Now that the camera is officially working, and will be on from my home until we mount and run the cables for the actual camera... Question for everyone!

Music! What should we do? Choose a station genre by vote? Or change it occasionally to a new genre?

Which Genre if only one?
Country
Alternative
Classic Hits
70's,80's,90's
or Today's Hits.

Up to you forum. http://MilesCam.com

[This message has been edited by Josh Rath (8/1/2009)]

Nice work. Looks windy. The music was kinda jerky but that might be my internet connection.

Sorry Levi, it is your connection. The stream does require quite a bit of download bandwidth, but that makes it good.

I have really, really good and fastest internet in our area and the music was very jerky for me too. I don't get that with you tube or any other place.

Oh, yes, I loved the music you had playing. 70's stuff and a bit of country thrown in.

[This message has been edited by Donna Kingsley Coffeen (8/1/2009)]

What download speed does it require?? my download speed is 715 mbps...

[This message has been edited by howdy (8/1/2009)]

Howdy, KBPS. lol No such internet speed as that. Also, maybe uStream is having issues. (The service I use for streaming.) I'll check it when I get home. I'm at the Big Damn Band atm.

Kbps
Kbps transfer rate = kilobit per second transfer rate. There are 8 bits in a byte, so we would divide kbps by 8 to get KB/sec transfer rate.


thats what I meant...KBPS....typo I guess..anyway...it is 715 as tested tonight...

Heh, yeah. You are sufficient. Is it still lagging? If so, It may be due to me going into it earlier remotely via LogMeIn to check on it from Mainstreet. I'll definately check it again at home, cause it was perfect audio before. Could be a number of things... The logmein thing... could be the iTunes radio station is having an issue... uStream could be having a problem or something.

lol No such internet speed as that.

Not true! In fact at least one person has a connection that is over 50 times as fast as that.

http://www.usatoday.com/t...rnet_N.htm

It is true however, that such connections are not commonly available in Miles City

And for the record, my bandwidth meter is showing about 50 KBPS with the cam+music running. Might be a bit much for dialup but any sort of broadband can handle it easily. The jerky audio seems to be cleared up now as well so I imagine it was on the server side.

Cool Levi, My guess it was my fault. I went into the computer remotely earlier while down town here, so i bet that was it.

Genre?
Josh, you WORK for KMTA/KYUS. Should there be a question? Isn't there something in your employment manual about engagement with competition? We work for the same company and I know that there's a non-compete clause in my manual.....

[This message has been edited by Josh Rath (8/2/2009)]

But he is talking about the Miles City web cam which is just volunteer so no competition...this isn't another business taking away from his employment I don't think....He isn't being paid a dime for his efforts here....

Don't worry, Josh. I got it.

Emilie, shut the f*ck up - telling a 17 year old kid that he's signed a non-compete clause and saying what he can and can't do with a project that's required him to invest more than anyone else to complete and you're going to pull stupid sh*t like that? Go away.

I vote gangster rap.

There is no way anyone would consider this a conflict of interest.

Thanks for all you do Josh.

Woah there Buck. I think Emilie is just a bit confused on what I am doing. No need to get defensive. She is right, I do work for the same company as her, and there is a clause in the handbook about that. I am not starting my own radio station for this stream Emilie, I am using iTunes's free built-in radio stations. Yes, I know what you are probably wondering... Why am I not using KYUS or KMTA as audio over the stream? Royalties. It would cost the stations a huge amount to do this, so that is why. Is that clearer?

I vote Country Western....
You are an awesome young man, Josh!!

My apologies. That message was intended as a private message and I hit the wrong buttons so it ended up in the forums.

1 vote iTunes Country Western Station... ANy others? I;ll be taking votes until I finish the camera setup.

1 more vote for county western

I want to see Miles City just the way I remember it: set to a soundtrack of equal parts Slayer and Metallica and Anthrax. And for authenticity's sake - the occasional Stones track.

Remind me to watch with the sound off!

Josh, shame you're not doing a local community podcast or have a mic set up for the location of the camera itself.

I'd love to hear things like that.

I vote for a mic on the camera and live, natural sound from the street. I can turn on my radio and get better sound than using a feed that slows down my computer to hear the same thing. Natural sound would be great for street dances and live events.

