Summer Marathon Logistics

2011-06-16 12:25:06 pm

Everything's better with Magitek

No, I'm not in a cul de sac, so there's room to park on the street. Parking shouldn't be too much of an issue - we can fit maybe 3 or 4 cars in our driveway, and we've got RV parking in our backyard if we need more space (although those cars will be blocked in).

Opario

2011-06-16 01:16:20 pm

Leftward punch go!

Okay, good to know.

Darkwing Duck

2011-06-16 05:26:49 pm

Highly Evolved

Her house is LONG. Easily fit five cars adjacent to the yard alone.

mikwuyma

Edit history:

mikwuyma: 2011-06-21 01:12:29 pm

2011-06-21 12:03:14 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Question, whose webcam is going to be used for the commentary? It doesn't matter whose camera is used, it just matters that we use a good one.

EDIT: How many people do we have for the Castle Crashers race? If we don't have 8 people, then I don't think it's worth doing.

Tranquilite

Edit history:

Tranquilite: 2011-06-21 01:45:13 pm

2011-06-21 01:40:53 pm

I have a camcorder w/ tripod that works great when used with a capture card. The video is good, and the audio is surprisingly good at clearly picking up sound in an entire room (It's the one Reaif is currently using for his stream). However if anyone feels that they have something better to offer, then by all means, feel free to volunteer.

UraniumAnchor

2011-06-23 12:21:14 am

Not a walrus

Unless somebody can bring a Blue Yeti mic I'm sure the camera will work out. Means we need another capture device, of course, but I don't think that'll be an issue.

Raen

2011-06-23 01:07:27 am

Yeah, seriously. We will have so many Dazzles, ect, we won't know what to do with them all.

Aftermath

2011-06-27 10:17:15 pm

Quits halfway

Not sure if it's worth posting this, but I was wondering how the DS setup would work out best in your house Essentia. I can play on a table or on the floor, the tripod just needs a little under a 2 foot square and I'll need a surface to tape the DS to. My s-video cord is 2m long, so I'll have to be that close to a capture card as well. As far as setup, I would just need a couple of minutes to tape stuff in place, then another minute to focus/position the camera correctly.

For the table, a chair that sits relatively high would be nice.

If the floor works out better, I'd just like to borrow a VCR or DVD to set the DS on (little bit of height makes it easier to play). I'll be using masking tape, so it shouldn't leave a mark.

mikwuyma

Edit history:

mikwuyma: 2011-07-08 05:30:59 pm

2011-07-08 05:15:39 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

If possible, I'd like a setup similar to what TSG uses for their marathons because I'd like to keep everything on one screen.

http://www.thespeedgamers.com/

We obviously don't need a second camera, which would be space better used for donation bids and a timer. We'll probably need a second stream for the races, but I'd like to keep everything on one widescreen if possible.

Does anyone have a registered copy of xsplit that will let us do this?

EDIT: TSG says they run xsplit through fme 2.5. They mentioned something about 2.5 using less cpu than 3.x

Worn_Traveler

2011-07-08 05:28:16 pm

Formerly known as Skullboy

Just wondering, do you want the single screen for bandwidth reasons? I've watched plenty of TSG marathons, and while I like the single screen, the people on one side can easily overpower the volume of the game and draw attention from the game as well at times. I know that we have a bit more of a community then before but we also need to keep focus on the gameplay, which can sometimes be secondary with a TSG-like setup. Either way works, just wondering.

feasel

Edit history:

feasel: 2011-07-08 05:56:23 pm

feasel: 2011-07-08 05:56:02 pm

feasel: 2011-07-08 05:55:43 pm

2011-07-08 05:52:24 pm

difficult and stupidly random

I agree about the audio. How would we get a good mix of game audio and commentary audio if it was all on one stream?

Different games and systems have a huge variation in volume level, so it's not something you can just set once at the start of the marathon and leave it. It would require someone to actually monitor the mix and adjust with each game (and i'm guessing this is a job that will quickly be forgotten about, since most people at the marathon will be watching it live and not thru the stream).

EDIT: Unless you were thinking of only streaming the room audio (which includes some game audio from the TV) and not explicitly mixing any of the game audio into it, in which case i'm not sure how clearly you'd be able to hear the game audio.

However, having one stream would solve the issue of viewers needing to refresh because one stream starts lagging behind the other. Hm....

Reaif

Edit history:

Reaif: 2011-07-08 08:22:10 pm

Reaif: 2011-07-08 08:20:57 pm

Reaif: 2011-07-08 07:56:28 pm

Reaif: 2011-07-08 07:53:33 pm

2011-07-08 07:53:00 pm

Quote from feasel:

How would we get a good mix of game audio and commentary audio if it was all on one stream?

