Video Stream -

[Mukonoso 273]

WHOOSH! It's all over my head. Thanks for your hard work guys.

[Asashosakari 19,306]

I have switched to recording 5 bouts in each batch (around 4 batches per day)-much quicker to work with (I can tell when a bout starts just by looking at the audio ) and this way WMM doesn't crash on me anymore. But this conversion thingy is cramping my style AND biting off another nice chunk of my free time.

Which program do you use for the conversion? And are you outright reencoding the video stream? Just putting an AVI container around it shouldn't take that much time. (Although I don't know if WMM will accept an AVI with an H264 video stream...it's a bit of a messy concept AFAIK.)

[Asashosakari 19,306]

And I've figured out now why my recording of yesterday's stream looks so much worse than I expected: Their choice of bitrate (around 300 kbit for the video) looks okay at the start of the day, when there's relatively little movement in the image - static camera shot, almost static background (because nobody's sitting there yet). The later it gets in the day, the worse the video will be.

And while that was obviously true of the old WMV stream as well, it either degraded more nicely or at ~500 kbit it just wasn't as noticeable. (You can get away with lower bitrates in H264 than in WMV9 because it's a better algorithm, but I suspect cutting the bitrate by 40% from an already low level was a step too far.)

Edited September 15, 2013 by Asashosakari

[r12477 2]

I have just logged onto the Ustream streaming service provided through the sumo.or.jp web page and is it me, or is the sound quality from the dohyo particularly poor? I have having trouble hearing the Gyoji during bouts, although have no issue hearing the announcer.

[Asashosakari 19,306]

I have just logged onto the Ustream streaming service provided through the sumo.or.jp web page and is it me, or is the sound quality from the dohyo particularly poor? I have having trouble hearing the Gyoji during bouts, although have no issue hearing the announcer.

They've messed up the sound mix again - possibly they even mean to do that, a few basho ago they seemed to turn down the gyoji/dohyo sounds intentionally in the early bouts.

[r12477 2]

I have just logged onto the Ustream streaming service provided through the sumo.or.jp web page and is it me, or is the sound quality from the dohyo particularly poor? I have having trouble hearing the Gyoji during bouts, although have no issue hearing the announcer.

They've messed up the sound mix again - possibly they even mean to do that, a few basho ago they seemed to turn down the gyoji/dohyo sounds intentionally in the early bouts.

Thanks. I'll see how it is later in the day then - I wasn't sure whether it was just me as I was listening with the earphone in my "bad" ear (with the earphones on whilst at work).

[Huschnu 5]

Next try.

You can save the stream with rtmpdump. (http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu/download/)

Please try to run it with the following parameters:

...\rtmpdump.exe -v -r "rtmp://ustreamlivefs.fplive.net/ustream3live-live/stream_live_1_1_15844301" -W "http:// (*)static-cdn1.ustream.tv/swf/live/viewer.rsl:539.swf" -y "stream_live_1_1_15844301" -o "live.flv"

I got the URLs using wireshark while playing the stream in a browser window.

EDIT:the formatting is somehow broken, the (*) needs to be removed

The video stream is H264 at 640x360 and 500kbit/s

Edited September 16, 2013 by Huschnu

[Asashosakari 19,306]

One major advantage of Ustream over the old direct stream: No more reloading 50 times at the start of the day because you weren't sure when they'd finally activate it.

But on that topic, I might as well mention this page at the Kyokai site (jp only, sorry) - it's not new, but it's much less hidden than it was before, and it has each day's starting times listed. (Click the big blue button that reads "取組開始時間の目安を見る") Disclaimer: The time is not actually confirmed until 8:15 or so of the day itself, but it shouldn't change by more than +/- 5 minutes from the projected time. (Which was enough that I missed a maezumo session last basho, but I digress...) In any case, the time is confirmed when the PDF link in the right-most column is added - that's the detailed schedule for the day, which is interesting in its own right, although not that much use unless you read Japanese.

