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IBM Video Streaming

IBM Video Streaming

Overview

What is IBM Video Streaming?

IBM Video Streaming solutions are used to stream virtual events, executive town halls, video marketing product launches, and OTT streaming. According to IBM, the solution is built for privacy, reliability and scale, to optimize video quality, and powered by IBM…

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Recent Reviews

IBM Video Streaming

10 out of 10
February 12, 2024
Incentivized
IBM Video Streaming has proven to be an invaluable tool in our K-12 school district, significantly enhancing educational delivery, …
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Thanks IBM

9 out of 10
November 07, 2020
We used it for a 2-hour premier of a movie and a zoom Q&A panel to major healthcare institutions around the country. We were looking for a …
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IBM Watson Review

8 out of 10
November 08, 2019
Incentivized
It is used across the whole organization to help my clients to watch interviews remotely whenever they cannot join in person at our …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 31 features
  • Video link sharing (93)
    10.0
    100%
  • Live streaming (95)
    9.0
    90%
  • Video quality / Bandwidth controls (92)
    9.0
    90%
  • Mobile compatibility (87)
    9.0
    90%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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N/A
Unavailable

What is IBM Video Streaming?

IBM Video Streaming solutions are used to stream virtual events, executive town halls, video marketing product launches, and OTT streaming. According to IBM, the solution is built for privacy, reliability and scale, to optimize video quality, and powered by IBM Watson AI for video…

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.ibm.com/products/video…

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Alternatives Pricing

What is Vimeo?

Vimeo is a video experience platform. They enable anyone to create high-quality video experiences to connect and bring ideas to life. They proudly serve their growing community of nearly 300 million users — from creative storytellers to globally distributed teams at the world's largest companies.

What is Gumlet?

Gumlet is a video hosting platform used to upload, optimize, and stream videos, offering detailed video analytics.Gumlet simplifies the video workflow from upload to analytics, and can be used to control every aspect of the end-user streaming experience while running the streaming pipeline on…

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Features

Video Marketing

Features related to using video marketing content, as well as marketing videos themselves.

6.1
Avg 7.2

Video Platform Integrations

Integrations between the enterprise video platform and other business applications.

7.6
Avg 6.3

Video Security

Features related to the security of an organization's content stored on an enterprise video platform.

9
Avg 8.7

Video Player

Features that support playing and watching video content that is hosted on the enterprise video platform.

7.8
Avg 8.4

Video Analytics

Features related to collecting and analyzing data around video streaming quality, viewer behavior, etc.

8.2
Avg 7.5

Video Hosting, Management & Storage

Features related to hosting, managing, and storing video content.

9
Avg 8.5

Video Engagement

Features to engage viewers around video content, particularly for live streams.

9
Avg 8.0
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Product Details

What is IBM Video Streaming?

IBM Video Streaming solutions are used to stream virtual events, executive town halls, video marketing product launches, and OTT streaming. According to IBM, the solution is built for privacy, reliability and scale, to optimize video quality, and powered by IBM Watson AI for video search and automated closed captioning.

IBM Enterprise Video Streaming can power security-rich video communications ranging from employee town halls, to trainings and department meetings, to digital events – boosting engagement from virtually anywhere. This cloud-based solution includes AI-driven deep search and the ability to track usage down to the individual user level with metrics as detailed as when content was accessed, device information, geographic location of the viewer and completion percentage.

https://ibm.biz/Video_Streaming_product_page


IBM Video Streaming Features

Video Marketing Features

  • Supported: Lead generation
  • Supported: Video personalization
  • Supported: Audience for distribution
  • Supported: eCommerce
  • Supported: Support for advertisements
  • Supported: Video SEO

Video Security Features

  • Supported: Video access controls
  • Supported: User management
  • Supported: SSO support
  • Supported: Password protection
  • Supported: Video link sharing
  • Supported: Embed restrictions
  • Supported: Internal video
  • Supported: External video

Video Player Features

  • Supported: Player customization
  • Supported: Embedded videos
  • Supported: Video quality / Bandwidth controls
  • Supported: Mobile compatibility

Video Analytics Features

  • Supported: Streaming quality reports
  • Supported: Per viewer tracking
  • Supported: Per video tracking
  • Supported: Video analytics dashboard

