User:Brooke Vibber/Conference video infrastructure thoughts

Needs

• record every session unless opt-out
  • record good audio on the spot
    • hook into microphones whenever possible
  • record basic fixed video on the spot
• publish WebM videos to Commons in a timely fashion

Wants

• record good video of presentation screens on the spot
  • from HDMI if possible instead of camera?
  • consider live-merging of presentation and person camera into single widescreen video?
• live-streaming in WebM
• publishing to commons within hours of live

Concerns

• equipment!
  • microphones already exist in most cases, we need to be able to plug the camera into the existing audio
  • need humans to run the cameras and push the buttons
  • do we need a computer attached to every camera?
    • can we repurpose smartphones as wifi-enabled basic cameras?
      • battery etc
• network!
  • live:
    • need a reliable local network to be able to do any sort of live-streaming.
    • and need a reliable upstream network with enough bandwidth to push up live streams while people are using the network
  • upload with delay:
    • don't need a reliable local network all the time
    • do need the network to be working some of the time so video can be pushed up eventually
    • do need to make sure cameras are not lost, and all get collected & uploaded
  • mixed: live local-network storage with delayed upload to Commons
    • do need a reliable local network to push recordings directly from cameras to the local video server
    • don't need reliable high-bandwidth internet; can push up the full recordings after the conference
    • could provide local-network live-streaming for people attending the conference ;)

Equipment packages

The core:

• heavy machine with lots of storage, lots of CPU cores for compression
  • accept video/audio streams from the camera nodes over local network
  • if necessary, transcode camera streams from mp4 to vp8
  • optionally, connect via internet to push live streams and/or Commons uploads during conference
  • local network web control panel to allow someone to monitor that all streams are working, and dispatch help if needed

The camera nodes:

• tripod
• camera+network
  • a USB camera connected to a laptop
  • -or-
  • old smartphone used as camera
    • can we connect audio input to smartphones?
      • most smartphones support audio input on the headphone port, can adaptors be gotten for regular 3.5mm jacks? And what's most likely available connector to work with?
        • levels may be a problem with this though
• hookup for audio from the room's audio system

Double-nodes for capturing slide view and speaker view simultaneously?

Can we make it possible for people to set up their own camera nodes to help out?