NEVADA CITY, Calif.—Telestream has unveiled a virtual assistant in the latest release of Wirecast (version 16.0), its software-based live video streaming and production solution. 

Leveraging generative AI, the virtual assistant delivers real-time feature walkthroughs, technical advice and tailored troubleshooting in multiple languages, providing quick answers so creators can continue their work uninterrupted, the company said.

“We’re really excited about the new AI element of Wirecast and the rapid responses it offers users. Questions take seconds to answer, and we believe that Wirecast customers will enjoy the personalized approach of the new virtual assistant service,” said Telestream CTO Simon Clarke. 

“This is just the beginning for Telestream. We see countless opportunities for AI and machine learning across our entire portfolio. This is where the industry is headed, and we are thrilled to make this technology available to our customers.”

The latest release offers other new features, including custom Look-Up Tables (LUTs), video filters, shot editing, locking layers and Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) source and output features, the company said.

A variety of pricing plans are available, including a monthly Wirecast Studio subscription for $35; an annual subscription for $299; a monthly Wirecast Pro subscription for $46 and an annual subscription for $399.

More information is available on the Wirecast and Telestream websites. 

NEVADA CITY, Calif.—Telestream has announced that its Cloud Stream Monitor and Wirecast platforms have achieved “SRT Plugged” status after successfully completing interoperability testing at the SRT InterOp Plugfest.

SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) is an open-source video transport protocol developed by Haivision that enables the delivery of high-quality, low-latency video across the public internet.

Both Telestream’s Cloud Stream Monitor and Wirecast live production and streaming software recently took part in SRT Alliance’s InterOp Plugfest kick-off event, an annual event for developers to test interoperability and compatibility between different technologies using the SRT protocol. 

Stream Monitor now enables users to monitor live video quality from streams transported via SRT, with tests confirming interoperability with 20 different SRT enabled devices from encoding and content delivery systems, per Telestream. Also, the latest Wirecast release was used as a live video contribution service via the SRT protocol.

“This is great news for customers looking to either monitor or contribute video over SRT, which has become an emerging standard for anyone delivering live video over public internet and cloud backplanes,” said Kenneth Haren, director of Product Management at Telestream.

For more information, visit www.telestream.net.  

NEVADA CITY, Calif.—Telestream has put a focus on remote production and live streaming needs for a new update to its Wirecast live production and streaming platform. Per the company’s press release, many of the new features were requested by users.

Part of the new Wirecast, v14.1, is the addition of a back-channel chat feature to the Rendezvous peer-to-peer remote conferencing and multisite production feature. Replicating an on-set communications network, the new feature enables behind-the-scenes messaging with hosts and guests.

Wirecast Pro has added the Shot ISO feature, which allows users to independently record any shot to disk, including Rendezvous shots, audio-only shots or any user-generated shots. Telestream says this guarantees that original content is preserved when repurposing or editing is required.

Support for Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) output has also been added using the Caller method with either x264 or Apple H.264 encoding.

Additional features include ProRes recording on Windows; improvement for playback of PNG animations; a Mac audio capture plugin; an updated Blackmagic SDK for new resolution options; and Rendezvous connection improvements.

For more information, visit www.telestream.net.  

NEVADA CITY, Calif.—As part of its efforts to help with new work practices that have stemmed from the COVID-19 pandemic, Telestream is debuting the latest version of its Wirecast production and streaming platform.

Wirecast 14 features new options for more accurate Chroma keying, including spill suppression, edge coloring and clipping ranges, as well as a Luma key and Color key. Also, options have been added for sizing and scaling sources, while incoming sources are now scaled automatically and will maintain their size based on user settings.

Additional new components of Wirecast 14 include moving the status bar to the bottom of the screen, which gives more space to show System CPU and App CPU, as well as other streaming stats.

These new features are meant to assist with remote production capabilities, which Telestream believes could become more common during and after the pandemic.

For more information, visit www.telestream.net.  

DAYTONA, Fla.—The 2019 Daytona 500 NASCAR stock car race ran for the 61st time in Daytona Beach, Fla., in February and for the first time, Fox Sports Digital produced a “Daytona 500 Infield Party” live to multiple streaming destinations. The live, second-screen experience gave viewers the “inside track” on events taking place behind the scenes during the race.

