What is a WebCast? What does WebCast actually mean?
What is WebCasting?
Live Event WebCasting.
A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, webcasting is “broadcasting” over the Internet. The largest “webcasters” include existing radio and TV stations, who “simulcast” their output through online TV or online radio streaming, as well as a multitude of Internet only “stations”.
The term webcasting usually refers to non-interactive linear streams or events. Rights and licensing bodies offer specific “webcasting licenses” to those wishing to carry out Internet broadcasting using copyrighted material. Webcasting is also used extensively in the commercial sector for investor relations presentations (such as annual general meetings), in e-learning (to transmit seminars), and for related communications activities. However, webcasting does not bear much, if any, relationship to web conferencing, which is designed for many-to-many interaction.
The ability to webcast using cheap/accessible technology has allowed independent media to flourish. There are many notable independent shows that broadcast regularly online. Often produced by average citizens in their homes they cover many interests and topics. Webcasts relating to computers, technology, and news are particularly popular and many new shows are added regularly. Webcasting differs from podcasting in that webcasting refers to live streaming while podcasting simply refers to media files placed on the Internet.
Webcasting is a way of delivering recorded and/or live audio and video content over the internet or intranet.It supports multiple video inputs, audio-mixing and video-editing
A webcast, by definition, is a broadcast on the web. Similar to TV or radio, it’s a one-to-many communication that allows you to reach hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of viewers, or participants, all at the same time. A webcast can also be referred to as a “virtual event”. Webcasts are highly scalable and reliable — ensuring your big event runs smoothly.
They are designed to address widely dispersed audiences, often all over the world. Web conferencing is a solution designed for smaller meetings and presentations. Is it normally used in conjunction with an audio conference. Web conferencing is a highly collaborative solution which is perfect for less formal day to day meetings and normally has fewer attendees. A webcast, on the other hand, uses audio streaming or video streaming to allow participants to listen or see the presenter over the Internet, without the need to download or install anything or use a telephone.
The attendee just clicks on a link and joins the “virtual event” with potentially hundreds or thousands of fellow viewers listening through their computer’s speakers. As a presenter, a webcast with streamed audio can be run using just a plain old telephone. The beauty of this is that multiple speakers in different geographical regions can all be presenting on the same event in real time.
How Does WebCasting Work?
What is WebCasting? UK Streaming Company Explains it all.
We can show you quickly and simply what is involved in the process of WebCasting Video of your event Live online…
The basic process is the same for all webcasts, other than differences in scale of the production:
1. Audio-Video Capture: Images and/or sound are ‘ingested’ into the streaming/encoding system with appropriate equipment — generally any computer with a video capture card. Anything from a single digital camcorder to multiple cameras with ‘live’ video switchers can accomplish this task.
2. Output: The output from this equipment is fed into the encoding hardware (or software) contained within the laptop or PC using the appropriate interface.
3. Encoding: Software on the PC turns that input into a format suitable for live streaming. Typically this would be Flash Video (flv or f4v), Mpeg (MP4 — H264) Video or even (not commonly used today) Windows Media Video (wmv).
4. Transmission: The encoded output is then transmitted via the PC’s internet connection to our streaming servers. The higher the speed of this internet connection, the higher the quality of the images we broadcast. Generally, a wired connection is far preferable to a wireless (wifi) connection.
5. Broadcast: This single stream is received by our streaming servers and re-broadcast, in real-time, to multiple viewers via a website link, where it can be viewed in ‘real-time’ on any browser like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari or Chrome. Call us at 604-926-5805 or go to our website at http://www.webcastlive.mediastreams.ca for more information on Live Event Webcasting.
Between these two extremes are events with a more focused and narrowly defined audience. Most of them are corporate in nature, especially associations which broadcast conferences, keynote addresses, the CEO’s annual message to the troops, AGMs, reporting of quarterly corporate results, etc. Some of these events are almost like videoconferencing where, for example, a live training session is webcast to a select group of members or employees, or a workshop is webcast to a specific group of professionals.
This type of webcast is often enhanced by the use of Live Interactivity in the form of Live Online Chat during the event, where individuals may ask questions of the presenter through the moderator of the event. Some examples of Live Event Videocasting include Corporate & Industry Events such as Sales Presentations, Committee meetings, AGMs & product launches… Associations, Non-Profits & educational organizations will benefit greatly from broadcasting Conferences, seminars, online training & workshops. Even Entertainment events like concerts, church services, sporting events & press conferences are well served by Live VideoCasting.
And of course, the Live VideoCast can always be recorded and archived for future use as Video On-Demand – where it can be displayed on a website and distributed free of charge or even as a pay-per-view video to generate even more revenue. For more information go to our website at: http://www.webcastlive.mediastreams.ca or Call: 604-926-5805
Definition: WebCasting is the distribution of media files through the Internet.
What is a WebCast?