I actually just acquired a decent hardware audio mixer that I would be happy to bring to the marathon. The only worry I have is that I bought it used and I didn't know the previous owner. I don't have a lot of experience with it yet, but I have found an issue where one of the stereo channels (left I think) will just stop and start working randomly on one of the inputs. I'll be testing this more as time goes on, to see how things turn out. If I can get it stabilized, this would be really great because one person could sit with headphones on and just move the game audio slider up or down depending on the conversation that is happening at the time. If it dies down, like it probably will at points, it would be really easy to just move the game slider right up.

Edit: I just remembered that the only hard part about using the hardware mixer is that pretty much the only way to hear game audio if you are at the marathon is to use headphones. Otherwise you can begin to get a nasty feedback loop... Unless of course you find a way to isolate the game sound from the people sound.

[quote="feasel"]How would we get a good mix of game audio and commentary audio if it was all on one stream?[/quote]

I actually just acquired a decent hardware audio mixer that I would be happy to bring to the marathon. The only worry I have is that I bought it used and I didn't know the previous owner. I don't have a lot of experience with it yet, but I have found an issue where one of the stereo channels (left I think) will just stop and start working randomly on one of the inputs. I'll be testing this more as time goes on, to see how things turn out. If I can get it stabilized, this would be really great because one person could sit with headphones on and just move the game audio slider up or down depending on the conversation that is happening at the time. If it dies down, like it probably will at points, it would be really easy to just move the game slider right up.

Edit: I just remembered that the only hard part about using the hardware mixer is that pretty much the only way to hear game audio if you are at the marathon is to use headphones. Otherwise you can begin to get a nasty feedback loop... Unless of  course you find a way to isolate the game sound from the people sound.

puwexil

2011-07-08 08:53:55 pm

Professional Second Banana

TSG usually either doesn't broadcast game audio, or uses their commentary mic to pick up the TV speakers. I agree with feasel that if we're going to try to both have 1 stream with everything in it and use direct game audio, we'll need tech people checking the mix settings between games to make sure neither side gets too OVERPOWERING (albeit less so than Emptyeye Wink

).

Worn_Traveler

2011-07-08 09:11:24 pm

Formerly known as Skullboy

My concern isn't so much the audio, it's having the game play and game player, commentator, and audience. Having the two so close to each other like that can just be distracting. I doubt Mike is suggesting the current full TSG set up they are using for the Star Wars marathon since their focus is always commentator and not game play based. There have been marathons where you don't even see the runner. I'm sure there's a logical explanation for this but as I said, I'm more concerned about too much focus on the player then the game itself.

ZenicReverie

2011-07-08 10:32:27 pm

Waiting hurts my soul...

Quote from mikwuyma:

If possible, I'd like a setup similar to what TSG uses for their marathons because I'd like to keep everything on one screen.

http://www.thespeedgamers.com/

someone yell at them that they need to deinterlace the game stream. it makes me sad. Sad

need to keep this in mind for SDA streams... check for the need to deinterlace, or run through a DVD player before going to the capture card and deinterlace (or not) all the time.

Sir VG

2011-07-08 11:20:25 pm

Fucking Weeaboo

Yeah, the audio on TSG streams always bothered me because sometimes I wanna hear the game music without hearing their BOOMING VOICES. No matter how we setup, keep that as a possibility.

Cubemario

Edit history:

Cubemario: 2011-07-19 02:16:25 pm

2011-07-19 02:15:26 pm

Something goes here.

I have an idea for the commentary streams that should be very doable. You know how you guys use a webcam for the commentary stream right? I was thinking that there could be a camcorder brought that records as well, but it would need to be a digital one. The reason for this is very simple...

Once the marathon syncing and encoding begins after the marathon is over, this would allow for higher quality video and you don't have to use the awful webcam feed. The webcam is great for streaming purposes, but using a camcorder is far far better for archival purposes and you could see everything SO much better. Battery wouldn't be an issue since you could just plug in. Additionally this would allow for higher resolution options for the marathon archives, since you could encode at higher resolutions without destroying the commentary side in the process.

I have the perfect camcorder for this, but I wouldn't be able to attend regardless. However considering how many people are going, surely there's somebody who would have a camcorder with internal memory/external memory that can pull this off with ease. DV Camcorders wouldn't work unless you brought A LOT of tapes.

Anyway, it's something to think about.

I have an idea for the commentary streams that should be very doable. You know how you guys use a webcam for the commentary stream right? I was thinking that there could be a camcorder brought that records as well, but it would need to be a digital one.  The reason for this is very simple...

Once the marathon syncing and encoding begins after the marathon is over, this would allow for higher quality video and you don't have to use the awful webcam feed. The webcam is great for streaming purposes, but using a camcorder is far far better for archival purposes and you could see everything SO much better. Battery wouldn't be an issue since you could just plug in. Additionally this would allow for higher resolution options for the marathon archives, since you could encode at higher resolutions without destroying the commentary side in the process.

I have the perfect camcorder for this, but I wouldn't be able to attend regardless. However considering how many people are going, surely there's somebody who would have a camcorder with internal memory/external memory that can pull this off with ease. DV Camcorders wouldn't work unless you brought A LOT of tapes.

Anyway, it's something to think about.