I've been using IBM Cloud Video (UStream) for a number of years now in support of a music blog that I run, and also for events that I livestream for my clients. Although many other free solutions have come online in recent years (YouTube Live, Facebook Live, etc.) they simply are not as reliable as having a private streaming service. IBM Cloud Video allows us to stream from a multitude of professional devices, including Teradek gear that we use a lot, both reliably and easily. Also, the cloud recording is fantastic and allows me to have peace of mind that beyond our local recordings (from a camera or recorder) we will have a cloud-recorded video that we can download to give to the client and/or edit later.,Cloud-based video recording. Reliable transmission of video, resulting in ease of starting a broadcast (more important than you think) and a clear and smooth picture. Ability to save recordings, organize them, share them, and send them to other online video services.,The user interface is pretty good, but it definitely needs some improvements to help organize videos better, and request online restoration of videos that have been taken offline. As far as I can tell, new features haven't been added since UStream was acquired by IBM. It seems like development has been paused, or focused on back-end improvements that we as users simply don't see. Would like to see some new improvements being made, especially at this price point. The mobile viewing window lacks options and cannot detect device orientation. So I embed a video on a page that I can publish through an app, but then the viewing window does not orient correctly, without some complicated JavaScript that I personally have to write. This is an example of a feature that IBM should make and have part of the viewer window platform. Mobile friendly is essential in this day and age.,9,9,9,Mainly we're able to provide a quality viewing experience without the noise of Facebook or YouTube to our audience, providing a better branding experience for our users. This shows that we're not just building on the back of another company that doesn't have our users in mind. So for us, using a solution like IBM Video allows us to portray a higher level of "trustworthiness" to our users/customers.

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Reviews

Score 8.7 out of 10

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August 27, 2018

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "No-Nonsense Live Streaming Solution"

Derek Hoiem

CEO

Rain On Me ProductionsMedia Production, 1-10 employees

Score 9 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Pros and Cons

Cloud-based video recording.
Reliable transmission of video, resulting in ease of starting a broadcast (more important than you think) and a clear and smooth picture.
Ability to save recordings, organize them, share them, and send them to other online video services.

The user interface is pretty good, but it definitely needs some improvements to help organize videos better, and request online restoration of videos that have been taken offline.
As far as I can tell, new features haven't been added since UStream was acquired by IBM. It seems like development has been paused, or focused on back-end improvements that we as users simply don't see. Would like to see some new improvements being made, especially at this price point.
The mobile viewing window lacks options and cannot detect device orientation. So I embed a video on a page that I can publish through an app, but then the viewing window does not orient correctly, without some complicated JavaScript that I personally have to write. This is an example of a feature that IBM should make and have part of the viewer window platform. Mobile friendly is essential in this day and age.

Likelihood to Recommend

For scenarios where you want a reliable broadcast window, without all of the noise from YouTube or Facebook. You can have a clean viewing experience embedded on a web page or mobile app. And also you can cloud-record your broadcasts so you can download and edit them later.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

Mainly we're able to provide a quality viewing experience without the noise of Facebook or YouTube to our audience, providing a better branding experience for our users. This shows that we're not just building on the back of another company that doesn't have our users in mind. So for us, using a solution like IBM Video allows us to portray a higher level of "trustworthiness" to our users/customers.

Read Derek Hoiem's full review

August 23, 2018

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "Great product that’s worth the price!"

Alex Lisic

Creative Arts Director

Life ChurchReligious Institutions, 11-50 employees

Score 10 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We stream multiple times per week our events that occur. This is the life blood of our organization and we stream at least four times a week. Multiple users and sometimes in multiple locations.

Pros and Cons

Incredible customer service.
Reliable streaming platform.
Lots of customizable features.
Ability to host multiple shows or channels under a single account.

Bring back an in house software package.
Easier access to credentials to integrate streaming within other apps.
Cross platform sharing to YouTube or other organizations supported.

