GTR Webcast

[Steve W]

I just reposted the links because I also got directed to the wrong place. It seems to go to the right place now.

[Phyrxes]

I can now access the site and get the option to view the clips but they don't begin streaming when I select them.

[Steve W]

Originally Posted by Phyrxes

I can now access the site and get the option to view the clips but they don't begin streaming when I select them.

Did you install the software?

[Vikesrock]

Just an FYI to those trying to test these links, I had to use IE to access them not Firefox. You also have to click the message to install Silverlight if you do not already have it.


After taking care of those 2 things it worked fine for me here in MN.

[Phyrxes]

Yes after installing the software and trying it with Firefox and IE, though it may be having issue with the school system's proxy.

Edit: I'll check it when I get home since it appears our proxy is having issues.

[Nawaid Ladak]

great to hear this news, this is the regional taht i look forward to on webcasts for the past couple of years

just a few quick questions

1. Will the music be faded out like last yer's webcast

2. Will this be broadcasted at all on the actual Canadian Discovery TV channel, and if so, will it be in HD?

3. any chance more teams or indivisuals can get together from the US and try to do something liek this for some of the US regionals? That would be really nice,

I would love a color comintator, unfortunitly, it probally will not be Karthik (in my opinion, the John Madden or Dick Vitael of FIRST Announcing and Analisys). because he will be busy being the MC as far as i know

[Bongle]

Originally Posted by Nawaid Ladak

1. Will the music be faded out like last yer's webcast

2. Will this be broadcasted at all on the actual Canadian Discovery TV channel, and if so, will it be in HD?

1. I think so. I think Steve said in last year's thread that the music was faded out because Discovery doesn't have a license to rebroadcast it as a for-profit corporation, whereas NASA can rebroadcast it via their webcasts. The music we heard was background picked up by the camera's mic, while on the NASA broadcasts it is directly fed into the webcast.

2. Substantial amounts of highlights and background have found their way onto daily planet in the past (they had a big follow-along piece with 188 in 2006), but actual live coverage isn't likely.

For HD, I proposed last year that one team find an HD camcorder, place it so it can see an entire field, record every match, and torrent the whole thing in a compressed format afterwards. Many teams without cameras of their own would probably appreciate this.

[Dillon Compton]

It's working in PA.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Links worked fine from Texas. I'm also using Firefox and didn't have to bother installing Silverlight or anything. When it asks you to please install Silverlight, there's a link that says "Watch the video without Silverlight" which brought up a standard streaming WMV for me. You might need Silverlight for the actual live streams during the regional, of course. I don't know that either option is terribly appealing to the Linux crowd, of course...

Also, not to put words in the mouth of the Discovery Channel IT folks, but it might be useful for people with non-working connections to list their internet providers as well. You can generally figure this out by opening a command prompt and running a traceroute. So something like "tracert www.yahoo.com" then the first entry with an actual domain name on the right side is usually your provider.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by Bongle

For HD, I proposed last year that one team find an HD camcorder, place it so it can see an entire field, record every match, and torrent the whole thing in a compressed format afterwards. Many teams without cameras of their own would probably appreciate this.

I'm not certain this is really that productive a use of a team's time and recording equipment. In years past, the "Let's fit everything into this shot" view of the field just hasn't been that useful, as robots end up pretty small and you can't really see much of what's going on. While the video editors do occasionally make strange shot choices or miss some of the action, I'd prefer getting a clear picture of 90% of the action to getting a vague picture of 100% of it.

I'll admit the nature of this year's game problem makes it more amenable to the overview shot, but I think we really usually get our money's worth out of the video producers.

[Pat McCarthy]

It's working from Grand Rapids, Mi now.

[Phyrxes]

Working fine for me now in VA using firefox and IE, with and without Silverlight. Guess it was the school proxy server.

[burkey_turkey]

I'm getting it just fine in central VA.

EDIT: Whoops, thats redundant. my bad.

[Bongle]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

I'm not certain this is really that productive a use of a team's time and recording equipment. In years past, the "Let's fit everything into this shot" view of the field just hasn't been that useful, as robots end up pretty small and you can't really see much of what's going on. While the video editors do occasionally make strange shot choices or miss some of the action, I'd prefer getting a clear picture of 90% of the action to getting a vague picture of 100% of it.

I'll admit the nature of this year's game problem makes it more amenable to the overview shot, but I think we really usually get our money's worth out of the video producers.

Ah, which is why I said HD. A 1080p wide shot of the field actually gives enough detail to read team numbers. As proof, I submit this panorama I took of a field in 2005. It's 1920 pixels wide and fewer than 1080 pixels high, to given an idea of the kind of quality you'd expect from an HD stream. Judging by some HD content I've seen online, you could probably fit in about 10 very high quality matches per gigabyte using H.264, and teams would be able to only download the matches that interested them.

As for the use of time, the guy camping beside the camera could do all the normal scouting activities and push a button before/after every match (the beauty of this plan is that it requires zero during-match work). Compressing/uploading it would probably take awhile, but not a prohibitive amount.

Edit: And to stay marginally on topic, the links all work for me perfectly now.

[ayeckley]

All's well in Ohio...