Current Updates to the make.tv Studio and Player

Greetings from Venice Beach, California!

Right now part of the make.tv team is working from its office in sunny Los Angeles. Last month we went to SXSW in Austin, Texas, and man oh man, was that a blast.

Even though we’ve been going to SXSW parties and hitting up the beach we’ve also been working hard at updating make.tv.

We continue to push forward our live broadcasting technology to give you the best live streaming experience around.

Thank you for all of your comments and suggestions in our forums. We read and make improvements based on your suggestions. Here are just a few of things we’ve improved within the make.tv Player recently:

- Our network's handling of live streams has become more reliable and failsafe.

- The playback of recorded shows and seeking in videos will now be faster.

- We have fixed a few bugs in the issues of the playlist playback. For example, in some cases the audio playback of playlist items was unreliable. We have now corrected this.

- We have also improved the overall playback of archived videos in the Player. For example, if a viewer's internet connection is dropped and then re-established the video they were watching will pick up where it left off.

We have been fixing various bugs and making improvements to the Studio as well:

- We improved our bandwidth-management in the Studio and the Player for items that are either audio-only or video-only. This reduces the chances of broadcasting excess data as well as improving the quality of the stream for people with slower bandwidth.

- We’ve improved the reliability of reconnecting inputs in the scenes windows if the connection is lost and then resumes.

- We have improved scene-loading time.

- We fixed a bug that had library images and objects turn into text in the Studio.

- Sometimes edits on a text object in the library did not save. Now they do.

- We've improved the overall consistency and usability of the Media Library. In some cases previously deleted items were still visible and editable in the editor window. This has now been fixed.

- We improved the behavior of stream instances in the scene slots, if the aspect ratio of the input source changes.

- And we have also done an overall improvement of the source reconnect logic within the Studio and the Player. For example, keeping the volume settings consistent if a source is dropped and then reconnected.

The summer will be busy for make.tv. Right now we are gearing up to attend the NAB Show in Las Vegas, NV, then off to the DEMO Conference in San Jose, CA, the mLove ConFestival in Monterey, CA. Early June we will be at the BlogWorld Expo in New York.

We are creating exciting new partnerships and will be presenting those soon as well.

Follow us on Twitter @maketv for all the latest news and announcements.

If you have any questions or comments please e-mail us at info@make.tv

Until next time,

The make.tv team

New feature: Channel playlists

Channel Playlists

on make.tv.

Now we finally have it! The feature of make.tv is now extended by Channel playlists.With this new feature you can bring the shows of your make.tv channel into an individual order and let them go live in that order. For setup, see the configuration section (Configure tab) of your make.tv channels, the new option "Channel Playlist".

New dialog box to set up channel 

playlists, which then can be 

used anywhere.

In the new dialog window, you have all your channel shows (including disabled shows) available and they can be compiled to a playlist by drag and drop. In addition to the name and description, the start time of the playlist can be set so that your program will start at a specific date and time. In addition, the loop mode can be activated. This repeats the play list again and again as soon as the last show was played in the list.

If you enable the channel playlist (radio button "active playlist"), this playlist behaves as if it was a live show. Therefore, it will be automatically shown in all make.tv embed players (for example on your website, facebook or your web-blog) if the player embeds are configured to also show live shows. A "real" live show can of course still be broadcasted over this channel. This is prioritized. Once the 'real' live show is over, the player will return to the playlist. Through a further opening of the Channel-Channel dialog, the newly produced show, or a newly uploaded video to the existing playlist can be inserted. An update of the playlist is automatically updated in all players - even without a reload of the player. This way your new show - or your new advertising block in your play list - is integrated everywhere, where you embedded the player of your channel.

Embed Player with

 ongoing playlist

 The new make.tv playlist feature is a great way to easily broadcast your own Company TV, Music or TV News TV 24 hours a day at a low price. Broadcasting of the shows in the playlist is synchronized for all viewers. This way, the use of make.tv chats, which is integrated in the player, may be an interesting option, with which the audience can engage and talk about the content that is broadcast LIVE.

