SnapStream 8.1 is here with some awesome new features and serious performance improvements. We'll be walking through the new software during a webinar on Tuesday, February 7th at 2pm. Check the new additions and improvements we've made:
SnapStream makes it easy to quickly grab a segment from live or recorded TV. While you can easily click on the captions or on the SnapStream progress bar to jump to a point in the recording, we wanted to provide our power-users with an even quicker method to effortlessly review a recording and create clips.
With SnapStream's Keyboard Shortcuts you can use your keyboard to move rapidly through your recordings, create clips, adjust your start and end-points and much more.
Examining the current state of local TV news, we notice two trends. 1.) Local TV viewership is declining, and 2.) About 6 in 10 Americans get their local news from social media.
How can local TV news position itself in this future of digital media? To answer this, we take a look at this changing landscape and into how local TV news stations are keeping audiences engaged on Twitter & Facebook. Read more
We’re excited to announce a new product that works as an accessory to your SnapStream server: the SnapStream TV Set-Top Box.
With a SnapStream Server and the SnapStream TV Set-Top Box, watch live & recorded TV on any PC, Mac, Chromebook or television in your organization. SnapStream TV connects to your LAN via your wired or wireless network and it connects to your television via HDMI. Read more...
Recording in H.264 is key to getting the most out of your SnapStream upgrade. The SnapStream Encoder gives seamless HTML5 playback with no browser plug-in needed. It just works for anyone in your organization and across all browsers (yes, even in Chrome!).
The best way to start recording in H.264 will depend on your current TV source. Check out the options below for more information and be sure to join us for a detailed webinar on Thursday, December 8th.
The SnapStream Encoder (Component/HDMI) allows you to ingest broadcast signals through component (YPbPr) video, unencrypted HDMI, or S-Video and convert them into compatible H.264 IP streams with closed captioning for recording or multicasting over the LAN.
The SnapStream Encoder (QAM/ATSC) allows you to ingest broadcast signals from clear QAM, digital antenna (ATSC), or analog cable through coaxial RF inputs and convert them into compatible H.264 IP streams with closed captioning for recording or multicasting over the LAN.
Join us for a webinar on Thursday, December 8th at 1pm as we explain the SnapStream encoders.
With Thanksgiving this week, we're thinking about all of the ways that SnapStream customers are simply the best. To thank you for being so amazing, we're giving out "SnapStream: Made in Techxas" t-shirts (read below to find out how to get yours).
You have been doing amazing things with SnapStream, things we never even considered. Examples of ingenuity with SnapStream:
How are you using SnapStream? We love to hear about what you're working on!
So many of the new features in SnapStream are inspired by you. You request it, we make it happen. You are continuing to help us evolve as a company and we can't thank you enough. Check out the latest features inspired by you in SnapStream 8.0.
Keeping conversations real-time on Twitter and Facebook can be difficult to manage, but you're pulling it off. Customers like:
BOOM! #stlblues pic.twitter.com/1I9r6ylPrd
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) February 19, 2016
As a small token of our appreciation, we'd love to send you a SnapStream t-shirt. Thanks for being so awesome!
Timecoded tags reference specific moments during a recording. Using timecoded tags, you can identify and tag visual cues, non-verbal content and other important information that might not show up in the closed captioning or program guide data of your recording. Timecoded tags can be helpful in identifying and reviewing similar moments from different recordings.
Need to find each time a character makes a silly face? A time-coded tag called "silly face" would help you catalog and search on these specific moments in your library. It's simple to create and search for timecoded tags in SnapStream. Find out how below:
1. To create a time-coded tag, right-click (Ctrl+Click on a Mac) in the playback bar or click the 
button. You will be prompted to select a name for the tag or choose a pre-existing playlist. The time-coded tag will show as a blue line on your playback bar. To create a timecoded range tag, set a clip start and end point before clicking the "Timecoded Tag" button
2. Choose an existing tag from the dropdown menu or type a new tag. Click “Add” to finalize the tagging.
3. Timecoded tags are visible in the progress bar as a tag icon and blue line. Click on any tag to take you to the moment tagged.
