posted July 07, 2009 09:30 PM
I don't know about all this video stuff, and you guys have way too many fucking places to post here.
Is that why I don't come by more often?
I will say it was absolutely great having my good friend FrEEk at our LABusas Laguna Seca campsite. He's a true gentleman and fine judge of cheap tequila.
It's pleasing to see the lack of green here. I just may stop in more often now that I don't have to get icky Kawapuke all over me. You know how long that stuff takes to wash off?
Nice to see FA and PK along with the wee fella on Monday morning. Thanks so much for stopping by and introducing the lad to Kimberly and I. Laguna is truly one of the highlights of our year and having Dino along with us was very special, especially considering last year's disaster. He's a fine shotgun who puts up with my bizarre travel habits. Good fun and good friends.
Safe travels FrEEk.
Looking forward to your full ride report.
posted July 07, 2009 10:12 PM
Slow to reply, sorry. As usual this trip hasn't left me alot of downtime, and what little I have is eaten by real work.
1badzx12r, yes it is off air most of hte time. I'm on the road about 6 hours a day, which is only a small % of course. Also, on the way down there were technical problems so that meant I wasn't always broadcasting as expected. Now those are fixed and there are only occasional dead spots where I dont have good cell coverage.
The choppiness is a function of how good my conenction is at any given moment. Verizon has by far the best coverage on the coast, especially in NW cali, but it is obviously not always a full strength broadband connection. Moreover, although I have a good antenna and amplifier, it is hard to get a good signal when you are always moving (the antenna works best when dead vertical, which it isn't in the corners).
GoBig, guess you have the developer version of the Flash player too eh? In any case, I have no control over that. ustream.tv provides the streaming technology.
thekaz, that's cool that the office has taken an interest. I have to admit the concept was very intriguing to me from a technological standpoint. Obviously it could work much better still, but that it is possible at all is really very cool.
BigGar, the pleasure was all mine. I don't think it is physically possible to be better hosts than you and your better half are. Thanks for all the hospitality and for bringing Dino. Was great to have him at Laguna after all.
Oh yeah, busas suck. 12R is faster (even with my custom trim level).
posted July 08, 2009 06:22 AM
freek this stuff is awesome, thanks for sharing
____________
2010 Concours14
'08 R1 YAMAHA
ZX14 gone!
CBR600RR track bike
posted July 09, 2009 07:27 AM
freek the only complaint I have over the Laguna project is I wasn't with you!
Verizon has the biggest "footprint" of all the carriers, but as you experienced its no secret they don't have the fastest or most reliable mobile data where they have coverage. Several other carriers perform better overall.
____________
2010 Concours14
'08 R1 YAMAHA
ZX14 gone!
CBR600RR track bike
posted July 09, 2009 06:21 PM
Back in Vancouver. Tomorrow I make the final leg to Whistler. Likely noonish. 300 miles of I5 does not make for exciting riding...
SteveWFL, can't comment on the quality/speed of Verizon in urban centers compared to other carriers, but Verizon was definitely the only carrier with whom this project would be possible at all. No-one else has a footprint in all those out-of the way coastal areas. I have to say the connection held up pretty good on the way back up. Frankly I'm impressed that I can even get EVDO in such remote places.
posted July 09, 2009 08:29 PM
Watched some of your coverage. It seems the picture quality was generally better on your way back, even though the pauses in the streaming were rather more frequent and longer.
Still, great experiment ____________
'94 ZX-11
'07 ZX-14
posted July 10, 2009 09:23 AM
There are no recorded videos on the way back, those are all on the way down. Recorded coverage will only happen today on the last (short) leg. Also the quality suffers because of a dirty power supply that the camera is sensitive to. Alot of growing pains for sure.
posted July 10, 2009 11:35 PM
Back home. Last hour of the last leg didn't broadcast due to an apparent bug in the software. arg.
It was an interesting project to do. Didn't go as smoothly as hoped, but I'm amazed that it is possible at all. I'll have to make some improvements in the way of improved, likely custom, hardware, and try it again later (next year?).
thekaz, nothing too interesting really. Just a small bullet cam velcroed to by helmet (probably do a bike mounted unit next time), a digitized doo-hickey that hooks up to the (small) laptop via USB, then Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder encodes the video and sends it thru the Verizon AirCard (connected to a 3W amplifier and 6DB gain antenna) to ustream.tv, who in turn broadcast it. I happened to have an aftermarket power brick for my laptop that takes a tar power socket input, and a cheapo multi-voltage regulated car power adapter provided (dirty) power to the camera. Everything just sat (in a big rat's nest) in my tankbag, and I wired a cigarette lighter type power connector to the Accessory input right off the fusebox. Bike seems to have plenty of power to run the laptop and everything as well as run the lights (tho i often had the lights off anyway).
Biggest problem by far was software instability, especially ustream's web interface. The Adobe product was 90% stable, but had occasional issues (like today).
Thx to everyone who watched. Hope it made for some good entertainment.
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posted July 07, 2009 09:30 PM
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