Been saving my 1000th post for this for a while, but yesterday during JD vs Flash I completely forgot about it and posted anyway. So here comes the 1009th post instead... lol.
Anyway. Back in the day when Klaz was still active, with some friends we realized that commentating was just way too complicated (downloading/recording/synchronizing/uploading and if you want to do it with friends over ventrilo it's a nightmare). If it was made simple then we would probably have korean matches commentated in a billion languages and analysis/strategy video podcasts all over the place.
We decided to do something about it. Two years later it's finally ready.
What it does is basically that you can pick any YouTube video and cast over it instantly. You can draw and write over the video and add links to TLPD or Liquipedia or whatever you want. People can watch you doing all of this live, or just wait till you're finished and then watch your vod. Absolutely no software install or download or upload required. Oh yeah and you can do it together with friends too.
Time passed by and nowadays SC2 will probably get the most use out of it but I'm still posting it here because BW is what gave birth to this project. Both communities are obviously welcome!
For now there's mostly french content because we invited friends first but we'd absolutely love to see some english or german or whatever BW/SC2 casts.
We're currently in closed beta so to try it out just click on "Sign in" and then apply for a beta key. We'll send one to you as soon as we can!
On August 29 2010 23:57 exeexe wrote: Thats the most incredible thing since the invention of the interwebs. Nobel peace price went to Obama, but actually you deserved it more.
you should test it for more browsers than just firefox.
Opera please =] IE can be left in the dust, everyone should pitch-in towards making that piece of garbage die out.
This is amazing.. so how are videos that people have casted viewed? Can they be exported to youtube or do you watch them on elive.pro? And if you do watch them on elive, can you subscribe to different people and have their videos appear on your front page like youtube does? Thanks!
So, first of all, thanks for all these comments. We are from TLnet, we've discovered and learnt the game here and we always wanted to bring something back to this community. So knowing that you like eLive is, well, even better than having a Nobel :p
More specific questions : you should test it for more browsers than just firefox. eLive has been developed for FF but supports Chrome, Safari and also works on IE but has some "strange" behaviour sometimes :p We'll take a look at Opera. Promise.
This is amazing.. so how are videos that people have casted viewed? Can they be exported to youtube or do you watch them on elive.pro? And if you do watch them on elive, can you subscribe to different people and have their videos appear on your front page like youtube does? Thanks! 1-The video can be viewed on eLive (you don't even need to have an account to watch video) and can be "embed" easily. 2-No, no export for many reasons : first, it would imply some legal issues and we don't have the money or the time to look at these issues for now. Second, our philosophy is to keep the source clean in order for anyone to cast on the same video and add his own value. Once exported, the video won't just be "synchronized" but "mixed" with all the stuff you put on. Finally, if people import a video from Youtube, cast and then export it back to Youtube, it would take hours and hours (Youtube processing is much longer than eLive processing). This would be ironic because eLive is to make things easier and faster, not harder and longer :p 3-Yes, you can subscribe and you can do even better than that : you can create your own layout using the tabs (please refer to the tabs/tags tutorial in the video faqs). Imagine you only want video from TLnet you can create a TLnet tab which only shows stuffs in English, about Starcraft and with TLnet custom tags.
To finish, don't forget you are able to "embed" any video from eLive so you can publish it on your blog or on forums (but ask the TLnet admins before). Plus, a public API is already available for those who want to use eLive for their websites or whatever the project ^^. We have also made a FireFox plugin which basically help you to put Youtube video in your eLive castboard playlist (once installed, an eLive icon appears under each video on Youtube, click on it to add the video in the playlist :p) : http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/84059 (need to install Greysmonkey first). For those who already received a BETA Key, we are looking forward to hearing from you
On August 30 2010 06:50 Kinky wrote: This is a really nice idea with good execution ^^ It's too bad nowadays the only SC2 games you see on youtube are already commentated.
I suppose this site would be able to rip out the audio on the YouTube video so you don't have troubles.
Is there any way to keep the game sounds but not the commentators?
