"Game changing" is thrown around way too frequently these days, but man, this thing just might be. The Livepack is being described as "a satellite television truck in a backpack" by creator Livestream, and for all intents and purposes, it is. Put simply (or as simply as possible), the pack includes everything one would need to stream "HD quality" footage: encoding hardware, a Firewire cable and the real kicker, a built-in wireless connection with six load-balanced 3G modems over three carriers (AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint if you have to know). Users simply provide their own camcorder, mash a button when it's show time, and out goes the signal. The Livepack can currently be rented for $2,500 per month (includes 30 hours of streaming) or $1,500 per month if you commit to a year-long agreement. So, who's up for showing the world their high school prom live in HD? Demo vid is after the break.
not that fast actually. i have some hardware similar to this called "The Portabella" from Mushroom Networks and it really is pretty simple once you get it going. the hardware tries to evenly distribute the data as fast as possible and i dont believe they even have 5 gig caps on the "Live U" unit from Livestream.
Live U has negotiated long term contracts with higher data rates and caps and is renting those contracts to you on a monthly or yearly basis. Im sure they did some serious math to come up with that 30 hours rates.
This stuff is amazing, truly game changing. You can use this almost anywhere in the US. You might not always get HD bandwidth in remote areas but even if each card is only getting 100k up, 6 of them together gets you 600k up which is enough for standard broadcast quality.
Shut up smith... "truly game changing". FFS now any asshole can stream their shit. This is not not game changing... this will be an onslaught of annoyance.
Are there really that many "assholes" who can afford $2500 a month to stream their "shit?" I rather doubt most of the YouTube crowd can afford this. Quit yer bitching, Agent, you sound like an old man yelling at kids on his lawn.
So they create a machine that does the job of my laptop + tethered cellphone... and they charge me twice as much as what my laptop and cellphone cost me, combined, per month... While it sounds great, it only looks like another way for them to pull money... lots of money... I suppose Engadget left out you needed premium service (another $350/mo) to even think about broadcasting in HD...
Good idea, just way, way too much money, especially when I already invested in other equipment to do the job...
It's actually way more than 350 a month for premium service. I broadcasted a channel in Livestream for a month before I moved to Justin.tv The Premium cost estimator said it would cost me 20k a month to pay for bandwidth if I put my channel on premium service. But, I didn't have to pay anything because I was on the free service.
The free service limits you to a 500k stream. In Justin tv, there's no limit to what bitrate you want to set it to. Also, you could actually moderate the chat in Justin tv. In livestream, you could ban someone from chat, but they could just clear their cookies and spam again. It was livestream's unusable chat that forced me to find another service
The fact that it violates the terms of service of every carrier in the US tells me that net neutrality is a good thing. It encourages competition and it forces the internet service providers to upgrade their towers.
HD quality does sound fishy. Especially since that camera is a Panasonic DVX-100, which is not an HD Camera. Also, 700kb speed is not fast enough for any HD codec. Thirdly, h.264 is not meant for HD, although can be used for it. Not to rag the idea, it's very interesting, but I just dislike their use of the term "HD"
What event are you going to that doesn't have 3G coverage? Let me rephrase that, what event are you going to that doesn't have Verizon and Sprint 3G coverage? ;)
Um, there's no 'satellite' in there. I thought newscasters used satellite uplinks, with big dishes, because in a big enough situation the cellphone network is either clogged or down, and probably not very reliable in any case, and maybe not even available where you want to be.
While this may not be the solution for the average mobile journalist, a couple thousand a month is a drop in the bucket compared to what most local news stations have to pay to run satellite feeds and a content delivery network. pennies on the dollar. guys, its mobile, self contained and can reach connection speeds that you cant even get on your home cable isp.
For everyone else yes a laptop and a single 3g card with an antenna and a bit of luck you can push 700k upload and get a pretty good looking broadcast.... but thats assuming EVERYTHING goes right. i cant tell you how many times we have gone somewhere with shitty coverage and had to deal with AWFUL delay and buffer times.
