Archiving Recorded Regionals 2008

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by 118 Tech

Hey Guys,

I am an Alumni from 118 and would like to help with this. I now work for SnapStream Media, a PC-DVR software company and have alot of knowledge of recording to computers. Originally I was wanting to interface the SDK from our software with the field software and create an automated recording solution, but have not been able to find the time to work on that.

Our software uses Hardware MPEG Encoding cards such as the Hauppage HVR-1600, or software MPEG Encoding such as the ADS-Tech Mini HD USB Stick. Our software can Record Directly to MEPG or WMV and has the capabilities to transcode to H.264. I can help you guys put together systems that would record directly to the computer and skip using VCRs. Using the 21 day Trial Mode you can use the software for FREE during the competitions.

Also if someone would like to try to interface with the field using our SDK, let me know so I could help you out with that.

Kevin, I would like to help you out in Houston for LSR. I would like to try something using our stuff that could help teams get better access match videos onsite. Maybe something with our RSS feed generator to host an onsite podcast for match video.

Guys feel free to PM me or contact me at chris(AT)snapstream(dot)com to let me know how I can help.

Chris

I think the key here would be hoping against hope that the Sundial folks have an inside track to interfacing their software package with the field control system. At that point, I think interfacing with your software would be relatively easy. In fact, at that point all sorts of interesting possibilities present themselves, like Sundial browsing past matches and having the video right there flash encoded for easy viewing. Having your software chop up matches into separate files will be rather useful, but it might still be a good idea to have the entire uncut video somewhere as well, as there are often important and/or funny events between matches.

[118 Tech]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

I think the key here would be hoping against hope that the Sundial folks have an inside track to interfacing their software package with the field control system. At that point, I think interfacing with your software would be relatively easy. In fact, at that point all sorts of interesting possibilities present themselves, like Sundial browsing past matches and having the video right there flash encoded for easy viewing. Having your software chop up matches into separate files will be rather useful, but it might still be a good idea to have the entire uncut video somewhere as well, as there are often important and/or funny events between matches.

That is one of the cool things about our software, we have the ability to clip files while they are recording. The original file will stay in tact, but our software will generate separate MPEG clips from the original.

If we could hook into the Field or Sundial, when we get an update with scores we could submit a file to be clipped, tag the file with team and score data, transcode to H.264 and coppied to a webserver auto-magically.

The H.264 files could be streamed from a web-server using flash or just hosted.

[aksimhal]

Chris, what exactly are we supposed to download from the SnapStream site? (BTW, I was browsing the site, and it looks really cool). Also, what hardware would be needed?

Thanks,
Anish

[118 Tech]

To setup a digital recording setup, the what you need from our site is our software. Download Page We have a 21 day trial so you can use our software at the competitions during that trial period. Our software will work with most consumer TV capture cards. My recommendation for a capture cards is the Hauppauge HVR-1600, ~$90. Search google for "HVR-1600". It is a hardware MPEG encoding card. It is available from Amazon, Newegg and some other brick and mortar retailers like Best Buy and Frys.

With those two pieces you need a Windows PC and some hard drive space. With this rig, you will be able to record the competitions digitally then clip them with some third party software. I recommend either VideoReDo or Womble. These programs work best for clipping video generated by caputre cards.

If someone with programming experience is down for the challenge. I would like to see what we could put together using our software's SDK and the field controls. Again I don't have much time to spend working on this, but would be willing to help however as I can, anyone willing to try to do some automation with the field.

- Chris

[aksimhal]

Thanks, I don't have a TV capture card, but I'll ask around. How large do you expect the files to be? (like 1 GB for an hour?). Also, is there any free (open source) software available to clip files. I also thought that the SnapStream could clip video.

Another question, since the VCU regional is broadcasted on NASA TV, is this a way to bypass the TV capture card?

Thanks a million,
Anish

[Jonathan Norris]

Originally Posted by aksimhal

Thanks, I don't have a TV capture card, but I'll ask around. How large do you expect the files to be? (like 1 GB for an hour?). Also, is there any free (open source) software available to clip files. I also thought that the SnapStream could clip video.

Another question, since the VCU regional is broadcasted on NASA TV, is this a way to bypass the TV capture card?

Thanks a million,
Anish

Allright I was planning on doing this in one big post, but my advice (it was recomended to me last year) is to use the KWorld Xpert DVD Maker USB 2.0 Video Capture Device as a capture device. Its the cheapest USB capture device that I have found (if you do not already have video inputs on your computer). It takes video from the A/V component connection provided by FIRST and lets you record it directly to your computer. (I found a way to use this with a mac if anyone is interested, I used it with my PC last year but have recently upgraded to a mac)

For capturing it you can use any video capture program, quicktime pro does a great job of recording directly to .h264 at 640X480 (max resolution) at 1500 Kbps. Which looks great, and is probably higher bit rate then needed. I'll post more detail about how to use different capture programs, I am testing a bunch out trying to find one i really like.