Depends. If the video has been casted with eLive : just over the volume button and you'll see separate volume settings for caster(s) and video. But if the video is from youtube and the commentators are "hardcore mixed", you can't. If you want, its like watching a movie with hard-sub and sub in a .txt that you can show or not with VLC.
And this is why we don't want people to export their cast from eLive back to Youtube. As long as the cast is on eLive, we only synchronize but never touch at the different flux so the watcher is always able to choose exactly what he wants to hear and build his own experience.
... I was just talking to someone at a local SC2 tourn this past weekend about doing something like this alla John Madden style for my commentaries... I NEED to play with this...
Thanks man, i have been looking around for a thing like this ever since i saw a show were people were discussing diffrent themes with images etc and drawing over them.
Nice to see that people like it, and thanks Mani for the spotlight we'll continue working hard to make it even better. Hope to see some of you in Shanghai soon!
LIKE LIKE LIKE! I have been waiting for this like for almost 2 years! My computer couldn't handle all the programs running so I had to have people on Skype group convos and start the youtube video all together in order to explain them the reasoning behind BW player's decisions and stuff! With this, I can like steam without having to worry about them lagging!
This is absolutely stellar and I will cast/test for the beta phase. I'll probably eventually take requests or something though I am just playing with the interface right now.
If a few big names got on E-Live it could really, really take off. Just need someone else to do the work of getting the (un-commentated) videos available for use in high quality. Then I imagine we'll see HORDES of talented casters who know the game, have a good voice, and were too lazy to deal with it before.
If you guys somehow got the money to sponsor a big tournament (or co-sponsor) and had the VODs exclusive to E-Live it would be a nice start. Or even go on to later ad a Starcraft-focused version or hub.
Hi guys, we are coming up with a nice new feature : a FireFox plugin that helps you to : 1-look for a Youtube video on eLive (basically, you found Flash V Jaedong on YT and you'd like to know if someone has already casted something on eLive, well, one click and it shows you on eLive everything about this specific video) 2-automatically add the video to your playlist (so now, you don't have to come and go from a window to another to stack many different video)
A video tutorial is on its way to show you how to use it.
Also, some of you folks told us that they forgot to save their playlist and once they got a connection problem, well, they have to re-do everything :/ Now, your castboard playlist is automatically saved and when you cast, it shows you your last playlist so don't worry about your work once you resumed a cast ^^
Thanks for all.
PS : Matoo- told me it tried to make the same plugin for Chrome but had some issues so we'll talk about this later.
is this only for videos on youtube? lets say i have a replay and i want to cast that, would i be able to use elive or do i have to record the replay and upload to youtube first? how about when they do the live streams of like MSL/OSL finals. can i enter the link of the stream into elive and cast from that?
On August 31 2010 21:07 CruisEric wrote: is this only for videos on youtube? lets say i have a replay and i want to cast that, would i be able to use elive or do i have to record the replay and upload to youtube first? how about when they do the live streams of like MSL/OSL finals. can i enter the link of the stream into elive and cast from that?
I've answered this kind of questions already. Basically, for now, you have to put your video on Youtube first: you can do it directly on YT or via eLive in the castboard. We don't want to be a video host/provider because we don't have the money and the skills to do it. So, yes, you have to record the replay and upload it first.
Live stream is a problem. In theory, it won't be hard but livestream, ustream or JustinTV don't have a good API enough for us (lack of key features so we can't synchronize with it) for now. But we are already working on a LIVE stream system of our own to let you guys cast on LIVE video directly from your PC.
Also, soon, you'll be able to embed LIVE content on forums or blogs.
Adding an export option would make the site even more useful I think (also it won't eat up your bandwidth too much because people could upload their work elsewhere). You can add an eLive watermark on the exported videos, I think people won't mind.
On September 02 2010 10:27 mrdx wrote: Very nice work
Adding an export option would make the site even more useful I think (also it won't eat up your bandwidth too much because people could upload their work elsewhere). You can add an eLive watermark on the exported videos, I think people won't mind.
Once again this is not about the "watermark" or "by eLive".
This is really a core belief shared by the whole team : we want the source to be clean in order to let anyone else to do his own cast with the same data.
