Coordinated Regional Video Archiving..

[Greg Marra]

Originally Posted by Doug G

Ok I've got 60 GB of MPEG 2 video from Davis Regional and am currently parsing it out. I'm confused on how to best save the match videos. If I use straight mpeg2 they're 90 MB each. WMV, 640x480 is 40 MB each. I can get them down to 10-20 MB but the resolution drops to 320x280. I can't use MovieMaker because if freezes when you ask it to load 60 GB of video. I recorded it in MPEG 2 format using a Pinnacle USB thing and their associated program Studio 10.

Any suggestions??

Otherwise I'll be posting it up as 40 MB WMV files. Sorry to eat up your hard drive SOAP.

I am working on a batch encoding script that will turn non-WMVs (such as MPEG2s (this is how we're getting Israel)) into pretty little xVids with zero labor. I am presently running into a little bit of trouble with the xVids playing back, which is weird because FLVs converted /from/ the xVids play just fine. Give me another week or so to work it out.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by Doug G

Ok I've got 60 GB of MPEG 2 video from Davis Regional and am currently parsing it out. I'm confused on how to best save the match videos. If I use straight mpeg2 they're 90 MB each. WMV, 640x480 is 40 MB each. I can get them down to 10-20 MB but the resolution drops to 320x280. I can't use MovieMaker because if freezes when you ask it to load 60 GB of video. I recorded it in MPEG 2 format using a Pinnacle USB thing and their associated program Studio 10.

Any suggestions??

Otherwise I'll be posting it up as 40 MB WMV files. Sorry to eat up your hard drive SOAP.

Doug,

I've run into a similar problem. The only solution I've found is to use TMPGEnc to parse files. You can use it to cut out individual matches from your MPGs. Instructions are here. I've then been using Blaze Media Pro to batch encode to WMV, sine Windows Media Encoder is choking on my files for some reason. Finally, I've used Tag&Rename to batch edit the WMV's metadata.

Advice if you're going this route. TMPGEnc seeks to the cut point in the file before you cut. And you cut each match individually, so the seek time for matches at the end of a 3+ hour MPG gets to be significant. I've been cutting the large MPG into 1 hour chunks first and then parsing matches out of the 1 hour chunks. I've also been getting fancy and cutting out the results screen individually. You can then de-multiplex the video stream of the results, and multiplex the video stream back into an MPG to remove audio. And then merge the results to the end of the match file to get a silent results screen. Also, when cutting using the TMPGEnc MPEG Tools, you can advance and rewind the video 1 frame at a time using left + right arrow keys, or ~4 seconds at a time by clicking the slider bar left or right of the marker. You can also set the cut points while the clip is playing, which is useful for finding dead air so you don't cut into the middle of the MC announcing.

Yes, this method is a bit time consuming, but it's the only way I've found for splitting my MPEG files. If your Pinnacle software lets you more easily parse out matches into MPGs easily, you can probably just use Blaze MP to simply batch encode them to WMV, and then Tag&Rename to edit metadata. Also, I'm really jealous of you. At any rate, I'm planning on using the "NTSC video for Broadband (1500 kbps)" setting for the Elims, and the (768 kbps) setting for everything else. It seems a good balance.

[+()c|D]

Originally Posted by M. Krass

SOAP is "Sigmac@t Opponent Analysis Program," and is, more informally, the nice group of folks who host archived videos of FIRST competitions. They provide the hosting space and bandwidth required to maintain an archive of these matches in a single place.

http://soap.circuitrunners.com/2007/movies/

It doesn't appear that they have Chesapeake videos available yet.

Major Thanks to 108... I was at the LV regional last week, and being the runner, the only good way to watch our matches was on the soap webcast...

and the soap people are more than just a nice group of people, they are an awesome bunch of people.

[Kevin Kolodziej]

The final few videos of the Wisconsin Regional are uploading as I type this. Enjoy!

Kev

[JJcos]

Well thanks to Travis from team 48, I have the Pittsburgh regional video converted from VHS (the FIRST feed) elimination rounds, to digital. I used my TV in card and ran the VCR through it to capture in MPEG format. Windows XP has that nice little "Movie Maker" program that allows you to import the MPEGs, edit and add effects then save as a .WMV file ready to upload to SOAP for the CD community. My dilemma is finding the link on SOAP to start uploading. Anybody use their site and can direct me to the link to upload ???


THANKS again Travis ! ! !