Video Hosting, Management & Storage Features

  • Supported: On-Demand video
  • Supported: Live streaming
  • Supported: Impact of streaming on network
  • Supported: Video upload & format support
  • Supported: Video library / File management
  • Supported: Video portal
  • Supported: Video downloads
  • Supported: Video editing
  • Supported: High definition support
  • Supported: Closed captioning / Transcription

Video Engagement Features

  • Supported: Audience polling
  • Supported: Audience Q&A / Live chat
  • Supported: Video comments

Additional Features

  • Supported: Scalability
  • Supported: Enterprise Security
  • Supported: Quality of Service
  • Supported: Integrated Content Management
  • Supported: Multi-CDN Delivery via SD-CDN
  • Supported: Cloud-based Transcoding
  • Supported: Social Sharing with Facebook and Twitter Integration
  • Supported: Integrated Chat
  • Supported: Live Analytics Dashboard
  • Supported: Auto-Recording
  • Supported: Custom Branding
  • Supported: Lead Capture
  • Supported: Live Playlists
  • Supported: Support for Professional Encoding/Production Gear
  • Supported: Enterprise Support Plans
  • Supported: Managed Event and Production Services
  • Supported: Enterprise Content Delivery Network (eCDN)

IBM Video Streaming Screenshots

Screenshot of the viewer's portal experience (channel page).Screenshot of how the automatically generated closed captions can be edited if necessary.Screenshot of the Analytics Console.Screenshot of the Watson Media CMSScreenshot of the viewer's portal experience (channel page).

IBM Video Streaming Videos

IBM Video Streaming Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationApple iOS, Android, Mobile Web

Frequently Asked Questions

Kaltura, Dalet Flex, and Vidyard are common alternatives for IBM Video Streaming.

Reviewers rate Video personalization and Video link sharing highest, with a score of 10.

The most common users of IBM Video Streaming are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).

IBM Video Streaming Customer Size Distribution

Consumers0%
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)15%
Mid-Size Companies (51-500 employees)50%
Enterprises (more than 500 employees)35%
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(206)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 28)
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Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use IBM Watson Media's Video Streaming for our weekly Sunday Service broadcasting, and occasionally special events. We are able to use IBM's tools to track viewership and even integrate the stream and chat function into our website to reach people all over the United States. This is especially great for our elderly community and the rare occasion services are canceled due to bad weather.
  • Ease of use.
  • Flexibility of using different streaming software.
  • Great interface for viewers with no extra work.
  • Occasionally, I've had issues with losing connection, making it impossible to stream.
  • Metrics can be a little confusing to find accurate viewer numbers.
  • The web interface can make finding certain things like chat windows difficult to find.
IBM Watson Media's Video Streaming is great where the user would like have control over their in-house video system, and not have to think about it once it hits the RTMP. It's flexible enough that you don't have to be wary of using or not using specific components.
Where it would be less well-suited is someone who is not at all familiar with streaming and would need an all-in-one plug-and-play system. That being said, this is easy to use.
November 08, 2019

IBM Watson Review

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It is used across the whole organization to help my clients to watch interviews remotely whenever they cannot join in person at our facility located in Milan. We use it whenever it is requested by the client. We also use it to record our sessions, download the videos and make these available for watching at a later stage to reference.
  • Streaming video.
  • Recording sessions.
  • Easy link connection.
  • Password access to be able to view different projects.
  • It does not allow for the streaming of two different languages at the same time, with the possibility to record in both languages on two different files.
  • You cannot record a session for more than three hours.
  • You cannot see the name of people who are connected as viewers.
IBM Watson Media is well suited for any streaming of video content with sound. You can stream right from your laptop. I never tried from mobile as we always use it from a fixed PC connected with a digital camera and audio system.
Frank Irzyk | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use IBM Watson Media Video Streaming to be able to provide parents and staff the ability to view significant public events in real-time and in recorded formats. Often parents and off-duty staff and even staff who are not able to leave classroom situations are able to view and participate in activities provided by the Overbrook School For The Blind and are able to view events in a time convenient to them. Students get a real kick out of being able to view performances that they were involved in after the fact. It is a bonus that the video and audio are crystal clear.
  • Stream and record significant events.
  • Stream and record staff events and meetings.
  • Stream events with moderately priced equipment.
  • Better opportunities to stream using wireless connections.
  • Simpler user interface.
IBM Watson is well suited for event streaming.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Each week we livestream our Sunday service to viewers who are unable to attend in person, including a number who don't even live in our area.
  • The streaming service is relatively easy to set up and is reliable.
  • For those occasional weeks when we lose our internet connection, I appreciate the ability to upload our locally saved version of the video so our regular watchers can still access a video via the IBM site.
  • In past years we've had occasional interruptions in our livestream (that weren't directly attributable to our local internet connection), but the reliability has improved over the last year or so.
  • Some weeks I need to download the livestream video for our local archive. This process takes much longer than I would expect (multiple hours before the video is available for download).
  • While this product offers many features for editing and promoting our videos, we do not use those services and will likely research less expensive options for our limited needs.
This product would be well suited for organizations that have multiple videos to manage, edit and promote, but not necessarily cost-effective for smaller organizations that manage fewer videos.
September 26, 2019

