2009 Regional Webcasts

[Justin Montois]

Please post here if you know that your regional will be webcasted.

Also please note if the matches will be archived. Thanks!

Possible Webcasted Regionals
-Oklahoma City Regional

[StevenB]

I plan to webcast and archive video for the Oklahoma City Regional.

[Jonathan Norris]

I guess its the time of year to start organizing who will be web casting and recording regionals this year. Last year you can see this thread (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62197&highlight=2008+regional+webcast) that we used to organize who will record regionals. We should use a similar format this year to keep track of who will be recording what, but I ask anyone willing to help me keep track of this list just update it by copying the last one, adding the new names, and pasting it into your post surrounded by "["CODE"]" text... "["/CODE"]" without the quotes.

As for how to webcast a regional check out this thread (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63884&highlight=webcasting+a+regional) about streaming a regional using one of the free online flash streaming websites. This year I highly recomend anyone wanting to webcast a regional to use ustream.tv (www.ustream.tv) or justin.tv (www.justin.tv). These free services have improved a lot in the last year and are able to handle the hundreds of viewers a regional webcast will receive. All you need is a video input to your computer, an internet connection, and a web browser. Last year I ran the Waterloo webcast using ustream.tv with great success, sure we ran into a couple problems but at the time it was one of the most watched webcasts ustream.tv had seen, we even got featured on their front page on Saturday. Alot of the popularity probably had to do with Karthik and Paul communicating with the webcast audience and taking 'suggestions' :p.

As for this year I am hoping to run the webcast at Waterloo again this year, as long as I can find someone to watch it for me at Waterloo.


Regional Volunteer
Week 1
BAE Systems Granite State Regional
Buckeye Regional
Greater Kansas City Regional
Midwest Regional
New Jersey Regional
Oklahoma City Regional Steven Bell (1519, 2359)
Washington DC Regional

Week 2
Boston Regional
Finger Lakes Regional
Oregon Regional
San Diego Regional
New York City Regional

Week 3
Dallas Regional
Florida Regional
Los Angeles Regional
Peachtree Regional
Pittsburgh Regional
Silicon Valley Regional
Wisconsin Regional

Week 4
Israel Regional
Arizona Regional
Bayou Regional
Boilermaker Regional
Chesapeake Regional
NASA / VCU Regional
Philadelphia Regional
St. Louis Regional
Waterloo Regional Jonathan Norris (2809)

Week 5
Colorado Regional
Connecticut Regional
Greater Toronto Regional Discovery Channel Canada??
Hawaii Regional
Las Vegas Regional
Lone Star Regional
Microsoft Seattle Regional
Palmetto Regional
Sacramento Regional
SBPLI Long Island Regional

Week 6
Michigan State Championship
Minnesota 10000 Regional
Minnesota North Star Regional

[ATannahill]

Would It be possible for someone that is not broadcasting a webcast (home at their computer) to record a webcast? Also if anyone wants me to parse up matches send them to me.

[Vikesrock]

It is possible to record a webcast depending on how it is streamed. Any stream that can be opened in VLC can be recorded as it is being viewed. Typically it is much easier to archive the matches on-site however, and the archived footage is usually higher resolution than what is streamed.

I will also tentatively volunteer to parse matches depending on my schedule. The time to parse should not be an obstacle to people recording regionals, if you could record the whole regional but are hung up on separating the matches, somebody else with the time can probably do it.

My team is most likely going to be streaming and archiving the Minnesota North Star Regional and we are trying to figure out if we have the equipment/manpower to get something running for 10,000 Lakes as well. I'll post back and add myself to the list when things are certain.

[Jonathan Norris]

I'll start another thread about archiving matches and parsing through them, it should be a separate topic.

edit:
The archiving discussion can be continued over here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=70614

[pmrcj5]

James Byrne (360) and the Bellarmine Prep Student Engineering Program Alumni Association plan on handling the Portland Regional and Microsoft Seattle Regional.

[Justin Montois]

For some reason I can't edit my original post...

Possible Webcasted Regionals
-Oklahoma City Regional
-Portland Regional
-Microsoft Seattle Regional

[Vikesrock]

2175 will be taking care of both of the Minnesota events.

Regional Volunteer
Week 1
BAE Systems Granite State Regional
Buckeye Regional
Greater Kansas City Regional
Midwest Regional
New Jersey Regional
Oklahoma City Regional Steven Bell (1519, 2359)
Washington DC Regional

Week 2
Boston Regional
Finger Lakes Regional
Oregon Regional James Byrne (360)
San Diego Regional
New York City Regional

Week 3
Dallas Regional
Florida Regional
Los Angeles Regional
Peachtree Regional
Pittsburgh Regional
Silicon Valley Regional
Wisconsin Regional

Week 4
Israel Regional
Arizona Regional
Bayou Regional
Boilermaker Regional
Chesapeake Regional
NASA / VCU Regional
Philadelphia Regional
St. Louis Regional
Waterloo Regional Jonathan Norris (2809)

Week 5
Colorado Regional
Connecticut Regional
Greater Toronto Regional Discovery Channel Canada??
Hawaii Regional
Las Vegas Regional
Lone Star Regional
Microsoft Seattle Regional James Byrne (360)
Palmetto Regional
Sacramento Regional
SBPLI Long Island Regional

Week 6
Michigan State Championship
Minnesota 10000 Regional Kevin O'Connor (2175)
Minnesota North Star Regional Kevin O'Connor (2175)

[Justin Montois]

Possible Webcasted Regionals
-Oklahoma City Regional
-Portland Regional
-Microsoft Seattle Regional
-Minnesota 10000 Lakes Regional
-Minnesota North Star Regional

[Greg341]

please webcast San Diego Regional for me

[Justin Montois]

Regionals are coming up, I just wanted to bring this thread up again to see if any new plans are in the works for webcasts. Post here!

