MiriStream and LiveCamNetwork are able to delivery spectacular quality, high definition video across the Internet to end users, but it is only as good as its source. Things like your computer's speed, USB Camera or Video Camera + Capture device, Internet connection speed etc can all have adverse effects on your video quality. Here some examples:

Good Quality Video
Here is an example of perfect image quality. This kind of image is easy to broadcast when your computer is one of the more recent PC or Mac, with a good Webcam or camcorder. Your customers will see sharp, detailed images at full 30 frapes per second, without any "lossy" compression artifacts, blurring or drop outs. Expect to make lots of sales.

A fast "clean" Internet connection of at least 200 Kilobits per second upstream is required, and your computer must be free from any power robbing programs such as file sharing programs, spyware, viruses, etc.

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Jagged Video, or video containing compression artifacts such as large pixels or blocks.
This is a good example of what happens when your computer is running slower. You may have a very good camera (and capture card even), but your computer's CPU cannot compress the image fast enough to transmit the full detail of the picture. Expect to make good sales, with the occaisonal customer comment that your video quality is poor.

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Blurry Video, or video with slow frame rate or slow update rate
In this the image is blurry when the subject moves. This is usually because the camera's shutter speed is too slow. If you are using a webcam, adding more light may help as the auto settings in the webcam will increase the shutter speed to compensate for the extra light.

You may also consider buying a better camera or Camcorder & Capture card. Camcorders have a much wider lens, larger capture sensor, and better electronics. A capture card will off-load the work that your CPU normaly would do to its own internal graphics processor. A Camcorder and capture card will provide much better image detail.

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Grainy Video and Bad color
Many USB cameras the use a built-in "Light Amplifier", which is supposed to brighten dark images. This works, but also introduce alot of "video noise", which you see as random, moving dots all over the image. MiriStream has to work much harder in this situation to compress the image, resulting in bad quality once delivered over the web.

Older USB Cameras have extremely poor color reproduction. As you can see in this picture, these types of cameras tend to make skin tones as well as the overall picture very GREEN.

To fix this, use more light, and try different white balance settings if your camera's software is so equiped. If you are able to set a manual white balance, follow your camera's instructions to do so. Otherwise, try auto white balance, and improve the lighting where possible.

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