September 2009 Archives
2009-09-14 00:02:10
A work in progress
Here is the draft wrapper Bash script
that is being worked up to make video posts easier:
#!/bin/bash
#
# Blip Prep -- Tool to prepare video files for upload to blip.tv for distribution
#
# Usage: blipprep.sh [source filename] [name pattern for output files to bear with their differing extensions]
#
# Dependency: ffmpeg. Such can be secured at http://ffmpeg.org/download.html. It may be best to build a
# current version from SVN.
#
echo "Go get some coffee as this is going to take quite a while"
# Let's make the Flash Video File
ffmpeg -i $1 -acodec mp3 -ar 22050 -ab 32 -f flv -s 320x240 $2.flv
# Let's make the file for iPods
ffmpeg -i $1 -f mp4 -vcodec mpeg4 -maxrate 1000k -b 700k -qmin 3 -qmax 5 -bufsize 4096 -g 300 -acodec libfaac -ab 192k -s 320x240 -aspect 4:3 $2.m4v
# Let's make the MP3 audio version
ffmpeg -i $1 -vn -acodec mp3 -ar 44100 -ab 128k -ac 2 $2.mp3
# Let's make the low-bandwidth MP3 audio version
ffmpeg -i $1 -vn -acodec mp3 -ar 11025 -ab 16k -ac 1 $2-lowbandwidth.mp3
# Let's make the Ogg Vorbis audio version
ffmpeg -i $1 -vn -acodec vorbis -ar 44100 -ab 128k -ac 2 $2.ogg
2009-09-11 16:45:51
Initial Thoughts on 2010 Operations
With only a few months left in 2009, it is
perhaps time to look ahead to 2010. Planning can always be a tricky
matter. Here are some ideas currently in consideration for next
year operationally:
- Raise money to fund operations. So far there are some candidates for assuming this function.
- Recruit correspondents for LISTen in the following countries: Australia, New Zealand, Canada, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Ireland, and Canada. This will require fund-raising to ensure correspondents can be paid. At present there is no money to pay the present air staff let alone pay for correspondents abroad.
- Increase video output past animatics. Right now animated pieces can be easily created and uploaded to listen-from-lisnews.blip.tv for distribution. Live-action content should be the next step in growth for video operations. Due to the cross-country move, only a partial equipment load is available to do anything close to routine filming. Fundraising will be required.
- Purchase air time on brokered radio stations to ensure a means of program distribution outside Internet channels. Current machinations with the creation of a National Broadband Plan in the United States make rich content distribution increasingly costly over time. Shortwave may become cheaper in the long run than Internet depending upon how FCC GN Docket No. 09-51 concludes.
- Print publications. We already have one text out there, namely The Works of Edward M. Kellatis: A Sampler. The big question is where to go from there.