Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Aces High team 176 is again hosting a pre-shipdate scrimmage. This years scrimmage, titled Suffield Shakedown, is going to be on Feb 16th, 2008. The competition will be held at the Suffield High School. Registration fees are $75 in advance and $100 at the door. Registration will be limited. If you are interested in attending please email Arlene Willett at saw869@cox.net.

You can check our website for updated information.

This year we hope to include a FTC and an FLL scrimmage aswell

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

YAY!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait!!!!!

THANK YOU ACES HIGH!!!


Jacob

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

This is going to be an awesome event - "shaking down" the new FRC game! And I'm excited about our FTC scrimmage as well! AND FLL there, too? Woot! A smorgasbord of FIRST! Invite your policiticans, invite your school administrators, aunts, uncles, grandparents and neighbors!

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Kathy is right, get your politicans now! John Burns and I taped the module we are presenting live at Kick Off workshops (entitled "Deans Homework", coming soon to a website near you) last week and one of the things we stress is contacting your State and Federal Congressmen and Senators, Mayors, school boards memebers, city councilors, any and every politician and GET THEM TO AN EVENT. Do you want supprot from these people? (support = money or just them not saying no to whatever you want to do) Show them where you shine, at an event.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Wow, in less then 24 hours we had 11 teams express an interest in attending.

Warning: There are only 30 team openings.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Matt, who can I contact to be able to volunteer on the field at this event? (I'd prefer field reset if possible.)
I'm signed up in TIMS for official events, but don't think that applies here.
If someone can get back to me about this I'd appreciate it.
Thanks.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Wow.
It's almost filled up already.
That's impressive.
Actually that's N.E.R.D.S. for you.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Aces has put on this top-notch event as long as I can remember. It's quite a schlep to get to, but it's worth it! The lessons learned from seeing FRC robots play for the first time are invaluable.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

What do you mean, "Quite a schlep". It's right around the corner! :D

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Suffield Shakedown not only will have the FRC scrimmage of "Overdrive" but also an FTC scrimmage of "Quad Quandary", a demo by FLL, and a special area for younger folk hosted by DreamFIRST!

Spots for the FTC scrimmage are also limited so contact me if your FTC team would like to sign up. And we can use a few volunteers also!

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Good News: The event is filled within two days.:cool:
Bad News : No play time for the rookie teams.:(

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

If one of the nearby rookies wants to attend, we will make room for them!

If anyone has contact with rookies in Western Mass or Vermont let them know about the scrimmage.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Please share with your mentors (especially new ones): if anyone is interested in attending a NEMO (Non-Engineering Mentor Organization) meeting at the Suffield Shakedown, please contact me ASAP so I can reserve a room.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Rats, didn't even have time to bring it up with the team yet. :( Oh well, there's other events...

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Helloooo from the NE :D
Well here we go only a few days for build and then TJ2 will be in CT. We at TJ2 hope all is well with all the teams, we are working hard to get things done (but are we ever done)????? See you Soooooooon
oh yeah ????? OH YEAH !!!!! Team 88 TJ2 and MOE :yikes:

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

I would like to remind/inform anyone that can't attend but wants to see what's happening (Because seeing the game in action can be very helpful), the webcast will be made available soon from the home page of http://shsrobotics.org .

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

I cant wait for saturday!!

WHOS READY TO GO INTO OVERDRIVE

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Everyone Ready for the Suffield Shakedown??? T-minus 22 hours and 48 minutes till pits open!!!! Can't Wait to see everyone there:cool:

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Be sure to check out: NEMO meeting at 10am (room TBD) - let your mentors know...

FTC Scrimmage - 8:30am to 3pm or so... auditorium

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

I'm stunned that this hasn't got more attention. Tommorow is the big scrimmage , an all star cast attending! The only scrimmage with an official FIRST field, full webcast, and the truest test of how this game is going to pan out until regionals! Don't forget to check it out, hope to see you all there!

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Woooo!!! Road trip to Springfield, MA tonight, and then off to Suffield Shakedown tommorrow morning!

Can't wait! :D

See everyone there! :)

Good luck to all those brave enough to compete so early in the season this year! :cool:

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

See you all there guys. Team 999 is coming. It going to be very intresting to see how this game plays out.

Good Luck Everyone!

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Elgin feel free (if u have time) to stop by the agawam high school we will be there tonight from 6 till when we finsh the robot. were in the back parking lot.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Hellooooo from the NE :D
Well Sat. is near I guess we will find out how things will go !!!! We will leave about 5:45 AM hope to see a great turn out. I think this will be a fun time for all in attendance. Seeeeee all sooooooon ------:yikes:
oh yeah ????? OH YEAH !!!!!
Team 88 TJ2 and MOE

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

When does the webcast start streaming?

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

We'll start streaming as soon as we get to Suffield. We should be up and running when the practice matches start at 9:00 AM EST.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Have fun guys!! We'll be watching you on the webcast as we finish the robot!!

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

If anyone is able to record individual matches off the webcast, The Blue Alliance would love to post them on our site. We will be getting a full copy of the event, but it won't be chopped into matches. If anyone can record a redundant copy, especially if it is cut into matches, that would be tremendously useful and we'd be sure to give you credit for the first videos of FIRST Overdrive matches online :)

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Is the webcast active? I cannot seem to connect to it.

Anyone connected out there?

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Update: Currently have video, but no audio.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Webcat isn't working at all.
All I get is this:
<ASX Version="3.0">
<ENTRY>
<Ref href = "http://159.247.235.150/Team230" />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Point VLC or another video player at "http://www.shsrobotics.org./webcast.asx" and it will work.

There's video but no audio, which will make following the action (including knowing what match it is) much more difficult.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

I just sent a few text messages out to people to see if they could fix it...we will see what happens

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Audio just came on. Scratchy, but okay.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Why am I only getting pictures every 10 seconds and not actual video?

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Now, I'm seeing realtime scoring with green screen and no video feed. I know this is a shakedown. Hopefully, the two can be merged shortly.

Audio is gone again, too.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

I have the score / time keeper, video, and sound...Everything is working here in WMP!

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

We're seeing video, but at roughly .2 frames per second. Couldn't hear audio, but that doesn't mean anything.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

How long before the match archives are going to be up on TBA because the video stream is terrible. It's like watching a slideshow.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

I am having no issues with video and still have audio. Its not the best quality ever, but its fluid.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

I am anticipating getting the entire event as one giant block of video. My plan is to release the video to the community to help slice it into matches. Watch for a thread about that. It will probably be up before ship, but the main thing is how quickly we get our hands on the video after the event ends.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

I have been able to see audio, video, and real time scoring (even though it appears that hurdles are not being fully counted) for the past hour or so.

Looks good. Thanks to all who have made it possible for us at home to live vicariously through this webcast/scrimmage!

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

A couple of practice matches ago, the announcer said that a lap counter fell off a robot. In that case, who would be counting their laps? I would assume a ref would, but wouldn't that make their lives that much more complicated and hectic, as I don't see any more than two refs there? Yes, I'm aware that it's a practice round.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

It's looking good, steam is just fine, resets every minute or so to reload.
Sound is fine too
Great work guys!
i am using real player BTW...

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

My stream is fine... but what are we seeing? Are they preparing for the first "real" match?

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Woody flowers is currently speaking...

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

this is sweet wmp works great for me!! this is nice to see!!

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Great performance by the Gaelhawks! 20 points solo in hybrid, 3 laps, 2 hurdles, and a placement at the end for 54 points by themselves. Nicely done!

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

anyone know who andy grady's co-announcer is? he has made some "interesting" comments

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

lol... I don't know who that guy was but he was awesome... :p

(In case you are wondering he made some comments over the PA about someone's mom coming to live with him and the website BoysBouncingBalls.com, among other things... :eek: )

I really enjoyed the scrimmage.. but the video quality was pretty low and it froze alot... any chance of uploading higher quality versions of the games?

-Leav

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Although he was very enthusiastic, I'd have to agree - our kids asked us to mute after a while (because of some mildly inappropriate stuff) so that they could still scout the matches without listening to what was being said.

Scrimmage looked good - wish we had one here. Seems like a really good opportunity, and I was surprised to see so many robots that were looking GREAT this close to ship date.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

He is a dj from one of the radio stations in Hartford.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Well we were sending the webcast at about 250kbps and it looked good comming back to us from our website. There are a few things I can suggest going forward

1) Play Window Media Video Content in Windows Media Player. If your having issues with another player dont blame it on the webcast. I do global webcasts for companies with several hundred thousand employees, I know what I'm doing. If I want to watch real content I know I will get best results in Real Player, QT content in QT player, and Flash content in a Flash player application. Though other players like VLC seem to handle multiple types of files, you are adding something different to the mix when you streaming from video servers. Its no longer just a codec/player question, there is communication betweeen the player and the server as well.

2) The video is a standard 320x240 window. I played my at 200 percent and it still held up fine if you do somthing crazy like blow it up to full screen and expect it to look like it does at 100% then please dont blame it on the webcast. I could send out a 600k stream but only half of you would be able to see it as we have to limit the number of connections based on bandwidth. So I figure its less selfish and more gracious to allow more people to watch the files than to have half as many. So we may push the quality to 300kbps for the regional, but we are trying to host for the entire first community so please keep that in mind.

3) somebody talked about projecting it... again you take a small file and blow it up, you lose quality. So please dont fuss if thats what you are doing.

4) thank you to all those who watched it.

Before somone says, but we always play full screen or project it or what ever.... I will tell you that we normally have a manually opperated camera that zooms in and follows the action, but we opted for a stationary camera for several reasons. It allows our students to focus on the event and not running a camera. It is much better for scouting, since you can see almost the entire field and every robot. When we follow the action there are always 3-4 robots that get left off camera for portions of the match. And at a First Regional there is a PAID video crew with several cameras and live production equipment. We typically take their feed and rebroadcast that at a regional (we do the CT regional every year, and in the past we have done Las Vegas and this year New Orleans - we basically volunteer the service if one doesnt exist when we attent). We are volunteering our time, equipment, and knowedge, and we want to enjoy the event and not kill ourselves in the process. We couls rent cameras, crew, switchers, ect... but then the attendees flip the bill since they'd have to charge more... and they are less likely to need the webcast since, well... they are attendees!

SO this is not a typical video feed to compaired to a typical Kick-off/Regional webcast as we are not giving a closeup picture of people/robots that can withstand the artifacting and breakup that happens when stretching images.

I hope those with issues take this as helpful advise and not criticism. If my intent was to criticise I could have chosen much different words!!!

Good luck to everyone in the final days.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Thank you for the webcast, Steve, I enjoyed watching it!

And for what it's worth, I prefer the angle you guys went with rather than the zooming in and out that we usually have to deal with. It's easier to see more of the action with a wide view.

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Is there anyway to watch the event now? Is there a link or somthing?

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Helloooo from the NE :D
Thanks again to the Aces High Team 176 and all the volunteers what a great competition it was, please put us on the list again, TJ2 will be attending in 2009. We had a great time with our 2 bots (yes we did pick one) before we left CT late Sat. night. This scrimmage gave us some super drive time.

(ANDY GRADY) is an AWESOME announcer (He is the voice of the North East)

THANK YOU AGAIN Team 176 you are ACES

Good Luck to all the great FIRST Teams in 2008

Thanks again Team 88 TJ2 and MOE :yikes:

oh yeah ???? OH YEAH !!!!

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Hey, I was wondering if there was a place to view the recording of the web cast. If anyone can direct me or send me the footage (complete unedited version is fine) it would be helpful.

Thanks tom

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

I would also like to know if the archieving of the competition is going to be put up somewhere, and if so where?? and when?

Re: Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage
 

Hi guys. I am working on getting a slightly editied version of the event. I have a plan on how to do it fairly painlessly (i think) I will get a link up as soon as possible. Thanks for the interest!

Basically there was a lot of downtime so I want to edit that out to some extent to make it a more practical file. A contact a NASA webcast team has offered to host as well as another resource of ours. We were able to expand the visibility of FIRST by having the events stream from a CT Sports website that is a central location for High Scool and regional sports. They also loaned us some equipment to help us elimiate lugging some of our computers arround. If you can click to their site and have a look around. (for support purposes) They will also host an archive when we get it up to them.

http://www.sportingnewsct.com/