Multitrack Expectations
With the Rehearse portion of multitrack recording studio, a red line scrolls along the teleprompter during the Record portion of the workflow. The line indicates which part of the script should be read at the precise time the camera or other visuals in the timeline will appear on the screen. The recording is both saved to the hard drive and, if Flash Media Server is being used, streamed live on to the internet or intranet.
Visual Communicator 3 includes a handy wizard that allows the user to choose from types of recordings they might create. Visual Communicator 3 offers a variety of publishing methods, ranging from saving clips on a local hard drive to publishing a video blog.
Once a recording is completed and the Stop button is pressed, a user is able to review the recording via the Review button. Recordings are captured at a very high quality, which is preserved during the review process, allowing the user to see the best quality possible before committing to a particular internet or video player compression. This is helpful for those who might not be familiar with the loss of quality inherent in many video compressions (called "codecs"). It is also useful for more experienced users who might want to tweak their performance. Unlike a real television studio, which is normally rented by the hour, a product like Visual Communicator 3 allows the user to record as many times as needed, without the pressure of high-priced equipment or personnel.
Once a recording that meets expectations is recorded and reviewed there are several publishing options, which are broken down by types of usage? For instance, besides "save video to a hard drive or network," the media publisher portion of Visual Communicator 3 also includes options like "send video in an email," "publish video as a vlog," or "create a web page with your video embedded."
The latter is especially useful for those who don't have access to a video server and just want to rapidly upload a video complete with embedded player controls. The version of the software we reviewed offered embedded videos in Windows Media or Real formats; for those wanting to stream Flash Video files, the best choice would be to publish the video to a server on the internet, which outputs a streaming Flash Video file.
One final note about Visual Communicator 3, even though it's been mentioned before. Unlike previous versions of Visual Communicator, the integration of Flash Video capabilities allows users the flexibility to record presentations that can either be streamed live or archived for later use.
Multitrack Recording Studio: Live Streaming Capability
The live streaming capability of multitrack recording studio, streamed in the FLV format using Adobe's optional Flash Media Server software, adds a long-awaited option to a very powerful product. In addition, for those who want to have the best looking recording, Visual Communicator 3 takes advantage of advances in Ultra, Adobe's industrial-strength green screen keying software? Just add an inexpensive green screen-several of which should be listed on Adobe's website-to take advantage of several of the pre-defined graphic templates that Visual Communicator 3 offers.
|