It looks like Teradek's VidiU live video encoder is a winner

In January, I wrote about Teradek's new $699 (U.S.) VidiU, a palm-sized portable video encoder that supports 1080P or 720P video at 5 Mbps maximum, and has built-in WiFi connectivity and a USB port for plugging in a 3G/4G broadband modem. The VidiU connects "out-of-the-box" with Ustream and Livestream, and can also connect to any streaming service that supports RTSP. Although Teradek and Ustream announced the VidiU in early January, the device is just now shipping to reviewers, and the company will start fulfilling customer orders later this month.

Streaming Media Magazine's Jan Ozer has posted a "first look" review of the VidiU. I strongly suggest that you read his review for all the details, but here are some of the highlights:

• The VidiU has a free iOS controller app that makes configuring the encoder and monitoring its output very simple. (Presumably, an Android app is in the works.)
• The VidiU can test the broadband connection and propose an optimal encoding rate to support the available bandwidth, and it also provides adaptive bandwidth management to optimize the encoding rate as available bandwidth changes.
• Two simultaneous streams are outputted by the VidiU: One goes to the streaming services provider, and the other goes over WiFi to an iOS device for monitoring.
• At the top quality rate for 720p video (2.2 Mbps,) Ozer reports that the video looked very good. You can see all of the videos that he recorded on Livestream by clicking here. Even at 446 Kbps, the video quality is impressive.
• Ozer reported some faint audio distortion on all of his recordings, which he described as making them sound as though they had been recorded underwater. He used two different camcorders to try to isolate the problem, and determined that the distortion was in the audio from both camcorders--meaning that the VidiU was the most likely source. Ozer wrote that the distortion could only be heard with headphones, but it was sufficient to prevent him from rating the VidiU a "must-buy." It's likely that whatever is causing the problem can be fixed with a firmware upgrade, but so far, Teradek hasn't confirmed that the problem exists.

Assuming that the sound problem gets fixed soon, the VidiU will become the low-cost live video encoder to beat. I'll look at the VidiU myself next week at NAB.

Teradek and Ustream do Livestream one (or 2.7Mbps) better

This week has primarily been reserved for consumer electronics news from CES, but video pros got something to smile about yesterday when Teradek and Ustream jointly announced a new portable video encoder, the VidiU. Physically, the VidiU is very similar to Livestream's Broadcaster, which pioneered the low-cost portable video encoder market, and by all accounts has been very successful at bringing new customers to Livestream. The Broadcaster is small enough to fit on top or beneath a camcorder, compresses 1080i or 720p video over HDMI into H.264 video at up to 2.3Mbps, and sells for $495. There's a new version of the Broadcaster in the works that adds a built-in 4G modem for Verizon's LTE, but Livestream hasn't yet announced the price or release date.

Teradek's VidiU looks a lot like the Broadcaster--about the same size, similar display and controls, and similar connectivity options (wired Ethernet, Wi-Fi and 3G/4G broadband via USB modem)--but it's black instead of the Broadcaster's red. However, unlike the Broadcaster, which can only be used with Livestream's streaming video service, the VidiU comes configured out of the box to support both Livestream and Ustream. In addition, the VidiU has a generic RTMP interface that works with a variety of other streaming services, including Brightcove and Ooyala.

The VidiU also supports 1080p or 720p at up to 5Mbps. So, it's faster and more flexible than Livestream's Broadcaster, but what's the downside? The VidiU will sell for $699 when it ships next month, so it'll cost $204 more. But why the buzz about Ustream if the VidiU can work with multiple streaming services? Ustream clearly needs something comparable to the Broadcaster to compete with Livestream, so it's partnered with Teradek to make Ustream the standard, out-of-the-box streaming connection for the VidiU. In addition, it appears that free Ustream service for a limited period will be bundled with the VidiU.

If I were deciding between the Broadcaster and the VidiU, I'd probably buy the VidiU, even for using it with Livestream, because of its added flexibility and performance. I give Teradek a lot of credit for not locking the VidiU to a single streaming vendor.

A television EFP van in your...motor scooter?

Last year, Newtek got a lot of attention by turning a Mini Cooper into a tiny EFP vehicle, equipped with one of its Tricaster systems, camcorders, tripods and microphones. KiBAN International, a Japanese eLearning vendor, has just announced an even smaller EFP vehicle--well, actually, an EFP scooter.

