Citizen Journalist vs. Cerevo LiveShell Test report 1
by @occupy1liberty aka EyeofRah – James Cartmill
About me:
Before, during or after the reading of this report you should know a little about me and what I stand for. Please go to the websites provided below to review some of my work, there you can also read a little about who I am and why I am a #CitizenJournalist. If you have any questions feel free to contact me at the email address provided on the web site, or add me as a contact on Twitter, thank you!
Website - http://independentcitizenmedia.weebly.com
LIVE feed with archive - http://www.ustream.tv/channel/occupysftv
New Archive - http://www.youtube.com/user/OccupySFTV
Produced Archive - http://www.livestream.com/occupyliberty
Live Archive December Raid on OccupySF- http://www.ustream.tv/channel/occupyearth101
Devices used for field tests: Cerevo LiveShell, Android Galaxy S 2, Contour+ HD POV camera
The Good
After testing the LiveShell provided by Quantum-Wireless.com during the last 3 weeks I have found it to be something that will be useful for my extracurricular activities streaming Occupy events or other WIFI situations and field ops. Upon initial setup out of the box it was easy to configure and use in a home network WIFI environment. It was configured using a PC, which I think is easier, versatile, faster and more stable than an Android. Cerevo has an online “Dashboard” compatible with your droid that makes it easy to review your vitals such as signal strength, video fps, bit rate, and modify your tag line and more. The LiveShell also has hard line connections such as an Ethernet port, HDMI, AV / MIC input, and an SD card slot in making the device highly compatible for various situations and camera connections.
The Bad
It does take some technical skills to configure and use the device on multiple WIFI networks which I have scrapped for now since I can manually set up the configuration each time I switch networks or just use it with my droid. *The other option is to use the online configuration tool and you are up and running in just a few quick steps, it takes about 3 seconds to program, or reprogram, by playing a downloaded audio file to the LiveShell from your PC or droid.*
The Ugly
It takes three AA batteries and will last about 2 hrs and the battery back plate does not clip on tight and has potential to fall off. However a little duck tape fixes the back plate and the *LiveShell can be plugged in to an external energy source such as a battery pack* to provide longer broadcasting time.
Stay tuned for updates on my progress, news updates, and next live report or talk show with new or past guests by clicking “join crowd” at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/occupysftv and if you see something that should be filmed… good or bad, cops or not… FILM IT!
*Should be listed under The Good*