Likelihood to Recommend

Well suited for someone who needs to stream and stream a lot. You may pay a little more for the service than others but it will never fail on you and customer service is great. Less appropriate for smaller shops who do occasional work or don’t have pro-grade equipment. You can get by with a smaller platform service if you need but be aware that what you make up for in $ you may sacrifice in service and reliability.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

We have used it specifically to gain new followers. Often people watch us streaming and then physically attend a service. It also has helped us increase online revenue significantly over the last 5 years.

Read Alex Lisic's full review

August 17, 2018

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "Ustream and Church."

Jon Foster

AV Director

St. Mark's ChurchReligious Institutions, 11-50 employees

Score 10 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Ustream (IBM Cloud Video) is being used as our main streaming channel for our church. It is the virtual window into our services. It helps people tune in remotely or check out our services remotely if they've never participated in person. It is embedded on our website, and we use it for mobile viewing.

Pros and Cons

IBM Cloud Video's metrics are phenomenal. They allow us to gauge participation in our online presence, as well as chart virtual attendance trends throughout the year.
Ustream transcodes well; it looks great across most any device that can access it.
Ustream has been extraordinarily stable, and when we did have technical issues, they have been very responsive.

I wish the metrics allowed to see unique viewers on an hour by hour basis.
I wish Ustream allowed the user to rewind during a live broadcast.
I would like the call to action controls to be more accessible for those of us without much coding experience.

Likelihood to Recommend

It's priced right, and is extremely easy to set up.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

We are somewhat exempt from this question as our purpose is church member participation. But, because of what Ustream allows us to do, making the virtual experience as good as we can afford, has become a value to our organization.

Read Jon Foster's full review

August 17, 2018

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "Solid, Flexible, and Reliable."

David Wood

Executive Director

Macon Urban Ministries, IncReligious Institutions, 11-50 employees

Score 9 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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.

Pros and Cons

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.

Likelihood to Recommend

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.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

IBM Cloud Video has been used to share the ministry, work and up to date information about our ministry. It allows us to invite people to watch and learn from our live events. Inviting people into the live events, as opened new support and opportunities for us as a ministry.

Read David Wood's full review

August 14, 2018

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "IBM Cloud Video Feedback"

Faizal Bahari

Financial Services, 201-500 employees

Score 7 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Use for internal and external webcast broadcast.

Financial year end results

Training / Speech / Talks

Tech forum

Pros and Cons

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.

Likelihood to Recommend

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).

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

Saves time on travelling. For internal events, users need not go to the actual place to view the speech or training. That save time and added more productivity on the users to do their work and watch/listen the webcast at the same time. For external events, users can view from their home or work place if we have a full capacity registered turnout.

Read Faizal Bahari's full review

August 17, 2018

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "Overall Ustream is a solid easy-to-use streaming service"

Verified User

Project Manager in Marketing

Photography Company, 51-200 employees

Score 8 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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.

Pros and Cons

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.

Likelihood to Recommend

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.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

Provide educational content for major brand launches and social media marketing. Increased communication on and understanding of new products by our sales staff leading to higher stocking rates at dealers.

Read this authenticated review

November 20, 2017

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "Ustream is a blessing to the House of Worship market"

Kevin Ford

Director of Audio Visual

Grace Community ChurchReligious Institutions, 201-500 employees

Score 10 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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.

Pros and Cons

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.

Likelihood to Recommend

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.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

Ustream has stretched the influence of our organization out across the globe. While we already had an international influence, we re now able to maintain and even grow that influence via international broadcasts every week. We are also able to offer this features to outside clients that come to our campus and utilize our facilities. This flexibility is, honestly, expected in this day and age. Ustream helps achieve this quickly, efficiently, and as affordably as possible at our scale.

Read Kevin Ford's full review

November 13, 2017

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "24/7 IBM YMMD"

Cale J. Rogers

Digital Media Production Manager

Colorado State University - College of BusinessHigher Education, 1001-5000 employees

Score 10 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use IBM Video Ustream to provide 24/7 live streams of CTV Channel 11 video broadcasts and KCSU audio broadcasts. CTV also relies on Ustream on demand video features and storage to deliver show content and other videos to online audiences.

