WorldTV’s centralised library system for web videos along with its (lesser known) bookmarklet feature is simply perfect for this task. It’s quick, easy… and best of all it’s free!

Here’s how to do it…

1. Create a channel (account) on WorldTV, and choose a name like ‘Nickys Video Collection’
2. (Optional) Add videos automatically during the sign up process from a YouTube account, Vimeo account or by simply using keywords
3. Once the channel is set up, and you are in the WorldTV Editor (the main screen), go to the Promote->Bookmarklets tab.
4. Choose the ‘Add to Library’ option and follow the simple instructions to add a bookmark to Firefox, Chrome or Internet Explorer
5. (Recommended) Use your browser’s bookmark features to move the bookmark to your browser toolbar so it’s readily accessible with a single click
6. Now as you surf YouTube or Vimeo and other video sites you can click on the bookmark you created to instantly add the video to your personal video library
7. Use WorldTV’s many other tools to embed, share or build a playlist of the web videos you collect and archive!

Good luck!

If you have content in FLV format (or any format that is supported by Flash 10 – eg MP4 or M4V) and can host those video files on a webserver, you can easily string together those files into a playlist within the WorldTV system, and generate an embeddable player that you can host on your own website. WorldTV makes this extremely easy to do. Here’s how you do it.

Step 1 – Create the FLV files
Take your video content and convert it to FLV format. There are lots of programs that will let you do this. A good (paid) option is the Flix range of encoders. These are used by many professionals. For a free option, check out this easy-to-follow guide on our Founder’s blog.

Step 2 – Host the FLV files on a webserver
WorldTV does not typically offer hosting of FLV files although we do have a hosting solution for large customers. There are many excellent hosts out there and if you are reading this you probably know the options already or have your own hosting. If you don’t, we recommend establishing a hosting account with someone like Servint (we use them) or exploring cloud based hosting using Amazon S3. A low cost host we recommend is Gearhost who have packages starting at under $10 a month for 100GB of monthly transfer. Simply upload your FLV (or MP4/MV4/H264) files to your webserver, and write down the URL for each file.

Step 3 – Paste the URL’s into the WorldTV Editor
This step couldn’t be easier. Assuming you have already established a channel (account) on WorldTV, simply paste the URL’s for each FLV file into the ‘Add by URL’ box within the WorldTV Editor. An example of a URL might be http://www.somedomain.com/mycoolvideo.flv. Each video will immediately appear within your library, complete with a thumbnail, and you can double click it right away to preview it!

Step 4 – Arrange the videos into a Playlist
Simply drag and drop your videos into the desired order within the Playlist section of the Editor

Step 5 – Generate an Embeddable Player
Using the Promote tab within the Editor choose from a range of widgets and players. Grab the embed code and put it on your site.

WorldTV really is the easiest and best method yet to create a playlist out of FLV files to embed on your website. With full H264 support, and an expanding range of player skins and options, there really is no excuse not to have video on your website!

The idea was to film a special ‘tasting’ event for top London food critics and broadcast it to people around the world via the web. This is the story of how we did it, and what it might mean for WorldTV in future…

The focus of the event was Oysters and Champagne, something we knew very little about. Fortunately we had some of the best people (and palettes) in the business to enlighten and educate us. Fred Sirieix is General Manager of Galvin at Windows, a restaurant with arguably the most impressive view of London, and it was his idea to take what is normally a behind-closed-doors event and open it up to the public. It was the first time in the industry that a ‘showcase’, as such events are called, had ever been live webcast, and this inspired idea resulted in a lot of interest and chatter within the restaurant world. It promised to be a groundbreaking event and a lot of fun.

From day one we knew that a completely unscripted production was needed. This wasn’t the Oscars and there simply wasn’t the budget, desire or time to plan the content side in advance. Instead we decided that a roving handheld camera with a professional presenter to explain everything would make the most sense. We enlisted the help of Nigel Barden, BBC Food and Drinks presenter (pictured at top), and he agreed to host the webcast.