[dcbrown]

Trying my dardnest to webcast BAE Systems Granite State Regional. Thanks go out to the regional committee members Kerry & Kari at BAE for helping out organizing the network drop needed. Now all I have to do is make the stupid equipment behave! Wish me luck!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/first-bae-granite-state-regional

(Note: the ustream link will be airing last years event on/off over the next couple of weeks as I test the equipment setup I'll be using.)

Bud Brown
Team 0000
www.thenulldevice.net/Team0000

[JB987]

The LVR will finally be webcast...I am on the planning committee and have been assured that UNLV will webcast the event. I will share the link when I receive it.

[Greg Marra]

I feel like a Wiki would be an ideal place to consolidate knowledge about webcasts.

[Justin Montois]

I feel like a Wiki would be an ideal place to consolidate knowledge about webcasts.

Agreed. Are you thinking FIRSTwiki or do you want to try and set something else up?

[qnetjoe]

The Colorado Regional will have a webcast this year done by CSM Robotics. We also did it last year (2008)

[Justin Montois]

Possible Webcasted Regionals
- Oklahoma City Regional
- Portland Regional
- Microsoft Seattle Regional
- Minnesota 10000 Lakes Regional
- Minnesota North Star Regional
- BAE Systems Granite State Regional
- Colorado Regional

[Greg Marra]

Possible Webcasted Regionals
- Oklahoma City Regional
- Portland Regional
- Microsoft Seattle Regional
- Minnesota 10000 Lakes Regional
- Minnesota North Star Regional
- BAE Systems Granite State Regional
- Colorado Regional

Boston will be webcasted by The Blue Alliance.

[rdlevy1215]

NJ Regional will be webcasted by Team 1676

[RyanCesiel]

Does anyone know if Wildstang will once again be webcasting the Midwest regional?

[Clinton Bolinger]

I hope so ... because that will be a great regional to watch.

According to this it says that they will be:
http://www.midwestfirst.org/live.php

but then again there is now date on that site, saying that it will be for the 2009 season.

Also no plans to try to get the Michigan Districts?

-Oris-

[Greg Marra]

Perhaps we can pool this knowledge here: http://www.firstwiki.net/index.php/2009_Webcasts

[Travis Hoffman]

Teams 48 and 291 will be co-producing the Pittsburgh Regional webcast.

I'm still trying to find out the dealio with the Buckeye webcast.

[Dave Flowerday]

Does anyone know if Wildstang will once again be webcasting the Midwest regional?
We should be. FIRST apparently added a (IMO stupid) rule requiring a separate network drop for the webcast and I'm not sure if there was enough regional funding for that, but if it's there we'll use it.

[A Bear]

O hai guys, whats goin on in this thread, jk

I'm goin 2 the okc reagionals and i heard that there was a possible webcast....but i have also heard that this is not true

[XXShadowXX]

it seams that you have missed all the Michigan district events, in your list of regional events, i know there districts, but they function as regionals.

[Justin Montois]

it seams that you have missed all the Michigan district events, in your list of regional events, i know there districts, but they function as regionals.

The only reason why they are not on any lists is because I haven't had any information saying that these events would be webcasted. If you know of any that are, please post and I will surely add them.:)

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Updated list...



Use the wiki, please!

[LightWaves1636]

Well Colorado Regional will be recorded by FRC Team 2859 and CSM Robotics.:)

[Tetraman]

Remember you can watch all the webcasts and get regional information with SOAP Gameday.

[Grant Cox]

Remember you can watch all the webcasts and get regional information with SOAP Gameday.

Are they planning on having that whole chat/multicast/etc system set up again? That is a dream for those of us unable to attend regionals..

[Greg Marra]

Are they planning on having that whole chat/multicast/etc system set up again? That is a dream for those of us unable to attend regionals..

It appears so: http://gameday.soap108.com/

[Cory]

If any team(s)/individuals are interested in webcasting an event, please send me a private message and I can get you in touch with the people at NASA Ames that are facilitating this process.

[cziggy343]

It appears so: http://gameday.soap108.com/

is somebody going to put up a new thread with this link so we wont have to hunt for it next weekend:)

[Justin Montois]

is somebody going to put up a new thread with this link so we wont have to hunt for it next weekend:)

I'm sure there will be, or you could just bookmark it now :)

[Sgraff_SRHS06]

It is also very possible NASA could Webcast both the VCU and/or DC regionals.

[ZInventor]

James Byrne (360) and the Bellarmine Prep Student Engineering Program Alumni Association plan on handling the Portland Regional and Microsoft Seattle Regional.

would it be possible to have the archive of the Portland regional up online somewhere?

our team would love it if that was possible!

-Z

[ATannahill]

Is there going to be a Nasa page of the webcast links this year?

[Matt Keller]

Is there going to be a Nasa page of the webcast links this year?

http://robotics.arc.nasa.gov/events/2009_frcwebcasts.php#webcasts

There aren't any listed there as of yet, but this should be updated as each weekend approaches. As I recall, it was often updated at the last minute last season.

Remember you can watch all the webcasts and get regional information with SOAP Gameday.

This is true!

Are they planning on having that whole chat/multicast/etc system set up again? That is a dream for those of us unable to attend regionals..

Yes, see: It appears so: http://gameday.soap108.com/

is somebody going to put up a new thread with this link so we wont have to hunt for it next weekend:)

Yes, and very soon. I will create a thread once the list of features that will be available at launch is finalized. This should be before tomorrow evening.

[Jonathan Norris]

Sorry for not being on top of these threads this year, running a rookie team and trying to keep up with University is keeping me busy....

Looks like I will only be able to cover Waterloo on Saturday (possibly Friday... depends on my classes), Paul, Karthik and I will get to re-unite for some webcast shenanigans again this year. If anyone remembers the Waterloo webcast last year Paul and Karthik together can be a ton of fun.

