Here is the reBeginning of an old idea on TOCC TV. Some folks will recall that I did some live streaming on Periscope during the BLM protests. For a long time, I was ahead of the curve on Internet technology and then Internet technology got ahead of me. But of course, a TV station should have video, more than I have had in the past, and Periscope was the right idea at the right time to get started catching up. But, alas, Periscope for whatever reason shut down and at the time I wasn’t aware of the next best choices, if any. Eventually I started investigating Twitch where so many others had gone, and also was invited to check out HAPPS.
On Veteran’s day I set up to do my first live stream since the days of Periscope more than a year ago, and wouldn’t you know. Although HAPPS is a first rate service, they are undergoing a reinvention that actually started, probably while I was attempting to live stream the Veterans Day Parade in Huntsville. Dumb luck I suppose. Later that day they shut down completely to update their website and app, and suddenly HAPPS became a whole new experience. I’ve observed several people who are not too HAPPy with HAPPS, but I’ve taken a wait and see approach. I did some more testing on HAPPS today and I found a much better video experience and also made some adjustments for audio. Both HAPPS and Twitch have their advantages and I’m now at the point where I see using both services depending on what type of event and content I’m live streaming.
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I’ve also done some more investigating on Twitch and there are more tools, settings, extensions and apps that make it a better choice for the type of live stream you see presented on this page about the Veterans Memorial, Huntsville Depot Museum and with highlights on the Huntsville bike share program. I envision doing more live streams of this nature that are basically a magazine presentation for TOCC TV. The charm definitely lies in going live and the potential to reach people literally around the world. I’ve watched people in Alaska, New Zealand, France and more. The immediacy of the content on live streaming is what many people appreciate. And, what might seem ho hum to people who live locally, might actually be quite interesting to people halfway around the world who haven’t had a chance to visit the United States, much less Huntsville.
Even still I’ll be making some live streamed videos from the archives viewable here on TOCC TV. In the past it’s been my policy to host all my videos on my servers – why after all do I want to give YouTube my content? The simple answer is, well, simple. YouTube offers the easiest solution to optimizing a video presentation for any viewer on any platform and at any bitrate. So, you will notice I’m sprucing up my YouTube account too. Plus, high quality video can eat up some bandwidth and storage in a hurry and YouTube is virtually unlimited at this time. I also am able to download and then upload an edited version which is what I’ve done with the video on this page.
I’ve heard people talk about “information overload” for twenty years but I never really felt I was at that point. Well, this summer I got there. A number of things have been going on on the Internet and off that have challenged my time and intellect. What starts off as a one-click solution ends up being a drawn out process of troubleshooting and tweaking. A simple point of the camera ends up being the hunt for more apps and extensions. And that’s not the half of it. I’ve got more bells, whistles and settings than I can shake a stick at and most of them have a label that only God and someone who speaks Mandarin could possible understand. All to say, I’ve been at a lull in the usual presentation of content on TOCC TV but it shouldn’t be construed as a shift away from the political focus you have appreciated in the past. I’ve still got some investigating, fine tuning, tweaking and buttons to push but the additional live streaming and video will be an augmentation for TOCC TV not a displacement.
So, what about the video above? It’s a thirty minute tour around the Veterans Memorial and outside the grounds of the Huntsville Depot Museum. But, you better watch this one right now because I might just be overcome by the live magic around next Memorial Day and go live there again!
©2021 – Jim Casey