A two hour live broadcast feels like five hours when you’re doing it and is a lot of time to fill. We decided to add a second camera which would capture a static wide angle view of the seating area (aka ‘the webcam’) that we would switch to when needed, and this would take the pressure off shooting solidly on a handheld camera for two hours. This way we could switch to the ‘webcam’ if we ever got weary, or the presenter or camera person or circumstances ran out of creative steam. We didn’t expect people to watch for the whole two hours but dip in and out over time.

With so many stakeholders and partners involved in the event (suppliers, bloggers, restaurant reviewers, journalists, twitterers), and several partners wanting to stream the event on their own websites, we needed a streaming solution that would allow for an embeddable player on 3rd party sites, be free or low cost, and fast.

A homegrown solution was possible but this would have meant taking developers off other important WorldTV work. Several live streaming services were considered (Mogulus, Justin.tv, Ustream.tv), but in the end we chose Ustream because we know it to be reliable, feature rich and easy-to-use. The staff also run a tight ship and are quick and efficient in responding – a key factor when organizing something at short notice. Ustream’s ability to get involved with the promotion of the event through editorial coverage was an added factor and the event ended up being promoted prominently on the Ustream homepage (pictured left).

We ran tests of the embedded player and the more advanced features of Ustream’s broadcast console – their browser based web application for uplinking live video.

We set up a page at worldtv.com/live where we embedded the Ustream player allowing us to go live to that page at any time. Simultaneously we sent the embed code to partner websites so they could start running their own tests. Finally we tested the broadcast console with a variety of different video sources connected to our uplink computer – an Apple MacPro tower.

A common problem for people doing live video is how to get video into their computer. Readers of our Founder’s blog will know he likes the Blackmagic Intensity HDMI card ($249) which slots into Windows or Mac computers and lets you pull in uncompressed, high definition video from any consumer video camera with an HDMI connection. Ustream’s broadcast console is able to access this video source and uplink it for broadcast.

Another option we tested was the excellent Canopus ADVC-55 analog-to-digital video converter box ($150). This plugs into a firewire port on your computer and allows you to connect any analogue video source using an S-Video or Composite (RCA/phono) connection.

Both options worked well with Ustream in testing and the decision for which one to use was ultimately determined by the camera setup. In actual fact, we ended up using both as we’ll explain.

Incidentally the Canopus box smokes any ‘TV / Video input device’ you might find at a big box computer store in terms of quality. If you’re thinking of getting an external video capture or input device and are considering the likes of Hauppage, Pinnacle, Diamond etc take a very close look at the Canopus products. They are made by the same people who make top end professional broadcast equipment (Grass Valley) and the quality shows through. If you have HDMI or Component video sources look no further than Blackmagic. They too make high end professional broadcast equipment and you get the benefit of all that R&D and systemic commitment to quality.

Knowing that we had two good options for getting video into our uplink computer we began planning the production side in more detail. Top of our planning list was audio…

Its a common misconception that the most important thing in a video production is video. In reality audio is more important because you can cover up bad visuals but nothing will fix bad sound. There’s actually no excuse for bad audio because professional grade microphones start at $110.

A handheld reporters mike was the clear choice and the specific mike we like at WorldTV is a BeyerDynamic M58 ($250 – pictured above) which has excellent shock absorbing features to reduce handling noise. Its long handle is particularly suited for settings where you need to ‘reach’ out to someone in a studio audience, or… across a restaurant table.

We needed a second mike to pick up atmosphere noise and to be ‘the mike that went along with the webcam’. We rented-in an AKG rifle mike for this and mounted it on a stand aimed at the diners.

Both microphones were fed into an audio mixer and from there into the computer. We kept the audio separate from the video to keep things more flexible. The Ustream broadcast console allows you to specify a separate audio and video source for uplinking.