As for GTR, I can put a webcast up if Discovery isn't doing it this year. But I will need someone to either watch the webcast for me, or email me when it goes down seeing as I'll have a team to run. I will be recording GTR this year, seeing that no one got it last year.

The using the FIRST Wiki was a great idea, and I hope everyone adds to that.

[Zflash]

If anyone knows whether or not the Buckeye regional will be webcasted could you please announce it along with the link ASAP. We have some people here in SC that will not be able to make the trip but would like to watch the action if possible. Thanks

[RyanCesiel]

We should be. FIRST apparently added a (IMO stupid) rule requiring a separate network drop for the webcast and I'm not sure if there was enough regional funding for that, but if it's there we'll use it.
Wow, I haven't heard about that. I would suggest contacting someone in charge of the regional (if you haven't already) to see if you will be able to. I'm sure that would be one of the most watched regionals.

[Dave Flowerday]

Wow, I haven't heard about that. I would suggest contacting someone in charge of the regional (if you haven't already) to see if you will be able to. I'm sure that would be one of the most watched regionals.
The guy in charge of the regional is on my team. That's who informed me about the rule. Good news, though - it appears they are getting the extra network drop so I think we're set.

[Justin Montois]

The guy in charge of the regional is on my team. That's who informed me about the rule. Good news, though - it appears they are getting the extra network drop so I think we're set.

Awesome! I can't wait to watch!!!

[pentau]

It looks like the Washington D.C. Regional is being webcast and simulcast, on TV!

According to http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Breaking.html

February 27, Friday
1 - 6 p.m. - FIRST Regional Competition from the Washington, DC Convention Center - AMES/HQ - (Public and Eduacation Channels)

February 28, Saturday
9 a.m. - 6 p.m. - FIRST Regional Competition from the Washington, DC Convention Center - AMES/HQ - (Public and Eduacation Channels)

[TotalChaos]

I'm currently in contact the Arizona Regional Director trying to figure out if I will be able to get an internet connection..

If it all works out I should be able to webcast it. It'll be here (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/frc-arizona-regional) if it all works out!

- Austin

[Justin]

Hi Everyone,

Just curious if things have changed for 2009? It seems to me like in past years there was a fairly comprehensive list of the regionals NASA was going to web cast by this point? I haven't seen that yet this year unless I've missed something, have things changed? The web cast efforts seem a little scattered this year.

Just curious,

Justin

[Jonathan Norris]

Hi Everyone,

Just curious if things have changed for 2009? It seems to me like in past years there was a fairly comprehensive list of the regionals NASA was going to web cast by this point? I haven't seen that yet this year unless I've missed something, have things changed? The web cast efforts seem a little scattered this year.

Just curious,

Justin

Here is the growing list of regionals that are being webcasted: http://www.firstwiki.net/index.php/2009_Webcasts, week one looks to be a busy one already with 5 webcasts going on this week.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

The guy in charge of the regional is on my team. That's who informed me about the rule. Good news, though - it appears they are getting the extra network drop so I think we're set.

Just curious.. Are you getting a separate line for the webcast feed? Or is it just coming off the same switch at the venue?

We were having that issue preparing for our regional.

[Jonathan Norris]

Just curious.. Are you getting a separate line for the webcast feed? Or is it just coming off the same switch at the venue?

We were having that issue preparing for our regional.

From what I hear this year is you need a separate internet connection for the webcast this year, depends on the regional I guess. For Waterloo we just connect to the Waterloo University network and use their pipes, for GTR we are likely going to have to set up a separate DSL connection.

[Dave Flowerday]

Just curious.. Are you getting a separate line for the webcast feed? Or is it just coming off the same switch at the venue?
I'm really not sure to be honest... I'll find out tomorrow I guess. I doubt they're pulling in a new line from some ISP just for the webcast but who knows. I wonder how far away from the local switch they're allowed to join into the same network for FIRST to consider it "separate"...

[FRANK(WGH)]

If anyone knows whether or not the Buckeye regional will be webcasted could you please announce it along with the link ASAP. We have some people here in SC that will not be able to make the trip but would like to watch the action if possible. Thanks


The 2009 Buckeye Regional will be webcast by Delphi E.L.I.T.E. Team 48 with the help of Team 291, CIA. The link is http://live.delphielite.com.

I send a link to the Coordinator if the regional this morning and hope that it will be posted very shortly.

[dcbrown]

Help!

I'm at the BAE regional setting up... everything worked great at home... but (you knew there had to be a but)... at the arena everything works up to the ustream.tv broadcast window. It comes up after broadcast now, status says "broadcast stopped" and the green broadcast button isn't available. The server monitor window *IS* showing the video stream I'm sending... I suspect an arena network issue, but I've no idea if opening ports 1935 for both TCP/UDP in/out and the IRC chat port of 6667 will help. Its odd that the broadcast window shows the video... also the chat window is working. I'm stumped.

Any suggestions? The arena folks have left for the day so any changes will have to wait until tomorrow. Having a suggested shopping list of changes to try could help the process along.

[Jonathan Norris]

Help!

I'm at the BAE regional setting up... everything worked great at home... but (you knew there had to be a but)... at the arena everything works up to the ustream.tv broadcast window. It comes up after broadcast now, status says "broadcast stopped" and the green broadcast button isn't available. The server monitor window *IS* showing the video stream I'm sending... I suspect an arena network issue, but I've no idea if opening ports 1935 for both TCP/UDP in/out and the IRC chat port of 6667 will help. Its odd that the broadcast window shows the video... also the chat window is working. I'm stumped.

Any suggestions? The arena folks have left for the day so any changes will have to wait until tomorrow. Having a suggested shopping list of changes to try could help the process along.