The Fox Sports Digital production team used Telestream’s Wirecast software for the 4.5-hour multicamera live stream, hosted by Fox Sports commentators Kaitlyn Vincie, Alan Cavanna, and Bob Pockrass, and two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip.

MULTILANE STREAMING

To publicize this high-profile Fox Sports broadcast, the event was live-streamed to five sites simultaneously, including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Gaming platform Caffeine.TV and the FOXsports.com website.

Normally, whenever the crew operates on a Fox network infrastructure, which provides about 120 Mbps, we have sufficient bandwidth to stream to multiple social/online sites simultaneously. And, as an integrated switching, production and encoding system, Wirecast can output multiple live streams to different online destinations simultaneously as a direct output of the system.

The NASCAR-supplied 15 Mbps bandwidth provided some challenges for five-destination streaming. From within the Wirecast software, we were able to access the Wirecast Restream service from Telestream Cloud to distribute our live signal in real-time to all of the online platforms and audiences we wanted to reach. This capability allowed us to send a single upload stream to the cloud and then have it “re-streamed” to all our destinations from there. All we had to do was enter the target sites into a Wirecast Restream settings window, and the entire CDN process was handled for us from Telestream Cloud.

Wirecast enabled us to deliver our “Infield Party” live stream with the high production standards our viewers expect from Fox Sports. Operationally, it allowed our small, four-person crew to handle all aspects of the live production and streamlined our production costs.

AFTER THE FINISH LINE

The “Infield Party” is just one of the many live streams that Fox Sports produces throughout the year. The network touts 21 consecutive months of growth for video viewing on its social and online platforms, with the “Daytona 500 Infield Party” generating more than 350,000 views.

We plan to use both Wirecast and Wirecast Restream on future live stream remotes for Fox Sports Digital. Upcoming events include other 2019 NASCAR races, as well as the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup from Paris in July. Together, Wirecast and Wirecast Restream have allowed us to deploy an extremely portable, yet highly capable production system allowing our relatively small production crews to do very big things.

Daniela Mayock oversees the technical direction of all original Fox Sports Digital live streams. She can be contacted atDaniela.Mayock@fox.com.

For additional information, visittelestream.netor call 530-470-1300.

NEVADA CITY, CA—Telestream has introduced Wirecast S, a new version of its Wirecast live streaming and production software exclusively designed to enable studio-grade production for live events in Microsoft Stream, an enterprise video service that allows users to securely upload, stream live, and share video. The new software is available as a free 30-day trial download when Microsoft enables live event streaming and scheduling for its Stream customers, and as a monthly subscription thereafter.

By combining Wirecast with Microsoft Stream and Office 365, Wirecast S users can initiate streaming to their company or group quickly by using a number of quick-start templates for town halls, presentations and announcements.

Users can launch Wirecast S directly within Microsoft Stream and begin streaming with little or no training required. To create high-production value webcasts, Wirecast S makes it easy to switch between multiple cameras and add Skype feeds, images, titles, and sound tracks within the application.

“Wirecast S makes corporate live video broadcasting accessible to any company or employee using the Microsoft Stream platform within Office 365. Our goal was to make a tool that was lightweight, flexible, and easy to use and run while still enabling a professional look and feel for any broadcast,” said Scott Murray, VP Product Management at Telestream. “Working closely with the Microsoft Stream product team, we have developed a solution that integrates tightly with their platform, streamlining live video creation and encoding into a unified, secure process that extends and facilitates communication within an organization’s existing Office 365 infrastructure.”

More information can be found at www.telestream.net/WirecastS.

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NEVADA CITY, Calif. — Telestream has updated the software to its Wirecast live streaming and production software for Mac and Windows to provide built-in pan, tilt and zoom control for robotic cameras, support for the X-keys Wirecast Control Surface, and paired encoding contribution with Facebook Live.

To enable more cost-effective multicamera production, Wirecast Pro is now optimized for the PTZOptics camera line using the VISCA-over-IP protocol. This capability adds flexibility and speed when generating alternative camera angles and framing from PTZ cameras without leaving the Wirecast interface.

