UStream Recorder and Broadcaster

There are two different UStream applications. One is UStream Recorder and the other is UStream Broadcaster. The differences between the two are pretty self-explanatory. Both have their own uses that would benefit you in different situations.

The UStream Recorder is a good tool - it’s easy to upload videos that are in your camera roll. You can also record a video in the application but you have to be careful. If you don’t hold it the correct way the video may end up side ways or upside down when you upload it. This can happen with the camera roll videos as well. Overall, it doesn’t take long to upload to UStream and it has similar qualities to Qik. I happen to like Qik a little more. UStream is a bit laggy sometimes and the videos come out dark if you don’t have excellent lighting.

Now, UStream Broadcaster allows you to see people tweeting at you while you’re actually broadcasting live. Some people find that distracting, but it’s an interesting concept. Say you’re filming a vlog or a show; you can answer those tweets as they come up on your screen. It would be incredibly useful to cover a concert or performance. If you alert people before the actual event they can tune in and watch as you stream it. This can be a little laggy as well. As technology improves I’m sure this will stop being such a problem.

You can’t edit these videos either. So again, be careful with what you say when you’re streaming live, or if you want to upload the videos. Technically you could just edit the video in a different application, save it to your camera roll and upload it from there. That’s always an option.

To see UStream in action, check out Jennifer's election day coverage post.

Cover It Live

This would be a great idea if all the features worked how they are supposed to.

You are able to broadcast your written messages and photos easily. Essentially what you’re doing is live blogging an event of some sort. It is very simple and has great potential. You can use video captured on your phone or you can capture video through the application. It works the same with photos. Audio is captured through the app.

Right now it needs an upgrade though. It keeps saying something is wrong when I tried to upload audio or video. It didn’t matter if I used the video already stored in the camera roll, it still didn’t work. I tried making the video shorter, that didn't help at all. Same with audio. I can try to capture audio through the application and it still says I'm doing something wrong. The audio can only be 30 seconds long anyway, so shortening that didn't do anything. It is glitchy and gets frustrating if you’re trying to cover an important event. I think that if they fix the kinks, it will be a really good tool to use. They just need to tweek a few aspects. Multiple aspects actually.

For more on CoverItLive, check out Jennifer's election coverage post.