Test Run #2 up and running in living color!

I had looked up the address of EMVisionCenter and found it was over near the old hospital, so expected a view from there. This is much more interesting than that would have been.

My only quibble is that since weather there usually comes from the west, a view with western sky would be interesting. But from the camera location this is great!

Thanks for the work.
Ken Ziebarth
Boulder, CO

I too thought it was going to be down at the other vision clinic on the other side of the underpass which wouldn't have been an especially interesting view. The roof of the 519 is a great place for it. It would be cool if there could be an option to get just the video without the music for people with slower connections but I don't know how difficult that would be.

It is up to you guys! Do you want music? or not? If not, the connection will be SIGNIFIGANTLY better. Tell me now, and I'll remote in and turn it off if you don't want it. On the subject of actually getting a mic up there, it would be pure wind noise most of the time, and purely a waste of money and time. Also, this is no longer a TEST run. THIS IS THE REAL THING! (I just got home from setting it up, so I had yet to change my site.) doing that now...

My vote is for NO music for a better connection...Very clear connection..looks good so far...

[This message has been edited by howdy (8/3/2009)]

I will always have the sound turned off, so if it improves the video it's an easy choice for me.
Ken Z

Audio is turned off. The video is jumpy due to the Vision Center's internet, which we hope to be remedying soon.

OH I wondered what that jumpy thing was..Glad you can fix it in the future..Now we can see who is eating at the 600 lol.....

Sweet! My office is not burning!

I vote for no music in order to have a better picture.

I know, right! I am surprised my handy work didn't set the office on fire!

If you could overlay a shooting game program, like Shotgun Fun 2, and then interface that with a live remote controlled weapon, perhaps a nice over under Bianchi, we could take care of Miles City's pigeon problem! I see they fly past between the water towers and the Olive or other points to the north. Imagine the fun!

[This message has been edited by Chad (8/3/2009)]

Put the mic lower and put a Rycote Softie windscreen over it...but yeah I understand heavy winds would overpower any other sound. I say no music and just keep the stream as fast as possible. Thanks for everything Josh, I'm glad I contributed, it was worth every penny to see someone stop talking about the former webcam and start doing what needed to be done to get the new one up and running. If you ever need video work done let me know, I'll give you a good deal.

NO MUSIC!

Alright everyone, I got it. THere will be no music, and there hasnt been for a few hours now. MMKay? ;p

Which is better,... #1 or #2, music or no-music?

I find it humorous. I have been down on Main Street now for almost three years. And this is the information age!

Yes, in case anyone wasn't sure... The new camera is located at 519 Main. On the top part of the building which houses my office, East Montana Vision Center. I have been operating as a business in Miles City since 2003. I originally moved here and purchased Dr. Elliot's office when he retired. His office, as was mine for nearly four years, was located at 2000 Clark Street, next to the old hospital.

The old hospital is a community gem too if you haven't seen it lately.

I am an Optometrist. I offer eye exams, contact lenses, medical diagnoses and treatment of eye disease, as well as comanaging the diagnosis and treatment of other systemic disease. If you are interested in Lasik surgery, or have other questions about eye conditions, you may call either office:

Miles City: 234-2911
or
Forsyth: 346-2020.

I have an office in both communities and split my time between them. Both offices are open Monday thru Friday, 8-5, we close an hour for lunch.

I have employees at each office available to help you with any adjustments of your glasses, setting up an appointment, or assisting with other needs you may have.

Speaking of the information age, I guess it'd be wise for me to get a webpage too!

I hope this helps to clarify any questions concerning where the new Miles City webcame is located.

Thanks!

Mark

Wonderful job, Josh! Thanks so very much.

Great Job Josh

For some odd reason the camera became blurry. Checking on that tomorrow.

Looks like we may have to tweak the focus and the digital slow shutter on the cam Josh, may have to try and adjust it at night and fine tune it. Minor setback.....will try to get up there tomorrow. Other than that it was looking good before darkness prevailed. I'm getting about 5-7 frames a second over my Wild Blue connection.

Dean Hanvold
Technologies Plus

Can something be changed with the low-light color balance to make it less ORANGE?
Ken Z

Say, that's real time. I like.

Just so everyone knows, Dean actually provided the camera, wiring, installation, and sweat to make the most important part happen! He deserves half of the credit!

