Are you an outdoor enthusiast? Do you find yourself throwing on your hiking boots any time you get the chance? Wouldn’t it be great if you could document these outdoor adventures to show to your friends and family? Well, thanks to advances in technology it is now easier than ever to not only record those wonderful memories, but also to share them with friends and family.
In this guide, we’ll show you how you can begin to record and stream your outdoor adventures, even if you wouldn’t call yourself technologically savvy.
What Do I Need to Get Started With Streaming My Outdoor Adventures?
If you are looking to stream your outdoor activities, you are first going to need a rugged video camera. Depending on your outdoor activity of choice, your camera may need to be waterproof and also able to hold up to the normal stresses of being outdoors. Below are a few models that are popular among outdoor enthusiasts:
- GoPro Waterproof Cameras – The GoPro line of video cameras are probably the most popular line of cameras on the market. They’re so popular that there are a wide variety of accessories such as helmet mounts, bike mounts and drone mounts that allow you to use your GoPro video camera almost anywhere. While these are one of best selling rugged video cameras on the market, they are definitely not the only brand available.
- Olympus Tough TG-3 – Another option when it comes to a waterproof rugged video camera is the Olympus Tough TG-3. This model is waterproof down to 50 feet and offers quick focus and accepts a variety of filters and lens accessories. This model is relatively inexpensive and should be at the top of the list if you are looking for a rugged video camera to document your adventures.
- Nikon Coolpix AW120 – Nikon has obviously been on the camera scene for decades. The Coolpix is one of their compact point and shoot lines that has evolved over time. The Coolpix AW120 offers a large OLED display, is waterproof up to 59 feet and has fully integrated Wi-Fi and GPS. This model is also on the low side when it comes to price so this is a great option for someone who is looking to purchase a waterproof video camera without spending a large amount of money.
Choosing a Live Streaming Provider
Now that you have your video camera that is capable of documenting all of your adventures, it’s time to figure out how you are going to share your content with other enthusiasts. This may seem complicated if you are not technologically savvy, but it really shouldn’t be hard to grasp.
The first step in choosing a streaming provider is determining how your users will be accessing your content. There are a variety of free streaming providers that will gladly host your content, but many of these have limitations, which are not necessarily clear when you first sign up. TikiLIVE is a full service streaming provider that gives you much more flexibility when it comes to distributing your content. Some of the features that you will automatically receive with an account from TikiLIVE include:
- Mobile Capabilities – You may not know this right now, but we can tell you that a large portion of your viewers will be accessing your content from mobile devices. Whether your users are viewing your content from a smartphone, tablet, computer or IPTV device, it’s incredibly important that your presentation is top-notch. TikiLIVE offers full HTML5 support, which for those that aren’t super technical, just means that your content will be viewable across all types of devices including smartphones, tablets, TVs and computers. With TikiLIVE, your content will be tailored to whatever type of device your viewers are using to ensure a seamless user experience.
- Vast Content Delivery Network – A content delivery network or CDN is a network of servers distributed around the world to allow your content to be delivered efficiently based on your user’s geographical location. With servers all over the world, TikiLIVE ensures that your content always streams efficiently, which helps to improve the viewing experience for your users. This also reduces the amount of buffering and latency that your users will be exposed to compared to free video streaming providers that often don’t have the same level of service. Internet users are incredibly impatient and will quickly look elsewhere for content if your videos are extremely slow.
- Advertising Options – If you use a free provider such as YouTube, your videos will likely be littered with advertisements, which can detract from the user experience. At TikiLIVE, we give you full control over whether or not you’d like to include advertisements in your videos. You can even choose to use ads as a form of monetization based on the popularity of your videos.
- Branding Options – Let’s just say that your outdoor adventures really take off and you develop an online following. With TikiLIVE you can completely brand your streaming channels for those viewing your content online as well as those that are accessing your content from their TVs.
- IPTV Capabilities – Another benefit of TikiLIVE is the ability to create your very own IPTV network that can be streamed to your users’ living rooms. Whether your users access your content from their Roku devices or one of our white-label set top boxes, you can ensure that your viewers are able to access your content regardless of their viewing method.
- Live and On Demand Streaming – Sure, you likely want to be able to live stream your outdoor adventures, but what if your viewers want to access your content after it has been recorded? TikiLIVE offers a wide variety of on demand options that not only allow you to stream your content after it’s been recorded, but to even earn money from it as well! It’s hard to argue with anything that puts a little extra money in your pocket!
Ready to Learn More About TikiLIVE?
We hope that we’ve done an adequate job of introducing you to the huge feature set of the TikiLIVE platform. If you have any questions about signing up or how to actually stream your content to your TikiLIVE channel, don’t hesitate to give our customer service experts a call today at 305-743-6722.
