What happened to all the live video streams from storm spotters?

[Adrian Francis]

I used to go to the News 9 (OK City) radar and click on the icons for the various spotters and watch their video streams. Not any more-nothing there. Which is sad-there used to be almost a hundred if conditions were right. Now I can catch 1 or 2 on ChaserTV and 1 or 2 on TVN Weather. Where did everybody go? And why?

Have a look at www.trackbwatch.com. Lots of storm chasers tracking everyday

 

[Adrian Francis]

I used to go to the News 9 (OK City) radar and click on the icons for the various spotters and watch their video streams. Not any more-nothing there. Which is sad-there used to be almost a hundred if conditions were right. Now I can catch 1 or 2 on ChaserTV and 1 or 2 on TVN Weather. Where did everybody go? And why?

Have a look at www.tracknwatch.com. A new tracking and streaming platform that is pretty cool

 

[Joey Ketcham]

I never could get into the streaming fad. When ChaserTV first came to life, I tried it once and I just found it to be too much of a pain than it was worth. I just didn't see how one could truly enjoy storm chasing for what it is when they're constantly having to mess with the equipment and making sure they're getting a good shot. And as Dan mentioned, most people watching the stream might only do so for a short period of time and even then they'd complain about something because people are ungrateful.

I just always preferred to keep chasing simple so that I could truly enjoy chasing and the storms around me without having all this high tech crap that I have to constantly mess with. Even now when I go out, I just have my cell phone and my camera and that's it. The less technology, the better.

 

[Paul Knightley]

The only interest I have in watching streams, if people are good enough to stream, is simply to 'be there' when virtual chasing from 4000 miles away over the Atlantic, rather than just 'radar chasing'. I don't get any of the one-upmanship, or smearing, or anything else, and don't care about it either - if someone is streaming, I like to watch. And that's it!

 

[NatalieH]

Hi! I just discovered live streaming last spring and absolutely love it! Can't wait for this year's storms! That being said I understand where a lot of you guys are coming from. Costs, demanding viewers, etc. So I get it. But for all those out there that still participate in it, I just wanted to say thank you so much! Someday maybe I'll learn enough to be able to safely chase myself, but until then you guys have no idea just how much this lady enjoys being able to see these fascinating storms from the safety of her living room. You guys stay safe out there!

 

[Steven Marshall]

I have to agree with Dean Berry. I've talked to two different outfits about live streaming and both were less than helpful. Fortunately, my tv station bought TVU backpacks for us to live stream. I cover a large urbanized region between Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Buffalo, so I'm not dealing with rural areas like Kansas...but I've never lost a feed. I don't have to worry about getting a return on my investment cause I'm on the payroll. The few live streams we've done on facebook were a major PIA tho. The viewers were as described....critical, know-it-alls and demanding. So I ignore them. If one of the on-air Mets want to jump into the conversation and talk to the watchers, that up to them, but I'm busy driving.

 

[cjflinn]

I know this is a old thread, but with the increase in twitch.tv/irl streams I wonder how many people would do this. For me I do the irl (in real life) streams once in a while, dont have many viewers and when I do I talk to them unless they are being trolls. Also youtube live streams seem to be getting more popular and I think I see somewhere on here that one of the services uses youtube as the provider and they "host" you on their website with others.

I as others enjoyed watching just the live feed with no commentary, and if there was commentary it was between the chaser and the new station they chased for. Being from Oklahoma the most popular was/is Val Castor and his wife during Gary England's era at KWTV.

Im just starting spotting for the local area and I plan on streaming on twitch and facebook if I can use the same stream. I see from time to time a couple of meteorologists that will stream on facebook a bit of the chasers, and as others has said the comments can be so horrible, but since it is facebook and anonymity are less there people arent as toxic as twitch and youtube.

Im not going to be worried about getting the perfect shot for the stream that is what my handheld/ body mount is for.

 

[Jacob Parrish]

I know this is a old thread, but with the increase in twitch.tv/irl streams I wonder how many people would do this. For me I do the irl (in real life) streams once in a while, dont have many viewers and when I do I talk to them unless they are being trolls. Also youtube live streams seem to be getting more popular and I think I see somewhere on here that one of the services uses youtube as the provider and they "host" you on their website with others.

I as others enjoyed watching just the live feed with no commentary, and if there was commentary it was between the chaser and the new station they chased for. Being from Oklahoma the most popular was/is Val Castor and his wife during Gary England's era at KWTV.

Im just starting spotting for the local area and I plan on streaming on twitch and facebook if I can use the same stream. I see from time to time a couple of meteorologists that will stream on facebook a bit of the chasers, and as others has said the comments can be so horrible, but since it is facebook and anonymity are less there people arent as toxic as twitch and youtube.

