FRC Youtube Uploader - Instant Match Uploading Tool in Python

[Metonym]

Through my experience running live streams in Indiana and PNW over the last 4 years, I have worked to streamline the streaming and archiving process as much as possible. One of the biggest bottlenecks in the process has been the tedious process of uploading matches to YouTube, which consumes at least one volunteer's day and leaves everybody wondering why a computer can't do it. For the longest time we have just had someone do it by copying the information from a text file for every form field.

I got fed up with that and have developed a Python tool that automatically uploads videos to youtube with relevant information including playlists, tags, description, and custom thumbnails. The tool is also integrated with TBA to add alliance members and scores to the description, as well as adding videos to the respective matches on the event's TBA page.

I have been developing this tool for the past few months and after testing at two Indiana events it is time to move to a closed beta test with the goal of a finished product before the 2017 competition season. I am looking for a few events who would be interested in testing the software in the coming weeks. The only requirement is that the event have a method to capture individual match videos and save them to local media. For example, PNW and Indiana use Blackmagic Design's H.264 Encoder and Media Express to do this because they can specify the filename and automatically increment the match number.

If you would like to participate drop me a PM and we can discuss getting it setup for your event.

Otherwise, feel free to ask questions and look over the code. If anyone has experience packaging for pip let me know cause I could really use some help with that.

Git Repository: https://github.com/NikhilNarayana/FRC-YouTube-Uploader

Change log:
V2.1 (October 17th, 2016):
- New extra script to update old descriptions with TBA match info (Thanks to Hallry for giving me the idea).
- Fix bug that was preventing qf4m1, qf4m2, sf2m1, and sf2m2 from being uploaded.

V2.0 (October 16th, 2016):
-Web GUI
-Save form data between uses in case of crashes
-Bug fixes

Example image:

[Peyton Yeung]

So that's how you get those uploaded so quickly.

[ctt956]

This is a great idea. While I don't currently stream events, I do record videos of some matches. I can see how a tool like this would be very useful.

[BenDSterling]

I love this idea! I'll have to talk to the rest of the Georgia AV team about using this.

[Metonym]

Originally Posted by BenDSterling

I love this idea! I'll have to talk to the rest of the Georgia AV team about using this.

Thanks for the support. Be sure to let me know when you use it, I want to try to keep track of every event that makes use of it. If you have any special requests to adapt the program for your schema message me and I can fix it up for you.

[plnyyanks]

Nice work, this is a great tool!

When it comes time to add the videos to TBA, you can get write keys for the event by getting in touch and we'll generate them for you.

[lynca]

Thanks for sharing !
Should this code be integrated into the Blue Alliance website ?

[Metonym]

Originally Posted by lynca

Thanks for sharing !
Should this code be integrated into the Blue Alliance website ?

I don't think any of the code would work like that. It depends on local files, though uploading files is possible with various changes but that would just cause strain on their servers.

Additionally, it is a niche tool within a niche community, I know most people won't use it, but the people that do will be very happy to be relieved of all the work it does for them.

[cbale2000]

Neat looking tool, might have to take a look at it for our event.
It reminds me a lot of the FRC Video Splitter tool that got posted a while back (minus the video splitting part) which also had the ability to upload to YouTube automatically

Originally Posted by Metonym

I don't think any of the code would work like that. It depends on local files, though uploading files is possible with various changes but that would just cause strain on their servers.

Additionally, it is a niche tool within a niche community, I know most people won't use it, but the people that do will be very happy to be relieved of all the work it does for them.

I'm pretty sure FiM coordinated with TBA this past year to format all of the video titles in such a way that TBA could grab them automatically from the FiM YouTube channel. Might be something to ask the TBA admins about.

[Metonym]

Originally Posted by cbale2000

Neat looking tool, might have to take a look at it for our event.
It reminds me a lot of the FRC Video Splitter tool that got posted a while back (minus the video splitting part) which also had the ability to upload to YouTube automatically

It was a bit inspired by Ty's tool, I liked how he put the match data in the description, so I added that in as a feature (as well as a way to retroactively do it to a playlist). But the rest of it was built almost specifically with how PNW (and thus Indiana) setup their titles, descriptions, tags, and such. Especially the part where we upload as the event is happening.

Originally Posted by cbale2000

I'm pretty sure FiM coordinated with TBA this past year to format all of the video titles in such a way that TBA could grab them automatically from the FiM YouTube channel. Might be something to ask the TBA admins about.

Interesting, I never heard about that. I guess there is the title matching code that could be used to find matches that used the default schema, but I might have to rewrite it to accept TBA's format for match_codes. Either way I implemented TBA's trusted API to write the YouTube links immediately which is probably far more efficient.

[plnyyanks]

Originally Posted by Metonym

I guess there is the title matching code that could be used to find matches that used the default schema, but I might have to rewrite it to accept TBA's format for match_codes. Either way I implemented TBA's trusted API to write the YouTube links immediately which is probably far more efficient.

Yeah, the trusted API is the optimal flow here, because it's less work on the moderator's side. However, TBA did implement a feature where you could suggest a YouTube playlist and we'll do some regex matching on the video titles to auto-import them: https://github.com/the-blue-alliance...ance/pull/1437

I wrote the regex to be the same as titles generated by Ty's video splitter, since it was really the only standard out there.

[AllenGregoryIV]

I'm going to try to get this working this weekend for Remix. We'll let you know if we get it working.

We currently upload after each match but we just do it manually so they normally don't have the scores in the description, etc.

[Metonym]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

I'm going to try to get this working this weekend for Remix. We'll let you know if we get it working.

We currently upload after each match but we just do it manually so they normally don't have the scores in the description, etc.

Will you be using the event wizard to update match scores to TBA? Because I believe that is a requirement to make that part work for off seasons.

If you can't figure something out or want a specific feature or naming schema let me know, I'll be open to making changes all weekend.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by Metonym

Will you be using the event wizard to update match scores to TBA? Because I believe that is a requirement to make that part work for off seasons.

If you can't figure something out or want a specific feature or naming schema let me know, I'll be open to making changes all weekend.

Yes we always use the event wizard for scores, rankings, and match videos. Thanks for the help, I'll PM you if we run into any trouble.

[gc_coxen]

This seems really helpful for events. How does it connect to a specific YouTube channel? Does someone have to press submit each time they want to upload a new match or does a script handle this? Is there anything in place to prevent duplicate uploads of the same video?

Hope to try this out at girls gen this weekend.