DIY Web "Television" Station?

randomkind asks: "Media production can be quite a bit of fun. I think it would be extremely cool to run a television station, or at least a series of television-like shows. Luckily, the web offers an alternative vehicle for publication than the standard media-mogul run cable television providers. That is why I'm looking in to creating a website that would, in essence, be a completely free television station online, with pre-recording (and sometimes live) streaming video feeds and a regular programming schedule. Think of it either as the visual analog of an internet radio station, or a very glorified webcam. My question is: Where to start? What kind of digital recording equipment is suggested? What kind of editing and effects software is needed? What kind of content delivery method is suggested (ie Real, or some other streaming video plugin)? Any special hardware requirements? Is there anything else that I ought to know about creating and running something of this sort?"

"I am looking for decent quality, but cheap solutions. I have a few thousand dollars to invest, and will have more over time, but my friends and I are solely backing this project with cash from our pockets. I've got a decent amount of working space for a production studio reserved, and enough manpower to provide, at least initially, a few hours of braodcasting a day. I've got an overflowing abundance of ideas, and lots of enthusiasm. So, where do I go from here?"

Comments

For starters

[dacarr]

If one has the material already available on tape, you can always get it to the computer with a video capture card of some flavor and encode it into the stream flavor of your choice, be it Windoze, Real(bad?)Media, or QT. If there's a way to stream MPEG or DivX encoding, I'd suggest that - but keep in mind that I have no experience with media streaming. Remember, if this is to be geared more or less like public TV, you don't really have to start off with professional-looking material - to use educational shows as examples, Sesame Street, one of the longest running public education shows, has a sort of low-budget feel to it, and Fred Rogers even went with low end budgets for his shows. (It's granted you don't have to do high-end stuff for kids, but notable nonetheless, IMHO.)

The problem you'll face here is bandwidth usage. An audio feed site only has to worry about the audio data being fed out - over a 56K modem, you can get fairly reasonable sound quality, if you do it right. Now consider that a DivX movie takes up, what, one CD for two hours, give or take? That's a pretty significant chunk of data to be slinging around. On the other hand, I think Mononoke Hime weighed in on RM at about 240 MB last I looked - but again, that's a lot of data to be pushing through the pipes, and will immediately alienate your dialup people. I recall seeing video pipes that could be used for as little as 33.6 somewhere, but even that will tie up the modem.

In short, you will probably need at minimum a cable modem or DSL to use this service.

Nonetheless, good luck.

Re:bandwidth costs and formats

[Locke!Erasmus]

I think this is actually an awesome and practical use for P2P technology that won't have people (read the TV industry) squealing about copyright infringement. If randomkind releases each video segment into the public domain, or uses the GPL for his video segments,

I think you are correct in suggesting that randomkind and his associates put together a website that shows their services. Their website could include information like show synopses, upcoming features, etc.

Perhaps they could include small teasers of each show or segment, and then release the full-length files on P2P networks like kaaza and napster if possible. The website could include tips for where to locate the files.

I think the cost of the bandwidth necessary to provide direct streaming, as well as licensing to record his segments in DivX, real, mpg formats would be prohibitive. Perhaps randomkind could allow people to get the segments off P2P networks for free and make donations if they are so inclined, and as well provide a subscription service for people who don't want to go hunt for the files and want to stream it directly from his site. This might help combat the costs.

Some comments, and recommendations

[megabyte405]

This is a great idea, but must follow a few guidelines, otherwise the TV industry will strike down the entire concept. Everything MUST be original, because if any of it at all is copyrighted by someone else, the TV industry will label it as the "TV Napster", and that'll be another entirely legal and intriguing concept, down the drain. That would be my greatest concern.

For hardware: I don't know if you want to use Linux or xxxxBSD, but I know that the ATi All-In-Wonder cards work great for digitizing video under Windows. Could be a cheaper solution than buying a digital video camera. Perhaps even a Hauppage WinTV card with a VCR to turn your SVideo into Coax. Anyone with more experience on these cards care to comment on their *nix compatability?

I'd say something that could be useful is embedding the stream in a web page, where in the bottom you could have a scrollable schedule, somewhat like the TV Guide channel on cable does. Don't forget a drop down box for time zone. And, as this will be new, consumers will likely want something altogether better than TV aka few/less intrusive ads. Don't sell out.

Great idea, and I encourage you to pursue it!

Something to avoid (possibly)

[Joe Tennies]

MPEG-4 -- I know it's the latest and greatest and should work in many streaming media players, but please read the license. You will have to pay a lot to stream MPEG-4 video. If you can eat the costs, then it's great. The thing is that you were talking about free and that'll be tough. Something you may want to keep your eyes on is Theora (www.theora.org). It will combine Vorbis Audio and VP3 Video in OGG packets. Though it may be a while before it's up and running.