Paired encoding to Facebook Live allows videographers to more easily target and stream content to Facebook pages for their clients, customers, and brands. Since this capability doesn’t require admin passwords or credentials for the main Facebook account, it’s particularly useful for pages with multiple contributors and cross-promotional streaming.

[Read: Telestream Wirecast Is MVP for Cornell Athletics]

Leveraging P.I. Engineering’s X-keys, Wirecast’s control surface now provides instant access to 12 sources on each of Wirecast’s five layers, as well as the status of each layer and source. Frequently used features, such as saved scenes, outputs, and transitions, are also at the operator’s fingertips, enabling faster, more responsive operation during live productions.

When users purchase upgrades or full licenses — the sale now includes a Standard Support subscription for one year from the date of purchase, making all of the company’s software updates available free of charge for that year. After that, users can renew the subscription annually for $99.

Telestream will also include the X-keys for Wirecast Controller for free with any new purchase of a Wirecast Gear 230 system through June 30, 2018. See details here.

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NEVADA CITY, CALIF.–Students in the broadcast media program at Whitney High School arrive every day at 7 a.m. to prepare “Unleashed,” a 15-minute daily newscast featuring news, sports and lifestyle segments. Using Telestream’s Wirecast live video streaming production software, “Unleashed” is prerecorded by 9:07 a.m., in time for the students to leave for their first period class. The award-winning program has expanded into a community television station, branded as WCTV19, which is watched on the school’s TV channel, two local cable channels and the school’s social media outlets.

“This program is designed to teach [students] broadcast journalism skills and then apply those skills to actually producing all of the features and content that we need to make “Unleashed” a professional looking newscast,” explained Ben Barnholdt, teacher/director of the Broadcast Media Program. Barnholdt said his students can put a show together in 40 minutes because Wirecast is user-friendly and fairly automated with presets. 

During the production, a student crew runs the cameras and teleprompters in the studio. In the control room a separate student crew handles the technical execution of the show. While Wirecast integrates the functionality of a video production switcher, Barnholdt has one student switching the four camera feeds using a third-party production switcher. Then that switcher’s output flows in real time into Wirecast where the show’s finishing touches are added.

Students can capture on-screen graphics and video clips from their social media sites using ScreenFlow from Telestream. These assets are moved into Wirecast, which keys them into the bluescreen background on-set. Data displays, such as weather and sports graphics, are created on separate laptops using Adobe PhotoShop and Illustrator. For each daily show students update key data, such as temperatures and scores, without having to recreate graphics from scratch.

See also: Telestream Updates Wirecast to v8

Another student uses NewBlue Graphics software on a separate laptop to animate those static graphics and make the show more visually dynamic. Once the graphics are ready to go, they’re transferred over an NDI video over IP network and saved on the Wirecast laptop for playout during production.

Through a Go Fund Me campaign and a technology grant, the media program recently acquired a 25-foot broadcast production trailer pulled by a pickup truck for remote live-streamed shows. The broadcast trailer uses the same Wirecast-driven workflow that is used in the studio control room. 

NEVADA CITY, CALIF.—Major League Soccer’s D.C. United is putting Telestream’s Wirecast platform into its starting lineup for production, utilizing the system to simulcast the team’s linear pre- and post-game shows with Facebook Live.

Wirecast allows D.C. United’s production team to create a professional online broadcast. Wirecast is set up in the OB truck and can share camera feeds with the broadcast crew. Graphics can then be incorporated to include information relevant to the fans. The Telestream system also provides the ability to test the stream before it goes live to Facebook.

The team’s pre- and post-game shows feature interviews, analysis and other packages, and with Wirecast these are now available to fans online. Fans are able to access the Facebook Live stream of the content on their phones or tablet devices, as well as engage by leaving comments. D.C. United also used Wirecast to help stream a re-broadcast of its 1996 MLS Cup win on the 20th anniversary. It was the most watched stream of the season, according to the team.

D.C. United reports that its average reach for its weekly show is more than 50,000, with expectations that it will grow in 2017.

NEVADA CITY, CALIF.—As competitors took to the sky for the 34th FAI World Gliding Championships, fans around the world could watch the competition unfold from their couch. Telestream provided its Wirecast live streaming production software to the aviation event held in Benalla, Australia this past January.

