#FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

GameSense is proud to announce that we’ll be streaming live from The FIRST Championship, and we’ve partnered with FIRST and Twitch.tv to do so!

#FIRSTChampLIVE is going to be the place to watch this year’s Championship online, whether you’re a diehard FIRST fanatic, or you’re joining us from “outside the tent” of FIRST’s usual fans. During the three days of the event, we’ll be doing:

• “Whip-around” coverage of all eight FRC divisions, showing the best match that’s happening on the dome floor at any given time
• Analysis by the #FIRSTChampLIVE crew between matches
• Recaps and highlights from all four of FIRST’s programs
• Interviews with some totally awesome people from FIRST and the FIRST community
• FRC Match video archiving provided by STEMtv

Our goal is to make watching the FIRST championship as interesting and exciting as watching any multi-day sports or esports event, and to make the ultimate celebration of FIRST as loud as it deserves to be!

And what better way to #makeitloud than to webcast the event on the biggest name in streaming, Twitch.tv! Every field at the Championship will be on Twitch for the entirety of the event.

Be sure to tune in at http://www.firstchampionship.org/watch-live, and to spread the word to everyone you know with the hashtag #FIRSTChampLIVE ! We are hoping this a great opportunity to #makeitloud to anyone and everyone who might be interested in FIRST and its mission.

You’ve probably got plenty of questions, so please check out our FAQ in the thread below!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

This is awesome!

Quick link to #FIRSTChampLive: http://www.thebluealliance.com/gameday#champs
Quick link to all FRC streams: http://www.thebluealliance.com/gameday#champs-all

Edit: Holy webcasts.


Edit2: For you FIRST fanatics out there (Looking at you, @Hallry)
Note: 4K monitor and high speed internet highly recommended. :p

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Of course this is the year I decide to go to champs in person again.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

What a great idea.
With all of the potentially interesting matches going on at the CMP this year,
you
are
going
to
be
so
busy
!

I hope you have the ability to do "tape delay".

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

OK, here are those FAQ's I promised you!

Q: Who is involved in #FIRSTChampLIVE?
A: The idea for #FIRSTChampLIVE was conceived by the GameSense crew and Collin Fultz, a long time FIRST mentor and formerly an engineer at FIRST HQ before he moved back to Indianapolis. As we have been developing this project over the past six months (yes, six months!), we’ve been honored to have assembled a great team that will be executing the show in St. Louis:

Francis O’Rourke, Navid Shafa, and Ruth Toomey, as well as Evan Morrison, Stephanie Morrison, and Ty Tremblay from GameSense. For the six of us, this has been a dream come true, and we are unbelievably excited to see this thing get off the ground!

Jen Goetting: Jen is a longtime FIRST mentor and coach. Jen assisted GameSense at Chezy Champs last year, helping out behind the scenes. We’re excited to have Jen cut her teeth on this project along with the rest of us!

Nick Lawrence: Nick is a mentor from FRC 5406, and a designer from AndyMark. Nick has been on GameSense as a guest more than any other person in our three year history, and was one of the key people behind last year’s IRI Live show.

Colleen Shaver: Colleen is a mentor, tactics expert, and former drive coach from FRC 190, and is the Event Manager for all the FIRST events that happen at WPI. Colleen is also an amature videographer and photographer, and is instrumental in running some of the best events in the New England.

Gabe Salas: Gabe is a mentor on FRC 233, and one of the members of The RoboShow Orlando If you’ve never had the chance to check it out, RoboShow is by far one of the greatest productions in FRC.

We also would not be able to do it without the help of Toby, Jamee, and especially Erin at FIRST, as well as Steve at Solomon productions, Zach from Twitch.tv, and everyone else at FIRST headquarters who helped along the way. Thank you all so much!

Q: What exactly is this going to look like?
A: If you’ve ever heard of NFL RedZone, a lot of the stream is based on that model. At an event with 30,000+ people, there is always some sort of exciting robot action going on! We’ve developed a special piece of software that will show us which matches are coming up and which one will be the most interesting for the audience based on season and event data.
We are also going to be showing recaps and footage from FTC, FLL and FLL Jr., as well as interviews with some awesome people live on set. Our goal is to give you the best viewing experience possible for every hour of the Championship.

Q: I’m going to the Championship and wanna see this in action! Where are you doing it?
A: We’re going to be pretty busy, so we will not be able to allow folks to come and visit us in the booth during our broadcast. But, we are going to be doing a TON of stuff on social media, so be sure to reach out to us with #FIRSTChampLIVE and via our GameSense Facebook and Twitter accounts, and the official FIRST and FRC social media accounts. Follow us now to stay up to date!

Q: Wait, booth?
A: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention we will be doing this from one of the former NFL broadcast booths way up at the top of the stadium. We may have the best seats in the house!

