Photo Credit: SnapStream 

The race for the 2020 presidential election is well underway. Ten candidates took the stage in Miami on Wednesday night for the first round of the Democratic debates. While the candidates wrangled their thoughts and policy positions, news outlets were hard at work capturing every interesting comment and meme-able reaction. Here are some impactful live-tweeting strategies the SnapStream team saw some of our media customers use Wednesday night. 

BuzzFeed News streamlined its live-tweeting of the first round of Democratic Debates by letting reporter Ryan Brooks, who covers the Democrats, take over its Twitter account. Brooks quickly delivered some great content to the 1.3 million Twitter accounts that follow BuzzFeed News. 

Sen. Cory Booker watching Beto speak Spanish pic.twitter.com/47S5rMOwuk

— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) June 27, 2019

Delaney: *breathes*

The moderators: pic.twitter.com/dpJqEr35kt

— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) June 27, 2019

Capture and Caption Funny Moments

When Beto O’Rourke started speaking Spanish to answer his first question, many people noticed Cory Booker’s reaction. The Daily Show instantly grabbed the perfect image of the moment, added a hilarious caption, and put it on Twitter. The post has been liked more than 60,000 times, and retweeted more than 11,000 times. 

When Dad says "Hola, como estas?" to the waiter at the Mexican restaurant #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/64FY2LV6kp

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) June 27, 2019

Enhance Your Video Clips with Analysis

Politico also tweeted about O’Rourke speaking Spanish for part of his first response. But rather than focusing on Booker’s reaction, the organization took a different approach. It tweeted out a video clip of the moment, and added quotes from two of its staff members above the video. Politico’s Twitter followers not only got to immediately watch the scene on their devices, but they also got to read two very different takes on it. The video has gotten over 35,000 views. 

Thoughts on Beto O'Rourke answering his first question tonight partly in Spanish:

“It's one way to stand out right away.” – @natashakorecki

“Felt gimmicky to me right out of the gate.” – @PoliticoCharlie

More analysis in our live chat: https://t.co/u73nMVOVMG pic.twitter.com/ILKs9eLQO8

— POLITICO (@politico) June 27, 2019

Tonight, 10 other Democratic candidates will have their turn. Which live-tweeting strategies will your team use? 

SnapStream makes TV social. Our technology lets users instantly capture, create, and share quality video clips, GIFs, and images to a variety of social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Pixsooz/Shutterstock

While watching TV, have you ever heard the volume increase when your show jumped to a commercial break?

The volume increase could have been the result of systems that hadn’t normalized the content based on the loudness.

Citing industry officials, the Los Angeles Times reported that due to the switch to digital TV in the United States in 2009, “the higher fidelity sound made the commercials seem even louder.” In 2006, the ITU-R had created a loudness algorithm (referred to as BS.1770-#, which nowadays has five variants) to help make sure commercials were not blaringly louder than the programs they were accompanying.

That algorithm makes “Loudness Units relative to Full Scale” (LUFS), also known as “Loudness, K-weighted, relative to Full Scale” (LKFS). LKFS is technically an amplitude level, but it’s not just the measure of an electrical signal. It’s an attempt to measure how humans perceive the loudness of broadcast audio.

This graph represents the filter applied to the raw audio input so it can be adjusted to compensate for how humans perceive the loudness of different frequencies. K-weighting is part of the equation used to determine the LKFS value. It has two parts— the first is weighting different frequencies based on how loud they’re perceived. The second is modeled after the “acoustic effect” of the human head.

Here’s an analogy to help you understand LKFS: audio level is to LKFS what temperature is to wind chill temperature (or heat index). Humans don’t perceive low frequencies as sounding as loud as they actually are, but they perceive high pitched sounds to be louder than they actually are. That’s why high pitched sounds have a higher K-weighting.  

The loudness algorithm the ITU-R created was not implemented in the United States until a few years later. In 2010, Congress passed the CALM Act. The law came into effect on December 13, 2012. It stipulates that in relation to the TV programs they are accompanying, all commercials must have their average loudness adjusted to be within a fairly narrow range of a fixed target. The law only applies to television programming—it does not apply to radio or internet programming. 