A wireless microphone kit was used to adapt the handheld mike into a radio mike. We used two receivers – one ‘desktop’ style receiver (which went into the audio mixer) and a ‘beltpack’ receiver for the main handheld camera. The beltpack receiver was clipped onto the side of the camera (pictured right) and was there to allow the camera footage to be recorded in high quality onto the camera itself – with sound intact.

The camera we used was a Sony SR1 high definition camcorder. A Beachtek box was mounted to the underside of the camera to take audio from the beltpack receiver and feed into the camera. A LitePanel Micro was mounted on top of the camera as shown. This is an LED based light.

With the ‘acquisition’ gear worked out there were two challenges remaining. How to switch between the two cameras and how to light everything.

We considered two approaches to the switching. The first was a ‘hardware’ based vision mixer which would sit between the two cameras and the computer.  The second was a software based solution where both cameras feed into the computer and are then mixed in software.

We opted for the software option and did all the switching for the event using the excellent and free CamTwist for Mac. This is the same software that Chris Pirillo uses for his 24/7 live broadcast and while it’s not the most user friendly software written, it is extremely feature rich and lets you add text, graphics and all kinds of interesting effects. We used it to switch between the two cameras and add a WorldTV logo in the corner.

We ran our Sony handheld camera into the computer via a long HDMI cable. The ‘webcam’ was an SD Canon camcorder and was fed into the Canopus box via a composite video cable. At the last minute we added a 3rd ‘waitercam’ which was a tiny Swann wireless ‘spycam’ whose receiver was fed into the Canopus box via a hardware switch (an RCA switcher). We were able to switch back and forth between the ‘webcam’ and ‘waitercam’ using this switch, providing we didn’t do it while either camera was actually live. A physical switch is not suitable for genuinely live switching.

Regarding the lighting for the event we had a major challenge. The dining area was surrounded on three sides by windows on what turned out to be an extremely sunny day and with the sun coming straight at us. Fortunately we rented a set of ‘Redheads’ (not an Irish female band) but 3 large professional film lights running at 800w each. We used all of them with ‘daylight’ gels to attempt to fill in light from the one side of the dining area that did not have windows. It’s never easy fighting the sun (!) but 2,400 watts and some blinds helps a little.

On the day we got down to the restaurant early. By 3pm everything was setup and everyone in place. Our Founder Alx who has worked in the past as a cameraman operated the main camera and did Directorial duties. Nigel Barden from the BBC as mentioned did the presenting.  Nick Tsinonis was on switching and Charlotte Chahrvin was on ‘waitercam’.

The event went amazingly smooth all things considered. A waiter did manage to trip a router cable which evaded being gaffa taped behind the bar, but that was about it. The broadcast was watched by hundreds of restaurant people around the world and the client was very happy.

We’re now planning to do more live events with a view to developing some live broadcasting features for our WorldTV users and which is the most often requested feature. We’ve got a wealth of real world experience to feed back into our development plans and some fascinating ideas that we’re working on. You will of course hear all about them right here.

If you would like us to webcast your upcoming event, drop us a line.

The US based ‘Center for Social Media‘ is an organization with a good track record of educating everyday people about the law, and establishing guidelines that people within the legal world actually follow. They’ve just released a ‘Code of Best Practices for Online Video‘ which we think will be of interest to many WorldTV producers.

In the spirit of fair use itself, we’ve reproduced the main points below. Do read the whole document if you intend to make use of these provisions.

What is Fair Use of copyright material?

Here are the main principles of ‘fair use’.

• Commenting on or critiquing of copyrighted material
• Using copyrighted material for illustration or example
• Capturing copyrighted material incidentally or accidentally
• Reproducing, reposting or quoting in order to memorialize, preserve, or rescue an experience, an event, or a cultural phenomenon
• Copying, reposting, and recirculating a work or part of a work for purposes of launching a discussion
• Quoting in order to recombine elements to make a new work that depends for its meaning on (often unlikely) relationships between the elements

A PDF of the guidelines can be found here, an online version is here.

