Help us Webcam the Shooters event.

JCIN

JCIN

TheActionReport.com
Gold Member
For those that do not know yet, Big Nasty and I have set up a new website to focus on the action side of pool as well as the great players of our sport. We have already figured out how to podcast, we would like to take the next step.

The Action Report is going to be at the Shooters 10 Ball Ring Game Tournament in Olathe from the 18th through the 22nd. We are going to provide hourly chip counts for the players kind of like the IPT site did with the round robin results.

While we are there we would like to set up a webcam on a "Feature" table so people can see some of the action. The fly in the ointment is we do not know how. If anyone can provide some info on how to set a webcam or streaming video I would appreciate it.

I have looked at various options from the simple and inexpensive to the complex and expensive. The thing is I don't know what I don't know. We are looking for something that is affordable and easy to set up that we can get up and running fairly easily.

I thought about just setting up a webcam and inviting everyone who is interested into a Yahoo chat room to watch. As I said I am clueless, anyone who does this for a living or knows how, please help. :D :D

We want this to be free for anyone who wants to watch and for it to be of a good enough quality people do not start cussing after 30 seconds.

Is it possible??
 
JCIN,

I am not an expert on streaming-on-demand, but I gave what little input I have in the other thread.

Another thing to look at is recording a quick podcast for 10 minutes of every hour, sound only. I think ITunes will be able to allow one to subscribe to the series if you format the link properly. That, I do not know about, so you'd have to research that.

Unless someone else has input on the webcam idea, I think it comes down to uploading prerecorded video to a streaming-on-demand service like YouTube. Most users on here would be perfectly happy to wait a day or two to get the video in a decent resolution, rather than get one jpeg every 5 seconds.

Your main challenge will be getting consistent internet service in the hotel. If the hosting poolroom has wireless, then they should be able to hook you up. If they don't then setting up any sort of webcam is going to be impossible, unles you go with some sort of cell phone internet modem.

You don't even wanna know how much that would run you for a complete solution.

I would go for a plan of recording video, doing a quick and dirty edit, upload to a sharing service once a day. If you can get internet in the poolroom, then 3-4 times daily updates may be workable.

Russ
 
a fast simple solution would be to sign up at camstreams.com for a free broadcaster member, embed your camstreams.com link/media image into your webpage which you are allowed to do by request there, setup your webcam and your off, I watched some guys playing 3C on camstreams for a long time, hopefully the poolroom has an internet conection.
 
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Southern Billiards

Down in Starkville, Mississippi, Southern Billiards has has shown live webcasts for the last year or two during their major tournament events.

I suggest you Google their website and contact room owner, Professor Gilmer. He will have some first hand knowledge as to how to proceed.

Also, I have no doubt the July Shooters tournament in Olathe will be talked about for a long time. Be there! Already got my flight booked.
 
thank you....

selftaut said:
a fast simple solution would be to sign up at camstreams.com for a free broadcaster member, embed your camstreams.com link/media image into your webpage which you are allowed to do by request there, setup your webcam and your off, I watched some guys playing 3C on camstreams for a long time, hopefully the poolroom has an internet conection.
Click to expand...
thank you for your input we are looking into it as we speak! and yes shooters is wifi ready! do you have any camera recomendations?:confused:
 
I would like to recommend spell check for bignasty first. Then let's work up to wifi web casts.

j/k big
 
well...

well thats me! no sense candy coatin it! lol im tryin! someof them are my fault, some are becouse i have catchers mit hands combined with a laptop makes for some good reading! or funny! atleast your laughing!:D
 
I am leaning towards the video tape and upload to YouTube model. I don't know enough to be setting up my own network at each event, and I sure don't know enough to be messing with a network that a room owner already has up and running.

I'm off to look for video sharing sites that allow long video uploads...I think Google might be the one.
 
I think I got it.

Streaming a webcam is too much of a pain. Plus I have yet to see one I will watch for more than a minute.

To keep from getting hammered on bandwith I think we will host the videos on Google (they allow longer videos than YouTube) and embed the player in our site. I have even figured out a way to do commentary.:D :D

I put together a 2 minute test and put it on the website. It is video of me getting a one pocket lesson from Grady when he was here for the clinic Williebetmore set up.

Check it out and tell me what you think of the quality of the video and the sound at the beginning of the tape. It's not perfect, but I would watch a match this way.

Video Test: http://www.theactionreport.com/links.html

Oh yeah...no comments on the players. :p :p :D
 
BlowFish said:
That was nice JCIN. Good and sound advice from Russ. Good Luck.
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Yup...Russ was spot on about the drawbacks of live streaming. I think this will work. We will have enough computers there that we can dedicate one just for editing,saving and uploading video.

This is gonna be cool.
 
not bad at all, better than a jpg every 4 seconds like others have mentioned, good work

edit:will you be using the same angle when filming at shooters?
 
JCIN said:
I think I got it.

I put together a 2 minute test and put it on the website.
Check it out and tell me what you think of the quality of the video
Click to expand...

JCIN,
Video is good enough for me to watch (I couldn't get any audio on this computer). Quality would probably even be better if you didn't have those crappy open windows in the background (makes playing in the afternoon a PAIN at Chalkies).

Whoever that big guy was that was playing Grady should DEFINITELY be playing more pool (...perhaps at Betmore's Basement if he ever quits vacationing, and gets back to town....).
 
The Video Looks Great...

:D
JCIN said:
I think I got it.

Streaming a webcam is too much of a pain. Plus I have yet to see one I will watch for more than a minute.

To keep from getting hammered on bandwith I think we will host the videos on Google (they allow longer videos than YouTube) and embed the player in our site. I have even figured out a way to do commentary.:D :D

I put together a 2 minute test and put it on the website. It is video of me getting a one pocket lesson from Grady when he was here for the clinic Williebetmore set up.

Check it out and tell me what you think of the quality of the video and the sound at the beginning of the tape. It's not perfect, but I would watch a match this way.

Video Test: http://www.theactionreport.com/links.html

Oh yeah...no comments on the players. :p :p :D
Click to expand...

The video looks great, and based on what I saw let me know if you want to play some for a couple hundred a game when you are in KC in a few weeks;) :D :eek:

I spoke with Dan Saturday and he said the Keith sent you some pictures of David so I did not follow up with scanning some of his pictures.

Take care and I look forward to meeting you in a few weeks, maybe we can play some cheap one pocket before the big tournament starts.

-don
 
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