Edit: You may need to change "/tokyo" in the page URL in later tournaments when they're not actually in Tokyo. If you're going to bookmark it, I suggest using this URL which should always forward to the correct address for the current basho.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Asashosakari

[Asashosakari 19,306]

Last post here for tonight, promised - it looks like they've noticed that their chosen bitrate was insufficient, too. The first hour today has come in with just about 500kbit.

[sekihiryu 51]

must say the stream has been bloody handy today as NHK are cutting to long typhoon updates every 20mins and the tv screen is compressed with top and side banners of typhoon info. Plus the stream has the dohyo camera all the time, which is often lot more interesting than the plethora of other shots you are presented with on TV.

[torquato 1,075]

You can save the stream with rtmpdump. (http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu/download/)

Please try to run it with the following parameters:

...\rtmpdump.exe -v -r "rtmp://ustreamlivefs.fplive.net/ustream3live-live/stream_live_1_1_15844301" -W "http:// (*)static-cdn1.ustream.tv/swf/live/viewer.rsl:539.swf" -y "stream_live_1_1_15844301" -o "live.flv"

I got the URLs using wireshark while playing the stream in a browser window.

Wow. Thanks. That's really great.

Wondering why I haven't thought about wireshrak, since I have used that tool occasionally in the past...

However I found out that someone has written a handy python script to figure out the underlying links / parameters for ustream (in general).

https://github.com/kenorb/UStream-recorder

Had to figure out how to properly use rtmpdump on my machine (a Mac/ *nix). I never used it before.

Eventually I came up with this comand:

rtmpdump -v -r "rtmp://ustreamlivefs.fplive.net/ustream3live-live/stream_live_1_1_15844301" \
 -W "http://static-cdn1.ustream.tv/swf/live/viewer.rsl:539.swf" -y "stream_live_1_1_15844301" \
 --quiet | tee day2stream.flv | /Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC -

This way I can watch the stream live in VLC and at the same time I can use the dump file in a different programm for whatever purpose.

Don't know how this would work on Windows. The pipe | and the 'tee' probably wouldn't do it there...

@araibira

I was wondering that for quite some time now, how you are managing your "just in time" workflow. Hard to believe that you can follow the live stream and do all the cutting for the clips and uploading etc. at the same time. How are you doing that, if I may ask..?

@kintamayama

Same for you. Plus I'm curious what software you are using for the effects editing.

@stream quality

They seem to have improved the bitrate a bit during the last bouts today.

Edited September 16, 2013 by torquato

[Asojima 2,874]

For the curious, the flashing black and white message showing during Off Air time is the starting time for the next day's Jonokuchi. (08:40 JST for Day 3)

[Asojima 2,874]

IE now has a free Ad Blocker under the same roof as Firefox and Chrome. To get an effective Ad Blocker for Ustream and a lot of other annoying sites, google Adblock Plus.

[Asojima 2,874]

To recap:

The NSK is once again providing a live internet video stream of the action in ALL divisions every day of the Aki basho. The link goes LIVE at about 8:20 AM Japan Standard Time with the Jonokuchi division and continues through the end of the Makuuchi Division at about 6:00 PM.

The service is provided via Ustream using the following browser link(s) which should be active 24/7/365 on all major browsers and phone/tablet devices. Normally, it will be in Off Air mode except when LIVE streaming is activated. The mode switch is automatic.

Embed: http://www.ustream.tv/embed/15844301 (Recommended)
Normal: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/grand-sumo-tournaments
Pop Out: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/grand-sumo-tournaments/pop-out

The approximate start times for each division through day 12 should be:
Jk - 08:40 AM JST
Jd - 09:00 AM
Sd - 11:20 AM
Ms - 1:40 PM
Juryo - 3:05 PM
Mk - 4:20 PM
Dohyo-iri: Juryo 2:40 PM, Mk 3:50 PM
All times are +/- 15 minutes
Jonokuchi should start on Day 1 at about 08:20 AM. Days 13-15 have fewer matches per day, and they should start at about 10:30 AM

Ustream is an ad/subscription supported service. If ads become a problem, google Adblock Plus to get a free ad blocker for your browser.

Enjoy the basho!!