Pros and Cons

Ustream is easy to deploy and manage in 24/7 video streaming scenarios. The analytics module has been helpful to provide feedback to sales and marketing teams about the success of event campaigns. The live content works everywhere with no interruptions and we have received a lot of positive feedback from viewers about there hight quality of the video playback.
Offline playlists are a powerful and unique feature of the Ustream platform. When our headend is down, we love the fact that Ustream continues playback of programmed content to keep viewers engaged until while we work on returning service. This workflow also works well to support one-time live events such as pre-game shows.
Channel management is easy and offers a lot of powerful options. After the success of the 24/7 CTV live video broadcast, the station manager for KCSU wanted to set up a live video broadcast DJ channel. I was able to set up a new channel and configure a camera encoder in the booth in less than a day.
Live chat and social stream interactions are also a helpful feature. I have worked with our academic program managers to provide live feedback from online students during lesson events. Providing support for both broadcast and classroom needs speaks to the flexibility of the platform.

Ustream is simple to manage, but I would like to see improved user data management. It would be great to allow users to sign up for premium features (such as chat or other services) so we can get a better idea of who's watching. It would also be handy to manage analytics as "event data sets." For example, a live event would include a data set. Then when the event is used for on demand purposes, a separate data set would be created. This way, I can isolate data sets without concerns over deleting anything or including erroneous outliers.
Another feature I'd like to see is an option for adding "content resources" that can be included with the video player embed. This would help in situations where I want to deliver an audio version of the content, expand a description of the content (in the form of a simple paragraph or mini-blog entry), or just add additional files that users can download and print to use along with the video.
I would also like see poll and quizzing options. This would probably work best with a registration system to keep track of specific interaction. Interacting with the audience is key to building better viewing habits and understanding who's watching and why.

Likelihood to Recommend

IBM Cloud Video (including Ustream) is a highly versatile and easy to manage cloud video platform. It's well designed to support live event programs and 24/7 video broadcasting in a channel format. The platform is also a robust video-on-demand tool, especially in post-live situations. It's also well suited for multi-user environments in which some clients only require a handful of features and others need all the bells and whistles.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

In broadcasting, a reliable and high quality 24/7 video stream is essential. We have experienced zero downtime as a result of platform errors or complications. We also get a lot of great feedback from viewer about the high quality of live streams. In the next few years we are working on audience profile and engagement initiatives to improve how we plan and prioritize live event and series project resources. The flexibility and analytics capabilities of Ustream will be a critical backbone of these initiatives.

Read Cale J. Rogers's full review

November 20, 2017

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "You-stream, I-stream, we all love USTREAM!"

Chris McBride

Art Director/Project Manager/IT Manager

Westerfield Management, IncEntertainment, 11-50 employees

Score 10 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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).

Pros and Cons

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.

Likelihood to Recommend

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.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

We have attracted new clients over the 5 years we have broadcasted with Ustream - no commercials and being able to brand our stream has helped us look more attractive in the market compared to our competitors. People are thrilled to see their family/friends perform live, especially with the adaptive bit-rates and mobile video implementation - people have a great experience viewing our events.

Read Chris McBride's full review

November 17, 2017

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "Appreciate the present but looking forward to the future."

Michael Cunningham

Studio Engineer

TechniartsBroadcast Media, 11-50 employees

Score 10 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use IBM Cloud Video (UStream) as a reliable CDN to reach audiences globally. Our team streams content to the CDN and then embeds their custom player into webpages for delivery of our webcast programs.

Pros and Cons

The platform delivers high quality video and quickly transitions the resolution in cases where ABR may be needed.
We are pleased with the custom support available to us. We ask for functionality and the engineering team provides.
The ease of use of the interface on the IBM Cloud Video (UStream) website is great. I enjoy the simple approach they have taken.

Selectable multiple audio tracks.
More in depth metrics for analytics.
Selectable multi-language caption support.
Polling, and chat overlay ability. The current setup takes up space on a webpage and does not give you the option to overlay the chat and polling on the video.

Likelihood to Recommend

IBM Cloud Video (UStream) is very well suited to our needs as a CDN and player provider. We enjoy the quality of service, video and speed that is provided. Our unique case of needing to reach audiences world wide and scale the video seamlessly is what Ustream excels in. We are able to control what content goes where and who accesses it.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

We were among the very first and few to offer Live streaming Closed Captions. It is difficult to achieve with any degree of high accuracy. With Ustream's customized player we were able to achieve this.

