Kudos IRI Organizers and Volunteers!

[mwmac]

After watching today's webcast I want to thank all involved in putting this year's IRI event together and especially those who worked to take the webcast production values to a very high level. Multiple cameras, closeups and splitscreens have dramatically improved the viewing experience for those of us unable to attend. Special thanks to Chris Fultz, Andy Baker and Jeff Smith for a job well done!

[Pault]

I agree. They are listening to the people, and did everything that the people wanted them to do, from the lack of major rule changes to the better webcast.

Great job IRI committee!

[Foster]

Thanks to the video team and the people posting the scores from the sweltering East coast! Videos were great!! I cooked sweet corn, put out a Koko Ed Bobble Head doll and it was almost like being there!!!

Special thanks to all the volunteers that made this possible. I was impressed how close you stayed to scheduled match times. It made it easy to watch my favorite team compete.

[lynca]

Originally Posted by Pault

I agree. They are listening to the people, and did everything that the people wanted them to do, from the lack of major rule changes to the better webcast.

seconded , the webcast and real-time youtube video uploads were amazing. The audio levels were a little scattered but the youtube streaming quality was terrific.

How do other events get Youtube streaming? the youtube streaming policy states

you can apply for YouTube Live access from your Account Features page. Access to the feature will be granted gradually.

Has anyone had success with the youtube streaming process ?

[Deetman]

Originally Posted by lynca

seconded , the webcast and real-time youtube video uploads were amazing. The audio levels were a little scattered but the youtube streaming quality was terrific.

How do other events get Youtube streaming? the youtube streaming policy states


Has anyone had success with the youtube streaming process ?

I have not done it, but I was looking in to it. If your organization is a non-profit 501(c)(3) you can easily get live streaming. Otherwise, it looks like your youtube channel needs >1,000 subscribers to be able to stream.

[Steven Donow]

Are there any pictures of the trophies? Usually IRI has awesome ones.

[GaryVoshol]

They are awesome as usual. A pyramid shape with a disk in it. And the disk spins.

[Gregor]

Here's a trophy:

[Chris Fultz]

The trophies are the result of a great combination of work and collaboration from the team at AndyMark, Waterjet Cutting of Indiana and Colors, Inc.

They all do an awesome job to make these unique and special every year.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Foster

Thanks to the video team and the people posting the scores from the sweltering East coast! Videos were great!! I cooked sweet corn, put out a Koko Ed Bobble Head doll and it was almost like being there!!!

I have a bobble head?

[ayeckley]

Let me be the first person from FRC Team 2252 to also express our appreciation to the organizers, volunteers, participating teams and spectators. This was our first participatory trip to IRI, and we had an unparalleled experience. Our students and mentors are now more motivated than ever to earn an invitation to IRI 2014.

[mdituri]

I watched the webcast and it was fantastic. Quite honestly, the sound is not crucial. I try to ignore the sound at competitions because it is so loud anyway. I had the sound off on my computer and just watched the robots.

I have had many individuals say to me: "IRI was better than worlds...". They say that it is well run and the whole weekend is amazing.

I would love to set up streaming youtube for the MAR districts and championship. If anyone has experience with this and is willing to help MAR, please let me know. We will get on it ASAP. We can test it out at one of the pre-seasons.

[Robotmmm]

This was my first time attending IRI and it was simply amazing! From the incredible teams and awesome people, to the flawlessly run event I do not see how it can be topped. Every single match was like an elims at Champs.

Thank you to all those who worked so hard to make this event first class all the way!

[jason_zielke]

Thanks for all the great comments about IRI. We are all honored by your compliments and are happy to be able to host so many great teams!

As for youtube streaming, I am happy to help anyone interested head down that path. I did the work to get our account setup for Live Streaming. In order to get the access, we leveraged the status of IndianaFIRST as a 501(c)(3) organization to get approved under the Google for Non-Profits program. This was a multi-step process.

Youtube offers a few advantages over others including DVR, automatic archive, HD streaming and automatic conversion to lower resolutions that allows each viewer to stream at an appropriate quality level for his/her internet connection. I believe this last benefit significant improves the viewing experience for the at home and mobile audiences.

There are a couple disadvantages as well. Youtube has a fairly strict policy around audio copyrights and the support/knowledge base for live streaming on youtube is limited. As long as everything works, you are good...if not, it is not always easy to determine why.

As many of you may have noticed, we had to switch to Ustream for the finals at IRI. For some yet to be determined reason, Youtube decided about 1 p.m. to restrict our live streaming to a single stream. So, we stuck with the HD full field view on youtube and went to Ustream with the multi-camera stream.

Additionally, a couple of the archived videos from the full field camera and the archive of the multi-camera stream are currently restricted due to copyright issues because of background music. We attempted to use a separate audio input with just the field sounds, MC mic and Game Announcer mic but some of the music come through on the Announcer's mic. We still have more work to do to figure out a solution here.

Please feel free to PM me if you want help getting setup with a youtube account.

Also, a special thanks Team 2337 EngiNERDs and especially to Colin for manning the computer for all the individual match archives and Clinton for bringing the full-field GoPro camera setup.

[Jack_poldon]

On behalf of team 1310, I would like to thank all the volunteers and organizers at IRI. You all did a fantastic job. From the volunteers on the field to the volunteers in the concessions your contributions were greatly appreciated by all.

No wonder IRI is considered the best event in all of FIRST!!!