When someone watches a video on eLive that been casted with a video from Youtube, the number of views increases which means that even if the original video is not directly watched on Youtube, it still receives the reward (number of views). Plus, each time someone watch a cast and click on the video, it gives you the Youtube link to the original video (and the Youtube ID is always written on eLive). This is key because if people bring source video to the community but in return don't receive nothing, this sucks.
Imagine you upload a Korea match on Youtube, people cast on this video and export to their own account and receive all the comments, views and no one knows who brought the original one.
On September 02 2010 10:27 mrdx wrote: Very nice work
Adding an export option would make the site even more useful I think (also it won't eat up your bandwidth too much because people could upload their work elsewhere). You can add an eLive watermark on the exported videos, I think people won't mind.
Once again this is not about the "watermark" or "by eLive".
This is really a core belief shared by the whole team : we want the source to be clean in order to let anyone else to do his own cast with the same data.
When someone watches a video on eLive that been casted with a video from Youtube, the number of views increases which means that even if the original video is not directly watched on Youtube, it still receives the reward (number of views). Plus, each time someone watch a cast and click on the video, it gives you the Youtube link to the original video (and the Youtube ID is always written on eLive). This is key because if people bring source video to the community but in return don't receive nothing, this sucks.
Imagine you upload a Korea match on Youtube, people cast on this video and export to their own account and receive all the comments, views and no one knows who brought the original one.
edit : typo
Well, people could still honour the uploader of the original video by saying that in their commentary or description (and if for some reason someone decides to be evil and claims all the credit then eLive won't stop him anyway, he will simply use something else).
I'm just saying this from the perspective of a developer rather than a user. By not having the option to export the video, commentators will have to rely on eLive to host their works, which they might find restrictive (let's be realistic, most commentators will want to be able to upload their works on Youtube or have it backed up on their hard drive). Imagine if a web graphic tool like Picnik or Photoshop.com stops allowing you to download the final product and force you to go to their web site if you want to show it to someone.
Do not get me wrong, I'm totally blown away by eLive and its ease of use. What you have done is absolutely amazing. I just think that the lack of an export option may keep some commentators (especially the more serious ones) away from using it.
On September 02 2010 10:27 mrdx wrote: Very nice work
Adding an export option would make the site even more useful I think (also it won't eat up your bandwidth too much because people could upload their work elsewhere). You can add an eLive watermark on the exported videos, I think people won't mind.
Once again this is not about the "watermark" or "by eLive".
This is really a core belief shared by the whole team : we want the source to be clean in order to let anyone else to do his own cast with the same data.
When someone watches a video on eLive that been casted with a video from Youtube, the number of views increases which means that even if the original video is not directly watched on Youtube, it still receives the reward (number of views). Plus, each time someone watch a cast and click on the video, it gives you the Youtube link to the original video (and the Youtube ID is always written on eLive). This is key because if people bring source video to the community but in return don't receive nothing, this sucks.
Imagine you upload a Korea match on Youtube, people cast on this video and export to their own account and receive all the comments, views and no one knows who brought the original one.
edit : typo
Well, people could still honour the uploader of the original video by saying that in their commentary or description (and if for some reason someone decides to be evil and claims all the credit then eLive won't stop him anyway, he will simply use something else).
I'm just saying this from the perspective of a developer rather than a user. By not having the option to export the video, commentators will have to rely on eLive to host their works, which they might find restrictive (let's be realistic, most commentators will want to be able to upload their works on Youtube or have it backed up on their hard drive). Imagine if a web graphic tool like Picnik or Photoshop.com stops allowing you to download the final product and force you to go to their web site if you want to show it to someone.
Do not get me wrong, I'm totally blown away by eLive and its ease of use. What you have done is absolutely amazing. I just think that the lack of an export option may keep some commentators (especially the more serious ones) away from using it.
Nice point. We'll discuss about that and keep you updated.
I put this in a blog already cuz i couldn't find this thread before. Anyways, I used it and wrote a little review.
Last night, I found out about a new casting tool called eLive. As advertised, it would allow commentators to cast games without downloading, uploading, or even editing the youtube and audio files we use. I think I speak for every commentator when I say that such a claim lies somewhere between the realms of intriguing and awe-inspiring (the number of programs, trials, errors, and editing nightmares that have been experienced are, well, flabbergasting).