Q: What platform are you streaming this on?
A: We’re happy to announce that we’ve been working with the folks at Twitch.tv to ensure a great broadcast that we will not only be delivering to the FIRST community, but also to people “outside the tent”! As with any Twitch broadcast, we will be streaming in HD with options to reduce the quality for slower or mobile connections, and you will only see ads when you launch the stream for the first time.

Q: What’s the link?
A: You can check out FIRST’s portal to all the webcasts from FRC, FTC, FLL and the conferences at championship.usfirst.org/watch-live
in just a couple of days.

Q: But what if I wanted to watch just my team’s field all day? Or if I want to watch several fields at once on Blue Alliance GameDay?
A: All the fields will be broadcast individually just like always, but this year through Twitch.tv. We’re working with the folks over at The Blue Alliance to include #FIRSTChampLIVE as one of the streams you can add to your GameDay setup as well.

Q: Is anyone going to finally archive the matches!?
A: Yes! We anticipate that you will finally be able to see matches from the Championship on YouTube after the event. More details to come.

Q: Will you be archiving the #FIRSTChampLIVE stream?
A: We don’t have any plans on archiving the #FIRSTChampLIVE broadcast separate from the eight fields. That being said, you might see some videos on the GameSense YouTube channel after the event, but no guarantees.

Q: So what about next year with twice as many Championships?
A: Jeez, let us get through this year first!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Wow, this is really, really cool. Thanks to Game Sense for all you do, you the real mvp.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

A little birdy told me about this a few weeks ago, and it's been really hard to keep quiet. Beyond psyched to see this in action. Hopefully it's recorded for those of us running around the dome as it happens.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

This is probably the best addition to Champs since I can remember. Thank you GameSense, Twitch.tv, and FIRST!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

If all goes to plan, it will be recorded. We're not quite sure what we would do with the footage yet, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

This is amazing!

I hope my computer can handle 9 simultaneous streams :yikes:.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

This is truly awesome and something FIRST has been missing for a long time.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

+1!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Why not just upload the whole thing to YouTube or some other video site?

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Back before 600 teams got crammed into the expo halls, I thought it would have been cool to do something like this but act as a "hybrid" with a College Gameday-esque element to it. Teams could come by a stage in the center and show off their robot or analysts could mock up strategies on half or a full field, get some pre-recorded segments in between... With the Saturday show, they'd be able to go in and make alliance picks.

Looking Forward to seeing how it turns out, we'll be sending the link out to our team!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

woahhh this looks really cool. Good luck guys! The one year I actually get to go to worlds the stream actually does not suck. Of course.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Definitely in the realm of possibility. STEMtv is set up to record anything streamed through it. It's easy enough to upload the raw recording. We're just ironing out the details of which YouTube channel to upload it to, whether or not we'd split the video up, and how we'd split it if we did.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

I see what you did there.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

wanna do a guest spot together?

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Thanks Tom! I firmly believe that Chezy Champs was first domino in this whole thing.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

I'd say yes, but I know the only CMP that WCBC attends is Chezy Champs.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Will some of the coverage be played on the different field screens between matches or in the pit?

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

You know, that's a good question. I think likely not, unfortunately!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Wait, Chezy Champs North, or Chezy Champs South?

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Don't forget the 4 FLL Streams, and the FIRST Conferences stream!

14 Streams. My computer is ready. My internet bill is not.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

+ Franklin & Edison

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Since you guys are on the inside when it comes to production of the FIRST videos can you please put in a strong recommendation for the layout used at the Texas Events? It is a 4 window split: top of it is a full field view, lower left is a fixed view of blue, lower right is fixed view of red, and the lower center is a floating view from a camera opperator. IMO this is far superior than most regional videos where you have a camera operator who likes to focus on a meandering robot instead of the action.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

This is awesome guys!

It's things like this that make the FIRST Chmapionship feel more like a mainstream sporting event.

As someone who (unfortunately) won't be able to make it to Champs this year and will have their eyes glued to the livestream, thank you!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

I second this as it is a personal peeve of mine to see the camera operator focusing on a robot that has been upside down for 45 seconds. The Texas screen layouts were superior to anything else I have seen in any way this season. With a big enough screen, this should appease most viewers. (Sorry mobile or small screen users)

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Third!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Makes me wish I didn't live in STL... sounds awesome, I'll be sure to catch some matches!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Greg,

We don't have a whole lot to do with the live production side, but I am happy to say that the camera setup for subdivisions will be mimicking the Texas layout!

2016 Championship really should be an improved remote viewing experience for everyone, whether you're following specific teams on certain Subdivisions or letting the #FIRSTChampLIVE crew break down the best action from around the dome.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

I hope you have time to remedy this! Part of the FIRST on TV initiative is raising awareness, even within our own community. If you got on the screen rotation every 4 matches, it would be wicked cool and raise the champs experience. Once the fields inevitably get on slightly different schedules you are almost guaranteed to see some sort of cool activity while others are resetting.