Not sure if I can adjust the orange out, its the sodium vapor street lights. Will see what I can do, the camera has lots of adjustments. Josh may also be able to compensate for it some with the video software he's using. It will be a balancing act from day to night. I will try to tune it a little more tomorrow.

Heck, I'm bored, Lemme sync into the computer and try to remove some orange...

EDIT: At night I can have it go to black and white mode, like a night vision camera... for now until we work out a fix. Just have to turn it to color back in the morning!

[This message has been edited by Josh Rath (8/3/2009)]

Annnddd I awake to the computer being offline. No idea why. Will check it out soon.

Fixed. Apparently Downtown and some surrounding areas had a power outage today. Looks like the battery backup idea is going to become a reality soon. Remember, with the more expenses that arise, I could use all the donations possible! http://Milescam.com to donate!

Thanks MC Commies!

Josh, here is one of the battery backups that I have used on surveillance systems. Might not need one quite this large but bigger is better, right?
A 650va would do the job, a 350va would work and catch any momentary outages but overall run time will be less.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=770423&sku=ULT31502

Looks good Dean, just need to gather the funds for it now.

Great job guys And they say kid now days aren't good for anything, what a bunch of crap. Seriously we all appreciate your effort so thanks again.

Thanks to Dean, the camera is focused perfectly, meaning daytime and nighttime look great. NOTICE: There is no way to fix the orange tint. This is due to the lights, and it was the same way back when Eric had his camera up.

looks great!!!! It makes me want to drive by and wave!!

Update: I have run out of donation money that I have received. (Which was 460 dollars in total) We have a few more little things to purchase:

UPS Battery Backup
Casters for Kiosk
Fans for Kiosk

In total, about 150 bucks worth of stuff remaining.

Any help is appreciated! Remember you can see this thing in action if you walk into the East Montana Vision Center!

To donate, go to Http://www.milescam.com, scroll down and click the orange Donate button!

Thanks guys!

I've been in California for a couple week and have only been able to check out the cam this past weekend.

I am just blown away. Great job getting it up and running Josh. Is there any chance that a feed, similar to what we had before will be on MilesCity.com?

I also see that it's "Ad Supported". That's a pretty good way to keep it up and running. The ads aren't too intrusive.

Again great job Josh

Cheers

[This message has been edited by Kyle L. Varnell (8/10/2009)]

Well that didn't take long! Thanks for the $200 donation Kirk Haggerty! (Does anyone know him?)

Once it transfers the money to my debit card, I can purchase the UPS Battery backup, casters, and the fans!

Don't think just because everything is paid for now, that we don't need more donations! Due to this project, i had to upgrade my webhosting to the 50 a month plan to keep up! lol.

Josh, you've done an admirable job - you really deserve a pat on your back as do those who've worked with you and donated.

If I might offer a bit of constructive feedback - hopefully it'll help with ad-revenue, too?

Respectfully, the scrolling ads and alternating cam logo at the top could be more polished. It's a little "MySpace'ey" and doesn't match with the rest of the page. Whereas your landing page is clean and appealing the 1990's embedded text and logo on the image itself take away a bit, in my opinion.

If you aren't committed to the scrolling text being overlayed on the camera image itself then maybe HTML right below or above the image may yield smoother, more readable text that could cater to many more advertisers and look a little cleaner?

At that point you may pave the way toward pay per rotation ads and be able to offer keying and tracking to those who wish to know where their ad money is going, too. It not only might bring it up a notch visually but help you with more ad-revenue options.

A transparent PNG might also give the logo that stays on the cam image (for branding) a tidier impression?

Again, just fine-tuning ideas since you've really done so much... any bit more to take it over the goal line.

[This message has been edited by Dan Mowry (8/10/2009)]

Dan, the scrolling thing was a last minute thing, and will not look like that ever again. In the future I will photoshop a banner, and have that scroll neatly. What do you mean "MySpace'ey"? Describe a bit more.

I am actually in talks with a few business's around town at this moment about the pay per rotation ads. I can provide the insight into where every cent has gone so far, all anyone would have to do is ask and they would have it.

The transparent PNG's are a thought, but can be a bit hard when a company logo is what it is.

Thanks for your feedback! I am more than welcome to it, and it is well needed!