Read Michael Cunningham's full review

November 13, 2017

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "A very good option in streaming service."

Eugenio Fajardo

Jefe de Proyectos de Cómputo

Universidad IberoamericanaEducation Management, 1001-5000 employees

Score 10 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

In Universidad Iberoamericana A.C. we use IBM Cloud Video for our conferences, some classes and some important events that must be streamed. Our experience using this system has been very good. The service is commonly used in our auditoriums and classrooms but we're looking to bring this service to mobile schemes. The easy use and excellent quality of video are the stronger points of the service.

Pros and Cons

Easy use.
Video quality.
Customization.

The ability to secure a specific published video with a password. Not all channels.

Likelihood to Recommend

I think that the scenarios where IBM Cloud Video is well suited are for example:

Medium / large or massive conferences.
Medium / large classes.
Important events that need performance and quality.

The scenarios where it is less appropriate:

Customized security for published videos that must be private.
Very small events, classes or conferences that don't have a lot of public [audiences].

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

Our university has achieved the purpose of giving easy and technological solutions to our community. We offer other channels of communication for our academic programs or conferences live. With the support of having this content for future access.

Read Eugenio Fajardo's full review

November 09, 2017

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "Looking for a high quality broadcast? Ustream works great!"

Bill Hetzel

President

MB4 ProductionsMedia Production, 11-50 employees

Score 8 out of 10

Vetted Review

Reseller

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I am using Ustream to provide high quality live streaming to world wide audiences from multiple locations across the globe. I have had trouble in the past (with other stream companies) with attendees viewing webcasts at different bandwidth rates. Obviously, if we're broadcasting in HD, but a viewer is capable of viewing in only 240p, problems will occur! Ustream's built-in multiple bit rates make my life easier, and our final product is much more effective.

Pros and Cons

Tech support.
Ease of use.
Multiple methods of streaming. you don't have to use just a single method. There are plenty of options for getting your content up and online.

Metrics. Ustream has good general metrics. But to get deep, very precise metrics is unavailable.
More control of Q&A and chat functions. Currently you can turn them on and off. But, there are no ways of configuring these to make them look exactly as you'd like. There are a couple templates, but it would be nice to have full control of the view in order that it fits perfectly into your theme.

Likelihood to Recommend

I think Ustream is great. I have had wonderful success with our products and the quality. As I stated earlier, we were required to build some custom code for in-depth metrics, and Q&A functionality. But, for high level video streaming, Ustream is perfect straight out of the box.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

We broadcast live interviews for multiple clients. This question really doesn't really apply to us, as we don't utilize Ustream for any of the examples. However, maybe I should look into it a bit more.

Read Bill Hetzel's full review

November 09, 2017

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "IBM Cloud Video as Convention Viewing/Library experience"

Jahan Shafizadeh

Senior Director - Head of Digital Product Management

Rodan + FieldsConsumer Goods, 201-500 employees

Score 9 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

It is being used as a video library and a live stream/chat platform to supplement our convention efforts. It is currently being used by our Field/Events department and Technology. This platform is for our field and customers. It is not for employee training. This platform solves how we share the viral R+F culture without having to be in person and makes that experience evergreen.

Pros and Cons

Uptime, load and performance robustness.
Fast development team and detailed understanding of business requirements/user needs.
Great user experience and digital product. Our customers loved it.

Not many. Some features had to be custom built. Some should have been native to the platform.

Likelihood to Recommend

Video streaming and video libraries. Great applications of the platform.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

We achieved the ability to deliver a high quality, highly usable, very robust convention experience for those that could not appear in person. They were able to chat with each other and feel like they were in person. We also sold the platform to our consultants and achieved our sales targets.

Read Jahan Shafizadeh's full review

November 08, 2017

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "IBM Cloud Video is great with a few exceptions for those looking for internal streaming."

William Miller

Systems Administrator

TechStyle Fashion GroupApparel & Fashion, 1001-5000 employees

Score 7 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use IBM Cloud Video for corporate town hall presentations and internal video streaming.