Sample schedule:

Match 1
*sponsor content*
Match 2
**GameSense Champs Live**
Match 3
*sponsor content*
Match 4
***Audience Selection***
Match 5
*sponsor content*
Match 6
**GameSense Champs Live**

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

This is the best news I've heard since this thread was created! :D

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

No promises! Maybe we can get it in the pipeline for next year!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

While this is great, its a pain for anyone with a screen smaller than about 11 inches. This layout it hard to see most anything going on in the match, especially with a phone, where the screen could be as small as 4 inches or even less.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

There is almost no difference in size of image between this layout and a typical full-field view. Both are size-limited by the width of the field. This "texas layout" just makes the most of the dead-space inherent in most streams.

I'm really excited for this!

-Mike

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

The thing is, there's no alternative that will let you watch the full field & still see specific robot actions. I doubt the majority of viewers are on phones though. (I really hope not, for their sake)

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

This is exactly why we loved this layout this year. You get more information and all you loose is staring at the backs of peoples heads standing by the field or at the scoring table.

I am really happy FIRST is adopting it....now to work on all the other regionals and districts for 2017

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

I dont think you realize what im talking about. Take this for example:
480x800, 4" diagonal display.

While its going to look okay on a computer screen, the phone will be further away (usually) than your screen will, and has much less room than the computer screen. You also cant zoom in. It is not fun trying to watch anything on this, let alone a multi-screen video.


PLEASE do not take this as me not liking this idea. I love the idea, I am only trying to point out an issue with this.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

I think their point is, most regionals are full field views already. All this does is remove the space above and below (the scorer's table and the queuing walkway), moves the field up a bit, and adds more screens. They're not shrinking anything down, since it's still the same width.

Sure, you can argue that you won't be able to see anything happening in the lower segments, but you're not losing anything.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Considering that the majority of regional's first day of competition is on fridays its completely possible that many on their phones watching, as they may have school/work to be focusing on also.

You lose everything on the bottom portion of your screen, which is something.

Being a curious person with nothing to do on a friday night, i went ahead and ("super scientifically") tested this.

Using an 1080p 22' screen (along with some compressed youtube footage) i got screenshots of the full field view at the PNWDCMP (easiest to get for me) and one from the Alamo regional. I then ("super scientifically") cropped out everything in both shots except for the field.

While doing this, I ran into a slight issue. Because of the angle of the PNW stream, I would still get the back A/V crew if i included the high towel goals. I was unsure if anyone would create a fuss about that, and to account for it either way I included 2 PNW's: PNW1 has the high goals, while PNW2 has just the actual field, nothing else.

Now, I measured the amount of pixels from the bottom to top of the image (as thats the space it will take up on a screen) and compared them.

PNW1's pixel length is 393 pixel units.
PNW2's pixel length is 280 pixel units.
Alamo's pixel length is 411 pixel units

Alamo has about 20 pixels more than PNW1's view. Im guessing because of the much better angle Alamo used than what PNW did, proving that the viewing size (when in full field view) didn't change.

Another thing (maybe it was because it was not an official feed, but a reupload from manning robotics) the width was 1700 pixel units instead of PNW's 1900. If that is from the official feed with nothing changed, that is a small shrink horizontally, which would make the viewing worse for users with smaller devices.

This topic may be good for another thread, seeing as it could help improve streams.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

I myself will be at Champs this year in person but this is great news for the part of my team staying in California! This will be an awesome way to watch the games, I can already see it!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

GS always a GREAT show.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Will the Opening Ceremony be broadcasted? If so, which video/stream on Game Sense will be covering it?

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

IIRC in the past, all the division webcasts have streamed Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as well as the Einstein matches.
But don't quote me on that...

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

So coverage would be on the "Einstein field" on TBA's GameDay?

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Yes. I believe it will be on all the division streams.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Einstein is actually just the #FIRSTChampLive stream on GameSense.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Will practice matches be streamed?

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

they are live now

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Is there somewhere that has a list of the MC's for each division ( or just all of the MC's if they arent strictly assigned?)

Also, the stream is great. One issue:

The stream stutters.

A Lot.

Besides this the quality is great, already really nice angles and camera setups for the practice matches!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

I am having the same issue. Also, the booth seems really dark. Could you maybe add some lights on your hosts?

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Every other stream is smooth as butter. I assume because this one has so many more viewers is why it's stuttering quite a bit.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Hey everyone! Thank you for watching the broadcast this evening! We have some changes we are making to get the occasional stuttering to go away.

