Same thing has happened for me. Kind of strange because I can see the breaks in between groups fine, but when a group comes on, it stops and buffers every few seconds. :/
Sadly - this is what it's doing for me this morning again. And I've tried watching on my computer and my phone, but the same thing happens each time. So it's probably my sucky equipment since it seems to be working for other people - oh well. But the few seconds I've seen look great!
Okay...so the video stream was apparently a problem. I thought all was well, but then I was watching it from inside the school over our internal network's wireless. My apologies to any that tried to view it and had issues with drops and stuttering.
I got an update from our IT staff. Our concern at the outset was that our servers might not have the capacity to handle the connections for the stream, but the server never even "broke a sweat." Our problem tonight was that we were maxing out our internet connection's upload capacity.
We're looking into a couple of things to try to improve it for tomorrow. They are going to see if they can lower the bit rate of the video stream to reduce the amount of internet traffic required to deliver the video. If successful that should allow us to support a larger number of connections, but it might result in reduced video quality. (But our thinking is that slightly poorer video quality is better than no video at all.)
We've also offered to foot the bill if our ISP can temporarily provide us with more capacity for the day.
So, in a nutshell...I can't promise the feed will work any better tomorrow and if that's the case I'm really sorry. We tried and learned so we can do it better next time. We're taking steps to try to make it work, but I just don't know if it will be any better under the strain of the number of people I expect will want to view it tomorrow afternoon and evening. We're going to try though!
I'm watching it from the Urbandale page right now and it looks good (even though hardly anyone is watching compared to tonight)
Okay...so the video stream was apparently a problem. I thought all was well, but then I was watching it from inside the school over our internal network's wireless. My apologies to any that tried to view it and had issues with drops and stuttering.
I got an update from our IT staff. Our concern at the outset was that our servers might not have the capacity to handle the connections for the stream, but the server never even "broke a sweat." Our problem tonight was that we were maxing out our internet connection's upload capacity.
We're looking into a couple of things to try to improve it for tomorrow. They are going to see if they can lower the bit rate of the video stream to reduce the amount of internet traffic required to deliver the video. If successful that should allow us to support a larger number of connections, but it might result in reduced video quality. (But our thinking is that slightly poorer video quality is better than no video at all.)
We've also offered to foot the bill if our ISP can temporarily provide us with more capacity for the day.
So, in a nutshell...I can't promise the feed will work any better tomorrow and if that's the case I'm really sorry. We tried and learned so we can do it better next time. We're taking steps to try to make it work, but I just don't know if it will be any better under the strain of the number of people I expect will want to view it tomorrow afternoon and evening. We're going to try though!
Any last predictions or second guesses before the big day??
My predictions haven't really changed from one of the early pages but I'll post them again.
GC. Wheaton Warrenville
1RU. Cedar Rapids Kennedy
2RU. Ankeny
3RU. Cedar Rapids Prairie
4RU. Lincoln Southwest
5RU. Johnston
7th Place - Totino Grace
8th Place - Sioux City East
I honestly do believe that Wheaton Warrenville will win, but I could see 2-8 finishing in many different orders. When it comes to captions, I will predict a Wheaton sweep, though I could see Ankeny taking Choreography and band going another way, too. Honestly this competition is just going to be so close and unpredictable. I AM SO EXCITED
Are you watching it on the main page of this site or did you click over to our site? Try watching it at http://www.urbandaleschools.com/usci
I've tried watching it on both and it still does the same thing but the one on here is worse in my opinion so i was trying to watch it on your site but like i said they both do the same thing.
Same thing has happened for me. Kind of strange because I can see the breaks in between groups fine, but when a group comes on, it stops and buffers every few seconds. :/
I've been signing into it on and off on my phone over the school's WiFi and it hasn't buffered once for me.
Mine only buffers when there is a group on performing so maybe it is just the amount of stuff being broadcasted? When it does pause and buffer sometimes it jumps to where the performance is and catch up after being paused so i miss parts of the performance and i know i have a good wifi connection
The video is now live on the front page of the site just to make it as painlessly easy to find as possible. Feel free to share, and thanks to Mr. Temple and Urbandale for actually providing a stream of the competition in the first place and making it available for everyone to enjoy. Hopefully one day the majority of show choir events will provide this service.
Urbandale Show Choir Invitational (Day Two) 2013