Joe J.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by JJcos

Well thanks to Travis from team 48, I have the Pittsburgh regional video converted from VHS (the FIRST feed) elimination rounds, to digital. I used my TV in card and ran the VCR through it to capture in MPEG format. Windows XP has that nice little "Movie Maker" program that allows you to import the MPEGs, edit and add effects then save as a .WMV file ready to upload to SOAP for the CD community. My dilemma is finding the link on SOAP to start uploading. Anybody use their site and can direct me to the link to upload ???


THANKS again Travis ! ! !

Joe J.

You're welcome! I'm glad the videos came out ok. Thank YOU for digitizing them for the community.

I'm sure someone will contact you very shortly on uploading to SOAP, but you also have YouTube and Google Video as additional upload destinations. It doesn't hurt to keep pushing FIRST video out into the public domain!

[soap108]

Originally Posted by JJcos

Well thanks to Travis from team 48, I have the Pittsburgh regional video converted from VHS (the FIRST feed) elimination rounds, to digital. I used my TV in card and ran the VCR through it to capture in MPEG format. Windows XP has that nice little "Movie Maker" program that allows you to import the MPEGs, edit and add effects then save as a .WMV file ready to upload to SOAP for the CD community. My dilemma is finding the link on SOAP to start uploading. Anybody use their site and can direct me to the link to upload ???


THANKS again Travis ! ! !

Joe J.

Joel J has all the login info ready for you.


*** We have reached our current limit of 35 GB. THANKS JOEL! I'll contact our host to bump up the quota so we can finish some regionals, and of course Championship.

**** In March we had over 1.5 TB of downloads!!! This is easily a new FIRST record. THANKS FRC COMMUNITY.

KA-108

[hipsterjr]

Will there be any video from the Palmetto Regional avaliable soon? Can't find any and just wondering

[lukevanoort]

Originally Posted by hipsterjr

Will there be any video from the Palmetto Regional avaliable soon? Can't find any and just wondering

It won't be for a while unless someone else has it. I still need to get my hands on our tapes, so I can get them to my aunts house for digitizing, and then parse them.

[Joe Ross]

Some of the matches for the San Diego Regional on SOAP are off by one.

The match that is labled #30 is really #29. From that point, they are off by 1 until match 61. After that they are correct again.

The match labeled 29 is really 61.

See Greg's post below...

[Greg Marra]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

Some of the matches for the San Diego Regional on SOAP are off by one.

The match that is labled #30 is really #29. From that point, they are off by 1 until match 61. After that they are correct again.

The match labeled 29 is really 61.


It would seem that the quick solution would be for someone with SOAP FTP access to rename the files correctly. However, they still have the wrong match numbers for the results at the end, so eventually it would seem that they would need to be reparsed.

Do not rename the videos, it is more likely a problem with FIRSTs scoring system. I will update this on TBA later today, but FIRSTs scoring system does a really poor job coordinating what is what. Unless the videos themselves say they are a different match, it is probably FIRSTs problem.

[Travis Hoffman]

Has SOAP expanded its storage capacity? I know there are people waiting to upload vids from Pittsburgh, Buckeye, and Greater Toronto yet.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by Travis Hoffman

Has SOAP expanded its storage capacity? I know there are people waiting to upload vids from Pittsburgh, Buckeye, and Greater Toronto yet.

Empirical investigation says no. So I'd guess we'll have to wait at least until monday. I'm still waiting to upload the second half of LSR quals and re-upload the awards, etc.

[mtaman02]

Originally Posted by Greg Marra

There are cheaper solutions if you look around a bit. The USB converter SOAP uses runs closer to $50. Also, a MiniDV Camcorder can be used in "VCR" mode to capture in external video instead of just playing back what it contains. So if you have a camera lying around, don't go spend more money.

My Canon MiniDV Camcorder works extremely well when recording off the FIRST feed. If I had known you guys needed help getting some footage done I would have lent a hand at the local regionals I attended. I'll keep this camcorder handy for next year. The program I use to capture the video from the camcorder to my PC is Intervideo DVD Creator 8 Plat. Which I think converts it to MPEG or something like that (must go check when I get a new firewire cable). Anyways I'll keep in touch. I know SOAP has got there own area for championships but if you need help w/ anything find me on archimedes or in the area I'll have my Canon w/ me setting up in the Archimedes Field.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by hipsterjr

Will there be any video from the Palmetto Regional avaliable soon? Can't find any and just wondering

I spoke with Donn Griffith following the event. Turns out that University Instructional Services, who coordinated one end of the webcast, made a copy as well, which is currently heading to 34 for parsing and uploading. I know absolutely nada past that.