Lunch & Learn with SnapStream:

TV Monitoring Best Practices and Workflows for PIOs

Thursday, May 2, 11:45 a.m. – 1: 15 p.m.
Mike Lopez, Sales Engineer, SnapStream
Tom Erickson, Master Deputy, Johnson County Sheriff’s Office

We are excited to support the Kansas Association of Public Information Officers (KAPIO) at their annual conference this week, as the platinum level sponsor. PIOs from across the state will be congregating to learn from one another’s communities and organizations, focusing on takeaways from “real world PIO experiences.”

We’re joining the conversation with a real PIO, Master Deputy Tom Erickson, who is a real SnapStream user too. At the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) in Olathe, KS, SnapStream’s TV monitoring technology helps Erickson efficiently track and respond to important local media coverage.

SnapStream provides that extra set of eyes for the JCSO’s small staff, with the speed and intelligence of TV search. But SnapStream is a great fit for organizations of all sizes. The City of Miami Police Department, the City of Greensboro, and the City of Austin all exemplify some of the best practices for smart city management, along with their streamlined workflows for media monitoring.

Our vision is to continually drive efficiency at city governments across the country, to empower them with reliable, easy-to-use technology.

Does your state have a regional conference for PIOs? We would love to share the best practices we’ve learned with you, too!

Reach out to sales@snapstream.com.

Enjoy More Ways to Monitor TV

NAB is next week! Meet with us to get a personalized demo of SnapStream’s new cloud sharing technology, as well as an exclusive look at upcoming, unreleased features. See how easy it is to skip to a topic of interest with the new interactive transcript viewer; monitor TV on-the-go from your tablet; and watch live TV from the Web Player for Mac and PC.

Schedule a meeting with us in South Upper Hall SU4721 and you’ll be entered to win a free flat-screen TV. How awesome is that?

SnapStream Speaker Series at NAB

LIVE from SnapStream’s booth in South Upper Hall, SU4721

Developing the Journalists and Communicators of Tomorrow Tuesday, April 9 at 2 p.m. SnapStream’s technology is helping students interactively study and analyze broadcast news like never before. Join the Technology Director of the School of Communication at Emerson College, Jonathan Satriale, to learn about the academic applications of SnapStream.	Trailblazers: Centralized TV Monitoring at the City of Austin Wednesday, April 10 at 2 p.m. The City of Austin is known for being technology-driven, and its city government is no exception. Join Keith Reeves, Station Manager for Austin’s Channel 6, to learn how SnapStream efficiently provides TV recordings, transcripts and clips for PIOs across 35 departments citywide.
RSVP and we’ll save you a seat!

Getting Interactive

Tomorrow SnapStream will be participating at Journalism Interactive 2013, a new conference focused on intertwining journalism education and digital media. Host of the second annual event, the University of Florida houses one of the top 10 journalism schools in the country.

Scholars, practitioners, teachers and students, from universities near and far, will congregate at Journalism Interactive to share their successful approaches for delivering journalism education in today’s metamorphic media space.

I graduated from UF’s journalism school, so I’m filled with excitement about SnapStream’s involvement with Journalism Interactive, which serves a tremendous purpose. It’s admirable that this group of universities is taking an active role in seeking out new, influential technology and trends, and incorporating them into their curriculums.

Teaching Broadcast Journalism

Plain and simple, SnapStream provides universities with a new, digital platform for studying and teaching broadcast journalism:

• With computer-based access to live and recorded television, professors can implement new teaching and research methods. Like at Emerson College, Graduate Journalism Professor Paul Niwa teaches students how to compare and contrast the coverage of a single news event across various outlets and networks.
• By downloading transcripts and using the TV search feature, graduate students can count keywords and perform advanced content analysis.
• Over time, universities will develop a searchable TV archive or library, which then becomes a valuable research tool and media resource.

Meet us in Gainesville

Are you going to be in Gainesville for Journalism Interactive? Let us know!

We want toys!

Tech toys, that is. We, at SnapStream, have an obsession with shiny new gadgetry. And during the holiday season, our tech-lust gets extreme. Here’s what’s topping our collective wish list for this year.

1. Like in the movie Minority Report, Daniel F. wants to use hand gestures to control his computer, using the Leap Motion controller.

2. As a fan of Frank Gehry, Rakesh admires this photograph because it shows the famous architect putting his own creation through its paces. Who knew that Gehry designed and built desks earlier in his career?