While hopeful, I wasn't sure if it would really work as easily as the video and .pdfs claimed. I wanted to cast the OSL semifinals series between stork and jaedong; so i used the match as a test trial of eLive's beta. I got a key in like 15 minutes (thanks guys). At first, I was frustrated because the casting program wouldn't start for me. I thought "oh great, this is yet another tool that I can't use because my computer and/or internet is garbage." Turns out, it was just a beta bug that was fixed in just a few hours of the error report (talk about fast tech support).
This morning, I finally sat down to cast the games and I was EXTREMELY pleased with the system. First off, the interface is both simple and has a very familiar feel to it. The casting program takes a youtube video of a game and puts it into its player with essentially the same interface as a youtube page. You can have different videos, texts, and images and easily swap between them or keep them playing in the background. i.e. you could leave a game running and flash pictures of the players or the map during the intro. I didn't incorporate this feature, but I played around with it and it seemed very easy and viable.
When I went to cast the games I kept it very standard and simple to test out the system. One of the few things I found annoying was that when I clicked "start" to begin the cast, my video didn't also start. I had to click play on the video interface as well. Basically, it means that for a moment at the start of each video there is a blank screen. Mildly aesthetically annoying, but not a real problem. Other than that, the casting experience was very easy. Minimizing and maximizing the video or pausing and starting it again gave no problems. A very nice feature in both casting and watching is the audio controls that allow you to control the volume level of both yourself and the video (no more re-ups because I forgot to turn down the Koreans!!). Once I finished each video, I simply clicked "stop," edited some info for the VOD, and clicked "finalize." eLive does the rest. There is no editing required!! Simply cast what you see, and your viewers see what you see and hear what you say.
As it is in Beta, there are some issues of course. Most of them are aesthetic and minor/easily fixed.
Issues:
* Audio has some static that doesn't appear when recording using audacity or windows sound recorder * Unable to edit title, description, or playlist after finalizing * No "video response" feature as of yet * More intricate compilation videos are probably infeasible using eLive * Appears to only allow uploaded videos - no screen capture
Later, I will try using some of the features such as incorporating text/links into VODS, drawing on screen, etc. to see how viable they are during a cast. eLive also claims to make multi-casting very easy and I will try to test that out and let everyone know how it works.
On September 03 2010 03:25 DejaVu119 wrote: I put this in a blog already cuz i couldn't find this thread before. Anyways, I used it and wrote a little review.
Last night, I found out about a new casting tool called eLive. As advertised, it would allow commentators to cast games without downloading, uploading, or even editing the youtube and audio files we use. I think I speak for every commentator when I say that such a claim lies somewhere between the realms of intriguing and awe-inspiring (the number of programs, trials, errors, and editing nightmares that have been experienced are, well, flabbergasting).
While hopeful, I wasn't sure if it would really work as easily as the video and .pdfs claimed. I wanted to cast the OSL semifinals series between stork and jaedong; so i used the match as a test trial of eLive's beta. I got a key in like 15 minutes (thanks guys). At first, I was frustrated because the casting program wouldn't start for me. I thought "oh great, this is yet another tool that I can't use because my computer and/or internet is garbage." Turns out, it was just a beta bug that was fixed in just a few hours of the error report (talk about fast tech support).
This morning, I finally sat down to cast the games and I was EXTREMELY pleased with the system. First off, the interface is both simple and has a very familiar feel to it. The casting program takes a youtube video of a game and puts it into its player with essentially the same interface as a youtube page. You can have different videos, texts, and images and easily swap between them or keep them playing in the background. i.e. you could leave a game running and flash pictures of the players or the map during the intro. I didn't incorporate this feature, but I played around with it and it seemed very easy and viable.