Note: I know that Ustream is working on my wife's android. Comments/suggestions on using it on other phone/tablet devices are welcome.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Asojima

[Asashosakari 19,306]

my wife's android

Consumer technology moves so fast nowadays...

[Kintamayama 45,086]

@kintamayama

Same for you. Plus I'm curious what software you are using for the effects editing.

I really am curious as to how Araibira does that- he's got to have software that can edit .ts files now.. And he uploads them almost as they happen..

My system is simple. I write all the material the night before, so right now all the matches' details are on the saved file. I use the most banal software-Windows Movie Maker that ships with XP . The effects are mostly built in but I was sent some other cool effects and subtitle stuff by Adi, another Israeli sumo fan. I record 4-5 bouts at a time, but now before dragging them to WMM I have to convert the .ts files to avi so the software agrees to play with them. Then it's an easy cut and paste, and I add the result and the kimarite live. Usually the saving of the whole movie and the upload takes another hour or so. Then, I have to upload again because there are so many mistakes, but that's another story for another time..

[Huschnu 5]

@kintamayama

Have you tried the youtube video editor yet? https://www.youtube.com/editor

It works well with ts files and most (simple) editing jobs can be done. And there is a very good preview player.

But you must upload all source videos first.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Huschnu

[Asashosakari 19,306]

Yikes...the stream dropped very briefly at the end of maezumo, and I didn't notice until several minutes later that that had also closed my recording session through Livestreamer, as it apparently looked as though the broadcast went off the air to the program. That's going to become an issue for me if it happens more regularly...

Edit: Dropped several more times over the next few hours. I've put together a quick batch file now that (if it works) simply loops back and restarts the program again.

Edited September 17, 2013 by Asashosakari

[araibira 682]

I don't use any editing software. I simply upload the .ts files to YouTube.

[torquato 1,075]

@kintamayama

Thanks for sharing this inside view of how you are doing your video stuff. Interesting. I myself have no experience with this kind of video editing. Gave it a first try yesterday and found it not thaaat easy, I must confess.

but now before dragging them to WMM I have to convert the .ts files to avi so the software agrees to play with them.

I was wondering where you got the .ts file from. I was rereading this thread again now. think it comes from Hushnu's post here http://www.sumoforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=31824&page=2#entry247463

Now I've figured out the technichal stuff behind it. The original stream is in the Flash Video container format .flv, regardless of the programm used to get (watch, record..) it.

Hushnu's addition to the configuration file (thanks for that by the way) tells VLC to transcode the original input stream (which is a flv container) to a ts container file as output. With different options VLC can be told to use a different more suitable container format.

I was trying around a bit and this worked for me:

--sout='#duplicate{dst=display,dst="standard{mux=mp4,dst=/Users/salewski/tmp/stream.mp4,access=file}"}'

This tells VLC to display the original input and safe a copy as an mpeg-4 container leaving the codecs untouched. No need to recode anything in a second step, that's allready done on the fly while whatching good sumo.

@livestreamer

That's much easier to use than rtmpdump directly as I did yesterday. But one additional note.

5. Edit the shortcut, "...\Livestreamer\livestreamer.exe" <USTREAM LINK> 480p

Instead of using explicitly '480p' as argument it's better to use the symbolic 'best' option. This way livestreamer will allways pic up the best stream available.

I don't use any editing software. I simply upload the .ts files to YouTube.

That means you are constantly telling your programme to start a recording, to stop recording, to start recording,...? Somehow I can't imagine how you are doing this practically (in VLC)?

Edited September 17, 2013 by torquato

[Asashosakari 19,306]

I was trying around a bit and this worked for me:

--sout='#duplicate{dst=display,dst="standard{mux=mp4,dst=/Users/salewski/tmp/stream.mp4,access=file}"}'

This tells VLC to display the original input and safe a copy as an mpeg-4 container leaving the codecs untouched. No need to recode anything in a second step, that's allready done on the fly while whatching good sumo.

FWIW, I would strongly suggest using separate sessions for viewing and recording. (Unless you can't afford the doubled bandwidth usage.)

[torquato 1,075]

FWIW, I would strongly suggest using separate sessions for viewing and recording. (Unless you can't afford the doubled bandwidth usage.)