Pros and Cons

Multiple channel pages
Password protection
1080p streaming on mobile and desktop

eCDN is too expensive.
Allow file upload larger than 4GB. This is particularly applicable when I need to re-upload videos longer than 1 hour.

Likelihood to Recommend

uStream is great for live streams that need password protection. It's not so great for internal streams where lots of people are watching; eCDN would apply here but it's way too expensive. It's cheaper for us to burst bandwidth with our ISP once every 2 months than it is to set up eCDN.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

Greatly enhanced our townhall presentations. Executive management have been thrilled at the way our hip/trendy office gets presented to investors and remote offices. When you call yourself a "unicorn", it goes a long way to deliver crisp HD livestreams to everyone in the organization. Our global and remote US offices now get a multi-angle presentation in 1080p that is easily streamed with a simple password. The enterprise option is sexy as hell with the SSO and eCDN features, but ultimately is cost prohibitive.

Read William Miller's full review

November 08, 2017

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "Ustream - Reliability with normal price"

Tomek Turba

IT manager

Radio Opole S.A.Broadcast Media, 51-200 employees

Score 10 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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.

Pros and Cons

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.

Likelihood to Recommend

There isn't any scenario that IBM Cloud Video Manager cannot be used as a less appropriate [solution] in my opinion.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

We had increased employee productivity and trained them using new tools. We had increased the range to reach our listeners giving them new type of media (which is a normal use in modern broadcast company like radio).

Read Tomek Turba's full review

November 09, 2017

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "Streaming events live"

Christopher James

System Administrator

NYU University Relations and Public AffairsEducation Management, 10,001+ employees

Score 8 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

[It's] used as the platform to deliver our HawCam content; used to live-stream/record NYU DC events.

Pros and Cons

Easy to access recordings
Easy to publish recorded content
Ease of use in connecting outside platforms to receive streams
Ease of use of admin interface

Higher bandwidth recordings
Easier downloads--say over FTP
Increased viewing metrics

Likelihood to Recommend

[It] fits our situations nicely-- live streaming.

Read Christopher James's full review

November 09, 2017

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "IBM Cloud Video for Enterprise is Awesome!"

Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Computer Software Company, 5001-10,000 employees

Score 10 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use IBM Cloud video to bring the entire company together for all hands meetings, trainings and quarterly business updates. It is used by all business units within our company. On average we have 5-6 live stream a week with anywhere from 50 to 5000 active viewers. With the eCDN we are able to safely stream to all of our employees with sacrificing our ISP bandwidth.

Pros and Cons

Simplicity
Quality
Innovative

Backend User Management
Slow To Deliver Important Features

Likelihood to Recommend

IBM Cloud video is perfect for companies large or small. It allows an easy outlet for leaders to share their vision with employees. It's easy to get setup and even easier for the end user to use.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

We've used IBM cloud video to bring the entire company together to learn about our customers and how to better think like them. That in return has increased employee productivity and morale.

Read this authenticated review

November 08, 2017

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "Love this product"

Verified User

Team Lead in Information Technology

Internet Company, 1001-5000 employees

Score 10 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We have been using IBM Cloud Video to broadcast company meetings to all our locations across the globe. It has always worked flawlessly regardless of the location of the viewers, or the platform the view it on. The available metrics and tracking are super useful too. I can't recommend this product highly enough, to be honest.

Pros and Cons

SSO integration
Audio and Video Quality
Cross Platform compatibility

Sometimes the delay becomes an issue, but this is not unique to Ustream.
Service is somewhat expensive.
Is it Ustream or is it IBM Cloud Video? This can be a little confusing for some people.

Likelihood to Recommend

IBM Cloud Video really fit the bill for us on a secure channel where we could hold meetings with confidence that no unauthorized viewers were able to see the broadcast. The ability to upload videos and have data on who watched the video and the percentage of the video they watched is also awesome.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

We have been able to ensure that each employee is able to view company-wide meetings and broadcasts with certainty. We have also been able to point out to people who are remote that tend to complain about not being able to see the broadcast that we know exactly how much of the broadcast they actually watched, which has been hilarious because the never view the whole thing.

