LiveU Pro's and Con's

detroitsprings

Active member
I did some reading of other threads, but as we look into purchasing a LiveU what has your Pro's and Con's been? What is the situation where it was the best thing to have and when would it just not work?

Thinking about putting it in a Escape, for Traffic/Storm Chasing. Would antennas atop of the truck help for better coverage? is their a way to hook them up? We just got a demo today, and have not had time yet to fully play with it.

Any feedback would be great. Good and bad.
 

SPIDER1

Member
Pros:

It allows you to get close to the situation for more demonstrative live shots, where otherwise you might be restricted to a typical stand-up live shot from across the street. For example, I used a LiveU at a fatal train ax, where we could be right next to the train, my reporter could point out the white sheet where the body was and turn and point in the other direction to show where the train had finally come to a stop down the tracks. Without the LiveU, we would have been across the street in a spot with no view of the body or the front of the train. Basically, breaking news with little to show. They are also good for getting live shots in locations where your truck just can't get a signal out.

Cons:

Since it is essentially a giant cell phone, the signal may break-up and freeze. I recently tried to use it in "farm country" where cell signals aren't as strong as they are in the city, so feeding back video and doing a live shot was an impossibility. It is also sort of heavy, and wearing it while also holding a camera on your shoulder can put some pain in your back. Also, I question the safety of strapping a large cell phone to my body, considering some people have developed brain tumors from cell phones. I just hope I'm not one of those unfortunate people who are vulnerable to cell phones. Also, as you may expect, video and sound quality isn't anywhere near as good as a real live shot, and there is a few seconds of delay.

When we first got the LiveU's, many live shots were ruined, but after some software upgrades, they usually work most of the time.

Overall, I like them, as they can be a useful tool in the right situations. They will never replace the quality of a live truck. And I would rather use the live truck if I can.
 

code20photog

Well-known member
We have 2, and at first, a lot of the photographers hated it. Now, we're fighting over who gets it when there are multiple stories that could utilize it.

Pros: We can get live just about anywhere. We're in large metro area where cell service is hardly ever a problem and the dozen or so times I've used ours, we haven't had a single problem. It really gives you a tool to do things that were simply impossible a few years ago. We've done a lot of live shots while driving in cars, walking along with protest marches, inside buildings, things like that. And, it gives us the ability to have a live presence in places like downtown, where the tall buildings block any sort of microwave signal.

Cons: First and foremost, the backpack is heavy if you going to use it on your back. We've upgraded our software and are using full size XD cams with it now, and it feels like a ton of bricks after about 10 minutes. There's also the issue of the delay, ours was around 5 seconds, but with the software upgrade we've gotten that down to like 2 seconds, very similar to a satellite shot. And the quality of the picture isn't *great* but it's getting better.

One of the bigger issues that has nothing to do with the hardware itself, is that at least for us, the producers are beginning to push for more and more live shots from places or events that we could have never done before. It's a fine line, but they're beginning to expect things that just a year or so ago were impossible. All I'll say, they tend to forget what some of the things they ask entail from us, logistically, and physically. Walking along with a protest march is great, but when you get to the end, and you're 2 miles from where you parked and have to walk back, they don't think about things like that.

But, all things said, I love ours.
 

wtv

Well-known member
Heard the other day that if there are lots of cell phones being used in the same area they have big problems with signal breakup.
 

photoguy603

Well-known member
My station as 3 or 4 of these. I HATE them honestly. I work in a lot of rural areas and in my exp. if you don't have an excellent signal forget getting a decent shot. I've also had problems being inside buildings etc. You also have to remember that live-u gets no special treatment with cell signals so if you in a mob type area with heavy cell traffic that will also effect your shot. And finally maybe because I work with it but I can tell right a way on tv when its a liveshot with live-u vs. truck...there is a delay 2-7 second depending on version and the picture quality looks like skype...if that good.

I don't mind the weight of the unit and as they come out with updated models it seems to be getting better. But I still feel like it has a long way to go...
 

photoguy603

Well-known member
@wtv...yup your right...and quality drops fast...you have no special treatment over the 16 year old next to you playing words with friends....
 

svp

Well-known member
detroitsprings,

I'd personally recommend the Teradek Bond instead. Smaller, lightweight, mounts on the camera, and streams a great looking HD shot. Station used it to do a LIVE shot Friday night in a lightning storm and it looked great. You can tweak the settings to get the stream down to only a 3 second delay as well.
 

eb

Well-known member
@wtv...yup your right...and quality drops fast...you have no special treatment over the 16 year old next to you playing words with friends....
And don't forget... at that big...huge story - you know...where everyone is at - as well as law enforcement, fire, government....