For compliance, the law points broadcasters, cable operators, satellite TV providers, and other multichannel video programming distributors to the ATSC A/85 RP.

A/85 RP stipulates the use of ITU-R BS.1770-1 in the United States. It also recommends the adoption of a fixed target loudness of -24 LKFS. Annex I.7 of the ATSC A/85 RP states that there should be a fixed target loudness of -24 LKFS, + or - 2 dB.

A/85 RP also notes requirements other than loudness, one example being dialnorm. Dialnorm means “dialogue normalization.” Dialnorm specifies the average dialogue level for audio in absolute terms. Say you’re going from your main program to a commercial. The main program features soft-spoken people, whereas the commercial features loud people. On playback, the consumer receiver would automatically modulate the low dialogue up, and the loud dialogue down.

A visual representation of how dialnorm works with a consumer cable box.

Luckily, as Dave Moulton wrote in TV Technology, if you’re using dialnorm, “you don’t need to worry very much about LKFS, because properly implemented dialnorm will pretty much take care of it for you.”

It’s important to stay on the right side of the CALM Act. If viewers complain to the FCC about your organization’s loudness level, and the FCC notices a pattern of complaints, it will start an inquiry or investigation for your organization. If there is an investigation, you’ll have to spend time proving that your equipment, and how you’ve maintained it, is in line with the law. If you don’t show actual or ongoing compliance in response to the inquiry or investigation, you may have to pay a fine.

Having a record of exactly what your programming sounded like when it aired will save you hassle and frustration. You will quickly be able to gather evidence and respond to viewer complaints.

Loudness compliance is easy with Moco: Compliance Monitoring by SnapStream. We provide TV stations, networks, and other broadcasters solutions for logging and monitoring loudness. 

SnapStream 9.2 introduces proxy file generation and playback, automatic transcript generation (beta), video thumbnails in the Library plus many more new features. We'll be walking through the new software during a webinar on Wednesday, March 27th at 2pm CDT. Check out the new additions and improvements we've made:

A few of the highlights:

• Proxy File Generation & Playback
• Automatic Transcript Generation (beta)
• Video Thumbnails in the Library
• Closed Caption Display
• Digital Signage on SnapStream Set-Top Boxes

Proxy File Generation & Playback

SnapStream 9.2 is capable of generating low bitrate, low-res proxy files for the videos recorded by SnapStream. Watch your recordings using much less bandwidth, while clips and exports occur on the original high bitrate, high-res recordings.

If you’re working from home or on-the-road, then you can much more easily view your SnapStream recordings over slower connections. In addition, it allows a higher number of internal users to watch video concurrently from SnapStream.

Generating proxy files requires additional hardware for the processing involved, so please contact SnapStream Sales to get started.

Automatic Transcript Generation & Playback

SnapStream 9.2 includes a beta version of Transcript Generation.

Are you recording live news conferences with no closed captioning? Recording your school’s morning announcements? No problem.

Select the items in the Library and use the Transcribe action in the More Actions menu. Transcript Generation works great for any TV channel or video stream that has no closed captioning or subtitles.

Video Thumbnails in the Library

The SnapStream Library now includes Video Thumbnails of your recordings. These thumbnails help convey the subject of each video and will make scanning for content much more efficient.

SnapStream 9.2 will automatically generate thumbnails for all of your future recordings.

Closed Caption Display

SnapStream 9.2 adds new ways to view closed captions and subtitles. Now you can view closed captions directly over the video in the Web Player. Not only does this help the hearing impaired, but you can mute the sound and still read what’s being said.

SnapStream TV Set-Top Boxes in lobbies, libraries and other common areas can also display closed captioning.

Digital Signage on SnapStream TV Set-Top Boxes

SnapStream TV Set-Top Boxes can now display digital signage. Create a playlist in the Web UI and then select which set-top boxes to play. You can also browse to a specific playlist on the SnapStream TV Set-Top Box itself.

More

SnapStream 9.2 has so much more, like custom thumbnails for Tweets, live stream crossposting, quick download link for completed clips, and more. Please read the full release notes.