Sounds to me like connection issues, if you are seeing the video stream then it is all working on your end, but the video isn't getting out to the ustream.tv servers. Could be firewall issues or port issues (not sure about this), read through ustream.tv's help documentation and see what they say.

[Justin]

I'm not really sure why you would need to open inbound ports. I was under the impression that the whole idea of ustream.tv was to send video out to them so you didn't have to open ports and get into that mess. I would say make sure you are broadcasting against the right show. Also make sure that you have the video and audio source set right in the ustream console. In theory of course if you are seeing video on the server monitor then video is making it to ustream which would lead me to believe that it is something to do with the way the show is setup on the ustream side of things.

Sorry for not being able to be more specific but maybe something there will help. Good Luck.

Justin

[dcbrown]

I setup a new channel for testing just in case - same issue.

I then dropped out of FME/push mode and used ustream's lower quality pull mode -- that works. But it means I can use the video switcher software because although FME recognizes it, ustream pull doesn't. Its on the menu, but selecting doesn't bring up any picture.

So, my guess is some type of incoming port issues since the vid stream appears in the ustream monitor window. It must not be able to verify the stream or some such and so refuses to broadcast it. Just my wag at this point.

[Jonathan Norris]

I setup a new channel for testing just in case - same issue.

I then dropped out of FME/push mode and used ustream's lower quality pull mode -- that works. But it means I can use the video switcher software because although FME recognizes it, ustream pull doesn't. Its on the menu, but selecting doesn't bring up any picture.

So, my guess is some type of incoming port issues since the vid stream appears in the ustream monitor window. It must not be able to verify the stream or some such and so refuses to broadcast it. Just my wag at this point.

Have you tried Stickam (http://stickam.com/)? Its basically the same thing as Ustream.tv

Not really sure what FME is, sounds like you are trying some switching software... have you tried without that? give us more details about your set-up so we can be of more help.

[Ellery]

The Finger Lakes Regional committee is still working this to see if they can do it this year. Last year it was broadcast Live over Time Warner cable TV on the education Access channel. The main issue I was told was they can probably get a line through RIT but that needs to go through a server externally to get the proper streaming bandwidth for a webcast. I'll let you know if anything comes up between now and next week. I used to post matches after we get it digitally recorded and clipped.

[Dan Richardson]

Does anyone know if ustreamed regionals can be watched from the ustream app on the iPhone?

[dcbrown]

BAE Webcast - the FME push problem still exists. I'm connected to the arena server which has all ported enabled so I'm not sure what the problem is. I'll limp along in pull mode for now, but the quality will be less and I won't be able to do instant replays or switch to static camera view (which is what is currently playing).

Stumped at this point.

[dcbrown]

Its working. No idea what the real problem was, but I noticed in moving my PC it lost its mind as to time zone and thought it was PST. I changed it back to EST and I guess that allows ustream to validate the timestamp on the stream or something. (Note to self on this on for my standard checklist)


Yea ha. (doing my happy dance)

[Joohoo]

DCBrown great job I can see the field perfectly. However, there is this annoying buzzing noise coming in. Not sure what happened but it happened when the "live" appeared on the screen. presumably when you fixed your problem.

[Jonathan Norris]

Any news on when midwest will be up??

[Michelle Celio]

Any news on when midwest will be up??

Midwest WAS up. Some robot action (2 robots...tons of balls everywhere) then it went back offline. I forgot they were an hour behind for a little bit.

[Dave Flowerday]

Midwest WAS up. Some robot action (2 robots...tons of balls everywhere) then it went back offline. I forgot they were an hour behind for a little bit.
Problems with the network connection at the venue. It'll probably be spotty until they run a new Ethernet line for us.

I've started a thread for discussion of the Midwest webcast here:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?p=828173#post828173

I'll be monitoring that thread periodically through the day so if you see issues or have comments please post them there.

[Fireworks 234]

Is there any word on when D.C. will start being webcast?

[replon]

Team 1828 is going to be webcasting Phoenix for sure, and we're still waiting on the San Diego guys to get back to us about it.

San Diego URL March 5-7
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/first-san-diego-regional-2009

Phoenix URL 19-21
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/first-az-regional-2009

[Scott Ritchie]

I think D.C. is just on TV tomorrow and Saturday.

[Fireworks 234]

Well I found a link on the nasa page and it says they were going to be streaming practices today. I don't know if it's true or not, but here's the link. http://robotics.nasa.gov/events/2009_dc_webcast.php

[Grant Cox]

Has anyone gotten the Kansas City webcast to work on a mac?

http://www.more.net/mets/first/#march6 click the "Program 1" one

[dcbrown]

LOTS of arena network issues in NH. Running internetfrog.com to ping upload/download speeds and they are bouncing all the way down to <50kbps.

But it appears a major issue is max pause is reading 2-4 second range as opposed to <110ms at home. Right now the IRC 6667 port has been closed so I can transmit video but can't connect to the chat room :-(

It comes and goes so arena folks are still playing with stuff or maybe not and its just really random. This means I reverted back to ustream/pull which has lower quality but doesn't get stream disconnects as often. With FME/push to ustream you get better quality but it must be much more sensitive to network pause issues.

The audio buzz was present last night too for those listening. The company hired to run the A/V at the event are chasing that but it likely won't be looked at until this evening when then can tear apart the equipment.

Very frustrating, but more so for any viewers.

[Joohoo]

Has anyone gotten the Kansas City webcast to work on a mac?

http://www.more.net/mets/first/#march6 click the "Program 1" one

well im not sure if you are going to find what you are looking for when you get it up. I followed the link and found some show with people sitting down and talking about something. However you can install vlc for mac and it should work

[mhaake]

As for the Kansas City regional, I'm having difficulty with it. The link we have been given says march 6, 2008. It seems fairly evident it is from last year. Where is this years on that webpage?