We’ve partnered with the hottest name in mobile phone broadcasting, Qik, to allow for a whole range of new functionality that is really very cool.

Basically how it works is that you can now use your mobile phone as a live video camera for WorldTV, which can ‘take over’ your WorldTV channel whenever you feel like it. If someone is watching your channel when you start recording video using your phone, the ‘regularly scheduled programming’ (your playlist) is paused, and the live signal from your phone begins. As soon as you stop using your phone, the regular programming resumes from the point you left off. Simple!

All the live recordings that you make with your phone are automatically archived as clips in your Library. This means you can capture video of events that you’re at, safe in the knowledge that you’ll have a copy of them stored in your WorldTV Library. You can then download them to your hard drive by right-clicking on the file in your Library. You can do this for any file in your Library actually.

A range of useful options let you customize the functionality as you wish. For example, you can choose not to have your phone recordings go live on your WorldTV channel as you’re making them, but be archived straight to your Library instead.

You can choose sound effects and text that play when a live broadcast begins. At the moment, around 40 phones are supported, all from Nokia. More are on the way. If you’re in the market for a new phone we recommend the Nokia N95 or the Nokia E51 (with camera). Both phones work great with WorldTV and Qik.

There’s a number of ways you can use this new functionality.

• As a simple means to record things while you’re out and about, knowing they will be safely archived in your WorldTV library without you having to do anything else. No messy cables or confusing software to deal with.
• Live broadcasts from concerts or events for your friends. Simply tell your friends to go to your WorldTV channel and when you start broadcasting live, the channel will automatically switch to the live stream. If you use Twitter, Qik can notify your Twitter followers whenever you are broadcasting live.
• Become a Lifecaster. Basically you can now broadcast any interesting (or not so interesting!) happenings in your life to friends, family and indeed the World. Walking down the street, going for a drive, on the beach, at a party.
• Add live content to your WorldTV channel from other Qik broadcasters. If you find someone who regularly broadcasts on the Qik.com site, you can add them as a ‘source’ without having to own a supported phone yourself. Simply add their Qik username as a source.

Qik will guide you through the process of setting up your phone for live streaming. The instructions are not terribly complicated, but you should set aside 30 mins or so to get it right. This is cutting edge stuff.

The basic process is this…

1. You sign up for an account on Qik.com (Use this link and you’ll be approved for a Qik account right away)
2. They send you an SMS with a link to install the Qik live broadcasting software on your phone
3. Play around with the software and phone, make sure your videos are appearing in your Qik account (on Qik.com). If you get a ‘certificate error’ issue upon installation, see this solution.
4. Create a custom Qik username for your Qik profile. In other words… change your Qik username to something more memorable. This part is important. Use the ‘Edit my profile’ link when logged into Qik and select ‘Change your username’.
5. Add your new Qik username to your existing WorldTV channel in the Editor (on the ‘Phone’ tab)
6. Configure any options you want using our handy wizard, or simply use the defaults
7. Start broadcasting live from your mobile phone to WorldTV

Like everything on WorldTV at the moment, this service is in ‘beta’, meaning there may still be quirks while we iron out the wrinkles. We really value your feedback, so please make use of the new feedback tab on the left of these pages to tell us what you think, or how it could be improved. If you have any difficulties getting it set up, feel free to comment directly on this post below and we can then respond publicly so everyone can benefit from the advice.

Qik are a cool company that launched the same time as WorldTV. We’ll be working with them to bring you many more cool features in future.

N.B. If you’re an existing Qik user coming to WorldTV for the first time, you can import all your existing Qik videos into WorldTV simply by pasting in your Qik URL (eg qik.com/smashing) into the ‘Add Clip by URL’ tab on WorldTV. You’ll need to create a channel on WorldTV first which takes no time at all. Simply use our very easy-to-use channel creation wizard.