The government can commandier the available bandwidth I believe... Not sure the technical details, but I believe I understand this correctly.

This leaves your 4G solution..useless I believe.

Also...I don't like the delay. It does take about 10 minutes to get up and running. The interface touch screen is a bit -non committal (not a technical term.) It's best for use in the day time - unless you carry a generator for lights.

Having said all that...I just used it last night...a mountain rescue - in a location where microwave would not work - and nobody else had the story on their news - so there.
 

photog1199

Well-known member
We have 3 Live U's. We use them on a daily basis. We hook them up to a dash cam for driving live shots for WX coverage. We have gotten pretty good at working with the long delay for live shots. We go max quality on the video output and the producers have been very good with the cues. We used them to cover the Bonaroo Music Festival last year. It's something that was difficult to say the least before because of where the trucks had to park and where the action is. That being said the things are heavy and when you are walking around with one on your back for an hour in 90-95 degree heat it can get old fast.
 

svp

Well-known member
Here's the KDAF HD aircheck from Friday May 4, 2012 where they used the Teradek Bond to do a weather LIVE shot in lightning. Shot with an EX3.

 

svp

Well-known member
No photog at KDAF is asked to do anything they is unsafe. Stood out in lighting last night streaming a LIVE shot and, while some see it as dangerous, it was my call and didn't have to do it if I didn't want to. Not all jobs are safe and my feeling is if you want to be a good photojournalist and get the shots, sometimes it requires putting yourself in harms way.

Last week, I was there to witness cops swarming a stolen U-Haul involved in a hit and run. I was 20 yards behind the officer shooting over her shoulder as she had her gun drawn on the driver. If he had pulled a gun to shoot, I was directly in the line of fire. I knew it but held the shot. To me, it was worth it. Nobody else had it.
 

svp

Well-known member
Same goes for storm chasing. I get as close as possible to tornadoes. Once on the ground, I try to position myself so it passes within 1/4 mile of me. If it doesn't hold it's track, and turns, I know I could get rolled but it's a chance I'm willing to take to get the shot when possible.
 

LiveU

Member
A few answers from LiveU

Hi Everyone,

We've been following this thread with interest and hope to answer a few of the questions posed.

DetroitSprings: having antennas on top of a specially outfitted truck can indeed help connectivity, as we have shown at NAB 2012 with the WUSA9 truck and our latest model, the LU70.

One of our biggest investments in technology is to provide coverage in areas that are typically lacking in coverage, while on the other hand, to provide reliable service when there is a huge amount of people in the same area (superbowl etc.). We have done this via cutting edge algorithms on the software side and improved proprietary antenna arrays on the hardware end.

Heavy? true, weighing in at around 5Kg without additional batteries, cables etc, that can add up. Multiple cellular modems (8+), Intel's latest CPU, a specialized antenna array, a large touchscreen and a strong enough battery to power all this for over 1.5 hours, simply won't fit into a box of chocolates. We are however working on miniturization, as can be seen in our first small form-factor product, the LU40 (under 800gr).

For anyone worried about radiation, believe it or not, independent tests by leading authorities in this area show that our SAR values are actually less than when talking on an iPhone 4. Naturally our products are fully compliant with the FCC and CE.

At the end of the day, LiveU as well as some other companies in this space all use cellular technology. When conditions are perfect, you'll get great results - even with a single-SIM modem or an iPhone. The true test, and where we believe that LiveU rises above other solutions, is where conditions are less than ideal - where there is congestion, fluctuating network connectivity etc. Practically all of our many clients worldwide selected LiveU after testing other solutions in parallel, and we believe this says something about us.

Hope this helps,
LiveU
 
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f11vid

PRO user
We used one for NATO protests in downtown Chicago Friday. It worked very well. We timed our delay with a hand clap...eight seconds.
 

2gigch1

Well-known member
A LiveU is another nice tool in the toolbag, not the answer to everything. When the Discovery was flown around downtown DC last month I watched our LiveU shot slowly degrade over time until they could not use it anymore - locals were coming out and getting on their cell phones down on the Mall.

I used one last night in a spot where my microwave truck couldn't get a shot out. The signal on the LiveU was also unusable until I tossed it on the roof of the truck to improve reception.

Some members of our staff are beginning to act like the answer to every question is LiveU. Hell, since I can't hook my computer directly to it to feed edited materiel I find it very limiting.
 

svp

Well-known member
Had a situation here where four stations showed up to cover a court case and all brought LiveU's or Teradeks for live shots. Needless to say, all the stations had to send up Sat trucks or have the crews drive back to the stations to front the pkgs. Needless to say, LiveU and Teradek are great tools IF you're the only one there using it. If two or more stations show up with them, GAME OVER!
 
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