You mean to the advantage of not noticing when the recording stream fails for some reason like in... Uhhh

Yikes...the stream dropped very briefly at the end of maezumo, and I didn't notice until several minutes later that that had also closed my recording session through Livestreamer, as it apparently looked as though the broadcast went off the air to the program.

:D

Well, it's perhaps a matter of taste. The options and this behaviour can be adjusted as needed... I primarily wanted to address the ts file issue.

Edit:

Btw, if one doesn't want to watch the output in vlc it would be much more reasonable, I think, to pipe it over directly to ffmpeg and let ffmpeg do the container conversion...

Edited September 17, 2013 by torquato

[Asashosakari 19,306]

You mean to the advantage of not noticing when the recording stream fails for some reason like in...

I'm more concerned about accidentally killing the recording because I've tapped the pause or stop button in VLC out of habit. In any case, I wasn't watching in VLC last night (rarely watched the old stream in VLC either, WMP always did just fine for me), so it was a whole different scenario anyway. ;-)

On the upside, the batch file mentioned above actually doubles as a scheduling utility so the drop-outs have turned out to be a blessing in disguise by getting me out of lazy mode.

Btw, if one doesn't want to watch the output in vlc it would be much more reasonable, I think, to pipe it over directly to ffmpeg and let ffmpeg do the container conversion...

Personally I'm generally not a fan of cloak and daggers computer stuff though, and I'd rather just save the original stream and do the conversion afterwards to keep control of the process. Especially as I've been burned a few too many times with corrupt recordings from the old stream which could only be salvaged manually. That's going to be that much harder if multiple programs have already messed with the recording.

For Moti's purposes it could be worth considering.

Edited September 17, 2013 by Asashosakari

[torquato 1,075]

I'm more concerned about accidentally killing the recording because I've tapped the pause or stop button in VLC out of habit.

That's a good point.

Indeed, if done as I suggested above, stopping or pausing VLC also stops saving the stream data to file. Even worse, resuming vlc then might cause the data already being saved to be overwritten.

I'm just reluctand to download data twice which is already there and should (can?) better be reused.

Still haven't found the smartest way of doing it. Well, at least for me ;-)

I'd rather just save the original stream and do the conversion afterwards

Yes, off course that's somehow safer.

I was mainly thinking about kintamayama, because the ts file he was referring to isn't the original file anyway, but a superfluous transcoding step in between...

:-)

[Kintamayama 45,086]

@kintamayama

Thanks for sharing this inside view of how you are doing your video stuff. Interesting. I myself have no experience with this kind of video editing. Gave it a first try yesterday and found it not thaaat easy, I must confess.

but now before dragging them to WMM I have to convert the .ts files to avi so the software agrees to play with them.

I was wondering where you got the .ts file from. I was rereading this thread again now. think it comes from Hushnu's post here http://www.sumoforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=31824&page=2#entry247463

Now I've figured out the technichal stuff behind it. The original stream is in the Flash Video container format .flv, regardless of the programm used to get (watch, record..) it.

Hushnu's addition to the configuration file (thanks for that by the way) tells VLC to transcode the original input stream (which is a flv container) to a ts container file as output. With different options VLC can be told to use a different more suitable container format.

I was trying around a bit and this worked for me:

--sout='#duplicate{dst=display,dst="standard{mux=mp4,dst=/Users/salewski/tmp/stream.mp4,access=file}"}'

This tells VLC to display the original input and safe a copy as an mpeg-4 container leaving the codecs untouched. No need to recode anything in a second step, that's allready done on the fly while whatching good sumo.

@livestreamer

That's much easier to use than rtmpdump directly as I did yesterday. But one additional note.

5. Edit the shortcut, "...\Livestreamer\livestreamer.exe" <USTREAM LINK> 480p

Instead of using explicitly '480p' as argument it's better to use the symbolic 'best' option. This way livestreamer will allways pic up the best stream available.

WMM does not recognize mpeg either..Only avi, wmv, asf and the sisters.. Also, i have no idea how to use prompts and write all that script stuff..