Review of Ustream.tv

If you are looking for an easy way to broadcast yourself live over the Internet then check out Ustream.tv.  The site bills itself as “live interactive video for everyone” and it lives up to its motto.  I was up and running within minutes. 

I’ve streamed live for a couple of days in a row during the afternoon as I surf the net.  I’ve only had a few visitors because I haven’t shared the url of the stream or embedded it on my blog.  So, the people who have watched and chatted with me are also exploring Ustream.tv.  I’ve had a couple of people from the UK, a man from Brazil and a couple of people from the Midwestern U.S.  Basically I talk and chat with them, telling them the websites I’m checking out and just chatting in general. 

It’s very easy to set up a live stream.  Just open an account and you can create a quick show that can be seen by anyone and comes with a chatroom.

You can also opt for a standard show where you have more options.  For a standard show you can

• name your show and give it a description and add tags.
• record an intermission video.
• choose whether to have a public chatbox for audience interaction.
• password protect your channel to control who views your stream.
• set up a recurring show if you plan on broadcasting at the same time each day, week or month.

You are given a permalink for your show as well as code to embed it in your site or blog.  I created a show called, you guessed it, Confessions of an Infomaniac.   I’ve given you the link rather than embed another video in this post.

Ustream.tv is pretty straight forward with a keep it simple approach.  There is no help section and unless they add more features really no need for one. Each step of setting up a show is explained and there are no bells & whistles to need further explanation.

Yesterday when I was streaming live a tech popped into the room to check out my streaming speed.  My connection is DSL and I had some background programs running that were slowing down my speed causing stuttering and freeze ups.  He worked with me until the connection speed was adequate enough to stream live.

You can also record video and again embed it on your site or blog making Ustream.tv an application you could use for video blogging.

My first impression of Ustream.tv is that it is an easy way to stream yourself live over the Internet if you are so inclined and not looking for a host of options. I give it 5 stars for ease of use and 3 stars for features.