Im not going to be worried about getting the perfect shot for the stream that is what my handheld/ body mount is for.

You said it spot on man, im very surprised some have not tried to cash in on the twitch platform. You can even curb your chat with moderators that are sitting comfy from home. High risk days would unfortunately bring in a lot more amateurs trying to make a quick buck and more than likely putting themselves in very dangerous situations for viewers.

 

[Ethan Lang]

If you guys want to see livestreams my company: SVL Media is all about live streaming. We have dozens of chasers that stream all over the U.S. We stream everything from canes to tornadoes to blizzards. We use twitch as our streaming platform

 

[Billy Ahlers]

Guess I'll throw my two cents in on this issue. I've streamed for several years. At first it was a chore and sometimes frustrating. As said above it took too much attention away from important things that should have had my immediate attention. After a while though I was able to adjust my rig so now it's pretty much a "set it and forget it" operation. I used to stream any and everything during a chase, start to finish. It was nice to locally archive my stream to have a backup record and even catch a few storm features here and there I otherwise may have missed. Since I've switched to a SSD and have other means to record the chase I won't be archiving the stream any longer. I'll still stream when / if there's something interesting to stream but it certainly isn't my main priority by any means. As far as profiting from streaming, I knew from the onset that wasn't ever going to happen. It's always been something I've done for fun, friends and family that are interested in seeing what's going on.

I'm with you Ric, I have finally gotten it down where its not a bother any more. I have never done it for any hopes of being paid. I do it because there are people that love following chasers who shouldn't and probably wouldn't ever do it. They wait just like us for storm season and get just as excited as us when we get to witness mother nature's fury from the safety of their own viewing area. I also have many friends who will watch and a couple that give me info as needed. So I will continue to do it for them.

 

[Dan Robinson]

4 years after my original comments, I still feel the same way about streaming. Twitch and Youtube are monetizable streaming-ready options that remove many of the barriers to entry of past platforms and offer a better chance of meaningful revenue (though not much). But the biggest problems with streaming remain:

- Data caps on mobile connections have not improved with time, which means if you do a lot of streaming, you will pay for extra data especially if you do it at higher quality settings and resolutions.

- If you do a set-it-and-forget-it setup, you'll have a camera that isn't pointing the right way to catch the action a lot of the time. Pulling a live feed from your primary mounted camcorder would solve having to babysit two cameras, but in most cases that requires extra capture equipment (RCA or HDMI to USB) to spend money on.

- A newer concern is that anything you do on stream can and will be used against you, no matter how minor or whether it is deserved or not. We have a bloodthirsty-for-chaser-controversy media and a society that characterizes everything in the least-charitable way possible, then brings out the pitchforks before knowing all the facts. That should give anyone pause to having your every move recorded and broadcast for posterity.

My contention about video for people who can't get out and chase is the same. They can watch the finished and more polished video just as easily on their own time, whenever they want, with much less effort and expense on my part. That seems to me to be a win-win for all, instead of me spending money on data and equipment so than a handful of people who happen to have some free time at the exact moment I'm chasing can tune in live.

Again, I'm not critical of those who do stream for whatever reason, but I'm still not convinced that it's something adviseable for chasers in general.

 

[Paul Knightley]

I do enjoy the fact that I can sit here in the UK, with my iPad, and see, in real-time, what storms are doing - when I was a kid I would have dreamed it but not imagined it! However, I have a love-hate relationship - I love the fact it's possible, I hate the fact it buffers so much and that the camera is often not pointed at the storms!

I'm with Dan insofar as folks should do it if they like - but chasers should be cautious...you can see from other threads on this forum (and news stories) that it is fairly easy for stuff to be streamed and then folks are all over it.

 

[Quincy Vagell]

If we consider Periscoping to be live streaming, then my approach is pretty simple.

I only broadcast on Periscope when I am seeing something particularly interesting and/or when I want to relay live footage to the NWS to help in the warning process. I find that, personally, most of my chasing is relatively boring, such as taking turns on dirt roads, waiting for storm initiation, trying to get away from trees, reviewing real-time analyses, etc. I can only recall a few rare exceptions that were otherwise, such as Dodge City and the following day, where I could broadcast a truly major tornado event at close range for more than a couple of moments, without having to rapidly re-position myself.

Since live streaming can also be a distraction and pull from data/resources, I simply don't broadcast much.

 

[James K]

It was only back in fall 2017 that I discovered live streaming of storms:
During one of the hurricanes I googled for webcam and whatever city the news said would be hit. One of those links led to a YouTube webcam live stream. From there some of the suggested videos that appear along the right side were live streams from chasers in the storm....I was hooked!
To me those storms are fascinating to watch and as much as I'd love to go watch one - truly live in person - the chances of that happening are slim-to none. So atleast I can still watch on the computer.