Attention MRA members/friends/families, feedback needed

[slo1299]

Dirk and I (slo) had an idea/vision....And we would like as much feed back needed on whether to pursue this or not. Yes, we are both new members and don't know many of you, however, please take a few minutes to think about the following and provide any feedback.

We were thinking a minimum of 4 portable cameras for the tracks, server, etc., so that in the beginning, we could sit in the pit areas, our families, friends, other racers could watch live feed from the track races and practices. How would you like to sit in your trailer or under your canopy while watching the races/practices? I'm sure we all have friends and family at home that would appreciate doing the same in the comfort of being under their own roof.

Obviously the camera would be "not" in an impact area so that's a non-issue.

This could obviously grow into friends, families, other racers not able to make it out to watch from home or work (even though I'm not suggesting to watch it at work).

The set up would not cover just one turn, possibly a couple turns, for example at Pueblo:

- Camera 1 would cover turn 1 and possibly 2
- Camera 2 would cover turn 4 and possibly 3
- Camera 3 would cover 6a/b and 7 (who doesn't like watching those turns)
- Camera 4 would cover last couple turns or even turn 10 and the straight

Positives

- More exposure for the MRA to others that are not involved yet.

- More exposure for the Sponsors to reach a new market of customers

- Able to watch teamates, friends, and others race/practice

Negatives

- Is there anything negative?

Now, this is just a quick idea we thought of, so my apologies if it seems spur of the moment. If you have any feedback whether positive or negative, please let us know. A couple board members were notified about this so we are throwing this out to the rest of you.

Jay #510 & Dirk #211

[2Blue]

Great idea!
:D :D

[loujr]

Do you have the cameras and all the stuff to do it? I don't know if getting all of this equip. is in the MRA budget. Good idea though! Would love to watch or record myself!!!

[PremiumBlend]

streaming that kind of feed may be difficult not to mention the cost of using a hosting company for such bandwidth usage. You are talking quite a bit of info to be streaming.

All in all, I think the idea would be cool. I'd definitely tune in to watch a live stream of the races.

[Wild Cheetah 612]

Nice idea, but I seriously doubt the club could afford to foot the bill for this. We're trying to keep entry fees as low as possible.
I'm sure the Board would seriously consider someone else taking this on.

[slo1299]

Dirk and I are looking further into the costs of this and also for personel to set these up at the races and run them. If this were to happen, it wouldn't be easy in the beginning. However if this were to be set up later, imagine how nice it would be to watch it from your own pit area. And that's just the beginning.

[2Blue]

Guys let me know if you need a hand with this.

[OConnell]

Im not sure where you would need help. But I have experience with streaming video servers. If you get the project off the ground, and need some help, let me know.

[Lel399]

sounds like a great! idea... i would wonder though how would you get ths signal out... streaming that much video is going to be some serious bandwidth. How about transmitting from cameras to the server etc.

It is such a cool idea! There is a bunch of technical people in the mra that could probably put together an idea of how to do it; maybe something that the PR committee could look at?

lel

[dave.gallant]

The uplink is the only problem, but could be addressed by resolution and buffering.

Everything else is relatively simple.

[dave.gallant]

FWIW, this is a great PR thing, but as a first project I would rather see us do a local private network at each track for the purposes of live streaming timing and scoring.

Nothing is cooler than sitting in the garages at Miller and watching the session times on the TV (especially qualifying), and while I am not sure what format of data is spit out by the transponder system, this too would be relatively trivial to set up.

Edit: Hmm - why not pump that feed live to the MRA website if we have even a slow uplink as well..

livewire.mra-racing.org anyone?? :D

[slo1299]

FWIW, this is a great PR thing, but as a first project I would rather see us do a local private network at each track for the purposes of live streaming timing and scoring.


That's exactly how our discussions went, starting off with a local private network...... but eventually trying to move it even further.

[Clarkie]

I would rather see the club spend the money to buy it's own lap timer beacon (Aimsport/XT etc) for start finish, it's great someone puts one out but it is always down by ROR-O, if i had one i would donate it to the MRA for Bob take care of and keep with the flags and other stuff.

[TRK]

I think I have one the MRA could have

[dave.gallant]

I would rather see the club spend the money to buy it's own lap timer beacon (Aimsport/XT etc) for start finish, it's great someone puts one out but it is always down by ROR-O, if i had one i would donate it to the MRA for Bob take care of and keep with the flags and other stuff.

Or you could try to convince the MRA to add support for these:

http://www.amb-it.com/20071206-i-129.html

:D

[marty]

I would rather see the club spend the money to buy it's own lap timer beacon (Aimsport/XT etc) for start finish, it's great someone puts one out but it is always down by ROR-O, if i had one i would donate it to the MRA for Bob take care of and keep with the flags and other stuff.

:oops: yeah that was me that took my beacon down at hastings before ror o, i figured after colorado class all the "fast" bikes were done racing :lol: :lol:

[Clarkie]

it's all good, thanks for putting it up!

[Scored51]

Or you could try to convince the MRA to add support for these:

http://www.amb-it.com/20071206-i-129.html

:D

I'm all for it! It requires double the amount of club equipment in decoders and loops in the pavement to transmit information back to the riders. Additionally, the the current cost to each and every rider is more than $2,100.00 (instead of $420 for a new transponder) just to see lap times while they are riding. My vote is to make it mandatory for next year. The up side of this would mean I wouldn't need to post lap times anymore and save the club money in paper expenses.

Seriously though... If this club with it's current membership numbers can earn, collect, or raise the kind of money it takes to fulfill the ideas suggested in this thread, why are we having to cancel HPR dates and voting not to spend an extra weekend in Hastings?

[dave.gallant]

Or you could try to convince the MRA to add support for these:

http://www.amb-it.com/20071206-i-129.html

:D

I'm all for it! It requires double the amount of club equipment in decoders and loops in the pavement to transmit information back to the riders. Additionally, the the current cost to each and every rider is more than $2,100.00 (instead of $420 for a new transponder) just to see lap times while they are riding. My vote is to make it mandatory for next year. The up side of this would mean I wouldn't need to post lap times anymore and save the club money in paper expenses.

Seriously though... If this club with it's current membership numbers can earn, collect, or raise the kind of money it takes to fulfill the ideas suggested in this thread, why are we having to cancel HPR dates and voting not to spend an extra weekend in Hastings?

All you had to say they cost $2100.