School Broadcast

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We stream our morning announcements to 480 students and 60 staff members.
  • Stable connection.
  • Simple management controls.
  • Great customer service.
  • Easy editing.
  • Ability to postpone subscription over summer break and not lose data.
Easy to use, great support. No ads.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our sports association organizes a mountain running race supported by many sponsors. The day of the race we set up a live stream of the race with connections to different crucial points of the racetrack connected with long-range wireless devices and all media is collected in a streaming manager software that mixes images with ads that encode and stream the content to IBM servers.
  • Easy to integrate with many streaming software.
  • Powerful statistics.
  • Good control of embedded content and it makes it easy to avoid other sites embedding your content without your permission.
  • I don't feel comfortable with the pricing model.
IBM Watson is well-suited for professional streaming situations where you don't want to deal with limitations and risks that most common social media implements.
September 04, 2019

IBM Watson for broadcasting

Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use video streaming to broadcast and record our sermons for our weekly Sunday worship services across our entire organization including campuses in California and Michigan. We also utilize the service to broadcast and record our training sessions for future classes and for those who are unable to attend during the live stream. The service allows us a simple way to broadcast, organize, and record our content in a way that is easily accessible by our congregation members.
  • The streaming quality is outstanding and we have never had any issues with buffering due to a slow server. Our problems usually lie with our local internet provider.
  • I appreciate the quick and easily accessible customer service. We had a couple of occasions where we needed help and I was able to access a customer service representative quickly.
  • We also like the different channels available within our service. This allows us to customize our streams based on our target audience.
  • We would like to see the ability to slipstream the broadcast thus allowing a viewer to join a live stream after the start time and still start in the beginning. Similar to a DVR system for home, this would be great for timing since we stream to multiple locations who may not be ready at the exact start time of the broadcast.
The platform works well for churches wanting to publish their messages and content online. The platform seems to have enough bandwidth to keep up with demand and we haven't run into any particular slowdowns. Where the platform would be limited is for streaming to smart devices like a Roku, Apple TV, or a Chromecast. There is no support for a Ustream app on those devices so people would not be able to easily access the streams from their home televisions. This also limits the usage of Ustream to do live-streaming to other televisions on campus in an economical way. A user would have to purchase individual computers to run a stream window for the live broadcast.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I am a self-employed business owner who regularly uses a live stream platform for masterclasses and events. I required a non-VOIP platform as I add a good deal of music. My offerings with crystal singing bowls and vocals as part of the work I do were distorted on other platforms and I've been very happy with Ustream.
  • Clear picture and sound
  • Option for live chat
  • Replay of published videos
  • I find there is a lag in the broadcast so that as I ask my viewers questions, their answers come 30 seconds to 2 minutes delayed. I realize part of this could be internet connection speed, but I have a good service that is fast for all other functions.
I feel it is well suited for educational purposes, sharing content, webinars, masterclasses, and live streams. It isn't the best for real-time interaction due to the time lag in the broadcast.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We mainly used this to live stream the video for the quarterly manager's meetings. It addresses the issues for managers that cannot attend the onsite meeting and the ability to post the video for playback.
  • Easy to use.
  • Link to live stream.
  • Secure.
  • It works well only when you have a good high-speed internet connection.
This will work well for businesses located in different countries.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We have various departments each over 10,000 employees that we host a live-streamed townhall for all to view.
  • Love the fact that each individual can view the product at a different quality depending on their internet capacity.
  • Ease of saving and posting to YouTube post-show.
  • Metrics are great.
  • Some parts are a bit too technical and over the head of an average person.
  • Price can be a bit steep for some of the things we have.
When we need to reach a large audience that is all over the world at one time.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Watson Video Streaming just once a year for our high school Senior Signing Day event in May of each year. It is pretty easy to navigate and the guys on the service line are great. They really want to help resolve your issue in the best manner possible. We stream our two-hour event for parents who are at work and attend the live event or other family members living outside the area and can't attend. We fundraise and take comments during the live stream. As I said, I really like the folks on the helpline.
  • The video is high quality!
  • Ease of use
  • Great customer service
  • Good pricing
  • Not a technician so I'm good for what I need it to do.
