Storm Chasers who stream live video!

[Bill Tabor]

I'm signed up and yesterday tested my ability to stream. Everything seems to be working well. Keep an eye out for my feed on the SevereStreaming.com site. I will likely set up an embed on my website as well, but may not have it up by the next severe event time.

I'll likely have it hooked to my dashcam at my current 1xrtt rate. I even tested it with Verizon's 14.4 Quick 2 Net speed and it worked but there was lag where you would have to hit stop in Media Player and then hit play again to get it to stop buffering. I may switch providers (likely Alltel or Sprint) and go EVDO soon.

 

[John J. Holt]

I have been looking at my options for streaming video and I will be signing up in the near future.

 

[kenny_allen]

For anyone that has yet to make a decision on services for their streaming video, we have created a side by side comparison on our website. www.SevereStreaming.com

As you will see, SevereStreaming is far superior to Ustream and other technologies. We hope you will join our service. Designed for Storm Chasers.

 

[Mark Blue]

I watched the streaming today and had some of the same issues as mentioned in prior posts. I have an almost new laptop with an Intel Dual Core processor, running Vista Ultimate, so I know the issue isn't with my hardware setup. I could view any particular stream for anywhere from a few seconds to at the most 2 minutes then it would drop. I watched Roger Hill, David Drummond, both Steve Miller's (OK an TX), and Bill Tabor today.

I copied the URL shortcuts from Severe Studios, entered "Control U" for "Open URL", then pasted the web link into the dialogue box of Windows Media player in an attempt to view them in full screen mode outside of Internet Explorer. Most streams would play okay, but not for very long. This is really a cool technology you guys have developed - I just wish it would play longer. I wonder if some of the technical issues aren't with the cellular connections out in the field versus issues with the www.SevereStreaming.com servers? Keep up the good work, it can only get better from here on out!

Mark

 

[kenny_allen]

Answer to Question

Most of the dropouts are from cellular connectivity issues. We have had the streamers use a smaller upload profile to fix some of the "dropout" issues. Think about this, you have a beautiful stream, but go down into a valley, down to 1 bar. All of the sudden you are no longer able to send packets of data across the network. The feed will skip or drop at that point.

It seems to be working better when they are on major roads (near towers).

On last Monday, Kory and I streamed the SD snowstorm using our home networks. We had no drop outs and little buffering problems. This test was very successful. Prior to that, we had six streamers on home networks connected at the same time with hundreds of players launched. That test was also very successful. The weak point in all of this is the cellular connectivity.

We have also updated some code and added a new server over the weekend. This should help minimize the data drop out problems -- but will not completely eliminate them.

Just today, when a feed would drop, we watched the streams go from 0 to over 400 in less than two minutes after the feed became active again. So the portal is working, and people are refreshing to get the latest video. The major problem is keeping the SevereStreamers connected to the cellular internet connections out in the field.

We are working with all the SevereStreamers to help them maximize their data connections and optimize their feeds.

Even with the dropouts and restarts, we hope you feel our service is still superior to StreamWebTown, Ustream, and others.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

I would like to add, our new server is barely breaking a sweat now. It's had absolutely NO problems tonight. The problems have been related to cellular connectivity. We're going to be suggesting that SevereStreamers lower their bitrates to 25k or so in places where there isn't good Cellular networks in hopes of providing more stable service.

With that said, when sitting in 1 spot, the streams today looked awesome and stayed up for 15-30 minutes easily.

 

[Paul Knightley]

Watched various feeds from the comfort of my sofa in the UK - Steves Miller (TX) and (OK) both had some great feed activity - it was almost like being there!

 

[mark humpage]

Watched various feeds from the comfort of my sofa in the UK - Steves Miller (TX) and (OK) both had some great feed activity - it was almost like being there!

Here here and likewise. It is a fantastic tool addition to the chase armoury. Btw Steve a new windscreen would sure help us Kept thinking that crack was a needle funnel!

M

 

[Jay McCoy]

Here here and likewise. It is a fantastic tool addition to the chase armoury. Btw Steve a new windscreen would sure help us Kept thinking that crack was a needle funnel!

M

Steve (tx) and I have been chasing together this year so the windshield you have seen is mine. It is being replaced as I type this and will be nice and clear for the next chase and on until some more hail decides to ruin it. We are glad people are enjoying the video. Steve is working hard to get our connecitons as good as possible. we are testing a number of different cards (Sprint, Cingular< AutoNet). So far Sprint is by far the best in all areas. Autonet works well along bigger roads and Cingular is anybodys guess.

