WatchBOL
- See also: CNET Live FAQ
Buzz Out Loud live streaming grew out of the live shows at CES 2008. The hosts had a great time and the viewership for the videos was so high that they decided to try live streaming the regular podcast recordings. The first attempts were over Yahoo! Live starting with episode 661 - We'll help you, Rush!. For the first week or two there were three separate video streams from the logitech cams with audio from the onboard mics. Chat was on the mibbit servers. Then with 667 - Take-Two gets a bear hug Jason streamed the audio directly from the board. Molly had constant trouble in starting her stream, most likely due to her magnetic field.
After the preceding experimentation, the crew decided to test out a uStream.tv version. This was accompanied by IRC chat via WatchBOL.com. pb30 created WatchBOL combining the three separate ustream videos with mibbit chat connected to IRC. The chat room was moderated and nurtured by DAKlives. Three separate streams (with separate audio) caused so much confusion, the three were eventually combined into one screen. This was dubbed, "Brady BOL".
It was pb30's creation of WatchBOL and DAK's presence in chat those first months that made possible the wider involvement of listeners and began the present era of the BOL community. Many had never used an IRC chat and never will. The site combining the live video with the mibbit chat widget made it possible for them to take part and have fun.
For a short time there was a friday video version of BOL. This was shot in the CNET TV studios then later shown on CNET TV. Tom, Molly and Jason sat at a black triangular table against black curtains. This video version was quickly abandoned as the hosts were not comfortable away from the usual recording environment of the podcast studio. Shooting in the TV studio disturbed the flow of conversation and interrupted the off-the-cuff atmosphere, plus the audio quality was never satisfactory (there were numerous complaints).
Jason used a Mac for streaming. The software was Wirecast, with CamTwist to capture the feed and serve it to uStream. See his full explanation.
CNET Live
CNET acquired WatchBOL at the time of episode #1000. CNET Live is now the place to watch live streaming BOL, and the other CNET podcasts. It also the home of a single chat for all shows, open 24/7. See the CNET Live FAQ page for more information and help. The first BOL to stream on the new site was #996 You can't facesquat obscenities. The studio now has Canon Vixia HF 300 HD cameras and a NewTec TriCaster Studio in the audio studio. (The TriCaster is HD. The mics are still Electrovoice RE 20 dynamic microphones - relics from CNET radio). Headphones are Sony MDR-V76. Shows are recorded on Audacity. The first successful broadcast with the new equipment was show #925 on friday March 6, 2009. This still went out via uStream. Show #939 on thursday March 26, 2009, was the first non-uStream broadcast. The CNET tv players were embedded at WatchBOL.com. TriCaster announced an HD version for 2011. However, as this new HD version will have three inputs, and there are often four hosts for BOL, it cannot be used.
Follow Twitter.com/CNETfans for live stream alerts, schedule, who's hosting and what's up with the site and chat.
At this time there is no audio only live streaming channel for smartphone use. Smartphone users must use CNETTV/live.
See Studio and CNET Live FAQ for current info.
The Original BOL Live Show Contributors
- Pb30 - Who made this madness work.
- Trojanbee - Who critiqued, organized, worked, and dreamed on the madness.
- C.V. - Who built upon the madness.
- Lazymonkey44/Jacob The Student From Australia - Who gave the madness a nice logo, and fixed the grammar.
- DAKlives - Who moderated the madness.
- Guardian_452 - Who helped fuel the Madness
- LtSiver - Who kept our spirits up.
- Rupan - Who was the madness.
- Tales - Who on some metaphorical level fulfilled the meaning of his name in his assistance. He is known as alex_smurf on the forums.
- The1337loser - Who despite having loser in his name, never gave up, and will never be forgotten. He runs the site with the Recorded BOL and is known as 987654321y on the forums.
- The Buzz Out Loud Crew/Hosts/Tom/Molly/Jason - Who actually produce the content(that would be nice).
- The Yahoo Live Dev Team - Who made an unstable beta which needs to be improved but was the birthplace of this thing.
- Mackid1993 - Who made old episodes easy to find [1]