Even with 4g and LTE you are still totally at the mercy of that particular carriers coverage and congestion.
I've seen one of these in person at streaming media east, from what I saw it's just a lot of marketing exaggeration, all the video is stuck in their codec on their CDN. IMO, by the time they get this thing figured out and practical, LTE will be available and this will be irrelevant.
The rental rate might appear to be high, but I can assure you it's quite a lot less than 'squirting a bird' (broadcast jargon for a satellite video uplink)
I was in Pittsburgh covering the G20 Summit for NBC Network and I saw a few of these around, including one of the photographers for NBC. I never saw what the final product looked like on the air but in theory these are certainly game-changers when covering news in the field.
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posted Sep 30th 2009 5:44PM
This, has many possibilities. Pretty exciting stuff.
Get ready for my streaming 24/7 jerk off vids bitches!
So how fast would you hit the 5 Gig data limit on each carrier?
I'm sure this never entered their minds. Back to Ye Old Drawing Board!
not that fast actually. i have some hardware similar to this called "The Portabella" from Mushroom Networks and it really is pretty simple once you get it going. the hardware tries to evenly distribute the data as fast as possible and i dont believe they even have 5 gig caps on the "Live U" unit from Livestream.
Live U has negotiated long term contracts with higher data rates and caps and is renting those contracts to you on a monthly or yearly basis. Im sure they did some serious math to come up with that 30 hours rates.
This stuff is amazing, truly game changing. You can use this almost anywhere in the US. You might not always get HD bandwidth in remote areas but even if each card is only getting 100k up, 6 of them together gets you 600k up which is enough for standard broadcast quality.
Shut up smith... "truly game changing". FFS now any asshole can stream their shit. This is not not game changing... this will be an onslaught of annoyance.
apparently my sarcasm was missed. 0_0
Are there really that many "assholes" who can afford $2500 a month to stream their "shit?" I rather doubt most of the YouTube crowd can afford this. Quit yer bitching, Agent, you sound like an old man yelling at kids on his lawn.
Impressive. Just think when LTE hits.
Now you can virtually attend any event as its happening.
This really should have been around a few years ago. It's an understatement to say that this could dramatically change local news.
I could see a lot more freelance work making its way into local news. Moving closer to the paparazzi business model.
It has been, minus the integrated 3G adapter.
Putting your live shots in the hands of the phone company and the TV station's IT guy?
Brilliant.
@worcester
i am at a tv station right now and that is pretty much how it works anyways...
i doubt this will give you the HD bitrate that a microwave truck will
It looks like an actual computer in his backpack in a fancy case.
The first thing I thought when I saw the picture was "hmmm that looks like an audiophile's MP3 player..."
ill tell you what it looks like... the viewfinder in the picture looks EXACTLY like the head of a penis... exactly
Thats pretty fuckin gross. If ur dick looks like that, get help.
Or a Proton Pack.
If the streaming video thing doesn't work you could always rent one to be a ghostbuster for a month.
It looks like an actual computer in his backpack, in a fancy case.
You know the biggest use will be LiveprOn
Very cool. Hopefully as the technology is improved, the price will drop and it'll become common place.
Sen. Franken would be proud...
http://www.auburnmedia.com/wordpress/tabberimages/franken-thumb.jpg
Came for the Al Franken One-Man Mobile Uplink reference. Not leaving disappointed.
So they create a machine that does the job of my laptop + tethered cellphone... and they charge me twice as much as what my laptop and cellphone cost me, combined, per month... While it sounds great, it only looks like another way for them to pull money... lots of money... I suppose Engadget left out you needed premium service (another $350/mo) to even think about broadcasting in HD...
Good idea, just way, way too much money, especially when I already invested in other equipment to do the job...
