Hi everybody,


Here's hoping that everyone is finding a "new normal" in life as we hunker down for, well, who knows how long?

I am interested in tapping the brains of our community on the subject of the best way to continue to entertain our nursing home, retirement communities, etc. residents despite not being allowed into their buildings.

Some clients have indicated they'd be receptive to the idea, as long as the tech side of things could be worked out.

I know we can purchase a reasonably nice camera (or two) and record ourselves playing 15-30 minutes sets of music pretty easily.

The part I'm struggling with is how do we deliver our music in a format that would work with the wide variety of television and audio equipment these places have?

Some have smart TVs, which to me, should be able to access someone's Facebook account in a living room/dining room area at a facility and drop into a live feed of a short performance. But, many don't.

In an ideal scenario, the facility would have 1 or more in-house closed-circuit "channels" that could likewise access the live feed and deliver the performances directly to each resident's rooms. To watch it, the resident would merely need to turn on that channel.

But, very few places I play have that capacity.

Emailing the video and or audio file could work, but the download times would be long and I suspect these places would have security filters that may block the downloading of a file of this type.

Burning them to a DVD and mailing or dropping them off could work IF they had (as most do) something to play them on.

You get the idea...

I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on what they think would be an effective solution.

Thanks in advance, gang...

Stay well,

Bill

My two cents on the subject:

The main reason for the cancellations is to limit larger gatherings. If we provide a Cyber viewing experience, this will most likely be shown to a gathering of people.
I think the prudent thing is just wait it out.
I’m affected too - my restaurant gigs have been cancelled and I have no income for at least 2 weeks. This is part of the risks of being an independent contractor.
If we set a precedent of remote viewing, it will most likely lead to a diminished need for live shows.
As it is, these facilities can easily show movies, and YouTube videos to the residents for free.
I respectfully suggest that we do not offer this service as a paid alternative to our live performances. I see too many down sides, with the largest being copyright issues.

We’re all scrambling to make ends meet, and getting creative is a great way to think, but I’d like to go on record as saying that this streaming idea is not in our best interests for the long term.

Just one man’s opinion.
Be safe everyone.

http://www.synthzone.com/forum/ubbthread...ted_#Post491942


http://www.synthzone.com/forum/ubbthread...cian#Post492032

and what Dave said ...stay home and stay safe...

Most residents are locked down, in their rooms. It would be hard to present to them, as they are isolated and not allowed to congregate in a 'group' setting.

+1 spot on Zuki....
just have to wait it out and it ain't gonna be soon sadly.

That's what we're finding here too, zuki. I like Bill's idea but I'm agreeing with Dave.

Zuki exactly why take the chance?

Bill,
I think we should think about my experience with all of this. About 2 years ago I was playing on a regular basis at a very high end Independent living place. They videoed all of my performances. Well, it cost me my job there because now they play the videos instead of hiring me. I heard later it happened to many of the entertainers there.

Food for thought!

Deane

Did you give them the license to play the recordings of your music like that? You needn‘t tolerate that...

Hi Bill

Wondering if you've made any kind of progress on your streaming idea. I've contacted a few places so far and need more info on the best way to stream including equipment. Have been bogged down with other stuff though at the moment. Need to see if this is going to be feasible or if I should just forget it.

My original idea was to use Skype with an android tablet or cell phone but don't know how the quality will be using the built in mic and camera.

Scott

Scott, I seriously doubt the quality of Skype or an Android Tablet will be to the level you would prefer. You would need a relatively high quality video camera with direct and controllable inputs for the audio to get the kind of results you could post on You Tube.

Gary

Hey guys, thanks for the responses...

There's seems to be no "one size fits all" remedy for the situation many of us find ourselves in right now.

I looked into buying a couple of nice cameras and a switcher and then trying to stream my performance but the learning curve for me with this kind of equipment and on the client end of things the "soup to nuts" world of a broad variety of tv's and technology kills that idea for me.

I struggle with learning the new gear and the whole idea just isn't going to work.

Many residents have smartphones and are familiar with Facebook. I may keep this is as simple as possible and Facebook live some performances for whoever wants to find me on FB.

Stay safe!

Hey good luck. Post links to your Facebook live performances. I sure would like to see them!

Same here ...
Good luck, Bill

Hey Scott - Sorry for the delay in responding.

Per my other just posted comment on this thread, my original idea just seems undoable for me right now. If I was a wiz with cameras and editing video, that would only get me halfway home because so many different facilities have different and sometimes really old equipment which may not even be compatible. Further complicating things is the need for someone (but not us) inside the facility to connect everything so people could watch it and unless they have in-house broadcasting capability, that's ANOTHER hurdle to jump.

As I said, I'm going to keep this as simple as I can and facebook live myself and invite anyone who wants to drop in and enjoy it.

I think that's the easiest that I can come up with for everybody. Not worried about getting paid so much. I feel very badly for these residents - and several clients have reached out communicating that I'm missed and the residents are restless and more anxious than usual.

Florida has more than three times the cases we do here in Ohio, so I can't imagine how rough it is down there.

Stay safe, bud!

Thanks, Paul...

Thanks, Tony!