ninemsn Use TriCaster 455 for “A day in the life of a guide dog” Live Stream

September 10, 2012

In a world first, ninemsn viewers were able to see life from a guide dog’s perspective, via a live stream as she guided her blind owner around Sydney.

The four-hour live stream followed owner, Sarah Hirst and Guide Dog, Ally as they went about their day – travelling from Macquarie University into the city - where Ally’s skills helped Sarah navigate busy footpaths, crowds and road crossings as well as guiding her on trains, buses and ferries.

Their journey took them from Macquarie Shopping Centre in North Ryde to the Future Vets Kids Camp in Waverley, by foot, bus, train, taxi and ferry. Along the way they stopped at Macquarie University, Chatswood Shopping Centre, Milsons Point and Circular Quay.

Viewers of the stream saw almost exactly what Ally the guide dog saw, broadcast via an iPhone attached to her harness. The live footage was taken on the iPhone and streamed live to ninemsn’s website using a NewTek TriCaster 455.

Ms Hirst, who has been legally blind since birth due to a genetic condition, was paired up with Ally five years ago through Guide Dogs NSW/ACT. "What's fantastic about the live stream is it gives the public an opportunity to see the what a guide dog is actually doing," Ms Hirst said.

ninemsn’s Managing Director Alex Parsons says, “This is a fantastic chance to show our audience how important guide dogs are. We anticipate people will be really intrigued by this unique opportunity to see things from the perspective of a dog who is entrusted with a huge responsibility every day.”

"What's fantastic about the live stream is it gives the public an opportunity to see what a guide dog is actually doing."
Sarah Hirst, Guide Dog Owner

The NewTek TriCaster 455 was ideal for this project as it’s a cost effective, integrated solution that enables up to 4-cameras and 14-channels to stream live in HD. Other advantages where that the TriCaster 455 is compact, portable and can be quickly set up to provide a complete live production environment.

The TriCaster can receive iPhone/iPod/iPad/Mac via Airplay or any PC connected to the same network, The TriCaster can also record output internally as well as sending out SDI, HDMI and streaming for the web and mobile devices all simultaneously. This diagram above shows the full range of functionality and input/out puts available with the TriCaster 455

View some of the footage from the Live Stream