One of the most fun parts of maintaining this blog is my Driving With The Guru series. Who cares that no one really watches them, they’re fun to do, and hopefully in the future will include interviews and product demos.
However, there is a HUGE problem – I have to send the file to my PC and upload to Blip from there to be able to post the video. There are 3 current methods that I can think of to get the file directly from my N95 to Blip.tv: Email, ShoZu, and ComVu Pocketcaster. Each has strengths, but each ultimately fails miserably. And here’s why…
1. Email – Sure, Blip.tv gives you a mobile email address. You can easily setup an email to go through. However, with a 3 min video on the N95 shaping up to over 58MB, that’s a HUGE email that most email providers can’t handle. Nor can the built-in email client on S60 devices. Also, with email, you have to go in and setup the email, and then go back later to edit the details and whatnot.
2. ShoZu – ShoZu is the closest, in my opinion, to usable. I can setup one-click or no-click uploading, so that as soon as the video is saved, it will start uploading straight to Blip. I can add tags and descriptions, it’s a good deal. However, the problem here, again, is uploading. It’s a no-go for any video file greater than 4MB. 4MB? Are you serious? There is a only-barely-alive thread on this in the ShoZu forums, and basically the excuse is that they have a commercial app that uses the same servers as the free app, and they don’t want to hurt the commercial users for the sake of the free users. Decent, but why not let us pay ~$7/month for a no-limit upload?
3. ComVu Pocketcaster – this is another method which basically sets up a live stream to your video, complete with customisable show-page and auto-posting to your blog. Wait, almost. If you use Typepad, and have more than one blog, it will only automatically post to the first blog that Typepad sends them, which, in my case, is my Weblinks page. Not very helpful and no way to select which blog.
Also, when starting a video, there isn’t currently a way to automatically share it, or to set the final saved video (they’ll stream it live, and then save a copy on their server for future viewings) as public. You have to setup the stream, and then the first ~5-10 seconds are you flipping the phone around to fiddle with the menus. Not really user-friendly, in my opinion.
And hope you don’t get a phone call or SMS in the middle of the recording, or you’re using WiFi or 3G.
ComVu’s beta is over, and they have unveiled their pay scale, and I have to say, it’s not super-pricey, but it’s not super cheap, either. And I’m not about to pay for something that doesn’t do what I want it to, and I feel my requests are simple. I will also note that I have been in contact with ComVu and they are very responsive and have been made aware of these, and could easily in the future release an updated application, which I will certainly try out. They have a free 30-day trial now.
So I am limited to simply recording the video on my N95 and then transferring to my PC for later upload. It’s a shame, really. What are your experiences with Mobile Videocasting? In my opinion, it’s a failure. Why isn’t there a Blip.tv profile to add in the Web Upload option built-into the N95 (and other N-series devices)? There’s Flickr and Vox, but no other options. I was able to add the Vox one to my N73, why can’t Blip.tv have one for my n95? And why doesn’t the built-in app have an option to automatically upload?