When I went to cast the games I kept it very standard and simple to test out the system. One of the few things I found annoying was that when I clicked "start" to begin the cast, my video didn't also start. I had to click play on the video interface as well. Basically, it means that for a moment at the start of each video there is a blank screen. Mildly aesthetically annoying, but not a real problem. Other than that, the casting experience was very easy. Minimizing and maximizing the video or pausing and starting it again gave no problems. A very nice feature in both casting and watching is the audio controls that allow you to control the volume level of both yourself and the video (no more re-ups because I forgot to turn down the Koreans!!). Once I finished each video, I simply clicked "stop," edited some info for the VOD, and clicked "finalize." eLive does the rest. There is no editing required!! Simply cast what you see, and your viewers see what you see and hear what you say.
As it is in Beta, there are some issues of course. Most of them are aesthetic and minor/easily fixed.
Issues:
* Audio has some static that doesn't appear when recording using audacity or windows sound recorder * Unable to edit title, description, or playlist after finalizing * No "video response" feature as of yet * More intricate compilation videos are probably infeasible using eLive * Appears to only allow uploaded videos - no screen capture
Later, I will try using some of the features such as incorporating text/links into VODS, drawing on screen, etc. to see how viable they are during a cast. eLive also claims to make multi-casting very easy and I will try to test that out and let everyone know how it works.
Thanks for your review. I remember my team talking about your issues and we are happy everything is finally fixed. We put real effort in "fast tech support" for 2 main reasons : 1-we absolutely adored DELL tech support (they sent me a brand new battery in less than 12H when I was in Paris). 2-we absolutely hate blogger tech support who never answered. Oh, yes, after a month. :p Also, about the BETA bugs. Actually, this is why we really need you testing eLive. We've managed to make the BETA as solid as possible but still, we developed it in near-perfect condition and once put online, we never know. For instance, some bugs don't happen in France but always come out when using Chinese connection :/ We'd also thanks the one (recognize himself) who reported about some security issues (and thanks for not hacking us). So don't hesitate to tell about your experience.
Ok, now the issues/questions: -I found annoying was that when I clicked "start" to begin the cast ->Actually, we made it like that because some people like to put some wallpaper/text/url/whatever before playing the video. But if the minority, after few weeks, find it sux, yeah, we'll definitely change it. For now, we prefer to keep it like that.
-Mildly aesthetically annoying, but not a real problem. ->The designers are working on different "themes" so in the next version, users are able to choose and customize quite everything.
-Audio has some static that doesn't appear when recording using audacity or windows sound recorder ->This could be a problem from Flash 10.1. I'll talk about it with Matoo-. Actually, I had this issue with my old mic and now (I've bought a Sony ECM-MS907), I don't have the problem anymore. It could also be a problem with the drivers but why it doesn't happen in Audacity ? Well, clueless. But we'll definitely look at this and keep you on track.
-Unable to edit title, description, or playlist after finalizing ->Yes, we hate it too and this is why we are already working on it. Next release, promise.
-No "video response" feature as of yet ->Oh. Never thought about this one and I've actually never used on YT so I didn't know it was so important but ok, we'll see what we can do.
-More intricate compilation videos are probably infeasible using eLive ->Hmm, well, eLive isn't Adobe Premier Online. We actually had a first behind-closed door demo with a lot of features but eLive was like a nuclear weapon factory with a looooot of buttons and tick boxes everywhere. So we thought it would be actually better to keep it simple because eLive is made to make your life easier. If casters really want to turn pro, they have better tools offline and we won't be able to compete against Adobe, Sony & co :p But still, you guys can make crazy stuffs with a little imagination and God know how creative this community is.
-Appears to only allow uploaded videos - no screen capture ->Yup, we've been PMed a lot about this one and the "LIVE" one. Actually we know how to do it simply but, without any BS, the problem is the cost. It just costs SO MUCH to do Live (and screen capture is kinda like this if we want you to be able to really "screencast"). So the obvious way to do it is try to raise money from Ventures or whatever but, guess what, it's hard to find investors :p BUT, we are currently working on a new idea that could help us to do LIVE video without having to sell ourselves. I can't promise anything but we'll definitely work hard and keep you guys updated.