It is well suited for our event because we want our live streaming to be of high quality, but our funds are limited. Watson gives us both high quality at a cost even our small non-profit can afford. Ustream was good, but Watson Media is even better.
Christopher Cantrall | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use IBM Watson Media to deliver streams in a closed-loop when requested by clients. We never allow open access but always have the videos gated behind a password. IBM Watson Media is used organization-wide and is our only streaming tool, which we use instead of another industry alternatives.
  • Price.
  • Uptime.
  • Ease of use.
  • Ease of sharing.
  • Could use a better domain name.
  • More obvious IBM branding.
  • Better chat functionality.
For simple video presentations, IBM Watson Media really shines. In cases where our clients don’t necessarily need to do anything complex with the videos live, like time-stamping or other live annotation. We like that we can easily share the link and password and get people into the stream quick. The chat functionality is also a client favorite.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We have used IBM's Ustream for several years to broadcast a corporate event to a large international manufacturing firm - a client of my company. It's being used by my production team and shared with the client's entire international organization across multiple states and countries. Employees from all over US, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and many other countries were able to tune in and view their local team compete in a company wide competition. The software is easy to use, reliable, and an affordable option to establish a private, secure, and dedicated connection for live streaming - something that is integral for this particular situation as privacy & access are major concerns.
  • Privacy Settings - very easy to establish a variety of security levels depending on the project.
  • Publishing features are simple and easy to use. Not only can I publish the stream immediately after the live event is over, but I can upload to youtube directly.
  • Communication - I can talk directly with the viewers of the stream in the event that their are questions or concerns
  • The interface - though easy to use - is a bit dated. It does seem that it could be updated a bit.
  • Browser exclusive streaming - it would be nice if the streaming service could be more directly integrated with streaming services/apps such as Youtube or a Ustream App. Maybe it is, but at the time I used it, i was unfamiliar with this option.
  • Pricing options - though I think it is affordable, it's a bit difficult to determine what level I need to purchase. It might be nice to see more options in terms of pricing.
I found this software to be very well suited for private, corporate production - where live streaming is for internal corporate purposes. The interface would be less useful for conventional entertainment productions for broad audiences as it's lesser known from the user side as a brand. I'd likely use Facebook, YouTube or some other streaming platform for more general public facing live streams.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use IBM Cloud Video (Ustream® Enterprise) as a professional white label service for the client not interested in using a social media streaming service. These typically include internal corporate communications or government agencies. Once an awhile we'll use the service for universities and colleges for their commencements which the institutions don't feel a social media streaming platform is appropriate.
  • Quick launch of a webcast
  • Player compatibility
  • Broad adoption of third party add-ons and hardware encoders
  • Tech support turnaround on corrupted VOD videos.
  • Channels need to have the ability to stream to two servers simultaneously--like YouTube's ability to stream to two different servers. They also allow you to see the health of the backup stream etc., in real time. Right now the Enterprise® solution for failover includes a 5-second black frame until the backup stream pops up. It also can only be set up by IBM staff as a special request.
  • Ability to customize the player. The older Flash-based player allowed for this. A basic customer customizable player like Vimeo would be amazing.
[Well suited for] lead generation and production companies with no web technical expertise. Clients looking at Livestream® - I would recommend them IBM Cloud Video over that service. Corporate communications would benefit from the registration tracking ability. [Also well suited for] clients looking for a simple way to password protect and domain lock their streams and event companies that want to monetize their content with pay-per-view.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Ustream is used by one of our clients in order to share video and broadcast their live events. Ustream was recently introduced and it replaced another similar service. The reason behind this shift can be, probably, linked to the additional features offered by Ustream (for example the possibility to ask to users to access an event only by giving their email address, the geographical localisation of viewers, etc).
  • You can ask viewers to attend only if they give you an email address so that you can create your mailing list for further info/questionnaires/other events.
  • You can locate where your viewers are from, in order to understand if you were able to attract the correct audience.
  • The chat is automatically supervised so, in principle, you do not need to have someone checking on improper use of the chat.
  • You can personalise the off-air contents as well as the videos on demand
  • Maybe the chat can be improved a little, to make it easier to access.
  • It should be given the possibility to embed the video also to non-logged in users.
  • Provide full features in the demo mode, in order to better understand what is possible to do with Ustream and better decide whether to pay or not.

