[TBA]: Comprehensive Video Archiving

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

How cheap is a simple DV camera? Maybe instead of trying to hook into the video feed, which isn't always possible anymore, we could have someone set up a full-field tape?

The problem is recording 20+ hours of video, not the DV camera (since one can generally be borrowed for the event, or purchased for well under $250). With my DV camera, that equates to 20 tapes...

[Jonathan Norris]

I must say that I kinda wish the Pinnacle devices were a bit better quality, but they will do. All we need are 12 Pinnacle devices, and 12 16gb usb thumb drives. As long as you stop the recording at lunch and then restart the recording before the afternoon matches I have never run into the 4GB wall. I think we can easily raise enough money to support purchasing enough devices.

12 X $60 Pinnacle video recorder
12 X $40 16gb USB stick
total = $1200

I'm sure some people have 16GB usb sticks lying around they would be willing to donate, I know I'm willing to donate my pinnacle video device. TBA want to start a paypal donation fund for these?

[Scott L.]

Originally Posted by Don Rotolo

The problem is recording 20+ hours of video, not the DV camera (since one can generally be borrowed for the event, or purchased for well under $250). With my DV camera, that equates to 20 tapes...

Same with my DV camera (Canon XL-1s), but I have firewire on mine and can record directly to my laptop.

[StevenB]

Personally, I think it's important to get the videos up as quickly as possible.

If I'm scanning the match scores of an ongoing regional and happen to see a great match that I missed, I immediately want to go look at it on TBA. However, a couple weeks later when the video is finally posted, I just don't have the time or desire to look it up. This would also help scouting teams in their discussions and deliberations Friday night. Who scored in autonomous? What happened to team X in match 42?

Obviously, it's "better late than never", but the Pinnacle box + flash drive solution seems like a rather slow way to get the video: the flash drive gets sent back to TBA (mailed?), Greg uploads the video, someone spends several hours parsing it, and

I would like to see an easy way for matches to be recorded, parsed, and uploaded in real time. I'm hoping to work on something like this over the summer, and possibly give it a test run at one or two off-season events.

The basic idea consists of a PC and a generic USB video capture device. The PC runs software that detects the beginning and end of the matches based on the bell and buzzer sound effects, and parses the video accordingly. Between matches (or in the background, if it's a multi-core machine), the video is compressed and uploaded.

Ideally, there would be a Linux LiveCD and a list of compatible capture devices, such that a user could take any laptop, pop in the CD, plug in a capture device, connect to the Internet, and start sending video directly to TBA.

[Jonathan Norris]

Originally Posted by StevenB

I would like to see an easy way for matches to be recorded, parsed, and uploaded in real time. I'm hoping to work on something like this over the summer, and possibly give it a test run at one or two off-season events.

The basic idea consists of a PC and a generic USB video capture device. The PC runs software that detects the beginning and end of the matches based on the bell and buzzer sound effects, and parses the video accordingly. Between matches (or in the background, if it's a multi-core machine), the video is compressed and uploaded.

Ideally, there would be a Linux LiveCD and a list of compatible capture devices, such that a user could take any laptop, pop in the CD, plug in a capture device, connect to the Internet, and start sending video directly to TBA.

Its a great idea, but its going to take a lot of effort to make that work. The hardest parts are going to be making it use any video source and the whole listening for the bell rings... It would probably be easier to standardize on one cheap video capture device like a Pinnacle Dazzle or something thats widely available.

It could probably be done relatively simply on a mac, I use VideoGlide which allows me to hook up a variety of USB video capture devices, manually use Quicktime X to make a movie recording of each match (someone would have to start and stop each match recording), if these video settings aren't optimal use an script to watch a folder where the original video is saved to and encode that video with specified handbrake settings, then send it to FFMPEG to encode the flash video and create a JPEG, then send all that to the FTP... Yea it gets complex pretty quickly.

[Greg Marra]

If we're going to keep talking about an automated video recording system someone should start a new thread, but a nugget: consider video recognition of the game timer bar instead of audio recognition of the start sounds. We've got a prototype LabView VI that Danny Bathgate developed in the works that split up the championship matches we have so far with this technique.

[Tanner]

Originally Posted by Greg Marra

If we're going to keep talking about an automated video recording system someone should start a new thread, but a nugget: consider video recognition of the game timer bar instead of audio recognition of the start sounds. We've got a prototype LabView VI that Danny Bathgate developed in the works that split up the championship matches we have so far with this technique.

Heh. I actually thought of doing that a bit of time ago, though couldn't get anywhere on it due to lack of ability to play with LabView.

I think it'd be easier to do that than the sounds as its a bit more reliable/easier than listening for sounds already muffled with music and a game announcer. How well did it work?

-Tanner

[Manoel]

Originally Posted by Greg Marra

If we're going to keep talking about an automated video recording system someone should start a new thread, but a nugget: consider video recognition of the game timer bar instead of audio recognition of the start sounds. We've got a prototype LabView VI that Danny Bathgate developed in the works that split up the championship matches we have so far with this technique.

Hey Greg,

Can you share this VI so I can give it a try on the Boston and CT matches?

Thanks!

[ChristopherBuck]

Personally, the approach that I would try to take first is to bring in a dedicated machine and take the split input and encode it directly to 1.5 TB hard drive of mine. That way there is no need for many tapes or usb drives. Then worry about uploading later when a network connection is available.