4. Tags are indexed by SnapStream. Timecoded tags will appear in all search results organically, but you can also tailor your search to tagged terms only by using the search filter “TAG:”
If you're not following The Maury Show on Twitter, you're missing out on some quality entertainment. The show has been around since 1991, and just aired it's 3,000th episode. The success of The Maury Show isn't waning anytime soon as they continue to make strides via social media and fan engagement.
Paul Faulhaber is the executive producer of The Maury Show and realizes the importance of social media in the daytime television landscape. He decided to bring in Snapstream as a tool for the digital producers, Eric Hanson and Kristin Scheele, to grow the social media presence of The Maury Show.
Kristin and Eric spoke with us about how The Maury Show is harnessing the passion of their fans to deliver real-time engagement
Q: Can you tell me a little about your role at NBCUniversal?
Kristin: I am a field producer and one of the digital producers. Eric is the head person and I help him create original content for our different social platforms. I do a lot of behind the scenes shooting during tape days and create original content with that. I also helping with the daily social posts, whether it's grabbing funny moments off of SnapStream and posting them or creating GIFs, memes, things like that.
Eric: My role is to take the content from the show and bring it to the second and third screen. Taking what the viewers experience in live TV and putting it on social. Allowing the viewers another way to experience the show.
"My role is to take the content from the show and bring it to the second and third screen... Allowing the viewers another way to experience the show."
- Eric, Producer, The Maury Show
Q: How did SnapStream get implemented at The Maury Show?
Eric: Paul Faulhaber, the Executive Producer of Maury, was instrumental in incorporating SnapStream into the show. Paul gets social media and the value it adds to our show. When he first introduced us to SnapStream we were sold.
Kristin: Paul was so excited about Snapstream, it was contagious. We were fired up and couldn’t wait to incorporate it into our workflow.
Q: What does your social workflow look like?
Eric: We're kind of like a big "think tank". We throw out ideas, between the whole staff. We actively encourage everyone from the producers to the interns and the office managers to help us come up with ideas on what to post. But ultimately, I decide with our Executive Producer, Paul Faulhaber, how and when we'll encorporate that into our platform.
Q: How does SnapStream fit into this workflow?
Kristin: Over the summer, every day we would do a live chat on Twitter which we used SnapStream for. We would pull stills from the show, creating GIFs, using the live Twitter feed.
Does Jay look like a liar? #MaurysOn pic.Twitter.com/9HvCg56AiF
— The Maury Show (@TheMAURYShow) April 25, 2016
SnapStream is a valuable tool for us. We have three other shows in Stamford (where we're located) and they can't wait to start using it as well. We (The Maury Show) has been used a guinea pig, but it's gone so well.
Q: What other aspects/features of SnapStream do you find the most useful for Maury?
Kristin: One of the other major things that we do is put clips directly onto our Facebook page from SnapStream. It's great that SnapStream includes the closed captioning, native in the video.
We also have an agreement with Amazon Fire, so we upload clips from SnapStream into YouTube, and that aggregates directly to our Amazon Fire account.
Eric: SnapStream has been really wonderful because we incorporate anything we want to use in our social workflow. It also allows us to stay really engaged with our fans. Content is king, and our viewers want new content, fresh content. We may be airing back episodes, but we can still create fresh social content with those episodes.
Kristin: The search function has really been helpful. We're starting "Out of Control Teen Tuesday" this week. Now that we have a backlog of Maury shows built up in the SnapStream library, we can go in there and do a search for "out of control teens". We can see every show that we've done that includes that search term and post it directly to our social media platforms.
We have a lot of moving parts here, and everyone is so busy. So instead of having to ask other producers or managers to go search for a clip, we can just do a quick search in SnapStream, grab it and share it.
Eric: Another thing that we do with SnapStream is grab stills from the platform and use them in our weekly "caption this" contest.
