CBC Television turns to Skype for video interviews
CBC Television is experimenting with using the free consumer video application Skype for on-air use.
The new foreign-affairs program On The Map has used it a couple of times and CBC producer Christian Weller says the video quality is “as good as satellite” when used over the CBC’s dedicated Internet channels.
Still, there are bugs. The Skype-dedicated computer sits in a rack at CBC Toronto and “every time someone walks by the rack, it jiggles the mouse and Skype’s little Transport Window pops up on the screen.” And during their first Skype interview (with a documentary producer in Gaza) it went great. Too bad the technicians were so distracted by the success of the feed that they forgot to hit Record.
“There are so many different shows at the CBC that don’t have any money,” Weller says. “They can’t afford to pay for a full [satellite] video feed. This is so much better than doing a phone interview and just showing a photo of the guest.”
Christian says he’s more than happy to talk to other shows and show how they can use it too. Look him up in Groupwise.
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Anything’s better than those horrible interviews with some overseas reporter while subjected to an elementary school map of the middle east over the talking head’s shoulder.
Turn mouse over when not in use.
What about the fact that the CBC’s T1 or whatever line is not the direct line to the interview subject? The signal is eventually going to end up going through a DSL or cable modem, possibly wirelessly.
Turning mouse over would be a great idea (and FREE), but somebody would forget, or a well meaning soul would “fix it” (nobody reads signs anymore, must be too analog).
Issue should be fixed now, also for free. Mini-keyboard with trackpad (circa Control Rooms ver.2002). Never throw anything out….You never know when you’ll get outsourced and the Ceeb can do a sub-rosa selloff of all your carefully scrounged K3w3l stuff.
Instead of being worried about the mouse you could instead use a touchpad and forget about the mouse moving. You can also use a dedicated usb phone to avert the problem.
Your website doesn’t work with Firefox. I thought this site was inoperable but today I decided to use IE to see if it worked and have decided to leave the following common message that I have received numerous times.
Just take the mouse ball out, or put a black piece of tape over the Optical mouses’ Eye. The CBC should have enough black electrical tape to spare that it should be a free fix.
If the mouse still tracks without a mouseball, tape the rollers on the inside as well.
I use Firefox to view this site, with no problems.
It works now Tod. I’m not getting the error message which sometimes indicated that I was attacking your website too.