Beyond3D Podcast

[Rys]

As part of the push to have Beyond3D publishing semi-regularly again, I think I'd like to attempt a podcast. Listening to, and recently being on, The Tech Report podcast has given me the confidence to have a go. More importantly, I believe that there's enough happening out there across the world of accelerated 3D to have a decent length (30+ mins) show happen every couple of weeks or so.

So what I'd like to get an idea of is whether there's a viable body of folks that'd listen to me and guests talk about happenings in the GPU and related worlds, and whether it's best that it's on a semi-regular schedule or whether just as and when is OK.

I know from my own consumption of podcasts that I like regular programming more than not, but that's difficult to commit to as a spare time pursuit.

I'd also like to find out if any of you would like to help produce it and/or be on it. As much as I love the sound of my own voice, I'm not sure a show with me only is the right way to do it. More of a talk show format would be best I think. Would anyone else want to get involved? Would you like to see shows talking about graphics with other site people like Carsten, David Kanter, the Ryans, Scott, etc? I might be able to convince them to join me from time-to-time as special guests.

I've also talked about a cool mini episodic sub series with someone else recently, which I think could be the backbone of something to get us started with. More details on that when we've worked out a plan for programmes and how long it'd run for, but I think it'd be really cool.

Anyway. B3D podcast: yay or nay (nay very much fine to say!). As much feedback positive or negative as possible please. Even, "Jesus wept, Rys, nobody will be able to understand your weird Scottish accent. Stop it".

 

[Billy Idol]

Yay!

 

[iroboto]

Yay!

 

[tabs]

...and thrice Yay!

On the point of how regular it is. I listen to several podcasts and some weeks they really don't have much to talk about or have been too busy to plan it out properly, yet they drag out a full show anyway.

I would much prefer higher quality casts that were less frequent.

 

[orangpelupa]

yay but how to make the podcast easier to understand? podcast is internet radio but in digital file right?

the topic in B3D is often visual centric

or if podcast is also video, how to take that advantage to better convey the discussion.

 

[Rodéric]

Yay.
Can we get a transcript after the fact ?
Reading is much faster than listening to...

 

[London Geezer]

Finally we'll get those console wars podcasts we've all been waiting for.

 

[Arwin]

Yay! And I am (almost) always ready to be on it as well. As my tech level is a little low end spec, I can probably be the one to ask 'what is that?' at appropriate moments ...

 

[Squilliam]

I would definitely give it a listen. It would help me put a funny Scottish voice on everything you write, so some extra flavour wouldn't hurt. Maybe you could interview some of your fellow imagination workers. Ask them things like what drives their passion, and what it's like working on the hardware side of pc engineering?

 

[Kaarlisk]

Yay.
Can we get a transcript after the fact ?
Reading is much faster than listening to...

This. Reading is way more user-friendly than a podcast. Faster and easier to rewind/skip ahead.
Nay if there is no transcript. In that case written articles would be far more valuable.
Maybe-Yay if there is a transcript. Written articles are still easier to understand than transcripts, but compromises are a good thing

 

[Arwin]

You can multi-task listening - have you ever considered that? While driving, cleaning, walking, cycling, gardening, taking care of very young kids, etc. This is what makes podcasts valuable to me. Sure, if there is interesting content in there that is not available anywhere else, then it's still valuable to also write that down. But in general, as it is not (yet) universally searchable, people talk much more freely on a podcast than when someting is published on the internet in written form.

Considering the amount of work that a transcript would be, unless it is done automatically (this is starting to become feasible almost, but not quite yet - you need good tracking of whom is talking when as well), don't count on a full transcript. But interesting information will make it out anyway.

 

[homerdog]

Oh gosh Rys you read my mind! My thick and slow southern draw with your quick and proper english English is a match made in heaven!

For real I'm down for whatever. I would listen even if you had al on and al is my murderer.

