SnapStream Blog

Feature Spotlight: ShowSqueeze

January 30 2009 by Lynne Burke

SnapStream's ShowSqueeze lets you separately recompress any standard-definition (SD) or high-definition (HD) recording to either Windows Media (.wmv) or H.264. These formats offer the same great recording quality as the other formats in a fraction of the space. And when you're recording thousands of hours of television, this can be particularly useful.

So, let's say you're recording at Fair Quality (2 mbps), by automatically ShowSqueezing all programs as they're recorded to a Windows Media file (667 kb/s), a server that once could hold 2000 hours of television can now hold over 6000 hours of television.

It's as easy as 1, 2, 3!

1. In the SnapStream Web interface home page, go to settings. Choose ShowSqueeze from the list of options.

showsqueeze12

2. In the ShowSqueeze settings menu, you'll see the option to Automatically ShowSqueeze all recordings (either all SD shows, all HD shows or all shows (SD and HD)). In this example, we've chosen to compress the files to the default Windows Media setting at Fair Quality (667 kb/s).

showsqueeze22

3. Your program will immediately be compressed (or if you choose, can be scheduled for a later time). Once the compression is done, you'll see it in your list of recorded programs again.

showsqueeze32

That's it. The ShowSqueezed clip is now ready to download or email. This particular program went from 3.27GB (it was originally recorded in Best quality at 8mbps) to .7GB, compressing it to about 25% of its original size (the Windows Media file setting in that example is 667 kb/s).

So, Automatic ShowSqueeze is especially useful if you are recording a number of channels 24/7, as many SnapStream TV Server customers do. In that case, you can even set your SnapStream Server to automatically compress programs:

  • At a global level (i.e., everything you record)
  • Just certain channels (i.e., channels you record 24/7) or
  • Just certain programs (i.e., one particular episode of CNN, as in the example above)

To maximize bandwidth usage, you can also schedule the compression to take place after business hours, for example, from 2-4 am. Keep in mind, ShowSqueezing takes server processing power, so you have to strike the right balance between space and processing power to get the best use of the server's processor in the quest for more space. For questions or more details, please contact your Sales Rep or Enterprise Technical support.

SnapStream Enterprise TV 4.9.1 Release Available

January 30 2009 by Lynne Burke

qam1

The SnapStream development team is happy to announce availability of the 4.9.1 release for SnapStream Server customers. Much of the work was performed "under the hood," but there are a few big new features as well, among them:

  • Clear QAM support
  • StreamSnip
  • PlaceShifting

 

Clear QAM Support (plus StreamSnip)*

We did a complete overhaul of our HD recording system to include the ability to capture Clear QAM cable broadcasts. This part gets a little technical, but stay with me.

The demultiplexer (the part that splits the video from the audio so they can be displayed), was only written to support ATSC formatted transport streams in previous versions. QAM is a close cousin to ATSC, but instead of simply tacking it on, we completely re-wrote the demux, making it faster and better at handling bad signals. Additionally, we added the ability to play the secondary audio streams that could be stored in the digital streams.

While we were at it, we implemented StreamSnip, to pull the 38mbit/s bitrate of QAM down to only the size of the stream that you wanted to capture (5-16mbit/s depending on the content).

To allow the feature to be used, we added a number of pages to the Setup Wizard, implementing what we think is the best QAM setup procedure in the market. This setup shows you the QAM channel side by side with program guide data, helping ease the mapping process.

*Please note that QAM is only available to the Digital 5 tuner version of the SnapStream Server. The tuner cards in analog capture systems aren't able to grab the digital data. So, the Digital 5 Tuner version now allows you to search and then clip QAM and ATSC broadcasts:

hd_ccsearch1

 

PlaceShifting

The second large feature added is the limited availability of PlaceShifting. For the uninitiated, PlaceShifting is a way to stream any recorded content to any computer on the internet. The bandwidth of the remote computer is checked and then the video is streamed in the appropriate format and bitrate.

Other Stuff

As always, we added tweaks here and there to improve functionality of the Server. Some highlights:

  • Auto-Expiration is now available for individual programs (rather than at a system-level)
  • Recordings can now be tagged with the name of the user that scheduled them
  • iPhone and iPod Touch 2.0 video recompression is now supported
  • Startup speed of the Scheduler and Library is improved

Enterprise TV release 4.9.1 is available immediately to all SnapStream Server customers.

Industry Spotlight: Using TV to Enhance Curriculum in K-12 Schools

January 28 2009 by Lynne Burke

Using TV to enhance curriculum in K-12 schools.