[LightWaves1636]

As for the Kansas City regional, I'm having difficulty with it. The link we have been given says march 6, 2008. It seems fairly evident it is from last year. Where is this years on that webpage?

It just wasn't up there yet, it's streaming now. :)

[Zach O]

There is a Chicago Regional being broadcasted, but it's not my regional. Still, it's being broadcast. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/521259

[Zach O]

Has anyone gotten the Kansas City webcast to work on a mac?

http://www.more.net/mets/first/#march6 click the "Program 1" one

Flip4Mac will play it. There is a free, unlimited trial.
Flip4Mac (http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/flip4macwmvstudiopro.html)

[Cory]

For anyone interested in webcasting an event, here are more details on how to go about using NASA's servers to do so:

http://robotics.arc.nasa.gov/events/webcasting.php

[Mark Rozitis]

From what I hear this year is you need a separate internet connection for the webcast this year, depends on the regional I guess. For Waterloo we just connect to the Waterloo University network and use their pipes, for GTR we are likely going to have to set up a separate DSL connection.

what kind of internet connection do you get at the Hershey centre? When I was there last year covering it for the news I saw someone stringing a few km of Cat 5 cable and someone talking about no signal. If someone has a Telus Rev A modem and a plan or their $15/day unlimited plan and there is a good radio signal then the upload speed on that is 550k from this little USB modem, thats how I do all my live driving shots for TV from my truck on livecast.com.

I hope to be at the GTR regionals and possibly waterloo this year for Weather network and Global, hopefully I can find a green energy technology angle to play.

I'm not sure in what capacity I will be shooting, for news we just shoot highlights and a few interview clips but I am not sure yet how it will go this year.

I have a Telus Rev A modem with an industrial grade plan, I just don't know if I will be there all three days yet.......otherwise I could offer that connection to you.

m

[Alex Cormier]

what kind of internet connection do you get at the Hershey centre? When I was there last year covering it for the news I saw someone stringing a few km of Cat 5 cable and someone talking about no signal. If someone has a Telus Rev A modem and a plan or their $15/day unlimited plan and there is a good radio signal then the upload speed on that is 550k from this little USB modem, thats how I do all my live driving shots for TV from my truck on livecast.com.

I hope to be at the GTR regionals and possibly waterloo this year for Weather network and Global, hopefully I can find a green energy technology angle to play.

I'm not sure in what capacity I will be shooting, for news we just shoot highlights and a few interview clips but I am not sure yet how it will go this year.

I have a Telus Rev A modem with an industrial grade plan, I just don't know if I will be there all three days yet.......otherwise I could offer that connection to you.

m

You really like coming to the robot events? I've been watching your posts for the past few years and I am very impressed on you look into it. You want to do this for work and make it happen any way possible. That is just excellent!

[Mark Rozitis]

You really like coming to the robot events? I've been watching your posts for the past few years and I am very impressed on you look into it. You want to do this for work and make it happen any way possible. That is just excellent!

It's a lot of fun compared to what I do everyday in news, not to mention the GTR regionals is like a free rock concert and sporting event all rolled into one. GTR regionals is probably my favourite, If I was news director we would be live there all weekend :)

The FIRST one I covered was Aim high and that was a good high energy game and I guess I was hooked. The culture is also different as well, I often come away from a regional thinking if only we could apply what happens here to the workplace in the real world............

I'm also interested in technology, in news we use radios, scanners, computers, weather radar, live video, all sorts of stuff and while I can't stand sports this is different because involves technology.

It's fun, I just hope I get to spend more than 30 min at the GTR this year, never know when working in news.


m

[Barry Bonzack]

Oklahoma will be broadcasted here

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/oklahoma-city-first-robotics-regional

[soap108]

For the encoders out there, please enable the "deinterlace" option. This will reduce the jagged lines when there's a lot of motion.

Both FME and WME have these settings.

Maybe this can be added to the webcast wiki?

Thanks!
KA :cool:

[JulieB]

Is there any way I can watch DC on my iphone

[Matt Keller]

Is there any way I can watch DC on my iphone

Not currently, no. The only webcasts you will be able to watch will be ustream.tv streams using their iPhone app which is free in the App Store.

[dcbrown]

Two days down, one to go. BAE webcast went better today vs yesterday. I only had to work around the network issue the one time around 11-11:15ish. Uplink bandwidth dropped down to 300kps and QoS to 4% with 1.5-1.9s pauses at this point. During the afternoon the stream was run at 350kbps without issue. I ran at 450kbs early in the day without issue on my end, but the playback end was jerky/choppy.

Lessons learned:
. you can keep dropping bit rates while running Adobe FME, but below 300kbs it isn't really worth using the flash media encoding
. the ustream channel seems to get disconnected for bandwidth or latency issues when running with FME - my guess is if the buffered bits bleed down on broadcast and if it can't get more in time, then you get disconnected and are forced to reconnect/resync. Just seems that way to me, ymmv.
. using the ustream.tv/pull (no FME), you won't drop the connection no matter what. It will just pick up what data is available when it can transmit it next. So, it will get jerky and be of lower quality... but its not a blank screen (not much endorsement there!)
. total bandwidth being used up is video+audio and with FME the minimum is another 98kps - kept forgetting that.

and finally...

. www.internetfrog.com is your friend - it has a measured download/upload/round-trip-time/QoS/max pause time for a sample transfer chunk. Monitoring the network with this every once in awhile can give you a sense of what's going on and how safe it is to push transmit rates up or revert back to an FME stream. I've got a screen capture I'll post -- it shows 9kbps upload capacity. Yikes - not much I could do with that! (The link is a T1 and I often got 2Mbps up/1Mbps down early in the morning or after the end of competition.)

[Travis Hoffman]

The Pittsburgh Regional will be webcast by Team 48 via the same link as Buckeye - http://live.delphielite.com. Team CIA 291 is partnering with us by splitting the fee for the Internet drop needed for the webcast and providing human and hardware backup as needed.