This year, FAI was able to capture video footage from inside the gliders and other unique vantage points with miniature high resolution cameras and broadcast it globally with streaming technology. Telestream’s Wirecast helped provide more than 12 hours of live coverage from the final three days of the competition to YouTube and the FAI website.

Wirecast is a cross-platform, all-in-one live streaming production software that enables capture, live production and encoding of live streams for broadcast to multiple servers and platforms simultaneously.

According to Telestream’s press release, at the conclusion of the event, nearly 200,000 video views, more than two million website views and two million social media views had been recorded.

NEVADA CITY, CALIF.—A new update of Telestream’s Wirecast live streaming and production software is now available, as the company has announced the release of version 7.5. One of the main features of the updated software is support for Periscope/Twitter API, which will allow users to stream live to Periscope.tv; subsequently, it will then appear natively within their Twitter feeds.

Wirecast 7.5 provides production capabilities, GPU-accelerated encoding and a streamlined user interface for the creation and streaming of live broadcasts from computers to destinations like Twitter, Facebook Live, YouTube and now Periscope, as well as to custom streaming servers.

Telestream offers its Wirecast software in two versions: Wirecast Studio for $495 and Wirecast Pro for $995. Owners of previous versions wishing to upgrade to Wirecast 7.5 can do so at a starting price of $179.

NEVADA CITY, CALIF.—Maria Casino in Copenhagen, Denmark, ran a week-long Facebook Live streaming event, a live roulette game, using Telestream’s Wirecast production software.

Independent production company Tellymo selected Wirecast for this project as the main live event streaming software. The production studio ran all camera and sound feeds were routed through a production switcher and then to a MacBook Pro that ran Wirecast. This allowed all the custom-made graphics to be loaded and applied to the live stream. In addition, all chromakeying was implemented in Wirecast.

The event took place during the Euro 2016 soccer tournament and the stream reached a reported 531,000 users and generated more than 90,000 viewers.

NEVADA CITY, CALIF.—The University of Southern California may be renowned for its film program, but it’s the Keck School of Medicine that is utilizing new streaming/video on demand content to help its students. The school’s Soto Studio recently acquired Telestream’s Wirecast streaming production software to produce VoD lectures and instructional content for students to utilize outside of the classroom.

Soto Studio produces an average of 20 hours of HD video lectures and webcasts a week for the med school. Using Wirecast’s video production capabilities users can switch between cameras; key in graphics onto greenscreens; roll in program opens, closes and music tracks; create real-time transitional effects; display titles, lower third supers and full-screen text.

The produced videos, in addition to being integrated into each course, are available for on-campus students to a local Media Site server as well as a Vimeo cloud-based server. Other instructional videos can be accessed on demand through Ustream, YouTube, Vimeo, or delivered as live webcasts.

NEVADA CITY, CALIF.—Telestream is expanding its partner program for its live streaming Wirecast production software. Joining the more than 25 previously built-in Content Delivery Networks—including Facebook Live, YouTube, Twitch and UStream— are Lightcast.com, TiltedGlobe, StreamShark/MetaCDN and Webcast-TV.

Wirecast is a cross-platform, live streaming production software that can allows for capture, live production and encoding of live streams for broadcast to multiple servers and platforms simultaneously.

CDNs and Online Video Platforms can also integrate with Wirecast to access their services. Using Wirecast’s Software Development Kit, destination partners can make their site appear as a destination within Wirecast, allowing users to directly select and log in to the partner site.

NEVADA CITY, CALIF. – Telestream is hitting the water this summer, as its Wirecast live video streaming software is being used to bring the 2015 Extreme Sailing Series to viewers worldwide.

Each race has a multi-camera setup on shore and on the water to capture the teams, offering live HD streaming through the series’ dedicated YouTube channel. 3D sailing analytics from SAP are also embedded within the live stream. Two feeds from the production crews are sent to a dedicated streaming operator, one of SAP 3D graphics and the other the live TV production of the race. Capture cards are used to bring the feeds into a computer running Wirecast and then stream the event with graphics to a Wowza cloud server and YouTube.

The ninth season of Extreme Sailing Series races will take place in Singapore; Muscat, Oman; Qingdao, China; Cardiff, Wales; Hamburg, Germany; St. Petersburg, Russia; Istanbul; Sydney.