Read this authenticated review

November 09, 2017

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "IBM is awesome for internal broadcasts even a novice can get to an amazing standard with their platform"

Verified User

Technician in Information Technology

Broadcast Media Company, 10,001+ employees

Score 8 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use it for internal communication broadcasts, e.g. town halls etc.

Pros and Cons

Ease of use ; continually improving user platform
One easy upload when streaming rather than sending a multi-version up like some people have to, IBM has taken the hard work out of the streaming element leaving me to concentrate on the quality of the audio and video, the experience for the viewers and satisfaction.
Scott Grizzle is a legend. Also Jose Velenquez without both of whom, when we were first looking at IBM Cloud made it possible for us to trial before we bought this was instrumental in getting it signed off.

Get the UK support team set up ASAP, I know you are getting one set up but this should be done. What's already a big selling point for your competitors is tech support in GMT hours or local to the country of the account holders' territory.
You should be offering suggestions for redundancy of network. So offer an encoder that has let our 4g bundled to negate fears of upload issues for users.
Recommend suppliers for a kit not just recommended hardware. If I could I'd set up a training facility and travel around to your new customers and teach them how to stream.

Likelihood to Recommend

[It's] great for my internal broadcasts.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

I've tried to use it to increase the engagement factor of live events.

Read this authenticated review

April 10, 2017

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "IBM Cloud Video aka Ustream"

Colin Sandy

Consultant

Sandy Audio Visual LLCMedia Production, 1-10 employees

Score 10 out of 10

Vetted Review

Reseller

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

IBM Cloud Video (Ustream) has been a solid content delivery network and platform. Within our organization, we use IBM Cloud Video services to support our corporate and governmental clients to allow them an extremely reliable streaming platform. Because IBM Cloud Video is so stable and has the capacity to quickly scale to any size job, it is the ideal platform to be used by both large and small clients.

Pros and Cons

IBM Cloud Video has an extremely reliable platform.
The service scales well for larger clients.
The customer service support is outstanding.

Better closed captioning support
Detailed noticed on change of player functions and/or features

Likelihood to Recommend

IBM Cloud Video (including Ustream) is well suited for special events, product launches, speeches, conferences, seminars, concerts. It works well for most any live event. The IBM Cloud Video service is less appropriate in situations normal suited to real time teleconferencing and any services requiring to the millisecond bi or multidirectional communication.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

IBM Cloud Video helped us to land contracts and increase revenue.

Read Colin Sandy's full review

February 09, 2017

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "Ustream and eCDN"

Michael Coates

VP Technical Sales Strategy

N3Computer Software, 501-1000 employees

Score 9 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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.

Pros and Cons

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).

Likelihood to Recommend

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.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

Town hall meetings.

Read Michael Coates's full review

January 20, 2017

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "Industry Standard for Streaming"

Zachary Smith

Marketing and Advertising, 10,001+ employees

Score 9 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

My company is primarily using utilizing Ustream as our primary CDN for all our live webcasts. We stream content live from around the world and this platform works well (if not best) anywhere. The host side is extremely reliable and we are a huge fan at the multi bit rate streams that seem to work on any low-to-high bandwidth connection.

Pros and Cons

Multi Bitrate streaming is my favorite feature. Encoders can be configured to send RTMP at a variety of resolutions/bitrates to Ustream or send a single resolution stream and Ustream will handle all the heavy processing on their end. The end result is a great quality stream on low-bandwidth connections and high-bandwidth on any desktop or mobile device.
Multiple channels can be configured within the UI that can be accessed online through a Browser. This is a great way to keep your content organized.
Multiple user functionality and collaboration is built into the Pro level of Ustream and I recommend using this if you are working with a team or multiple managers and technicians.

Some of the online UI needs to be updated. When creating a high volume of channels, it becomes convoluted to navigate through all channels in the small sidebar. Long titles will run off the sidebar and be able to be unread.
No swapping out videos and keeping views.
Some of the Pro features should be free.