The Panda Bird combines Blackmagic Design's electronics and a Honda Gyro Canopy three-wheeled scooter. It incorporates Blackmagic Design's ATEM Television Studio video switcher, HyperDeck Studio Pro dual-deck SSD video recorder and SmartView Duo dual 8" display, along with two camcorders, tripods and additional electronics. Camcorders are connected wirelessly to the ATEM Television Studio, and its built-in H.264 encoder can be used for live streaming from the Panda Bird directly to Ustream. The electronics package fits into 6RU, is powered by 12 volts and can be removed from the scooter for indoor use.

As you can see, there's no room to carry lighting and sound equipment; from the picture, it might not even be possible to fit in the camcorders and tripods. So, the Panda Bird is more an interesting exercise than a self-contained mobile production system. However, it does suggest that Newtek no longer has the miniature video production system business to itself.

Busting the DAM (Distribution/Attention/Monetization) Problem

No matter what kind of media you're producing, if you're looking for a financial return, you have to accomplish three things:

1. Distribution: You have to get your book, music, movie or video to the people who are likely to be interested in it.
2. Attention: You have to let your audience know that your media is available and get them interested in reading, listening to or watching it.
3. Monetization: You've got to figure out a way to get your audience to pay for your efforts.

That's the DAM problem, and you have to solve it in that order. You can't monetize media that your audience doesn't know about and can't find. You can get your audience excited, but if there's no way for them to get your work, you've wasted your effort.

It used to be that as a creator, all you really needed to do was solve the distribution problem. If you could get a record company to sign your band, a publisher to publish your book, a movie studio to distribute your movie or a television or cable network to distribute your video, you were golden. The distributor would take responsibility for getting your work into stores, theaters or networks, promoting your work, and getting paid for it. (Actually collecting money from the distributors has been, and remains, an ongoing issue.) However, getting a company to distribute your work could take years of effort, and you might never get past the distribution stage.

Today, distribution is the easiest part of the problem to solve. If you're an author, you can easily self-publish your books in print or electronically, through companies like Amazon and Lulu. If you're a musician, you can distribute on CD or electronically through Amazon, CD Baby and many other companies. If you've produced a movie, Amazon will distribute it on DVDs or electronically, as will Netflix and many others. And if you've created a video, from a two-minute short to a two-hour epic, you have many distribution choices, including YouTube, Vimeo, Livestream, Ustream, Kyte, etc. In most of these cases, it costs little or nothing to get your work into distribution; you pay a portion of your revenues when it's sold.

The real price for doing your own distribution is that there's no big company to handle the attention and monetization parts. You've got to figure that out yourself, and do it without the big budgets that the "old media" companies have for advertising and promotion. Movie studios spend hundreds of millions of dollars promoting blockbusters like "MacGruber" (and see how well that went?) You'll have to get out the word using social media, local events, and whatever guerilla marketing tactics you can use to get attention without spending much money.

The monetization part of the problem is also going to be your responsibility. If you're working with Amazon, for example, it'll process and fulfill orders for you, but you may be limited in where and how you can sell your work outside Amazon's network. Apple is also an option for electronic distribution and monetization, but only for its population of devices and software. Netflix doesn't fund production and does limited revenue sharing based on the number of copies of your movie or video that its subscribers view; it may bring in some money, but not much.

Your distribution and monetization options for video depend a great deal on what you're doing. If you're producing a series, and you're very talented (and somewhat lucky,) you can do what Felicia Day and Kim Evey did and get Microsoft to underwrite production and distribution of "The Guild," what Mark Gantt did and get Sony's Crackle to do the same for "The Bannon Way", or what Illeana Douglas did in getting Ikea to sponsor "Easy to Assemble." (Please note that these are extremely unlikely outcomes.) You can also produce a video for a site like Funny or Die, in order to get exposure. In this case, your video is a stepping stone to other opportunities. (This is also fairly unlikely, unless you're Zack Galifianakis.)

I realize that I haven't solved the attention or monetization problems at all, which is why it took me three attempts to write this blog entry. My point (and I had one, at least when I started writing) is that distribution is now the easiest problem to solve. Standing out from the crowd. and especially, making money from your efforts, are the real problems.