 

[Andrew Cox]

Yes please, as often as you can. Podcasts with one voice are rarely good. Either get a sidekick or go with an interview format.

From info that has slipped through from other podcasts I listen to, one common element is to get a few in the can before posting the first one. Another is to commit to producing some number (say ten), no matter how bad they seem to be going, before making a decision to pull the plug.

Good luck!

 

[Rys]

Thanks for the support so far, seems like something people would like to listen to (and maybe watch!) so I've been forging ahead with the non-gaming side of things this week. I've been working on the mini-series, which without giving the game away now has plans for somewhere between 20 and 30 episodes. I did the full research for a single show earlier this week, to get a feel for how long each one would take to setup and figure out how a production schedule could work. I'm really happy with the idea in general, so I plan for that episodic set of shows to be the backbone of the podcast, at least to start with, and it won't just be me. I have a co-host in mind and he's keen in principle, and we've got a lot of planning to do first, but I'm hoping to have a handful of those episodes out by the end of this year. The advice about getting some in the bag first, to help see it through, is great, so that's what I plan to do. Maybe a sneak-peek when they're canned, for subscribers.

As for more regular ad-hoc podcasts talking about the state of play in graphics in general, when things happen in the industry (like the recent Fury and Fury X launches for example) that's a bit more up in the air. I'd like to piggy back that on top of Beyond3D actually having some value to add to the commentary. I don't want to talk through someone else's data and make guesses about what's going on with a given product or microarchitecture, so I think that kind of podcast is best served when all of our new tooling is finished and we're actively looking at GPUs and boards on a semi-regular basis. So we'll grow into that kind of show, and it'll take a relatively long time to do so. I wouldn't hold out hope for that in 2015.

Then for the gaming side of things, @Arwin, @AlNets and I need to have a chat about format, content and planning. More on that when we've had our first set of discussions.

Oh, and I did my first recorded spoken audio tests recently to get used the new equipment, and I've been teaching myself how to record, edit and process a multi-track show as far as software and tooling goes. That's going well so far. Full steam ahead!

 

[Arwin]

Yes, I've been keeping a small eye on how other podcasts do things, and most successful for long distance podcasting has been using, say, google hangouts for the overal chat, and then have everyone also record their audio locally. Then a clap is done at some point, and these recordings are submitted to someone who mixes the end result, which basically consists of importing all tracks into something like Audacity and then exporting as a single mono-MP3. That gives the best podcast quality, presumably, while you can still see each other and also have a backup recording in hangouts on air.

 

[AlNom]

----

Anyways, weekends seem to be the best for dealing with time zones, yea?

For real I'm down for whatever. I would listen even if you had al on and al is my murderer.

It was simply one of the rare occasions where a workload can descend from the heavens.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I'd definitely give this a listen. Anandtech used to cover 3D graphics tech this but there podcasts are now mega infrequent and often focus on phones.

 

[digitalwanderer]

If you're ever lacking for guests or just want a colour commentator to hang with AI I am always at your service sir.

 

[Dominik D]

Yay.

One thing: I used to run a weekly video games podcast for about 150 episodes and it's not only very time consuming (audio polish takes 2-4x the length of audio, TOC takes ~30 min to produce) but also a tough sell. Audio alone is a beast if you want to get people to pay attention for the duration of the thing (it was typically 60-90 minutes for us but even 20 minute pimples were hard). I feel like it's much easier to get video streaming these days and do what e.g. Tek Syndicate does than it is to create compelling audio. You can still publish audio alone for ones who need that. Basically if I were to broadcast something I'd create a videocast instead of podcast these days.

Still yay though.

 

[AlNom]

mm... Video. I'm not sure anyone wants to see me.


@Arwin I have zero experience with the setup, but I was wondering what you thought about how we might collaborate with this on the gaming tech side of things. I'm on Mountain time btw.

It almost feels like we need "guest" users contributing as there are certainly a few who are much more knowledgable on particular subjects that get brought up on the forums.