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Tag: live streaming video

  • PlayStation 4 Will Have Twitch Streaming Too

    Back at this year’s E3, Microsoft announced that the Xbox One will come with Twitch streaming built into the console, while Sony announced Ustream streaming for its PlayStation 4. Though it was assumed that these were exclusive streaming deals, Sony today during its Gamescom presentation announced that Twitch streaming will also be coming to the PlayStation 4.

    Twitch followed up the presentation with its own announcement, stating that all PlayStation 4’s will be able to stream to the Twitch.tv website using the “Share” button on the console’s DualShock 4 controller. Gamers will also be able to watch Twitch streaming channels on the PlayStation 4.

    “PlayStation has a long history of delivering some of the best gaming experiences in the industry and we’re excited to have Twitch available on a console as heavily anticipated as PS4,” said Emmett Shear, CEO of Twitch. “Through this partnership we are paving the way for every PS4 gamer to become both a broadcaster and an avid spectator of amazing content.”

    Twitch is currently the most popular website for streaming video game gameplay. The inclusion of easy Twitch streaming in both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 guarantees that the website is about to get a massive boost to its stream numbers. This type of streaming and the sharing of content was emphasized by both Microsoft and Sony as a major factor in the design of their next-gen console interfaces, and Sony went a step further by putting a button on its controller.

    “Social capabilities are an integral part of PS4, so Twitch will play an important role in delivering a compelling connected experience to PlayStation fans,” said Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Worldwide Studios. “Twitch’s gamer-focused community combined with our strong portfolio of innovative PS4 titles, will help define next generation gameplay and community engagement.”

  • TwitchTV to Offer Expensive Ad-Free Subscription

    TwitchTV to Offer Expensive Ad-Free Subscription

    One of the most frustrating experiences while watching an eSports event online is dropping a stream and having to reload and sit through another commercial while the action continues. TwitchTV, the most popular video game streaming service, has heard customer complaints and is now offering a solution.

    The new “Twitch Turbo” subscription service will allow users to remove all ads from the Twitch website. That means no pre-roll ads, no display ads, and no companion ads.

    Unfortunately, the service is priced absurdly high at $8.99 per month. A subscription to Netflix Instant Watch streaming is only $8 per month. With a year-long PlayStation Plus subscription, for less than $5 per month gamers could be playing games themselves instead of watching other people game on a stream. Not to mention free ad-blocking software can do the same job as Twitch Turbo for free.

    The Turbo service doesn’t only offer ad-free Twitch, however. Subscribers will also get an “Exclusive Turbo Badge” to show off on the site, as well as custom set of new emoticons and exclusive chat colors. Also, subscribers will get priority when interacting with customer support.

    TwitchTV is quickly becoming the online destination for streaming games and eSports. Last year the company raised $15 million in venture capital during a funding round. At the time Twitch CEO Emmett Shear claimed that the website was seeing 20 million unique visitors per month.

  • Huffington Post and Ustream Strike an Exclusive Deal

    Today, Ustream Inc., and the Huffington Post struck an exclusive deal that gives Huffington Post access to live-streaming videos from the site’s citizen journalists.

    It’s a unique opportunity for both organizations. Ustream’s coverage can now be viewed by the Post’s near 37 million monthly readers, and the Huffington Post will gain access to diverse coverage of breaking events from all over the globe.

    Here’s what the duo had to say in their press release about the partnership:

    At 3:30 p.m. (EST) sharp, be part of the groundbreaking exclusive live press announcement event with Editor-in-Chief of Huffington Post Arianna Huffington and CEO of Ustream Brad Hunstable by watching and providing commentary through Ustream’s exclusive social stream at Ustream.tv/huffingtonpost. Additionally, after the live-announcement, Ustream’s up-and-coming citizen journalist Luke “We Are Change” Rudkowski will give his perspective on why being a citizen journalist is important for today’s society especially with this generations’ greater access to mobile devices worldwide.

    Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group comments on the new deal with Ustream:

    “We launched Off The Bus in 2007 to go beyond the one-dimensional horse-race aspect of election coverage and actually respond to the widespread dissatisfaction about the way campaigns are covered,”

    “So I’m delighted that we are partnering with Ustream for Off The Bus 2012, and renewing our commitment to holding politicians accountable and telling the stories that need to be told by tapping into a wide range of voices and perspectives.”

    Brad Hunstable, CEO and co-founder of Ustream comments on the deal with the Huffington Post:

    “Citizen journalism is increasingly democratizing the Internet with live Ustream news events playing an important role,”

    “Our partnership with Huffington Post will further push forward this trend and our mission to enable anyone, anywhere to share their stories. By combining Huffington Post’s world-class news reporting with Ustream’s live video citizen journalism, viewers everywhere will now have a raw and unedited perspective of diverse voices on the world’s most important events.”

    In the last three years, Ustream has produced mobile apps for iPhone, iPad and Android devices making the process of streaming live broadcasts easier than ever. As a result, viewing on mobile devices has increased over 50%, and 1 out of 8 live broadcasts are coming from mobile devices.

  • Color Enables Live Audio – For Verizon Subscribers

    Color, the mobile broadcasting app startup, has announced a deal with Verizon Wireless to enable audio for live video broadcasts over their 4G network. The feature will not be enabled for subscribers of any other wireless provider.

    The deal was announced on the Color blog, where Bill Nguyen, CEO of Color Labs, explained how the deal came about. It started out as a fascination with cutting-edge film technology. From the blog post:

    About nine months ago, I discovered RED http://www.red.com a professional digital camera used by filmmakers including Peter Jackson and James Cameron. RED is all about 4K and beyond. That’s nerd speak for what’s after HD. RED introduced another revolutionary idea: it eliminates the distinction between video and photography. Simply pick single frames from the video as perfect photographs. Videos and stills can be the same. Vogue Magazine is using RED in this way. If it’s good enough for them, it’s perfect for me.

    Nguyen set about trying to implement similar functionality with a mobile app, but quickly realized he would have to compromise on his vision. Due to 3G networks not being fast enough to support his new vision, Color made the decision to disable audio for Live broadcasts using the Color app. This brought up the video quality and the performance of the app, and the company resigned itself to waiting for the U.S. wireless network infrastructure to improve. The deal with Verizon went down at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, where Nguyen met with Verizon:

    Then something amazing happened in January at CES. We had an opportunity to meet Kristi and Rob from Verizon. In a matter of minutes, I realized that Verizon’s 4G network and their influence on smartphone design would accelerate our plan by light years. We created a partnership to integrate Color into smartphones to take advantage of the “metal” or hardware not just software for encoding the HQ video. We could use their amazing, pervasive 4G network to deliver LIVE video directly from smartphones to the entire world.

    The only question left is why Verizon subscribers are the only ones to get such a privilege. AT&T’s 4G speeds are better on average. That makes me think that there is something more to this deal than an idealistic vision for the future. Sarah Kessler at Mashable is quoting Nguyen as saying that Verizon is doing processing and computation on its network, rather than having the app do it. That explains a bit of why the deal was made, but still not why Verizon is willing to do this for the startup.

    What do you think? Leave a comment below and let me know.

    (Color blog via Mashable)