[Greg Marra]

Just keeping the master list in everyone's field of view :)

http://firstwiki.net/index.php/2009_Webcasts

[soap108]

added NYC link on wiki

http://soap.circuitrunners.com/2009/ny/stream.php

KA :cool:

[soap108]

Good post. Helpful.

FYI- In FME you can use Mono audio and get it lower than 98...

KA



Two days down, one to go. BAE webcast went better today vs yesterday. I only had to work around the network issue the one time around 11-11:15ish. Uplink bandwidth dropped down to 300kps and QoS to 4% with 1.5-1.9s pauses at this point. During the afternoon the stream was run at 350kbps without issue. I ran at 450kbs early in the day without issue on my end, but the playback end was jerky/choppy.

Lessons learned:
. you can keep dropping bit rates while running Adobe FME, but below 300kbs it isn't really worth using the flash media encoding
. the ustream channel seems to get disconnected for bandwidth or latency issues when running with FME - my guess is if the buffered bits bleed down on broadcast and if it can't get more in time, then you get disconnected and are forced to reconnect/resync. Just seems that way to me, ymmv.
. using the ustream.tv/pull (no FME), you won't drop the connection no matter what. It will just pick up what data is available when it can transmit it next. So, it will get jerky and be of lower quality... but its not a blank screen (not much endorsement there!)
. total bandwidth being used up is video+audio and with FME the minimum is another 98kps - kept forgetting that.

and finally...

. www.internetfrog.com is your friend - it has a measured download/upload/round-trip-time/QoS/max pause time for a sample transfer chunk. Monitoring the network with this every once in awhile can give you a sense of what's going on and how safe it is to push transmit rates up or revert back to an FME stream. I've got a screen capture I'll post -- it shows 9kbps upload capacity. Yikes - not much I could do with that! (The link is a T1 and I often got 2Mbps up/1Mbps down early in the morning or after the end of competition.)

[Josh Drake]

Just keeping the master list in everyone's field of view :)

http://firstwiki.net/index.php/2009_Webcasts

Palmetto is now up there:)
http://www.clemson.edu/tlt/stream/frc/

[Elgin Clock]

added NYC link on wiki

http://soap.circuitrunners.com/2009/ny/stream.php

KA :cool:

What are the details on this one?
What days will it be available?
All 3? (Friday, Sat, Sun)

[MrForbes]

I guess someone needs to update the NASA page?

http://robotics.arc.nasa.gov/events/2009_frcwebcasts.php#webcasts

[Jonathan Norris]

Any plans for Finger Lakes to be webcasted this weekend???

[The Lucas]

Any plans for Finger Lakes to be webcasted this weekend???

Unfortunately, no (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=831494&postcount=73) unless someone can come up with something.

[Woody1458]

Is it just me, or do you guys have no feed on Gameday? It could just be the fact that I'm on school internet but both regionals say that they are offline

[Matt Keller]

Is it just me, or do you guys have no feed on Gameday? It could just be the fact that I'm on school internet but both regionals say that they are offline

Boston has been up for a while. It went down a couple minutes ago, but it is back up now.

On a side note, I believe the choppiness is due to an issue on their end. Slow/overloaded connection or a hardware issue.

[dcbrown]

Unfortunately, no (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=831494&postcount=73) unless someone can come up with something.

I offered, but connected up with the FLR regional committee too late this year. We've promised to start the process this fall so next year for sure.

[Greg Marra]

Boston has been up for a while. It went down a couple minutes ago, but it is back up now.

On a side note, I believe the choppiness is due to an issue on their end. Slow/overloaded connection or a hardware issue.

We have a 2.5mpbs up and down connection. The computer webcasting is doing nothing else. The choppiness exists if we use our wired connection, venue wireless, or a cellular connection. We have tried on two different computers, using two different video capture devices. If we capture video using VLC, there is no choppiness. There is no choppiness in the ustream.tv preview window.

The same problem exists on multiple ustream.tv shows on multiple ustream.tv users. It also exists on Mogulus, a similar live streaming site.

I am completely perplexed. :confused: My only theory is that there is some sort of QoS system somewhere that is making things buffer in a bad way. I do not know what I will be able to do to get around it.

[Jonathan Norris]

The same problem exists on multiple ustream.tv shows on multiple ustream.tv users. It also exists on Mogulus, a similar live streaming site.

I am completely perplexed. :confused: My only theory is that there is some sort of QoS system somewhere that is making things buffer in a bad way. I do not know what I will be able to do to get around it.

Greg have you tried stickam.com?

[Matt Keller]

We have a 2.5mpbs up and down connection. The computer webcasting is doing nothing else. The choppiness exists if we use our wired connection, venue wireless, or a cellular connection. We have tried on two different computers, using two different video capture devices. If we capture video using VLC, there is no choppiness. There is no choppiness in the ustream.tv preview window.

I am completely perplexed. :confused:

Maybe create another channel and push the stream to that one? It could be the server node in which your channel is broadcasting from. Other than that, I have no clue. Perhaps give Mogulus (http://www.mogulus.com/) a try?

[grantman54]

so is the San Diego regional webcast going to be up?

[TotalChaos]

so is the San Diego regional webcast going to be up?

Last I heard the team that was going to webcast it has everything there and ready to set up a webcast, but they're just waiting on permission from the committee chairman, who is in turn waiting for some word from the production company...

- Austin

[Ellery]

Any plans for Finger Lakes to be webcasted this weekend???

I'm giving it a shot through the free Time Warner Cablecast for Sat. at

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/2009-finger-lakes-regional

through my home pc. Sorr no audio though - too tired to try to figure it out.