It's actually way more than 350 a month for premium service. I broadcasted a channel in Livestream for a month before I moved to Justin.tv The Premium cost estimator said it would cost me 20k a month to pay for bandwidth if I put my channel on premium service. But, I didn't have to pay anything because I was on the free service.
The free service limits you to a 500k stream. In Justin tv, there's no limit to what bitrate you want to set it to. Also, you could actually moderate the chat in Justin tv. In livestream, you could ban someone from chat, but they could just clear their cookies and spam again. It was livestream's unusable chat that forced me to find another service
Can you tell me in what equipment did you invest?
Besides the fact that this violates the TOS (terms of service) of every carrier in the US.
They can f*** themselves for holding back innovation
Besides the fact that Livestream likely has a deal with all the carriers and isn't on the normal consumer's TOS.
The fact that it violates the terms of service of every carrier in the US tells me that net neutrality is a good thing. It encourages competition and it forces the internet service providers to upgrade their towers.
I remember in grade 5 (late 70's) when my friend's dad came back from Hong Kong with a Betamax that was about that size...
I don't like the sound of "HD quality". Sounds like they mean the same thing as Youtube mean when they say "HD", i.e. "equivalent to broadcast SD"
HD quality does sound fishy. Especially since that camera is a Panasonic DVX-100, which is not an HD Camera. Also, 700kb speed is not fast enough for any HD codec. Thirdly, h.264 is not meant for HD, although can be used for it. Not to rag the idea, it's very interesting, but I just dislike their use of the term "HD"
What happens when you don't have 3G service? Dose it go back to 2G, "Hi I'm stan" buffering buffering "ding here" buffering buffering.
What event are you going to that doesn't have 3G coverage? Let me rephrase that, what event are you going to that doesn't have Verizon and Sprint 3G coverage? ;)
Pleased to meet you, Mr Ding. I think I've met your brother Bill.
LEGO Island reference?
Um, there's no 'satellite' in there. I thought newscasters used satellite uplinks, with big dishes, because in a big enough situation the cellphone network is either clogged or down, and probably not very reliable in any case, and maybe not even available where you want to be.
The local news vans that you see with the little dish on a extended pole are actually using microwaves to transmit it to their broadcast tower.
The big guys (national news) have huge dishes that do upload to space satellites then back down to their station.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_news-gathering
While this may not be the solution for the average mobile journalist, a couple thousand a month is a drop in the bucket compared to what most local news stations have to pay to run satellite feeds and a content delivery network. pennies on the dollar. guys, its mobile, self contained and can reach connection speeds that you cant even get on your home cable isp.
For everyone else yes a laptop and a single 3g card with an antenna and a bit of luck you can push 700k upload and get a pretty good looking broadcast.... but thats assuming EVERYTHING goes right. i cant tell you how many times we have gone somewhere with shitty coverage and had to deal with AWFUL delay and buffer times.
Even with 4g and LTE you are still totally at the mercy of that particular carriers coverage and congestion.
I've seen one of these in person at streaming media east, from what I saw it's just a lot of marketing exaggeration, all the video is stuck in their codec on their CDN. IMO, by the time they get this thing figured out and practical, LTE will be available and this will be irrelevant.
I hope engadget will be getting these for events like CES.
hint hint nudge nudge
The rental rate might appear to be high, but I can assure you it's quite a lot less than 'squirting a bird' (broadcast jargon for a satellite video uplink)
"So, who's up for showing the world their high school prom live in HD?"
... I misread that.
Who's up for showing the world their high school porn live in HD?
As did I...as did I....quite frightening if you ask me.
I remember back in the early days of the war when newscasters where broadcasting at one frame per second. And the images were distorted.
Side effects may include: brain cancer and tooth melting. Does it come with a tube of Cinco-phone cooling gel?
http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=8a2505951b981e52011b9e60727300c3
I was in Pittsburgh covering the G20 Summit for NBC Network and I saw a few of these around, including one of the photographers for NBC. I never saw what the final product looked like on the air but in theory these are certainly game-changers when covering news in the field.