Most of the points have already been answered by MK so I'll just add a few things: - Playlists are already editable. On your profile page, there's a link "Manage playlists" where you can create/rename/delete playlists and drag&drop vods in and out of them. - Audio static: right-click on the player and click "Settings" and a small panel will pop out. There's a microphone tab on it where you can activate echo cancelling and also set your recording volume to avoid maxing out. If that doesn't help I'm going to run a few tests to find out if something's wrong on our side.
eLive is now OPEN BETA: everyone can now join us to cast!
Here's something I'd really lik to see more: http://www.elive.pro/watch/Uh0xYVFOhSwI a SC match originally casted in English now with Spanish version (use the volume "+" tu change the volume separately). This would be awesome if everyone can dub the VODs in their own language to democratize eSports!
Btw, thx everyone who tested the private beta and ty for your feedbacks!
seriously, this website is pretty awesome. not only for game casting, but also dubbing over your friends, or really dubbing any youtube in general... it's quite fun and entertaining. i can see this catching on a bit. good luck with getting word out there. I do suggest you push it beyond gaming to reach more people. it'd be good for your traffic, but maybe not great for its community. just a thought.
On October 08 2010 18:17 SUSUGAM wrote: seriously, this website is pretty awesome. not only for game casting, but also dubbing over your friends, or really dubbing any youtube in general... it's quite fun and entertaining. i can see this catching on a bit. good luck with getting word out there. I do suggest you push it beyond gaming to reach more people. it'd be good for your traffic, but maybe not great for its community. just a thought.
this is exactly why we invented the TABs :
and yeah, we definitely should reach the mass audience... but we don't know how to do it without money T.T
NEW Features soon: -private cast: you are now able to cast alone or select the people you want in your cast. Anyone else won't be able to join your cast! Don't be shy to cast with your grand'ma now -invite on the fly: generate an unique link so you can send it via mail, twitter, irc, skype or whatever so people can click on it and automatically join you for a multicast!
We just released a new version with a completely different and much better user interface. It's completely open to all languages (english spanish german whatever...) so feel free to try it out and spread bw (or sc2) love!
On July 05 2011 02:52 Matoo- wrote: We just released a new version with a completely different and much better user interface. It's completely open to all languages (english spanish german whatever...) so feel free to try it out and spread bw (or sc2) love!
Well with BW... there were no english vods therefore our vods where on youtube, with SC2 all the games are already casted so its kinnda silly to cast over already casted games :p.
On July 05 2011 02:52 Matoo- wrote: We just released a new version with a completely different and much better user interface. It's completely open to all languages (english spanish german whatever...) so feel free to try it out and spread bw (or sc2) love!
Well with BW... there were no english vods therefore our vods where on youtube, with SC2 all the games are already casted so its kinnda silly to cast over already casted games :p.
Well, it's not necessarily to cast sc, people are doing blindtests talkshows, radio shows, karaoke and stuffs. You can also start a cast to watch a video with your friends. We also built the new version with a social focus so you can easily follow a caster or interact with friends.
Hi folks, long time no see here and the reason why I want to bump this up today is because we are releasing our new service. For the oldtimers, you know we've developed a pretty cool webservice that lets anyone sync their voice over Youtube videos. Initially, we thought people would use it to cast about Starcraft Broodwar but eventually, people were using eLive.pro for many different reasons and no one really used it for Starcraft :p
Based on the assumptions we've validated and on what we've learnt, we've changed our service, tweaked it and made something completely new.
We will launch our private beta soon (before the Euro Cup because many people are willing to use showprime to talk with their friends, commentate the games and make their own after-match talkshows) and I'm looking forward to seeing you all joining us!
Because I don't like BS, here I post 2 links so you can check by yourself what we've done.
The first link is about the social aspects and basic features on SPC (showprime.com): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIpSsOxr1eU
The second link is about creating a show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDzG5xPRqF0
By the way, it's been a while I haven't posted anything on tlnet but I still read the forum a lot. It's great to see how this fantastic community have expended (even if I regret the old days when SCBW was still the only real RTS).
This is wonderful for those of us in the business of attempting to create more content to fill in the gaps the proscene will leave behind. Perhaps with these tools, we'll see new influxes of videos and such that will bring in new players and keep the scene going. Thank you for your hard work!
EPT
