[PLUG-AV] OK, so its gone midnight...

[Jason Nicholls]

> We ended up having to use a UCC quad core machine to do the encoding. We
> managed to borrow a 48 port gigabit switch for the transfer from UCC (thanks
> to Bob, and fo rthe shell on the host to encode, and for the net access on
> Loftnet. We also had to borrow powerboards/extn cables from UCC, and patch
> leads.

ffmpeg2theora only uses a single core so dual or quad core isn't going to matter
too much. We'd need to go for something new with high speed - although perhaps
there's something we can do to make use of multiple cores (i.e. something other
than ffmpeg2theora).



> As noted on the main PLUG list, we tried to use the line in feed from the
> wireless mic reciever via the audio-out on the JVC camera when we needed an
> audio in; this mean terrible audio for the first 20 minutes or so. We also
> couldn't adjust the audio level of the lapel mic - it was very quiet.

I think the lapel levels were OK and I was able to amplify it slightly on my
system before passing through to dvsource.


> 1. What to fix now
> I'd start by getting mumble working, and checking the dead machine. We need
> our own power boards - which Patrick was going to bring but he didn't make
> it, Ethernet cable and switch. We also need to get a second PAL DV camera
> available.

We need to make sure mumble doesn't chew CPU, on the camera box mumble
was consuming 100% CPU and it wasn't even connected or doing anything. I
didn't notice this until half way through the talk so hope it wasn't
messing up the
video (causing jitter/delay etc...)


> 2. This is the hard part. Jason is suggesting 2nd hand Mac Books, for around
> $400 - $500. Sure beats lugging 5 PCs up to UCC. Has built in firewire, and
> an audio connection (was it head phones and mic input at the same time)? As
> to tripods; I had a friend recommend a Sony Sony VCT-60AV camcorder tripod
> for around $115 + PP - but thats got a remote zoom control on the handle
> that works on Sony cameras.
>
> The most worrying aspect is the very low availability of camcorders these
> days with firewire.  Has live streaming from camcorders all but disappeared?

I think we should make portability and ease of setting up / breaking down an
important part of the project. Clearly lugging 5 PCs, keyboards, mice,
power cables,
monitors, etc... to each event and getting it all going is horrible.
Also someone needs
the space to house it all. A stack of laptops is so much easier with
only their power
cables and network needed. Any MacBook (std or pro) should do as they all have
built-in firewire.

With this in considering we're looking at:

- 3x macbooks ~$400-600 ( 2nd hand, any generation as long as intel +
firewire + linux works)
  These would be for cameras and the screen capture device.

- 1x higher end system (laptop) to run icecast, perform encoding, and recording
  (this may need to be split, don't know the load ...). Perhaps 2 NICs
(* see below).
  Dell have a quad-core laptop from $999 (their quad-core desktops
actually cost more
  but that may be partially due to them bundling monitors in).

- 1x wireless mic ~$200, same as we have so we can run 2 channels -
main speaker lapel and
  separate hand-held mike for host and question time.

- audio mixing board, 2 inputs minimum (the 2 mics) but 4 would be a
better option ~$100-300

- 1x DV-thru Firewire capable PAL camera - hard to find anything new
so no pricing estimate

- 1x 8-port GigE switch. ~$50-100

Total (max) estimate: 3x600 + 1000 + 200 + 300 + 100 + camera = $3,400 + camera
Total (min) estimate: 3x400 + 1000 + 200 + 100 + 50 + camera = $2550 + camera


* Thinking ahead I think it'd be nice if the camera and capture boxes
came up and had
known IPs (static). It may be nice to have the higher-end "head"
system have 2 NICs
with an uplink and private network for our boxes. Then we could write
some scripts
that automatically kick everything off on boot (assuming network and FW cables
plugged in). Setup time/issues could be reduced this way.




Jason