Educators use television in the classroom to reinforce and expand on material being taught, increase student interest in learning and better address a variety of learning styles. The SnapStream Server puts TV in every classroom without having to wire each room with cable or supply each classroom with DVRs, VCRs and TVs. SnapStream TV search technology gives teachers the ability to search within TV recordings and pinpoint content of interest; then clip that content and download it, stream it right to the classroom, quickly and easily. Most importantly, teachers do not have to wait and rely on other people to do it for them.

As an example, let’s say you’re doing a lesson plan on Obama. You can simply type in "Obama" and SnapStream will bring up a list of TV programs where his name was mentioned. You can even have an email alert sent to you notifying you of mentions of whatever it is you’re looking for. Read more about SnapStream email alerts.

With SnapStream, administrators can easily control who can access the server and what features they have access to. For example, administrators can manage permissions based on user groups – e.g., teachers might have permission to schedule and record, but not delete, programming - eliminating the possibility of accidentally deleting another teacher's programs. SnapStream makes it easy to bring TV into the classroom.

Recently, Forsyth County School district incorporated SnapStream into their classrooms. Director of Technology Services for Forsyth, Mark Klingler noted, “Its simple easy-to-use interface gives teachers the ability to record and search straight from their desks.” Read more about how Forsyth County K-12 schools are using SnapStream .

SnapStream TV Search in Action: Plane Crash in the Hudson

January 21 2009 by Lynne Burke

I was deep in marketing-land on Thursday (also known as "writing a case study"), when I heard about the US Airways plane that crash-landed in the Hudson. I grew up in Houston, but lived in NYC for 5 years and moved back last year. I still have lots of friends there...so when I hear news like that coming out of NY I still feel like it's My News and it feels personal. Within minutes, my boss showed me that rescue picture that Janis Krums took from the ferry and posted to Twitter. I was really amazed by how quickly that picture got out. I watched as the number of "views" went from the dozens to the thousands. It was posted and cross-posted on lots of different blogs as the page views overloaded the Twitter server. Twitter is an amazing thing. I posted it to my Facebook page; I had friends in NY who learned of the plane crash from my Facebook post. Incredible.

A few minutes later, I ran across an article on Silicon Alley Insider, "U.S. Airways Crash Rescue Picture: Citizen Journalism, Twitter At Work." I was astonished at how quickly that all happened. I know that sounds cliche...but not just the news of the plane crash - but also how quickly the photo some random guy took from his iPhone got thousands upon thousands of views within minutes; according to Dan Frommer, he was interviewed live on MSNBC just 34 minutes after he posted that photo to Twitter. Pretty cool. It got me thinking about how much technology has changed the way journalists cover the news.

Which got me wondering over the weekend, if I were a video blogger, how quickly could I get up a story about that plane crash? Here in the SnapStream office, we record most of the National news programs for our own interest and example purposes, and we've got alerts that are set up for "breaking news" (read more about that here). I went to my email alerts, did a quick search through Gmail for "Plane Crash" and got several results. I clicked right through to the program through the link in my alert:

In the end, though, I was just fascinated by how quickly that news spread, and how new technologies like Twitter and SnapStream can help journalists keep track of an unfolding event. Pretty cool.

Here's the clip of the TV broadcast my "breaking news" alert linked me to.

Chatting With FreshDV's Matt Jeppsen About How "The Soup" and Others Are Using SnapStream

January 05 2009 by Lynne Burke

In this half-hour podcast, Rakesh talks with Matt about how different industries - including entertainment programs like "The Soup" - are using SnapStream TV search servers, and why. Check out the podcast here:

FreshDV Podcast - Snapstream Media’s DVR on Steroids

The era of VHS tapes and VCRs is ending

December 26 2008 by Rakesh

The LA Times ran a story earlier this week about a big distributor of movies and TV shows dropping the VHS format.

Realistically, this doesn't mean that VHS is dead -- I'm sure VHS will continue to be used for things other than movies and TV shows. But if the LA Times article is true, if this LA company is really the last distributor of VHS tapes, then that's a significant step towards VHS completely going away.

Here at SnapStream, we often see our customers replacing very old VHS tape and VCR setups with the SnapStream Server so we have lots of photographs of VHS tapes. Here are a few... in memory of VHS:

City of Houston - old VCR and VHS setup

The City of Houston's old VCR and VHS setup

Plano Police Department's old VCR and VHS tape setup

The Plano Police Department's VHS tape and VCR setup

VHS tape dubbing station at a law enforcement agency

VHS tape dubbing station at a law enforcement agency

VHS tapes -- lots of \'em -- at a law enforcement agency

VHS tapes -- lots of 'em -- at a law enforcement agency

VCRs at a media company in Washington DC

VCRs at a media company in Washington DC

VHS tapes (at a media company in Washington DC)

VHS tapes (at a media company in Washington DC)

TVs and VCRs at a congressional office

TVs and VCRs at a congressional office

Searching television for "breaking news"

December 05 2008 by Rakesh

Sometimes, we hear about cool and unexpected ways that our customers are using our TV search technology. This one example.

