Join us for our web seminar (June 23rd, 2:30 PM CST) specific for the communications offices of elected officials, and learn how your office can leverage TV content to interact with your constituents in a more responsive and efficient way.

Many government officials across the country are currently using SnapStream to aid them with television media monitoring. They are able to simultaneously record news channels (including CSPAN, CNN, Fox News, etc.) plus any internal cable TV feeds 24×7 and then search the closed-caption text for keyword mentions to keep track of legislation issues and media appearances. And with the relaxation of the Franking Rules this past January, they can now take advantage of SnapStream's clipping feature to increase their online video presence by uploading video clips to their YouTube, House or Senate page.

SnapStream is currently used in the offices of elected officials to:

• Track TV mentions of officials, staff and legislation
• Create clips for online distribution
• Distribute TV using the existing office network
• Record & search thousands of hours of TV
• Eliminate manual search of video tapes and clipping fees

When compared to TiVos/DVRs, VCRs or clipping services, SnapStream provides dramatic improvements in cost and convenience.

Event: How Elected Officials Enhance their Media Monitoring Efforts
When: June 23rd, 2009; 2:30 CST

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In this article on Slate.com by Christopher Beam, it's mentioned that SnapStream got a nice shout-out at the Republican Party's Tech Summit last week:

A woman named Carrie Pickett says Republicans should get hip to SnapStream, a program that lets you flag and record anything that appears on TV, like Google news alerts for video. So anytime a candidate is mentioned, they automatically have the footage.

Our product saw a bit of usage in this last election cycle, including now Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's presidential bid and popular blogs "The Jed Report" and "Daily Kos", so it's cool to see that the word is spreading.

But I have one question... who is Carrie Pickett? I'd love to know where she heard about us -- if you know who she is, please e-mail me or leave a comment here. (Yes, this feels a bit like a Craigslist Missed Connection).

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.

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).

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.

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.

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

In the fast-moving world of politics, being able to monitor television media's reaction to political issues – in real time - and the ability to respond quickly and appropriately are key. In the case studies below, we looked into how SnapStream's TV search technology is used to solve media monitoring problems in the realm of politics – first for a candidate running for president, and the second, for a political video blogger.

Monitoring Television in Hillary Clinton's Race to the White House The Clinton Campaign's switch from a combination of VCRs, DVRs and clipping services to the SnapStream Enterprise TV search appliance greatly improved their effectiveness and timeliness in reacting to issues in the fast-moving and complex world of political campaigns.

The Jed Report's Search for Timely Political Television: For Jed Lewison, the influential political video blogger behind the Jed Report and Daily Kos TV, SnapStream Enterprise gave him the ability to quickly and easily find and work with pertinent network TV clips, saving him both time and hassle. It enables him to focus on what was most important to him in his video blogs: the content itself.

Jed Lewison, the video blogger behind The Jed Report, has been using SnapStream's TV search appliance to make his point: