Re: Website that has video's from every match
 

As Mike alluded to, recording videos is hard work. The Blue Alliance is primarily run and almost entirely programmed by Greg Marra, with support from Tom Bottiglieri, Chris Jelly, and myself, but admittedly all of us combined don't come near Greg's contributions. Increasingly, each of us has had less and less time as we get farther into engineering studies, or the workforce. Nevertheless, Greg programmed an awesome new modular version of TBA this year with assistance from Brandon of CD and others, and while its not the same as the old site, its meant to run into the future and has behind the scenes support for new features like compiling videos of matches from different sources [team websites, youtube, vimeo, etc.], automatic video encoding, and just general lower maintenance.

However, everything boils down to the content. Each year we rely on teams and individuals to record regionals, split the videos into individual matches, and get them to us - at which point we convert them and get them into the system. It's a very labor intensive process, and in recent years its been harder and harder to recruit people to do it. We try our best to facilitate it by having Pinnacle recording boxes that we ship out to regionals, where all teams have to do is hit Go, but its still very hard.

We're working on our end to improve the organizational tidbits of making sure videos get converted in a timely manner, the website gets brought back up to speed, and Greg has some free time outside of work and writing TBA. But what we really need is you. We need people to step up and volunteer to record regionals, people who can parse matches, and people who can help us organize that effort. It can be as much of a time commitment as people want it to be, but we need people who will commit to helping during the season, because inevitably people will push this off for more pressing responsibilities, and TBA is understaffed already. If you want to help, and you want to see more matches on the internet, get in touch with Greg, Mike, or myself. We'd love to get more people involved and get the community helping the way it did back in 2007 and 2008. The website has continued to grow at amazing rates, even with fluctuating amounts of video each year. Last year we saw over a 25% rise in visits to the site compared to 2009, and there's still lots of room to grow - we're just at the mercy of volunteers.

Re: Website that has video's from every match
 

I'm pretty sure there are 3 complete Michigan districts on youtube. Can't TBA embed those videos on to the site instead of waiting for someone to volunteer to upload them? I'm not the most tech savy person so that may not be possible, but that seems to be a lot easier solution to get more video on TBA and in one central place.

Re: Website that has video's from every match
 

I have a Pinnacle video transfer device that you can have for your group, if you'd like. It takes video in from RCA (yellow, red, white)/Svideo ports and converts out to a USB drive. As long as you unload the videos as the disk fills up, you can reuse the device.

If you would like to have the device, PM me with an address to send it to.

Re: Website that has video's from every match
 

If you're interested, any video on YouTube can be linked into FIRSTObjective.org. Not only does FIRST Objective allow for comments and ratings of videos, all videos are now accessible through iPhone & iPod Touch (in beta).

Adding videos to FIRST Objective not only allows all FIRST teams access to competition footage, it also is a great way for the general public (non-FIRST people) to experience a FIRST competition.

I'm not saying to not add videos to TBA, FIRST Objective's intended audience is slightly broader and may encourage more people to get involved in FIRST.

Re: Website that has video's from every match
 

We want to do this eventually, but we don't have the code written to embed YouTube videos yet.

I've been bogged down with other things and not able to dedicate as much time to TBA during the season as I'd like, but if anyone would like to learn more about how to get involved in hacking on the site or uploading videos, please reach out and we will figure out how to help :-)

Re: Website that has video's from every match
 

Ok cool. I thought it was as easy as just copying the embeded video link.

Re: Website that has video's from every match
 

Yes and no. If you embed it does simply show the youtube window. It would be better to simply have the video file it self on TBA. Which I am donloading as we speak. I found some software that downloads youtube files when you view them. I shold have all the regionals that are on youtube in a day or so uploaded to TBA and firstvideoarchive.com The files are flv but I am also in contact with someone from the teams who have uploaded to youtube to get the raw video files.

Re: Website that has video's from every match
 

I asked the Video crew from the Florida Regional if we could record the matches on an external device so they could be uploaded online, and I was denied. I was told the matches were being recorded and sent directly to FIRST. What FIRST does with them, I have no clue, nor who the contact person is that has access to them.

Re: Website that has video's from every match
 

I had that issue last year at West Michigan, then I got ahold of the person running the show and they told the video crew to let me hook on once I explained what I do with the video. I think sometimes they think the video is being sent to FIRST, the only information that I have been able to tell is getting sent is the match information, no video.

Re: Website that has video's from every match
 

Check out keepvid.com


Using keepvid, you usually get a choice of FLV or MP4 format, and quality level.

Using Format Factory, you can convert FLV or MP4 to whatever video format you need.

VirtualDub is a quick way to extract the desired portions from the video and save them as separate files.

These are all freeware.

Re: Website that has video's from every match
 

To add YouTube videos to FIRST Objective, simply login (registration is quick and free) and pick on the video link. Next click on the Upload button and select the "Add a video from an external website". Click Continue and paste the video's YouTube URL into the text box and select the appropriate category. Finish by clicking on Add.

As I mentioned before, you will then be able to watch, rate and comment on videos either from a web browser or from an iPhone / iPod Touch.

Re: Website that has video's from every match
 

Looks like FIRST came through with some Florida Regional Videos!
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/robotics...regional-2011/

if you missed me doing the cotton-eye joe on stilts, check out QF-4 video