Likelihood to Recommend

Ustream is best for public facing content and content that will be shared with large audiences. There are limited features for customizing your content other than streaming and hosting the then streamed videos online for future playback. This makes particular use-cases for internal streaming and collaboration impossible to achieve until more features are added.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

Our business has had a long history of successful live streams to the web watched by millions worldwide; chances are you've watched one! Successful streams have been broadcast from Europe, America, Australia, Asia, South America, and in multiple languages. Whenever there is any issue, there is great customer support available by phone and Ustream will make arrangements to have technician on stand-by for particularly large events. We will continue to use the platform for all future web streams.

Read Zachary Smith's full review

January 11, 2017

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "Ustream.com for Live Streaming."

Eric Nisly

Academic Technologies Consultant

University of Notre DameHigher Education, 5001-10,000 employees

Score 7 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Ustream.com for the live streaming of events at the University of Notre Dame. We use the product on campus to stream academic events to national and international viewers who are interested in being part of special presentations in near real time. We use Ustream because of its ease of use with the way you are able to set up multiple channels and always use the same encoder settings to go live.

Pros and Cons

It makes live streaming a little bit easier.
Channel settings with the same that always use the same URL and stream key.
It is very useful to be able to set up other users to be channel moderators.
If you are having a problem with your live stream you are able to get technical support on the phone quickly.

The cost is higher than some of the direct competitor services.

Likelihood to Recommend

If you want to use a hardware encoder and be able to just turn it on and off to go live, using Ustream makes this very easy. This is extra helpful if you have a need for multiple channels with separate embed codes.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

We are able to share with the world presentations, symposiums, and special events including graduation with the use of Ustream. This helps us to bring people from around the world to our events.

Read Eric Nisly's full review

March 28, 2017

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "5 Years and Still Satisfied with this Product!"

Melody Barker

Director of Operations

Maximum Performance InternationalNon-Profit Organization Management, 11-50 employees

Score 10 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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.

Pros and Cons

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.

Likelihood to Recommend

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.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

We use this product to broadcast to our partners around the world. I love that we can see what countries are watching, how many viewers, etc. It increases our connection and participation with those who could not come to Houston, TX for the event we are broadcasting. It makes it possible to do what we do on a small scale and take it around the world.

Read Melody Barker's full review

March 28, 2017

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Review: "UStream in the Enterprise"

Geof Newton

Sr. Technical Specialist

Infor GlobalComputer Software, 10,001+ employees

Score 9 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

[It's] primarily used for streaming large corporate events to customers, the public and for internal event broadcasts. It's also used by a few departments for delivery of pre-recorded VoD content.

Pros and Cons

Easy integration with existing encoders like Wowza
Simple, adaptive player
Simple to publish to a large audience

Hard to secure videos.
Channel-based architecture and cost structure make it difficult to implement corporate-wide; limited ability to create customized channels for each department without incurring significant cost.
Lacking webinar-type features like integrated desktop sharing and input from SIP and H.323 endpoints.

Likelihood to Recommend

Very good for large, public (or semi-private) broadcasts. Easily implemented from off-site locations like conference centers with limited bandwidth demand (~2Mbps for 1080p). Not so good for webinars or anything that demands some interactivity from the audience.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

Extend event reach to customers, partners and prospects who wouldn't have been able to attend.

Read Geof Newton's full review

Video Marketing

Lead generation (10)

6.9

Video personalization (19)

7.6

eCommerce (9)

6.1

Support for advertisements (4)

6.5

Video SEO (10)

7.5

Integration to Marketing Automation (7)

6.2

Video Platform Integrations

Integration to Salesforce.com (2)

6.4

Integration to LMS (2)

8.4

Video Security

Video access controls (29)

7.2

User management (26)

7.8

Video link sharing (31)

8.4

Internal video (27)

7.5

External video (28)

8.3

Video Player

Player customization (29)

6.8

Embedded videos (28)

8.0

Video quality / Bandwidth controls (31)

8.2

Mobile compatibility (30)

8.2

Video Analytics

A/B testing (12)

5.9

Streaming quality reports (21)

6.3

Per viewer tracking (25)

6.5

Per video tracking (24)

6.7

Video analytics dashboard (26)

7.0

Video Hosting, Management & Storage

On-Demand video (25)

8.0

Live streaming (31)

8.7

Impact of streaming on network (25)

7.8

Video upload & format support (25)

7.4

Video library / File management (27)

7.1

Video portal (21)

6.3

Video Engagement

Audience polling (10)

7.1

Audience Q&A / Live chat (16)

7.2

Video comments (14)

7.0

About IBM Watson Media Video Streaming

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming (formerly IBM Cloud Video) provides an enterprise video platform for creating, storing, managing, broadcasting and measuring the impact of live and recorded streaming video.