Ellery

[Matt Keller]

I'm giving it a shot through the free Time Warner Cablecast for Sat. at

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/2009-finger-lakes-regional

through my home pc. Sorr no audio though - too tired to try to figure it out.

Ellery

Anything is better than nothing! Just video is good enough. Thank you!

It is all ready to go in gameday (http://gameday.mttkllr.com) for tomorrow!

[Cory]

San Diego (Courtesy of Team 968): http://www.ustream.tv/channel/first-san-diego-regional-2009

[chaoticprout]

San Diego (Courtesy of Team 968): http://www.ustream.tv/channel/first-san-diego-regional-2009

Awesome, I was looking for this.

[Jeff Rodriguez]

We should also have a stream of FLR via the cable broadcast. It is done by a team alumni at RIT. Should have audio and video when it comes up.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/finger-lakes-regional---saturday

[Joe_Widen]

I'm not sure if this was posted before, but anyone who is watching a regional webcast via ustream, please when you enter the chatroom set a nick name. To do this on ustream, type "/nick nicknameyouwant". Except remove the quotes. When I join I type /nick Joe_Widen This will make it easier to talk to people.

Thanks everyone.

[Warren Boudreau]

So far I have been less than impressed with the ustream.tv feed.

Any hope of getting some good webcasts???

[Cory]

So far I have been less than impressed with the ustream.tv feed.

Any hope of getting some good webcasts???

NASA's offer to host any webcast remains open to those who wish to take advantage of it...

[TKM.368]

Regardless of the quality, props to all of those who make the effort to bring us these webcasts. Your efforts are greatly appreciated!!

[dcbrown]

So far I have been less than impressed with the ustream.tv feed.

Any hope of getting some good webcasts???

Which webcasts have you watched? What kbps and codec did they use? What was the video process chain in use at the event. All of these effect precieved resolution.

One comment I recieved on the GSR webcast on ustream.tv was "wow, I can read the team numbers (at the bottom of the screen)". When transmitted at 350kpbs and utilizing a DV25 input stream the video was fairly decent. I pushed upwards of 450kbps uplink speeds, but downlink either due to ustream or local viewers networks (including my own monitor system at the event) showed jerkiness in playback. The main issue though is reliable uplink speed limitations. I had a 2000kbps uplink but still had problems maintaining streaming much beyond 350kbps. Throughput wasn't the only thing effecting streaming, latency was often as big an issue. I suppose a high-end hardware based realtime h.264 encoder might be able to achieve better streaming results with limited kbps bandwidth, but it all comes down to how many bits you can stream reliably and that is not limited by the remote server but is more effected by the uplink network in use.

If NASA has an mms server then I'd like to do some trial broadcasts on it for next season. With an mms server I'd at least be able to choose my own codec, but I'd still likely use the MainConcept codec as used by Adobe FME as it is commonly on all recieving systems already although the CoreADVC codec is suppose to produce better run-time h.264 stream results (results were alot better than the x264 based FFmpeg tool chain in the latest 2009 streaming shootout).

Thanks,
bud
PS by comparison the archived footage is being targetted at 1000kbps-1250kbps, or 3x-4x as much data. So there isn't a fair comparison between webcast and archived footage. I prefer 1600-2000kps archive footage, but then I have old eyes.
(http://www.thenulldevice.net/Team0000/GSR2009/Videos/ - _540v are @1600kbps ~30MB/match and _720v are @2000kbps ~38MB/match these were converted from DV25 [25Mbps/~550MB file] snaps taken while webcasting).

[TotalChaos]

San Diego (Courtesy of Team 968): http://www.ustream.tv/channel/first-san-diego-regional-2009

Just to give credit where credit is due, I don't believe 968 had anything to do with the webcast. It was put up by team 1828, The Boxerbots.

- Austin

[Cory]

Just to give credit where credit is due, I don't believe 968 had anything to do with the webcast. Is was put up by team 1828, The Boxerbots.

- Austin

Yeah, I mistakenly thought that was the one that Kiet Chau was hosting, but it was not. My apologies.

[dcbrown]

Attached are two net bandwidth snaps from GSR, one taken at the beginning of the day before everyone arrived with a lightly loaded network, the second at one of the low points during the day when I was struggling to maintain stream connectivity....

Any questions on why the stream was having problems? :rolleyes:

[Elgin Clock]

Any questions on why the stream was having problems? :rolleyes:

<off topic>
That's a pretty cool application.
I just tested my connection at work, & it showed 58.1Mbps download, & 348kbps upload.
What a crazy jump in values! I'll have to check my connection at home, just out of curiosity - I have cable there.
Thanks for sharing!
</off topic>

[BT987]

hey, is there any information about an SVR webcast?

[Elgin Clock]

hey, is there any information about an SVR webcast?

Nothing currently listed, but keep checking here:
http://firstwiki.net/index.php/2009_Webcasts

[Cory]

hey, is there any information about an SVR webcast?

Last I heard a local team/NASA would be webcasting SVR

[JM987]

Last I heard a local team/NASA would be webcasting SVR

sweet!
thanks:)

[Dave Flowerday]

Does anyone know if the Boilermaker regional has webcast plans? I'm willing to do it if they'd like me to.

[Elgin Clock]

Ahahahaha!!! Did anyone just hear the Happy Days/Fonzie/Jukebox reference on the Orlando regional webcast?? LMAO!!

[chinckley]

Is there anything out there today that I can show my 8th grade
visitors from this year - eiither live or archive???

we have all the 8th graders in the county visiting our Tech Center today and yesterday.

Carolyn

[Fireworks 234]

Is there anything out there today that I can show my 8th grade
visitors from this year - eiither live or archive???

we have all the 8th graders in the county visiting our Tech Center today and yesterday.

