New micro-release of ePresence and some free tools
I’m happy to report that ePresence 6 has been a big success. Most of our users have upgraded and the feedback is overwhelmingly positive. There are some quantitative measures such as tech support request ratio and usage stats that also suggest that ePresence 6 demonstrates improvements in both usability and reliability.
ePresence Uploader
Because of the improvements we’ve made to the reliability of streaming, recording, and publishing in ePresence, our team has had a chance to start development on some useful tools and secondary features that many of our customers have requested in the past.
Now in Beta: ePresence Uploader
This application allows you to publish any FLV or MP4 (H.264) video to your ePresence site. It is currently in beta, free for everyone with an ePresence server or hosting subscription, and is available for download here. The publishing process is very straight-forward: select the video file, give it the title, specify the layout and folder and click Publish. Easy!
New to ePresence 6: PPT upload to Producer
Since version 6, our post-production tool, ePresence Producer, has been moved online and now works as an ePresence Server extension in the admin area of the site. In the latest micro-release of our Server software, we have added the ability to upload PowerPoint files directly to ePresence Producer. Along with the new Uploader application, this allows you to manually create rich media presentations with your own video synchronized with any PowerPoint presentation.
Of course, ePresence Capture provides the easiest way to make online rich media presentations, but with the combination of Uploader and Producer, it’s now possible to create presentations from scratch, using any video you may have. This feature is now available free for all customers on ePresence 6.0 with current support coverage.
Sneak Peak: ePresence Exporter
This application will allow you to convert rich media presentations to flat MP4 videos. This opens up a number of new options for content distribution, such as:
- Upload your presentation to 3rd party video sites such as YouTube.
- Create RSS (podcast) feeds
- Create DVDs
- Play your presentations back on mobile devices, such as the iPhone
This is still in the very early stages of development, but if you own an ePresence Capture Station, and are interested in this feature, let us know, and we will be sure to include you once the development reaches beta. We plan on releasing this application free to all of our customers.
I hope you’re as excited as we are about the current and upcoming developments!
Peter Wolf