Local TV stations live and die by their local news operations. In their 2008 "State of the News Media", The Project for E

xcellence in Journalism says:

Newsrooms are a big factor in the economic success of local television. They contributed 42% to a station’s total revenue, according to local news directors. And the majority of these news directors say their newsrooms are profitable.

So competitive intelligence for a local TV station is important -- this means knowing who's getting the scoop on local news stories and how other local TV stations are covering the local news. And that's why one of our local TV station customers started using their SnapStream Server to scan for the words "breaking news" filtered on the names of their local news competitors.

This particular local TV station setup multiple SnapStream E-mail TV Alerts on the exact phrase "breaking news" for each of their local market competitors. And by setting the frequency to "as it happens", the news director of this TV station now gets an e-mail alert everytime a competitive local station is reporting on "breaking news"!

For example, at 10pm yesterday, they might have received this mention of breaking news on our local ABC station:

13 Eyewitness News at 10PM Yesterday, 10:00 PM - 13 hours ago
>>> Breaking news tops the news, right now firefighters are battling a two-alarm warehouse fire. Authorities are not sure exactly what is burning at the elwood warehouse but they are evacuating that building. We have on the telephone assistant fire chief from the houston fire department omar longoria.
Channel: 13 (KTRK) - Show Length:34:27 - Play - View Transcript - Download Transcript - More

We thought this was pretty cool, so we've setup e-mail TV alerts on "breaking news" on a couple of the SnapStream Servers we are running here in our office.

So whether it's sports news on ESPN:

SportsCenter Today, 9:12 AM - 2 hours ago
The sentencing hearing will be carried live here on "sportscenter" at noon eastern. Roger cossack will return to discuss that. We appreciate the insights this morning. >> My pleasure.breaking news out of the nfl and it is about the new england patriots who have signed another player. You may have heard of him before, linebacker junior seau entering his 19th season. He's returning to the patriots once again. He played for them in 2006 and in 2007, a 12-time pro bowler.
Channel: 33 (ESPN) - Show Length:59:42 - Play - View Transcript - Download Transcript - More

Or celebrity gossip on EXTRA (OK, maybe they shouldn't be calling some of this stuff "breaking news"!):

EXTRA Wed 12/3, 4:33 PM - 2 days ago
I have a contrac through 2011. So right now that's what I have. Until somebody wris me another one. Ok? >> We need you. >> No, you don't. >> Oprah was in new york last night honoring susan taylor. Breaking news. She reveals there's big time confusion about who's throwing the party of all parties at obama's inauguration next mom. >> Everybody is calling me about having a party.
Channel: 12 (KPRC) - Show Length:33:53 - Play - View Transcript - Download Transcript - More

Or national news on Fox News:

Hannity & Colmes Yesterday, 8:31 PM - 15 hours ago
The next news break is about an hour away, "hannity and colmes" continues right now. breaking news tonight in the minnesota senate recount. While most of the votes are recounted norm coleman is sill in the lead. Yesterday 171 ballots turned up giving franken an extra 37 votes, and with thousands of challenged ballots, his 316 lead could easily change. According to the republican party of minnesota franken is calling for an investigation into a minneapolis church and could possibly be connected to more than a hundred missing votes.
Channel: 38 (FNC) - Show Length:1:03:53 - Play - View Transcript - Download Transcript - More

Searching on the term "breaking news" is one useful way to put your finger on the pulse of television!

A new way to search TV: SnapStream Mini, $2,000

December 01 2008 by Rakesh

SnapStream Mini, TV search applianceToday, we're taking pre-orders for a new TV search product from SnapStream -- the SnapStream Mini.

There are many organizations that don't need all of the power of a SnapStream Server, but still stand to gain alot from being able to monitor TV with our TV search technology. And that's why we created SnapStream Mini.

