Monday's Mac Gadget by John F. Braun Broadcast Live Video & Audio With Your Mac & Sorenson Broadcaster! November 6th, 2000 Sorenson Broadcaster 1.1b9 (Public Beta) Sorenson Media, Inc. Almost everyone has had dreams of being a broadcaster at one time or another. But the cost and paperwork involved in setting up a radio or TV station should discourage most folks from making this dream a reality. Fortunately, recent Macs that have a G3 or greater processor have some sort of sound input. And if you also have a FireWire (aka IEEE 1394) port, you can attach a variety of devices (such as a digital camcorder) that can capture both audio and video. If only there was a piece of software that could let you broadcast this information... Sorenson Broadcaster allows a QuickTime-equipped Mac to broadcast audio, video or both, depending on what type of equipment you have connected to your Mac. All your potential audience needs to get in on the action is the free QuickTime player After you start the software, you should first click on the Sources tab and define your audio and video sources. Once you've done this, you should then define the Quality of the broadcast data, based on the most likely connection speed of your audience. This can range from a 28.8 kbps modem, to a high-speed LAN. Once you've done this, you're almost ready to start. Constantly Monitor the Performance of Your Audio and Video Streams The final piece of data you need to provide is the transmission method. You can choose unicast, multicast or relay. Unicast is the most compatible method, but can only send content to one person at a time. Multicast can send your content to multiple users, but isn't supported by the entire Internet, and is more appropriate for private corporate or educational networks. One way to stream content to multiple Internet users is to send the unicast data to a replication server, such as the one included with Mac OS X Server. Once you've defined these network parameters, you should then Announce your broadcast. The announcement can be in the form of a small QuickTime movie which, when launched, will direct the QuickTime Player to the appropriate machine and associated ports. You can then click on Broadcast, and your content will be sent. You can monitor the performance of both your audio and video streams, and view other statistics. Finally, you can also record your stream for later playback. Have any other software Gadgets that you think other Observers would enjoy? Write John via e-mail, so he can review it, or speak out on the Mac Gadget Forum. Monday's Mac Gadget is here to help you with those cool things that we all just have to have on our Macs. Shareware, Freeware, Postcardware, Emailware, and even commercial apps, Monday's Mac Gadget is here to help you find and use the best of these programs. John is a software engineer who works in the corporate R&D group of a Fortune 500 company, focusing on all aspects of communications technology. He has several degrees that claim he knows what he's doing when it comes to computers. After watching co-workers reinstall Windows, search for device drivers, and experience other horrors during the day, he's glad that he comes home to a Mac (compatible) computer. Have any comments, suggestions, or favorite Gadgets? Drop John a line at You can also Post Your Comments below. Current Monday's Mac Gadget Want to Supercharge Your Dock? Check Out Todos! - August 21st Worried About Your Mac Getting Jacked? Get JackSMS - June 12th Want iChat with Tabs? Try Chax! - April 3rd Visit Monday's Mac Gadget Archives for more great Mac Gadgets!