GOOD: I would suggest to use Ustream whenever there is a live event and you would like to have it streamed around the world. Especially if there are some additional activities to be carried out after your event, you can collect the email addresses of those who are connecting to your event.

NOT APPROPRIATE: I would not use Ustream if I want to be easily found on the internet because, in this case, people would rather directly look on YouTube.

Alejandro Rojas | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
IBM Cloud Video (Ustream) is used as a streaming service for our entire news broadcast video platform. It's used by our TV broadcast department (ABC TV) to broadcast our daily local news in our 24 hours basis on the internet (on our web page, desktop, mobile and native app) and to store it as video on demand.
  • Stable streaming platform
  • Good reports
  • Easy to deploy
  • Transconding
  • Advertisement layer
  • High price
  • more options in ad servers
  • api improvements
In our case scenario, it is well suited for what we do - broadcast video streaming on the Internet and environments where transcoding is almost mandatory such as mobile and native app on smartphones. I think it is less suitable for video on demand because of the high priced storage space.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
IBM Cloud Video (Ustream) is used by the marketing department in our organization for 2 purposes. The first was to broadcast educational webinars in support of marketing efforts for our brands. We used UStream as our streaming platform and linked viewers (customers) to it from landing pages and emails. The second way we use UStream is for training purposes within our marketing and sales organization. We have sales representatives across the country. Sharing video training via Ustream allows us to bring the entire team (marketing and sales) up to speed on new products at the same time without the expense and delay of a formal sales meeting where we have to fly people in and host them overnight.
  • Easy to implement
  • Easy to use
  • Fairly reliable
  • At the time I was using Ustream, there was no way to have an integrated chatroom. We had to use a separate app for that. Obviously integrated would be better.
  • We were limited to 1,000 viewers at a time.
  • Registrants had to return to the email or landing page and click the link on the day of the webinar to view it. No way to capture registrations beforehand and email the link on the day of within UStream.
It was well suited for both our webinar purposes outlined above. I guess it would not be well suited to streaming situations where you would need to reach a larger audience.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our entire organization takes advantage of the streaming and scalability of Ustream to broadcast on the internet videos of events. We do a variety of streams from just a few individuals up to sessions reaching several thousand people at once. It becomes a tool for us, to allow information to be shared, without the need for travel. It is reliable and we have found it to be simple for the end user viewers to become engaged.
  • Scalability - I don't ever have to worry if a session we are broadcasting takes off and attracts unexpected large audience. The system keeps everyone watching and is seamless.
  • Streamlined - with the available Producer app, pushing video and monitoring the outgoing content is simple. The ability to have channels that are for different types of content helps us get people to the right place.
  • Metrics - our evaluations of live events benefits from the viewer information we are able to glean. This helps us focus marketing for future public events.
  • Publishing - the lack of ongoing support for the Producer app is one issue, while there are good alternatives, we have different users and sometimes as many as 3 channels in use the same day, having the Producer app, allows our different teams easier access without hardware or software concerns.
  • Channel Image Updating - it can be a little frustrating to update the off air or channel icons. This part of the backend system seems to just require a couple attempts many times before the update become visible.
We have seen great success when we are sharing what is going on at meetings and streaming live events. There are always team members who can't be present, this allows for sharing of small events and engagement that is necessary in today's fast-paced world. For larger broadcasts, it is amazing to open this up to the public through marketing and see what attention can be attracted. If you need a solution that will support you no matter how large your audience grows, this is perfect.
Faizal Bahari | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Use for internal and external webcast broadcast.
  • Financial year end results
  • Training / Speech / Talks
  • Tech forum
  • Easy video streaming setup.