[Jonathan Norris]

Chris I have been playing arround with your program and was wondering if there is anyway to record to mpg4 or .h264 with it?? Because i can only get it to record to DIVX, WMV, or mpg2.

[Jonathan Norris]

looks like my dreams of finding a direct to h264 recording software is crashing in my face, the best i can do is quicktime pro in 320X240 2400 kbps... I am really looking for something that will record in 640X480 at arround 1500kbps. If anyone knows of a software solution that will work let me know... right now it looks like I will be recording in a different format (maybe even wmv), and reencoding it all to h264 when i have it cut up. I am still hunting for a solution (mac or windows).

[Scott L.]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Norris

looks like my dreams of finding a direct to h264 recording software is crashing in my face, the best i can do is quicktime pro in 320X240 2400 kbps... I am really looking for something that will record in 640X480 at arround 1500kbps. If anyone knows of a software solution that will work let me know... right now it looks like I will be recording in a different format (maybe even wmv), and reencoding it all to h264 when i have it cut up. I am still hunting for a solution (mac or windows).

http://www.dspr.com/www/products/vid...ci_encoder.htm

This is a hardware solution that claims from what i read to do real time encoding. not a solution for a laptop, but would fit in a desktop or rackmount case, could be controlled using a laptop setting on top of it (start the capture through remote desktop than unhook the laptop till the end when you reconnect it to stop the capture.

[118 Tech]

Originally Posted by Scott L.

http://www.dspr.com/www/products/vid...ci_encoder.htm

This is a hardware solution that claims from what i read to do real time encoding. not a solution for a laptop, but would fit in a desktop or rackmount case, could be controlled using a laptop setting on top of it (start the capture through remote desktop than unhook the laptop till the end when you reconnect it to stop the capture.

Well its in the horizon, but its not there yet.
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080110006038&newsLan g=en
Probably next year, but this product is not going to release anytime soon.

During the competition you could record using our recording software. While the competition is recording use VideoReDo to clip matches out of the original video, even while the DVR is recording to that file. Transcode to H.264 with our software to an equal quality as the original at 1x speeds, or lesser quality at >1x speeds.

If you clip the matches right after one has completed, your delay would be about 3-5 minutes.

[Jonathan Norris]

Here is the updated list: We have 21 Regionals covered! half way there!

Regional                                         Volunteer
Suffield Shakedown
Rochester Rally                                 Ed Patterson (Koko Ed, team 191)
Week 1
BAE Systems Granite State Regional              Kyle Fenton (team 121) *may need parser
Midwest Regional 
New Jersey Regional                             SOAP (team 108)
Oregon Regional                                 Madison Krass (M. Krass, team 488)
St. Louis Regional 
Week 2
Arizona Regional                                Andrew (Donut, team 498)
Finger Lakes Regional                           Ed Patterson (Koko Ed, team 191)
Greater Kansas City Regional
NASA / VCU Regional                             Anish (aksimhal, team 1123)
San Diego Regional                              AJ (ay2b, team 980)
Week 3
Boilermaker Regional                            Mike Aalderink (mike AA, team 2015)
Brazil Regional                                 sloteera (team 1860), Bruno (Thexder, team 1382)
Chesapeake Regional 
Connecticut Regional 
Detroit Regional 
Florida Regional                                SOAP (team 108)
Peachtree Regional 
Pittsburgh Regional 
Silicon Valley Regional                         AJ (ay2b, team 980)
Wisconsin Regional                              Kevin Kolodziej  (team 1675)
Week 4
Buckeye Regional                                David Thomas (blakcheez, team 964)
Lone Star Regional                              Kevin Sevcik (team 57)
Los Angeles Regional                            AJ (ay2b, team 980)
Microsoft Seattle Regional                      Madison Krass (M. Krass, team 488)
Oklahoma City Regional 
UC Davis Sacramento Regional 
Waterloo Regional                               Jonathan Norris (team 610)
West Michigan Regional                          Mike Aalderink (mike AA, team 2015)
Israel Regional 
Week 5
Bayou Regional 
Boston Regional                                 Greg Marra (The Blue Alliance)
Colorado Regional 
Great Lakes Regional 
Greater Toronto Regional 
Hawaii Regional 
Las Vegas Regional 
Minnesota Regional 
Palmetto Regional 
Philadelphia Regional
SBPLI Long Island Regional 
Championship                                    SOAP (team 108)

[aksimhal]

So, just as a recap, I need to bring:

• Laptop (I've got a PC. What are the minimum specs needed?)
• A TV capture card. (Is there a cheap one, and what exactly is it and what does is do?)
• Some Software. I think SnapStream is all I need.

If there is anything else I need to bring/download, please let me know.

Thanks,
Anish