[57north-discuss] Live Video Streaming Project

[Tom Jones]

On Tue, Mar 19, 2019 at 07:02:28AM -0400, Hibby wrote:
> So.
> 
> Your friendly local curling rink[1] runs a number of competitions every year, some of which are particularly high profile. 
> 
> In the world of curling, livestreaming on Youtube is the norm, with
> the world body driving expansion of the sport via high quality
> broadcasts on Youtube[2] that are also sold to Eurosport and other TV
> networks. It's big a money business out in the Far East!
> 
> We were idly discussing over the weekend about streaming. Other places
> in Scotland are doing it, but to not quite such a high level of
> quality [3]... Naturally, no one has budget , time or volunteers to
> implement something professional, but I think there's probably ways
> and means of doing this on the (relatively) cheap to get reasonable
> results that may drive budget and volunteers. 
> 
> Curling provides some interesting challenges, and it's been bouncing
> around my head for a little while. The ice sheet is roughly 45m long,
> and I'd probably want at least a PTZ camera at each end. Perhaps wifi
> is the way to go... Maybe wired ethernet is a safer choice for
> performance, however, but presenting its own challenges with cable
> routing. 
> I wonder what cameras I can use - cheap 1080p PTZ surveillance ones
> from ebay? More expensive brand name ones?
> 
> I was looking towards OBS[4] as a core software and building out from there. 
> 
> By the end of the project, I'd like to have built a documented,
> template system that can be put in a single plastic box. 
> A couple of cameras, a switch/router maybe, some instructions on how
> to set up software and a potential expansion for audio/commentary. 
> 
> Ideally, this would be flexible enough to allow other members of our
> extended family & community to borrow it, but also for people
> elsewhere to look at it and say "I want to make that" and copy it.
> Perhaps someone has already done this and I'm wasting my time!
> 
> If anyone would like to help, throw some suggestions on the project
> wiki page [5]. I'm probably going to try and have a system setup for
> campGND[6] (stream the talks!) that can be refined/fiddled
> with/changed going forward.
> 
> Jesus christ why do I keep getting dragged into things I find slightly
> interesting?
> 

Sounds like a cool project, best deal plan going forward is to get like
10-20k for equipment. I don't think it is a crazy ask, I am sure someone
will fund it.

As for a PoC, these all sound like the correct peices, OBS is the right
thing to use. There are some ideas in my talk that you liknk in the
thread, but it is a different end goal. 

At work we have PTZ cameras that have a serial control interface,
unfortuneately they output analog video. We use a Roland 4VEX video
mixer to digitise the video, that is a 4k item (see you quickly need
lots of money).

For a POC we might be able to arrange tests with the stuff from work, I
would have to ask when I return from the ietf (mid april).

Beyond that you need to think about audio (do others do it) and
operators. This will take atleast 1 person to run, but I think more like
3.

There is a lot to this idea, could be fun to play with. I'll give it
some more thought on the remaining 13 hours of this flight (4 down!)

- [tj]