Can't wait to see everyone for the start of FRC matches tomorrow!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

I am still getting some stuttering, although it seems less than last night. It might just be me, as every stream does it at the same time (watching on TBA Gameday).
I really like the show format so far!

EDIT: It is probably just having 9 streams running at the same time, carry on.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

I just watched on high quality for about 20 minutes and did not have any streaming issues.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

FYI all we're going to have an interview with Good Guy Frank Merrick at 5 PM CT! Don't want to miss it!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Thanks for this stream guys! It's working great for me, and has saved me a lot of time by covering almost every match I want to be watching!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

The stream is currently on the front page of Twitch! That's a big deal in terms of exposure to a mainstream audience. I'd really like to see regional streams on Twitch next year that are centralized to single channel like this - it would do wonders for the visibility of FRC.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

This stream is incredible. Everything is so high quality. I would love to see all events have this quality/consistency of streaming, including a constant, full-field view mixed with other focused views. The GA voiceover with slight background music/crowd sound is actually really well done too. Bravo, Game Sense.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Thank you! I think that's something that we'd like to see as well, and #FIRSTChampLIVE feels like a step in the right direction. This whole experience is wikid crimp!

Keep watching, and remember to #makeitloud on social media - maybe tweet or post a picture of you watching the streams? ;)

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

This is awesome to see.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Every single stream has been smooth as butter all day. The quality of the content is solid, and the matches have been exciting.

This is a big win for FIRST.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Really appreciate the stream this year. By FAR the best it's ever been.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Echoing the kudos... stream and production quality have been excellent. My only one "room for improvement" item, which should not in any way be taken as a dig:

When throwing from one field to another quickly, take a 2-3 extra seconds to fade the audio down on the departing field before starting the intro/voiceover, speak it clearly, and then start the fade up on the incoming field. Some of the switches were very fast and hard to hear w/ background sounds from the fields.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

STEMtv is already working on uploading all recorded matches from Thursday to FIRST's official YouTube channel.

Some are already up and we'll work on the rest throughout the day on Friday.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Tesla and Galileo are also up now.

The rest will come tomorrow morning

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

And now Curie is up.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Carson is now done.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Thanks so much, the live stream is great for those watching at home. I've been tuned in all day.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Heads up! We're going live for the day with the start of FRC matches!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Streams were stable all day yesterday, so I bumped all streams to 720p for today.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Hopper and Carson matches from yesterday are up on TBA.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Carver matches from yesterday are completed.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

this has been fantastically done so far. Engaging and well-informed conversation, and not a dull match in the mix

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Have you ever heard of the porticalis being ripped/completely tipped over well that just happened on curie in match 120

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

I definitely will! I was going to wait until Einstein's because if there are any matches to share with people it is definitely the final finals. Thank you for making content that I think will really engage people outside of the FIRST bubble. The commentary and explanations make it easier for family and friends to understand what's happening and what really makes a great match great.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

What a weekend...

Nearly 6K viewers on Twitch at Peak today. I look forward to reviewing our stats in the days to come, but for now I want to thank all the people who helped moderate the chat, and provide us with real time Alliance selection data. Huge thanks to Brian Smist, for all his help.

Thanks to FIRST, Twitch, TBA, the FIRSTChampLive crew, and all of you for tuning in!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Any chance of the #FIRSTChampLive stream being archived?

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

I have to say that these were the best FRC webcasts that I have ever watched. There were very few technical issues, the camera angles were great, and the video was good quality. The #FIRSTChampLive stream was an amazing way to watch Championship. Great commentary, interviews, and matches. Job well done.

THANK YOU Gamesense, FIRST, and Twitch!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Any word on posting the stream somewhere? I'd love to catch some of the content from today!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

We hope to get recordings of the content up within the next few days. STEMtv has the whole thing recorded, so it's all there!

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Thanks for putting in the work to make sure watching championship be an overall very enjoyable experience. Hope to see this back next year and enjoy your off season.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Thank you to everyone involved in the broadcasts for all your hard work. I think this is a huge step in growing interest for FIRST "outside the tent."

We had some mentors who couldn't make the trip to St. Louis, but they were watching the webcast and had nothing but great things to say about it. After we were eliminated on Saturday, I went across the street to my hotel to drop some things off. I ended up watching the stream from my room for the rest of the division playoffs, instead of going back to the dome. I think that says a lot about the quality of the production you guys put on.

Re: #FIRSTChampLIVE Announcement
 

Sounds like this went really well! I can't wait to watch the recordings.

Just a suggestion for next year. I appreciate what FIRST tries to do with the MCs (right? Or GAs?) between Einstein matches, but to be brutally honest, it just doesn't execute very well. Maybe you should see if GameSense can either train whomever is set to do the commentary next year to flow better, or have your hosts down there instead. I think the main issue is just throwing the conversation back and forth to each other, as well as transitioning and filling in gaps of awkward silence.