiled, and poor Frits got white-washed. but I think that was because he had a lamp behind him blinding his camera eye.
Dowloading recorded eps: ting (I do that weekly for our Chinese audience). Whitewash: I wish it were that simple. Recording an LCD image from a cheap webcam is near impossible. I’m guessing you’d need filters in front of the lens.
weekly episodes can be watched/downloaded as they are flv files like youtube videos. Converting to mp4/mov files should be relatively simple in osx or linux and windows shouldn’t be far behind.
dont get me wrong, I think you and Chris have done a fantastic job getting the live show up and running, and I enjoy watching it weekly. quite often, you guys give me some of my best laughs of the week. I only wish I schedule my time so I had friday afternoons available to watch it live. but on the other hand, I enjoy watching the extra footage in the recorded show, and it looks pretty good on my big TV.
I agree with you, pointing a camera at an computer screen is “less than perfect” method. but your image usually looks ok when chris points his camera at his LCD (I assume) laptop, where you are displayed, right?. so lighting is important, or it can have very bad effects.
I’m just trying to get you equal footing with Chris, and awesome exposure for LMR, thats all. But, I’m sensing resistance, so I’ll go into obsticle avoidance routine
No resistance here. We are always thinking about ways to make stuff better. Sometimes we even discuss actual content! But mostly it’s about light and sound 8-( .
This is one of those “if only we had X” debates: faster computer, expensive software, better bandwidth, more and better cameras. I even dream of a remotely operating director/editor.
All suggestions are greatly appreciated. If only because they show to us how much our audience cares. The same goes for criticism.