There are two enterprise editions:

IBM Enterprise Video Streaming (primarily used for internal corporate communications)
IBM Video Streaming (external events and monetized video streaming)

Both enterprise editions include storage, event support, custom branding, content management, multi-user accounts, and real-time analytics. Both are powered by IBM Watson AI for automatic speech to text conversion and closed captioning.

IBM Enterprise Video Streaming is an internal video solution that secures video assets for employee use (typically access via single sign-on/corporate directories). Individual viewer tracking measures engagement on a per video or viewer basis. This solution is often used in conjunction with IBM's Enterprise Content Delivery Network (ECDN) offering which does stream splitting and edge caching to help protect the corporate network from the strain of video going across the network.

IBM Video Streaming, an external video solution with optional monetization option, powers video streaming for large external audiences. It offers scalability for massive viewership using the SD-CDN, a software defined content delivery network built with QoS (Quality of Service) in mind to reliably deliver video.

Categories:

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Features

Video Marketing Features

Lead generation

Video personalization

Audience for distribution

eCommerce

Support for advertisements

Video SEO

Integration to Marketing Automation

Video Platform Integrations Features

Integration to Salesforce.com

Integration to Marketo

Integration to HubSpot

Integration to Eloqua

Integration to LMS

Video Security Features

Video access controls

User management

SSO support

Password protection

Video link sharing

Embed restrictions

Internal video

External video

Video Player Features

Player customization

Embedded videos

Video quality / Bandwidth controls

Mobile compatibility

Video Analytics Features

A/B testing

Streaming quality reports

Per viewer tracking

Per video tracking

Video analytics dashboard

Video Hosting, Management & Storage Features

On-Demand video

Live streaming

Impact of streaming on network

Video upload & format support

Video library / File management

Video portal

Video downloads

Video editing

High definition support

Closed captioning / Transcription

Video Engagement Features

Audience polling

Audience Q&A / Live chat

Video comments

Additional Features

Scalability

Enterprise Security

Quality of Service

Integrated Content Management

Multi-CDN Delivery via SD-CDN

Cloud-based Transcoding

Social Sharing with Facebook and Twitter Integration

Integrated Chat

Live Analytics Dashboard

Auto-Recording

Custom Branding

Lead Capture

Live Playlists

Support for Professional Encoding/Production Gear

Enterprise Support Plans

Managed Event and Production Services

Enterprise Content Delivery Network (eCDN)

Show unsupported features

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Integrations

SDKs and APIs are available.

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Competitors

Kaltura, Ooyala, Vidyard, Akamai, Brightcove, Microsoft StreamInsight, Livestream, Qumu, Ramp, vBrick, Kontiki, Onstream, DaCast, Wowza

Pricing

Free Trial Available?Yes

Free or Freemium Version Available?Yes

Premium Consulting/Integration Services Available?Yes

Entry-level set up fee?No

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Customer Size Distribution

Consumers		0%
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)		15%
Mid-Size Companies (51-500 employees)		50%
Enterprises (> 500 employees)		35%

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Support Options

	Free Version	Paid Version
Phone
Live Chat
Email
Forum/Community
FAQ/Knowledgebase
Social Media
Video Tutorials / Webinar
Managed Event Support
Production Services

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Technical Details

Deployment Types:	SaaS
Operating Systems:	Unspecified
Mobile Application:	Apple iOS, Android, Mobile Web

Ratings (1-25 of 44)

Reviews (1-25 of 61)

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Scorecard Summary

Feature Scorecard Summary

About IBM Watson Media Video Streaming

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Features

Additional Features

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Integrations

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Competitors

Pricing

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Customer Size Distribution

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Support Options

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming Technical Details