  • Various streaming connection (to Facebook, Youtube etc) available.
  • Wirecast software is easy to use and takes minimum setting up.
  • For Ustream registration, it would be easier if we can customized on the default login requirements (name, company, job title etc etc) to whatever inputs the organizer requires for registration.
  • Ability to change the fonts in the webpage. Currently, we are unable to do that.
  • Too much space on the Ustream webpage not fully utilized.
We do webcast on a weekly basis. We do have issues once in a while where users had registered in but comes to the webcast page itself, if they want to use the 'pop out' (theater mode), it requires them to register again. Q&A function is ok but moderator cant determined the users asking the questions are from which company (even in the registration part, it is already written down).
Kevin Ford | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our house of worship uses IBM Cloud Video (including Ustream) every week, multiple times a week, to stream our services and events around the world. We have a viewership of several thousand every week across 20+ countries. Ustream gives us the ability to directly track our viewership and respond to issues that may arise in the broadcast and distribution of our content. We also host a conference once a year that increases our viewership into the tens of thousands across 70+ countries. During this time, previous streaming methods have completely failed due to the pressure on our servers. Ustream has always remained rock solid due to it's multiple CDN locations. The immediate feedback of the distribution numbers and locations allow us to inform the conference attendees of the size and breadth of the conference, adding value to their conference experience.
  • The Ustream view ship tracking gives us detailed information of how many people are watching and from where. This helps my organization recognize trends in our international viewership and respond accordingly.
  • Ustream allows us to monitor and maintain multiple channels and streams at the same time. This important to my organization as we often translate our main broadcasts into multiple languages.
  • Ustream has maintained a 99% percent uptime during the length of our contract. This is comforting considering we stream at odd hours and over the weekend.
  • Our viewership often requests an audio only option of the livestream. This helps them remain connected while traveling but not eat up their data plans.
  • Recent bugs in the tracking tools have caused a disparity in the concurrent viewership graph versus the current viewer live counter. I'm not sure which is accurate, but I need to know the correct number.
  • Recent increase in their customer base has caused increased wait time in receiving downloads of our broadcasts. This can range from a few minutes to a few hours. This is more of minor annoyance that a deal breaker.
Any organization that needs to distribute and interact with live internet broadcasts will find that Ustream meets a majority of their needs. Their level of customer support and quality has been second to none for our needs. Also, their interface can be very simple to use, resulting in volunteers being able to use the system. The only setback, specifically for house of worship markets, is that this power and ease of use comes at a price. Ustream, at the enterprise level, can be very expensive. This price made sense for our organizations, but I can understand if it is far outside of the reach for many in the house of worship market.
Chris McBride | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We produce competitive dance events all over America, and we have used Ustream since 2012 to broadcast our events to family and friends of the students performing on stage. We have had up to 6 concurrent events at the same time, and are known in the industry for our free andhigh-qualityy event broadcasts (usually 2-3 days over the weekend, but as many as 5 for very large events - many from 7AM to 11PM per day).
  • Excellent reliability - as long as you have a good upstream bandwidth, Ustream is exceptionally stable and glitch-free.
  • The service works with a wide array of software and encoding methods. We use Telestream Wirecast with excellent results.
  • We worked with Ustream engineers to develop a custom fall-back solution when the events were over, so live content was playing even when we were off air from the shows.
  • Price - we are not a huge organization and only broadcast for 6-7 months out of the year. The annual plan with quarterly payments is helpful, but a plan that offered a more granular fee structure would be beneficial for us.
  • Better embed options for social media.
Ustream works exceptionally well for our use case - live, long-form events. I could even see it as a base for a small "network" for niche audiences. I think it would also work well for conferences, seminars, etc.

