DSLR Users.com Christmas Dinner: To Stream Or Not To Stream?

[Nnnnsic]

Well, that is the question.

Remember in August when we streamed the Anniversary Weekend Saturday night dinner with a live audio & video feed and provided a chat room for ya'll to chat amongst yourselves?

Well, we put that together in around a week.

The Christmas dinner is in around a week and a half and now I'm asking the question, do we want this again?

How many people who won't be attending the Christmas dinner would want to be able to see or hear the feed and what's more important to you out of those two if we were to?

Since I've got about a week and half to put it back together, which I could probably do without a problem, I've also got the extra few days on top of the week to work out, if we were to do it again, if we should stream it once again in Macromedia Flash or try it in a different client, say something like Real Media (which honestly doesn't look that do-able), Windows Media (which could probably be done), or VLC (which I've honestly never attempted).
I could even take a stab at Winamp's NSV format... but I'm not sure that will support a live stream.

So... after all that crap... who here wants it?

[Glen]

Leigh, you are a very generous man. I would imagine that most who want to be there will be there, but very generous if they cant make it.

[xerubus]

yes please. i had a lot of fun watching the stream and chatting when the meet was on last time.

cheers

[gstark]

Leigh, you are a very generous man. I would imagine that most who want to be there will be there, but very generous if they cant make it.

He is, isn't he?

My Camcorder.

My laptop.

My wireless connection.

My tripod.

My wheels to get him to the gig, and my arms to help lug it all around.

Yes, Glen, he is so generous.

[Nnnnsic]

My microphone.

My work on the coding of it.

Shut up Dad.

[Glen]

It sounded better in his post Gary

[Geoff]

Now boys...settle!
Get in each corner hehe.
I must admit it was fun helping Leigh broadcast and announce what was happening at the AW hehe.

[kinetic]

So, what you're asking me is, ... do I want to spend my evening hearing you guys having fun/getting p*ssed etc while I'm sitting at home in my pyjamas?

Um, no thanks, Jonnie Walker and I will be fine by ourselves!!

[Geoff]

So, what you're asking me is, ... do I want to spend my evening hearing you guys having fun/getting p*ssed etc while I'm sitting at home in my pyjamas?

Um, no thanks, Jonnie Walker and I will be fine by ourselves!!

Ahh yes, but you & Jonnie Walker watching us may be VERY amusing

[Aussie Dave]

Leigh,
last time was a blast and a real treat to feel somewhat part of it all, however I think this time you should concentrate on having fun yourself and join in with the rest of the people that attend the Dinner....instead of sitting behind a laptop all night !

Your efforts were very much appreciated but give yourself a break and perhaps take some pics instead. After all, this is a photography forum...

That's my $0.02

[Nnnnsic]

Dave, I want to be a filmmaker...

[gstark]

It sounded better in his post Gary

Still my hardware, Glen.

[Big V]

Yes, go on and stream the event. It will be helpful for those of us who liive in other states....

[Aussie Dave]

Dave, I want to be a filmmaker...

Perhaps we should start calling you "Spielberg" then ???

If you're happy to spend your time getting this off the ground again and spending the night behind the laptop....I'm certain there will be plenty of people happy with that and participation will no doubt exceed August's attempt. I know if I have the opportunity, I will certainly jump onboard and watch the action

[Mal]

"I like to watch"

[Jonesy]

Well Yes and No

At first I thought yeah that would be great.... then I thought hang on I'm booked that night and wont be home
But if it goes ahead and there is an approx time that the awards would be announced then I might be able to disapear and find a computer!

Thanks for the option Leigh and in giving up your night to make it happen, and to Gary for the use of the equipment to make it happen!

[BBJ]

Need i have to say anything, as you know i will watch it as i did last year when Leigh wasnt running a muck with everything. But yes i enjoyed it, even though we had a few problems but was a good job anyhow.
Love it.

[fozzie]

I have answered affirmative.

If it goes ahead, I will set up myself up with some prosciutto parma, cheese and greens, together with a nice bottle of red and enjoy the feed

[Nnnnsic]

even though we had a few problems but was a good job anyhow.

See, I have to work with the equipment and technology that we have... which means sending out on a server that has a 512k upload divided between ya'll and whatever Dad has running on the server at the time (mail, sites, etc) as well as the wireless upload speed from the on-site location, and then with the software which I might try and find a better ratio for this time around.

I'm certainly having a problem with it and the new version of Flash... not entirely sure why... thank you Macromedia for changing security policies in Flash 8 (I've actually been yelling at Flash 8 all week for another project).

And it's not really giving up my night.

I get bored so easily and me sitting behind a computer while I eat dinner and being unsocialable isn't exactly anything unusual for me.

[gstark]

I have answered affirmative.

If it goes ahead, I will set up myself up with some prosciutto parma, cheese and greens, together with a nice bottle of red and enjoy the feed

Foz,

Hopefully not just any formaggio, but a decent Regianno.

[Nnnnsic]

Whoa. 42% say Yes.

42.

Okie dokie.

Well, this time, there isn't going to have much need for a video feed so that max I'm planning for video will probably be a web cam.

What will be happening is a radio feed (hopefully) done using Shoutcast... there'll be music up until the speeches and winner announcements and you all should be able to chat within the DSLR Users.com chat room.

If this isn't enough... welll... we're bringing a mixing deck to feed the mics into so it better be!!!

[Jonesy]

Is there any idea what time the speeches and awards might be on...

or will it be in the break while you are all waiting for more wine to be delivered

[pippin88]

Leigh, to get around the upload limitation is it possible to upload to say the dreamhost server and then everyone accesses that, therefore not dividing the bandwidth.

This is just a thought, no idea if it actually works.

I'm busy at the time, so either way doesn't bother me anyway.

[Nnnnsic]

The problem with the way we streamed last time Nick is that the server you stream to has to have the Flash Communication Server, which Dreamhost doesn't.

Dreamhost does have Real Media Helix (from the look of things) and Quicktime, but I doubt their Helix license will let me stream to anything more than 5 people and Quicktime is too bandwidth intensive for streaming this.

Video isn't as big a requirement for this one so I'll probably just try to set up a webcam for it... audio is better at this event with all the speeches and winner announcements.

Ya'll can wait 'till the AW next year for a video stream and by then we should have a faster server connection at home which, theoretically, should let us send out a better feed... hopefully.