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Q: What was the workflow like before you had SnapStream?
Eric: It was very cumbersome. We'd have to have someone go to the editing bay, mark clips, have them pulled. Then we wait 24-48 hours to have someone pull them, mark them and send them to us.
Now, as I watch the show, I'm pulling and archiving clips, deciding when and where I can use them. A lot of people are incredibly thankful for SnapStream, because it makes our jobs so much easier.
"We were able to go into SnapStream to find all the clips of Searcy and pull those. We can continue the conversation, adding more content to fuel the fire."
- Eric, Producer, The Maury Show
Q: Can you think of any particular posting or episode where SnapStream was instrumental?
Eric: We just celebrated our 3,000th episode, so we played a lot of Maury's favorite episodes and guests through the years. We would pull those directly from SnapStream and share via social.
A lot of times when something goes viral, it's not always because of us. For instance, a reddit user said one of our guests looked like Ted Cruz. So, we were able to go into SnapStream to find all the clips of Searcy and pull those. We can continue the conversation, adding more content to fuel the fire.
Kristin: We love seeing how creative people can be with our clips.
Eric: Since we've introduced SnapStream into our platforms, it's really revitalized our social presence. It really makes us stand out in comparison to other shows. We have this immediacy that sometimes other shows lack.
It's nice to have a library, or an archive of our shows. Sometimes something will go viral that we didn't even think about. A lot of times, you just don't know what is going to hit. Now we can go back in and add that extra content to the conversation, engaging with our followers and our fans.
"Since we've introduced SnapStream into our platforms, it's really revitalized our social presence. It really makes us stand out in comparison to other shows."
A few of the highlights:
Native HTML5 Player (H.264 TP & MP4)
Enjoy seamless playback with no browser plug-in needed for all your H.264 transport stream (TP) and MP4 recordings. "It just works" for anyone in your organization, and across all browsers and devices including:
Using SnapStream without a browser plug-in is easy... you just need your recordings in H.264, which you get automatically with the SnapStream Encoder. If you are recording to MPEG-2 or MPEG-2 TP, learn how you can start recording in H.264.
Access your transcode settings in the admin panel to toggle this feature. Once toggled on, all of your H.264 clips will automatically be converted to MP4.
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MP4 file format offers maximum compatibility with video editors (like Avid and Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere), social websites (such as Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, etc) & mobile devices. Export MP4s directly into your video editing software, or clip directly to MP4 for easy integration with iOS and Android.
Frame-accurate Clipping (H.264 MP4 Recordings)
We’re always working to improve our clipping performance, and we’re happy to announce frame-accurate clippings for MP4 recordings.
Want to allow certain users a more extensive library? Or are you concerned with restricting channel access (does everyone need to be watching ESPN...)? With SnapStream 8.0, you can ensure your users are only accessing the channels they need.
Read the full release notes.
(Usually 1 hour)
SnapStream's support team will perform the upgrade via a remote session.
For most users, you won’t need to uninstall and reinstall a new version of the SnapStream Web Player. Once your system admin upgrades your SnapStream to 8.0, your users will be ready to go.
Wednesday, Nov 16th at 1pm
In our next post outlining advanced features of the SnapStream software, we'll take a look at uploading video and audio into your media library. Like playlists and merging, SnapStream's uploading feature is a great advanced tool for SnapStream power-users.
Using SnapStream's upload functionality, you can add compatible video and audio content directly into your SnapStream library. Once it has been uploaded, you can use the full suite of SnapStream's features to create social media posts, clip, share and transcode the clips. Follow along below to learn how you can use this great feature.
1. Select the upload button from the SnapStream Library. (Note: You will need the "Upload Media Items" permission enabled for this button to be in the library)
2. Select the file to be uploaded. If you have an .SRT subtitle file, you can include the SRT file alongside the video upload to provide captions for your video.
3. Once the file is uploaded, the software will prompt you to edit any file information for the recording. Click "Save" to add the recording to your library.