3. Chris is fired up about getting an Induction Burner, so he can cook like an Iron Chef.

4. Wishing she could fly, Adrienne wants to soar above water with the Flyboard. (Check out the demonstration video!)

5.  Nestor wants to run freely with these wireless earbuds.

6. Zack is all about the Book Book, which consolidates your iPhone and wallet, with a vintage touch.

7. Rob likes the Wasp Injector Knife, which can be used for diving, hunting or just attacking a watermelon.

8. Michael B. wants the blazing Asus gaming ultrabook, so he can play all the latest video games.

9. All Daniel M. wanted this year was a wireless mouse and keyboard… and he got it!

10. Because Gayan enjoys photography in his spare time, he’s eyeing this really nice Canon camera.

11. If money were no object, Joel would splurge and get a monkey in a fitted winter coat. (Not sold in stores.)

12. Aaron fantasizes about commuting to work at SnapStream in the 2013 SRT Viper.

13. Nestor wants to give his iPhone the best protection with a gorilla glass case.

14. There’s something about putting a pen to paper… or to a screen! Michael C. would kill for Wacom’s interactive pen display.

15. Rachel wants to kick up her feet and let the Roomba take care of cleaning her apartment.

16. What Rene wants is legen—wait for it—dary! The official How I Met Your Mother suitjamas, in smooth grey silk. Totally work appropriate.

17. Josie’s phone battery is always running low, so she wants some kind of external charger to make it last.

18. Rakesh also wants this magical unicorn mask, for unclear reasons. (He wants to make us laugh?)

What are you wishing for? From all of us at SnapStream, we wish you a happy, healthy holiday season and new year!

By human nature, we all love new things: The rush of adopting the latest technology. The smell of a new car.  The opening night at the movies.

The excitement of a new release of SnapStream.

Today we’re rolling out 5.7, which expands the scope of recording, searching and managing TV from your Web browser. Schedule your upgrade with our support team to gain access to these useful, new features:

1. Display search results by TV show

A new user-level setting allows you to auto-collapse search results by TV show, creating a macro view of all mentions.  In this example, the results are collapsed by TV show, displaying an overview of where the search term Obama appears. Click the arrows to expand the results.

Alternatively, you can opt to display the results in the expanded view, so it’s easier to see every individual mention within every show. In this example, SnapStream drills into the first result, News Nation, to identify every mention of the search term Obama in that program.

2. Create a saved search filter

At the user level, save a default search filter to refine the displayed TV search results. For example, you could exclude clips or ShowSqueezed files from showing up in your searches. Combine any of SnapStream’s search filters, such as DATE, CATEGORY, CHANNEL, TITLE, FILE TYPE, etc. See the help file for a complete list.

3. ShowSqueeze to a new format, QuickTime

In addition to the H.264 and WMV codecs, ShowSqueeze supports the QuickTime format (.mov). We recommend transcoding to reduce file sizes, which thereby increases archive depth.

4. Implement new Workflows

Since Workflows were first released in SnapStream 5.4, we have continued to add new, versatile options. In 5.7, we implemented the following:

New Triggers

ShowSqueeze Finished – Initiate a Workflow once a transcode completes.

Only When Run Manually – Create Workflows to run on demand, from the TV Library, as a series of saved actions.

New Filter

Clips - Create Workflows that only apply to files that are clips.

New Actions

Export Item – Export a copy of a TV file outside of SnapStream’s environment, with the option to include or exclude closed captioning. For instance, export clips to a third-party transcoding application.

Transcode to QuickTime – As explained above in #3.

5. Schedule time-based guide recordings

In 5.7, we introduce a new alternative for recording multiple segments of a channel, throughout the day. Once you select the time period and the channel desired, SnapStream will display all of the upcoming programs to be recorded during that time, in relation to the latest program guide data.

Here’s a time-based guide recording on CNN from 12 a.m. to 12 p.m.

6. Receive emails out of the box

In 5.7, SnapStream.net takes over all email service responsibilities, to remove the administrative step of setting up SMTP. Important features like TV Alerts and system notifications work without any pre-configuration.

7. Play out SDI with new, improved controls

Manage SDI playout with controls to pause, seek and stop. Edit the playlist to remove or reorder recordings.

Ready to get started?

Contact sales@snapstream.com or 1-877-762-7787.

Ready to upgrade to 5.7?

Contact support@snapstream.com or 1-877-696-3674.