Audio-Controls

global audio
on video inputs

The Audio is a major part in the perception of TV content. This is equally true for traditional TV- and movie contents as well as for internet formats. For this reason make.tv always made a point of keeping the audio control as simple and intuitive as possible. The following video gives a better introduction to the different functions of the audio channels.

make.tv Tutorials - Livestream make.tv

If you are going live with a scene that isn’t receiving your input, like Scene 1.2 in the Video (which only shows a picture) your audio signal will no longer be broadcasted. At the same time, the red button in your Input panel turns gray. If you still want to broadcast your audio signal, even though your video signal is currently not in the picture, you need to activate the Global Mode in your Input above. Then the button will turn red again and your audio signal will constantly be broadcasted whether you are in the picture or not. Try it out!

new advanced encoding settings in the make.tv studio

advanced settings
 in the studio

Since the last make.tv plattform update in february the make.tv studio supports advanced settings for video- & audio-inputs. A klick on the advanced settings button opens a new dialog window. Here you can change the resolution, the framerate and the datarate of your input device individually. Furthermore the audio sample rate can be selected.

 selection area for bandwidth, resolution, framerate and audio-samplerate

The given settings concern only to the video- & audio input coming from the browser (make.tv Studio / adobe flash plug-in). Other ways for inputs, like a H.264 input via flash live encoder (FME) or telestream wirecast, can still be broadcasted from the specific encoders directly into the studio.

happy new year 2011

The make.tv team wishes you all a happy and successfull new year 2011!

New make.tv Conference-Tool

Broadcasting your conference has never been easier! 

Conference website of the

photokina trade fare 2010

Just recently our new make.tv conference-service became available. This service, that was initially reserved for specific customers is now available for all make.tv user! This new function enables whitelable customers to converge different channels and present these in an individual design on a specific micro site that is adjusted to the requirements of congresses and conferences.

Select different views via tabs,

search and set filters!

"Which talk is given where and at what time?" - "You’re late – the talk just finished or is taking place at the same time as another interesting talk..." Everybody is familiar with these problems. The make.tv conference-tool helps you solve these problems! No more searching for content – everything is clear at the first glance and immediately accessible, live during the event as well as afterward on demand.

Twitter feed inclusive!

Within the conference-micro site you can search for content, speakers and tags. The search results are displayed immediately. In addition an individual adjustable Twitter-feed keeps you up to date, what the users out there are saying about your event. But the really special thing about the new tool is that your conference site is automatically filled with content simply by producing shows with  make.tv or uploading content. A real bonus for every conference or trade fair!

Interested in an example? Take a look at the make.tv conference-site of the photokina!

For more information or if you are interested in an implemantation for your account, your website or as a projection in the lobby of your event? Please contact us!

make.tv mobile broadcaster for Android smart phones

make.tv mobile broadcaster on a HTC Desire
Android smart phone

Starting today, Version 1.02 of our make.tv mobile broadcaster for Android smart phones is available for free in the android market. The make.tv mobile broadcaster enables you to send live-streams from your mobile phone to the make.tv studio as a video input or even as a live show "ON AIR".

After log-in, a well arranged menue is at the users disposal. Adjustments like bandwidth, framerate, etc can be made. Additionally, make.tv whitelabel customers can choose, which channel shall be used for broadcasting. Another flag, "live" yes of no, decides if your signal is immediately broadcasted or if the stream is only broadcasted to the studio for a decentralized production.

If you choose the "LIVE"-option you can give your show a name and a short description and then it's show time - your live. The live signal from your mobile can now be seen on the make.tv Channel at http://make.tv/your_channelname as well as on all embed players (Facebook, Myspace, Blog, etc...). If you have chosen the option "record show", an archive of your show is available shortly after the end of your show.

broadcasting via
an Android smart phone

the menu for
encoding adjustments

Without the live flag or during a running live show the transmitted live signal of your mobile is immediately available at the usable inputs in your make.tv studio and can be used like any other video source, e.g. for a picture in picture composition of studio image and on site reporter.

Another great feature of the make.tv mobile broadcaster is that even during live broadcasting you can still make phone calls. This was, the producer in the studio can give directions to his mobile camera man, which motives should be captured.