I do not see it as a good alternative to Skype, Zoom, GoTo Meeting, etc.
Tomek Turba | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
As a modern radio broadcaster with visions of the inevitable future, we had a need to have a video streaming tool to stream our videos to listeners on the internet. We have bought cameras, production devices like ATEM Switchers, converters etc., and started using Ustream with Adobe Flash Encoder and/or OBS Player. It works very well, and for now - it can be widely used across the whole organization (not only in production and media departments).

We also stream video with this configuration as an outside broadcast from any localization which has an internet connection (ethernet or mobile).

I think I can say that we are forerunners here in Poland in using this type of service...other companies call me to get a review.
  • Reliability - it is very high. We didn't observe any problems with this field.
  • Parametrization capabilities - we can configure basically anything that we need.
  • Price - actually the price is lower than Wowza or Nadaje.com here in Poland.
  • Storage space - it is a very good functionality because when our video hardware crashes with a recording, we have an online copy from the provided storage space in our Ustream account.
  • Storage space could have a quota limit exceed notification send via e-mail or SMS even.
There isn't any scenario that IBM Cloud Video Manager cannot be used as a less appropriate [solution] in my opinion.
Melody Barker | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our organization hosts life enriching conferences and training classes. We broadcast all of them so our worldwide partners can participate with the live event or enjoy the archive. We have used this platform for five years and enjoyed every part of it. The consistency and quality is amazing. Our team enjoys the ease of use with its features and automated saving until published or deleted.
  • It always works.
  • As our event starts trending, it helps share that we are live - and helps us gain new followers.
  • I love that we can post the video to our YouTube channel with a click of a button!
  • As this is an online product with virtually no need for customer service (at least for us) the pro-broadcasting could be less expensive.
  • When you trim a video on Ustream then post it to YouTube, it uploads the entire session, not just the desired trimmed portion (frustrating).
  • Bonuses or coupon codes for faithful clients - we spend nearly $1k a month for live streaming that we use for 3-5 days/month. There are less expensive options and my tech team would prefer to use a different platform just so our budget would have $12K to put to a new sound board, computers, cameras... etc.
It is great if you don't have a big team. You need one person to hit start and end the broadcast. The same person can monitor the sound. The dashboard is very easy to learn. The metrics are great to see. A smaller company can use it and use a package geared to their budget. Larger companies would also benefit from its use. Overall, there is not a place where I would consider it "less appropriate". The cost and the ability to afford the cost is going to be the greatest factor in someone using Ustream versus YouTube, Facebook, WebinarJam, or gotomeeting for their services. It all depends on the individual needs of the company looking to live broadcast or stream events, seminars, or create their own online TV show.
February 09, 2017

Ustream and eCDN

Michael Coates | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We used the product for the first of our quarterly town hall meetings. The 30,000-viewer hour option met our needs in that we are broadcasting to a global audience and can do so with a password-protected URL. Streaming quality was as high as our ingest rate; note that this can be variable, depending on bandwidth.

We also used the Ustream eCDN product to consolidate streams to two of our remote offices .. this ensured multiple, individual streams wouldn't clog the top of our router and impact network performance and user experience at our offices.
  • Consolidated interface: ability to manage the entire event from a single pane of glass.
  • Role-based capabilities: enabled us to assign our video capture/producer a role so he could manage his aspects of the event without my intervention.
  • Reliable network: no issues in performance with our global broadcast.
  • Mobile interface: worked like a charm as I prowled the office to ensure viewers were seeing a satisfactory experience.
  • More granular pricing; we didn't come near the 30,000-viewer hour limit. However, compared to other providers, their pricing is in line .. just not for a single event.
  • eCDN setup documentation: needs work .. did a fair bit of troubleshooting with Tier 2 support before realizing there were aspects with which only Ustream could configure (missing in the documentation).
Event broadcast: one-to-many viewers. Sporting, meetings, shows and so on.

Mobile consumption: nice mobile experience of a broadcast.

Archive capabilities: content is available for as long as a subscription is maintained.
Steven Janak | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Ustream is used across the organization to connect to entire teams or globally across the company for all hands meetings. The platform provides a consistent place where users can go to easily view recurring meets and events. Over VC platforms, links are not torn down at the ends of meetings, the UI is clear and easy to understand, the encoding of the audio and video can be fine tuned by our team to deliver high-quality content.
  • Integrate well with single sign on solutions.
  • Recurring meetings and events are easy to access at the same URL.
  • The reliability of the live component is exceptional (up time).
  • The QA functionality allows viewers to easily engage with presenters.
  • There is limited CMS functionality for recorded content.
  • While Ustream is responsive in communicating, sometimes platform issues require multiple communications to fully resolve.
  • There are limited ways that all of the available live programming can be laid out and presented to the company.
IBM Cloud video is incredibly well suited to deliver content when delivering content that is confidential and secure, in mission critical scenarios and where ease of use is required. Ustream has the ability to easily accept a backup ingest for the primary stream. If the primary encoder or connection to Ustream fails, Ustream starts pulling from the backup stream and pushing it out to viewers almost instantaneously. Frequently our team is engaged because of the quality and ease of use of the service. Over VC products, Ustream is a much easier way for viewers to have a quality viewing experience. This is due to the fact that that there are far fewer settings the user needs to be familiar with.
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