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Unread 11-03-2002, 00:02
Jeff Jeff is offline
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#0122 (NASA Knights)
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Hampton, VA
Posts: 5
Jeff will become famous soon enough
Joe - Willing to give it a try . . .

Joe,

I'd have to say that I do not think I agree with you, but I am willing to set up a test. I and a few others from NASA have been responsible for webcasting both the NASA/VCU and Philly regionals for the past several years, and I have spent a considerable amount of time watching different webcasts. I DO agree that sometimes what is displayed on screen is not even close to what remote or even local viewers really need to see in order to understand what is happening on the field. Sometimes the video is more of an "interest shot" - a close up of robot interactions, smoke beginning to come out of a robot, an robot flipped upside down with wheels madly spinning, etc, while the issues determining the outcome of the game are taking place off camera. But when my group does webcasts, we try and have them up for the Thursday practice rounds as well when the ONLY camera feed that is active from FIRST is usually the fixed, full-field view. And my personal thoughts are that while this does provide the big picture and may even be a better quality streamed image (due to a smaller percentage of the actual image changeing with each frame), you miss so much of the detail that it becomes rather maddening. BUT . . .

I'm willing to propose a test. If I can make the necessary arrangements to webcast the Philadelphia event in two weeks, I can provide a full-field, static view from a NASA camera, and patch in the FIRST audio (so that you would not hear the crowd noise from the camera mic and would get the annoiuncer's play-by-play calls). IF (IF, IF, IF) there is interest on the part of enough of you (FIRST team members), AND you will provide feedback, then I will try and set this up: One full competition (Philly) with only a static camera angle of the entire field. Let me be clear that even if this test does prove to be the best way to webcast an event, it DOES NOT mean that NASA or FIRST would commit to doing things this way in the future - it owul djust be a data point to help make future decisions.

So now it is up to you - would you all really like to try this out?