So like the SnapStream Server, SnapStream Mini gives you all the same power to search inside traditional TV shows for mentions of whatever it is you might be looking for. With SnapStream Mini you can:

  • Record traditional TV from regular cable, digital cable, or satellite (SnapStream Mini includes a learning IR blaster)
  • Schedule recordings using our simple program guide
  • Search by keyword within recordings
  • Get e-mail alerts notifying you of mentions of keywords on TV
  • Easily create TV clips and then download them or e-mail them
  • Burn DVDs of full recordings or clips

But here's how SnapStream Mini is different from SnapStream Server:

  • SnapStream Mini costs $2,000 (vs. SnapStream Servers which start at $8,000).
  • SnapStream Mini can record 2 channels of TV simultaneously (SnapStream Servers can record as many as 10 channels simultaneously)
  • SnapStream Mini can record and search over 1 terabyte of TV recordings, equal to about 1,100 hour (vs. SnapStream Servers have a default capacity of 2 terabytes space, about 2,300 hours, and can be purchased with up to 8 terabytes of usable space, about 10,000 hours.
  • SnapStream Mini's hardware doesn't have any redundancy (vs. all SnapStream Servers have redundant power supplies and redundant storage arrays in RAID-5 configuration).

So, SnapStream Mini is a $2,000 TV search appliance geared towards individuals and smaller organizations that want monitor television for whatever it is they are interested in.

We're taking pre-orders now (place your pre-order here) and we expect to ship the first batch of SnapStream Minis on or before December 15th. And all orders include free U.S. ground shipping.

Using SnapStream to study children's television

November 26 2008 by Rakesh

One field where SnapStream's TV search technology is having an impact is broadcast television research in the field of journalism. Rather than manually transcribing TV broadcasts for the purposes of content analysis, researchers are using SnapStream to automatically retrieve full transcripts for TV shows.

We recently heard from one such customer, Dr. Nancy Jennings from the University of Cincinatti. Broadly, Dr. Jennings' research has focused on children and the media (this article talks more about Dr. Jennings' research background). Dr. Jennings' current research, for which she is using SnapStream, seeks to inform the development of television and online media that increases in literacy young children:

"I'm very pleased with the SnapStream server. I have used it thus far to record Saturday and Sunday morning children's shows for the entire month of October on 8 different channels simultaneously. I'm just beginning to get through that data, so I don't have any findings yet. But it was such a pleasure using the server compared to how I was doing it before...literally having 8 different VCRs taping different shows on different machines, then having to digitize them after that. I also recorded 2 of 3 presidential debates and the vice-presidential debate on the SnapStream on several different stations at once. I'm curious to look at the commentary of the debates by the different stations, and now I can code it by time stamp as well. It has also helped me with some experimental studies of educational television that I'm doing. Through use of the SnapStream server, I was able to record programming on HBOFamily called Happily Ever After which has inspired a new line of research with a PBS Ready-To-Learn program called Super Why. Also, the transcription function is phenomenal! I'm sure that would come in handy with content analysis of language use. I'm hoping I may use that with another study on another PBS Ready-To-Learn program called MarthaSpeaks."

Automatic TV searches with SnapStream email alerts

November 25 2008 by Lynne Burke

The SnapStream's TV Alerts feature allows you to save keywords and have your SnapStream Server (or SnapStream Mini) automatically search all of your TV recordings for them; you'll get an email with results on a real-time, daily or weekly basis - you choose the frequency. If you've ever used Google Alerts, think of this like Google Alerts but for traditional television.

So let's say you want to track all mentions of your organization. Simply type in the keyword, and anytime your organization is mentioned on your recorded channels, an email will be sent to you showing you the transcript of the video along with a link to the particular part of the video where it was mentioned. It's as easy as that!

For example, let's say you're in charge of press for the City of Houston and you want to track all mentions of The City of Houston or Bill White (our mayor) on the local news, you could set up an automatic search for the keywords:

  • "city of houston"
  • "mayor white"
  • "bill white"

and have the results emailed to you:

City of Houston email alert

With the "real-time" frequency option, you can get an email the moment a mention occurs so there's no time lost in responding to an important media mention. You can even track "breaking news." For example, recently, The San Jose Police Department was able to react immediately to an incident involving a cow and a train (?) thanks to SnapStream's as-it-happens email alerts!

Once you've found stuff you're interested in, you can click the link to watch the video and then create clips, email clips to other people within your organization, or even synchronize those clips to your iPhone or iPod so you can watch them while you're traveling. And unlike clipping services and media monitoring services, you can create an unlimited number of high-quality TV clips without any incremental cost.

To learn more, see this in-depth YouTube video on SnapStream's TV alerts function:

What is SnapStream? There's an unlimited amount of video content out there: 24/7 news channels, breaking news events, sports, talk shows, awards galas, entertainment shows, and so much more.

SnapStream makes a real-time news and media search engine that makes it fast and easy to find the video moments that support our customers telling great stories.

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