 

[mark humpage]

Steve (tx) and I have been chasing together this year so the windshield you have seen is mine. It is being replaced as I type this and will be nice and clear for the next chase and on until some more hail decides to ruin it. We are glad people are enjoying the video. Steve is working hard to get our connecitons as good as possible. we are testing a number of different cards (Sprint, Cingular< AutoNet). So far Sprint is by far the best in all areas. Autonet works well along bigger roads and Cingular is anybodys guess.

Thanks Jay. For the chasers across the pond you (and other web cam users) are sure providing a super service here. I know plenty of UK chasers are checking in on the new cams. For me I had an almost constant stream last night, it was fantastic to watch. This technology can only improve. Whilst network reliant I'm sure it won't be long before the geeks get a satellite system running and 100% coverage. I wonder if Baron are on the case

Btw how does the autonet solution perform? I know a number of UK chasers coming over (incl myself) are considering this option, as it is now utilised by some car hire companies. Contract cellphone solutions are not an option for us.

Thanks.

Mark

 

[J Kinkaid]

I still think that we are a few years away from being able to make this work with out the buffering and reconnects and look forward to testing it out very soon with 7 watts and 39 inch magmount 9b antenna . The problem with cell phones is when they handoff to the next tower your data rates will drop then go back up and even EVDO upload speed are to slow to make this work . I am trying some other options now and I hope that they will be more reliable than windows media encoder that I really don't like .

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

This is a game changer for the chase community, I feel -- I'll definitely be trying to stream this year. There is strong demand for this kind of thing.

One thing I'd mention -- can you tell us how robust your servers and bandwidth are at peak traffic? That is -- I can virtually assure you that at some point, probably on a big chase day, your service is going to get noticed by Fark, Digg, or Reddit, which is going to mean around a half million visitors to your service, with at least 20,000 people trying to watch streams at once. If your service can't handle that, you might want to plan in advance how you'll handle that situation when it arises.

 

[Steve Miller TX]

I wanted to extend my thanks to those offering constructive feedback concerning the streaming video. In the field, it is impossible to determine how it is being viewed via the internet across different platforms, browsers, monitor settings, etc. So, this is very helpful. I'm still new at this, so I hope to continually make some improvements.

I'm glad ya'll got to ride along with us yesterday. Kudos to SevereStudios.com for doing an outstanding job on support and the high quality streaming. As a side note, while I was on the phone live with Rick Smith with the NWS in Norman, he was able to watch the streaming video of the rotating wall cloud, funnels and brief tornado near Electra. I believe the NWS in Fort Worth was watching as well. Hopefully this will be embraced as a new tool to augment the overall warning process.

For anybody interested, I've put together my live chase page with the streaming video as well as a GoogleMaps interface with NWS radar overlay and my map position on top (updated every 10-20 seconds). It's still in beta as I continue to make improvements and add additional capabilities. With any luck, I'll be out there again tomorrow.

http://texastailchaser.com/livechase

 

[Bill Tabor]

Yesterday, was my first time to stream. Let me know how my feed looked. I apologize I couldn't get it up earlier (due to cell phone connectivity issues) until I was right next to Wichita Falls. When I did get set up on the last good wallcloud cycle of the storm that produced Steve's tornado I couldn't get the video to initialize. I ended up having to reboot my computer and restart everything. So by the time mine came up and started streaming there were only remnants of the wallcloud left. I did get it up later, for a wallcloud / funnel / and likely tornado WSW of Wichita near / after sunset. Unfortunately just as the storm was producing a tornado I switched my camcorder to off inadvertently when trying to switch it from automatic to manual. By the time it started the tornado cycle was over. I believe I did record that part on my dashcam though. I will review.

Anyway, let me know how it all looked when it was working, for whatever most of you saw of my feed. I may be upgrading to Sprint EVDO later today for better future feeds.

Oh, and PS: I Steve mentioned - my thanks to SevereStudios for all their hard work and the wonderful product they have provided us all. I concur with Steve that sure it will be a great tool for NWS ground truth verification and take desk chasing to a new level.

 

[Bill Tabor]

Question: Does SevereStudios keep a copy of their lives feeds (an archive) for later review?