Schedule Upgrade to 9.2

(Usually 1 hour) 
SnapStream’s support team will perform the upgrade via a remote session.

Watch On-Demand Webinar: SnapStream 9.2

Watch SnapStream 9.2 in action. 

SnapStream 9.1 introduces collaborative clipping using Bookmarks, live streaming to Periscope, Facebook Live and YouTube Live (Beta), plus many more new features. You can see these new features in action by watching our on-demand webinar. Check the new additions and improvements we've made:

A few of the highlights:

• Clipping Bookmarks
• Live Streaming (Beta)
• Analytics
• Advanced Folder Permissions
• Exports
• SnapStream DVB-T Encoder
• Avid and Premiere Web Player shortcuts
• Read more

SnapStream graduates to 9.0, bringing along a brand new, redesigned Web Player and a host of other new features. We'll be walking through the new software during a webinar on Wednesday, August 1st at 2pm CDT. Check the new additions and improvements we've made:

A few of the highlights:

• New Web Player
• Amazon S3 Video Folders
• Single Sign-On including support for Ping and OKTA
• Read more

SnapStream 8.5 adds new frame accurate clipping, HLS and MPEG-DASH recording, automatic export workflow for SnapStream Federation, support for Twitter Monetization and more. We'll be walking through the new software during a webinar on Wednesday, March 7th at 2pm CDT. Check the new additions and improvements we've made:

A few of the highlights:

• New Frame Accurate Clipping Engine
• HLS and MPEG-DASH Recording
• SnapStream Federation Improvements
• Display of manual recordings in the Program Guide
• SnapStream Set-Top Box Improvements
• Play by Channel and Time
• More Exports
• Twitter Monetization

Read more

SnapStream 8.4 adds SnapStream Federation, SnapStream Set-Top Box Web controls, social improvements, improved watermarking and more. We'll be walking through the new software during a webinar on Tuesday, December 12th at 2pm CDT. Check the new additions and improvements we've made:

A few of the highlights:

• SnapStream Federation
• SnapStream Set-Top Box Web Controls
• Social Improvements
• Improved Watermarking
• SnapStream Encoder Improvements

Read more

SnapStream 8.3 adds RTMP Capture, Faster Searching and Reindexing, Brightcove and Vimeo Export, Improved Watermarking, Video-embedded Timecodes and more. We'll be walking through the new software during a webinar on Wednesday, September 13th at 2pm CDT. Check the new additions and improvements we've made:

A few of the highlights:

• RTMP Capture
• Faster TV Search and Reindex
• Export To Vimeo and Brightcove
• Improved Watermarking
• Timecode Burn-in

Read more

Comedy show entertains audiences by using President Trump’s words and mannerisms against him

HOUSTON, June 13, 2017 – Comedy Central’s new late-night comedy, “The President Show,” has chosen SnapStream’s high-powered TV recording and search technology to find the TV clips needed to lampoon President Donald Trump and other government leaders.

The show, which premiered in April and was just extended for more episodes, features comedian Anthony Atamanuik portraying Trump in a variety of settings – doing White House press briefings, interviewing guests and literally “Screaming at the TV,” a segment in which he reacts angrily to news coverage critical of him personally and politically.

“SnapStream is vital to ‘The President Show’ to source the material we need and to study the president’s mannerisms and words to give our audience the best show possible,” said Lorrie Baranek, the show’s line producer. “Without SnapStream, we’d miss all those great soundbites and gaffes, or we’d have to spend hours watching TV for the right moments.”

Read more

SnapStream 8.2 is here with some cool new features including a Zoomable Trackbar, watermarking social posts and new social stats. We'll be walking through the new software during a webinar on Tuesday, June 6th at 2pm. Check the new additions and improvements we've made:

A few of the highlights:

• Automatic Channel Changing (SnapStream Encoder)
• Zoomable Trackbar Delivers More Precise Clipping
• Near Frame Accurate Clipping of Live TV
• Watermark Social Posts
• Facebook and Twitter Improvements
• More Export Options

Read more