video feed

[4DaDrift]

Edited post.

[Lambolica]

Interesting thourght to entertain this is.

If someone in the club had a Laptop and Wireless connection with a webcam and mic, I'm sure it would be possible, on some level (weather or not it can be part of this software or not I'm unsure?)

A quick way off the top of my head would be to utilise Yahoo messenger or MSN Chat and set up a chat room for users to login to and view, and have a dedicated person to communicate the major topics for people to input their opinion and reiterate the question / comment to the board.

Would a trial be possible if there is someone in the club with the Hardware?

[4DaDrift]

Edited post.

[thechuckster]

was going to suggest that a mac user look at Quicktime Streaming Server - the software is free and can stream a file or live input that hooks up to an apple - the downside is the bandwidth it needs.

If you new someone with mostly unlimited bandwidth, has wireless ethernet has an OS X laptop and iView camera- they could bring that to a meeting, fire up the serving software and stream away.

[ZZE92]

Hmmm.. Biggest drama (apart from the equipment required - which can probably be obtained fairly easily) is going to be availability of an internet connection.. I'm pretty sure the church hall where we run the meetings doesn't have a broadband connection available

Could technically TAPE the meetings and host them for members to download, but this would take away the interactivity component (ie. the idea of allowing interstate members to participate in the meeting would go out the window if they're only viewing a recording of it afterwards). Also, I've got no idea what sort of storage/bandwidth strains this would place on the server for a 30 and upwards minute video recording each month.. Sound quality would also be a fairly major issue, considering there's only going to be one microphone and the acoustics of the hall aren't that great.. Anyone who's been to one of the meetings will probably agree that it's sometimes pretty hard to hear what's going on in person, let alone via a budget microphone setup..

I agree it's not a bad idea at face value, I'm just thinking there's going to be quite a number of limitations that might not make it that 'do-able'..

[Tats]

Hmmm.. Biggest drama (apart from the equipment required - which can probably be obtained fairly easily) is going to be availability of an internet connection.. I'm pretty sure the church hall where we run the meetings doesn't have a broadband connection available

Does the church hall have reception for wireless internet (e.g. Unwired)? I wonder if that would have the bandwidth required for a streaming upload?

[4DaDrift]

Edited post.

[clubagreenie]

I have webspace "on loan" that has unlimited bandwidth and is actually used for the same purpose, real time streaming. The bundle of cable would scare more than just baby jesus. It would rely on conections at each end being up to scratch, hence the dedicated F-optic run in my case out of the country to the connecting ends around the world.

[4DaDrift]

Edited post.

[JustCallMeOrlando]

While i'm all for having the meetings interactive for people, to me it seems like a logistical nightmare. On the other hand, having at least a recording of the meetings would allow some sort of feedback. Think of it like a video podcast, the video quality doesn't have to be great, you could compress it using something like DivX and have a reasonable size.

A camera set up towards the rear of the room, with a camera situated somewhere towards the front would be good, it'd probably take a little bit of calibration to get working right, but once it's worked out, it should be a matter of just setting it up each time.

[whatthe?]

Last meeting was 40 mins long. Unless its audio only (and then at a shitty bitrate) no-one with anything less than a 12mbit connection will be able to be stuffed downloading it (unless you leave it going overnight, anyone that keen?)

Also, as far as DivX goes avi files from a miniDV cam would need to be compressed to the shithouse to make the files smaller than 200-300 MB for 40 mins and that would be painful to watch resolution wise

[Cool1]

I can make a 40 minute video with audio 175mb using realmedia variable bit rate!

[Nark]

40mins @ 300MB would be pretty decent quality actually.

But apart from that, I don't think anyone has the equipment, nor the knowhow to do all of this.

And, yes, it would probably be quite boring to watch.

[ZZE92]

One of the biggest problems I forsee (can't recall whether I mentioned this above or not) is going to be audio quality.

I really don't think the purchase of high quality audio recording equipment for the meetings would be a wise place for the club to spend it's Members' money - I'm not an expert, but I think without it the idea is just going to fall flat on it's arse as there are frequently several people talking at a time and the quality obtained by a single (in camera) mic won\t be sensational.

I also worry that having a camera in place at the meetings is going to make people feel self conscious.

After all that, we would still need someone with the equipment, skills time and dedication to do it... Anyone volunteering?

[whatthe?]

I can supply the gear to tape it with decent quality audio (I work for canon, XL2 anyone?) if someone else can be stuffed encoding the resulting massif avi file... I still dont forsee too many people downloading a 150MB+ file.
Perhaps a word doc with meeting notes might be more palatable?

[4DaDrift]

Edited post.

[4DaDrift]

Edited post.

[greywolf]

Especially when reviewing the technical constraints, they seem quite trivial in todays world.

[TheToyman75]

The last club meeting was on Monday this week and was attended by 2 people who were not part of the Toymods board.

The last thing we will be doing is looking at ways to encourage people not to come. When club metings get back to a solid and decent attendance we can possibly reconsider this option.

[greywolf]

May it be that the geography of the club now prevents mass attendance in person ?

We should look at the video conferencing aspect as not being a reason for people to attend, but to include those who can not attend due to being outside the Sydney Metro area. You may find some people who watch the process online become more involved and make the effort to travel there too.