Carolyn

The Pittsburgh Regional has been up consistently for a while now. http://live.delphielite.com/

The Dallas stream has been a little flaky. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/dallasfirst

[Alex Cormier]

The Pittsburgh Regional has been up consistently for a while now. http://live.delphielite.com/

The Dallas stream has been a little flaky. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/dallasfirst

Here (http://www.firstwiki.net/index.php/2009_Webcasts) is a complete list of regional for each week. It is also being updated once a new webcast is scheduled.

[Chris Marra]

Is there anything out there today that I can show my 8th grade
visitors from this year - eiither live or archive???

we have all the 8th graders in the county visiting our Tech Center today and yesterday.

Carolyn
There is a wide variety of archived content available on TBATV @ http://thebluealliance.net/tbatv. A couple of regionals had videos up from this year that you can either download or play in browser using flash, or there are still some videos from 2008 online as well.

[IndySam]

Does anyone know if the Boilermaker regional has webcast plans? I'm willing to do it if they'd like me to.

I thought you guys were going to do it!

[grantman54]

Any chance LA is going to have a webcast?

[Vikesrock]

Any chance LA is going to have a webcast?

No, it was posted in another thread that there are venue/union issues that prevent a webcast from the LA regional.

[Dave Flowerday]

I thought you guys were going to do it!
That would be news to me...

[Greg McCoy]

:ahh:

Boilermaker plans to do a webcast, as we have done for the last few years...I switched to Helix Server/RealPlayer last year and multiple people complained about it not working very well, so I think we will stick with Windows Media this year.

I thought you guys were going to do it!

That would be news to me...

I'm not sure where that rumor came from, but if you'd like to help Dave, I'd appreciate someone who *actually* knows what they are doing with webcasts :] Maybe you can get Helix/Real to work better than I did last year...

[Cory]

mms://sargasso-3.arc.nasa.gov/svr2009

SVR, courtesy of NASA Ames Research Center.

[1002Founder]

Peachtree Regional webcasts:

http://streaming.msfc.nasa.gov/ACCORDENT/HONEYWELL/podcast/first.html
(http://streaming.msfc.nasa.gov/ACCORDENT/HONEYWELL/podcast/first.html)

http://mfile.akamai.com/18569/live/reflector:43780.asx?bkup=43781 (http://mfile.akamai.com/18569/live/reflector:43780.asx?bkup=43781)

[Jonathan Norris]

mms://sargasso-3.arc.nasa.gov/svr2009

SVR, courtesy of NASA Ames Research Center.

Cory,

is SVR started yet? the stream is not up for me yet.

[Pat Fairbank]

Cory,

is SVR started yet? the stream is not up for me yet.
It's only 8:39 in San Jose.

[Jonathan Norris]

It's only 8:39 in San Jose.

That would explain a lot... time change is hard :P

on another note I would have to say that I am really impressed with the number of webcasts so far this year, almost every regional so far this season has had a webcast. Great work FIRST community! keep it up!

[tim-tim]

Is anyone doing the Chesapeake regional? I am at Virginia Tech for school, but want to watch my team play, 836.

Thanks
-Tim

[Greg McCoy]

Information on the Boilermaker Regional webcast is available here (http://regional.purduefirst.org/index.php?page=webcast). Let me know how it looks...you might need the latest version of Windows Media Player (11).

[Vikesrock]

Information on the Boilermaker Regional webcast is available here (http://regional.purduefirst.org/index.php?page=webcast). Let me know how it looks...you might need the latest version of Windows Media Player (11).

It looks great!

It is working fine for me in WMP 11, Media Player Classic, and VLC.

[ginosoprano09]

Dallas Regional

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=75981

[MissDaisyGirl]

Hello Philadelphia Regional fans, friends, and family!

Team 341 is *attempting* to webcast. We have a hookup and everything is working great. Unfortunately, sometimes our school computer crashes so I apologize in advance for any intermittent viewing. Here is the link:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/philadelphia-regional-2009

We'll try our best to keep it up!

[XXShadowXX]

Lansing (http://www.coderedrobotics.com/)

Detroit (http://www.coderedrobotics.com/)

if they haven't been posted here you go!

[Jonathan Norris]

Waterloo is up! http://www.ustream.tv/channel/2009-waterloo-regional

[Nathan]

Is it just me, or did the boilermaker webcast go down?

[EricH]

Is it just me, or did the boilermaker webcast go down?
See the regional thread. It's not just the webcast...

[gren737]

St. Louis is here www.libertyrobotics.com

[s_forbes]

I didn't see it mentioned anywhere, but the Arizona regional is being webcast here (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/first-az-regional-2009) courtesy of team 1828.

[Maura]

is anyone webcasting the Las Vegas regional?

[Vikesrock]

is anyone webcasting the Las Vegas regional?

Yes, there is a webcast of the Las Vegas regional here:
mms://sargasso-3.arc.nasa.gov

[Maura]

Yes, there is a webcast of the Las Vegas regional here:
mms://sargasso-3.arc.nasa.gov

Thanks! Do you know if it's going to be archived? ^.^

[Tottanka]

it doesn't work with VLC for some reason...

[natis]

i want to see the finals for vegas and the link is not working can anyone help please!!!:confused:

[EricH]

i want to see the finals for vegas and the link is not working can anyone help please!!!:confused:
You could try gameday, that's working. http://gameday.mttkllr.com/

987 is on the #3, up by one in the QFs.

[Vikesrock]

Alright, as far as I can tell here we have Northstar steaming fine and I checked with 2574 and they're up and running at 10,000 Lakes.

If these webcasts go down at any point during the weekend please PM me here, I'll try to check in when I can (if you will be watching all weekend and want my cell number to text if it goes down you can PM me as well.

[kapolavery]

yea id love to see some footage from the Hawaii FRC regional..
b/c of being one of the operators i wasnt able to see the rest of the robots in action haha
always busy busy busy thats why.

[xcentrix]

The Hawaii Regional will be available on TBA shortly.

- Deanna