Josh - It looks great. I can hardly wait for a parade or nasty weather or something. Main Street looks great.

I was just thinking there are a few businesses that feature prominantly on the view presented by the web cam; I'd think they may be willing to pitch in for the expenses, they could call it an advertising expense

Also, if the camera were to focus a bit further down Main you could call it the stumble-cam on Friday and Saturday night. Or even on weeknights later at night

I can only imagine what it'll look like when the first accident happens for all to see.

Josh,

Does the cam take pictures in rapid succession to make it look like a video stream or is it actually streamed video?

Either way it looks great!

It is full video, just laggy due to the East Montana Vision Center's internet, which I am working on. Chad - I agree. I am going to speak with the owners of these business's wednesday and see what they think. If they decide not to, I am sure I can make a blackout brick for over that part. Also, The camera is zoomed to the max at the moment. Unless we get a better lens (Dean, want to chime in on how much that would be?) Also Kyle, Gene Larson said I keep him up at night because he loves to watch the stumblers! lol

I can't wait to see the drunk stumbling down the street.

Watching Bobby Kenny dart across the street from the Trails Inn to the Bison is also entertaining.

This is awesome! Thanks for all your hard work. Makes me want to stop by on my way through town and wave at the camera while I call all my ex-pat Miles City friends!

It's good that it's a ways away from the Bison. If it was, say, right outside the door where you could see everyone going in and out it would probably lead to lots of teenagers getting grounded and a few divorces.

This is so cool Josh, True stumble vision. It is alot of fun watching fatter people than me waddle out of the 600....LOL. Watch the night life stumble to their rides trying to avoid the long arm of the law..The lighting storms are a plus!! Keep up the good work!!!
Thanks,
James

Hey, no problem. I am more than happy to help the community out. Right now I am in the process of waiting for the UPS, tomorrow I am going to go check on the kiosk to see how it is going, and purchase the casters and fans for it. Once I get everything up and running, I am going to need a vacation! lol

Jody,

Maybe we could call one-another on the cell phone for when you're going to stand there in front of the cam (even better, get a bunch of you for a group shot) and I'll take a screenshot to post here.

I work from home on the computer all day - it's not the most boring thing I could do. ha ha

Update. The Kiosk not near being done.... The Sign is close.... The camera is fixed (And smooth`)

Awesome! Miles City voyeurism is back up and running!

Josh, I noticed that you need to click on the "Play" icon to get it running. This is still a live feed correct?

Also I noticed that, much like a TIVO, you can pause & un-pause the feed. Very cool

*Update by me* Jesus Christ, a wasp just flew onto the cam and it's huge!

[This message has been edited by Kyle L. Varnell (8/12/2009)]

Josh, the camera does have internal digital zoom 1-8x, we could try to zoom up a bit, draw back is that the image can start to get pixelated on the higher settings.
The cam also has up to 4 privacy mask settings if we want to block out anything. The feed looks great, live video now, very little hesitation even with my slow satellite connection.

Camera is much better smooth...this is far superior to what Eric had up...thanks for all the work..

Is Larry going to have a "Cached Image" link like he had with the previous cam?

Josh is it possible to make the two logos transparent so the seem a little less intrusive? Also is there a way to stop the one in the upper left from "Blinking"? It's kind of a distraction (and hurts my eyes a little).

Again great job!

[This message has been edited by Kyle L. Varnell (8/12/2009)]

I just saw two people hug in front of the 600 - Interesting...

Kyle just scroll your screen up and that logo is gone..Simple...

Simplicity escapes me sometimes....

Listing answers:

1. The camera feed is still live, it has a play button due to the new streaming service I am using, which also was the cause of the smoothness.

2. Yes, you can pause the camera and hit play if you need your bandwidth to do something else at the time.

3. Haha, scare you kyle? Wasps like you apparently!

4. Dean, on the zoom, I would prefer to not zoom in more because of the pixelization issues, and the privacy mask i can create using the software so we are good.

5. Thanks howdy! I aim to please.

6. Kyle, I know larry is going to try and do that, but he said he had to re-write part of Win32 to do it. (Beyond me, seems much simpler than that)

7. Also Kyle, the logo's up top I can make without backgrounds so only the text shows, or with a blurr behind them. The logo in the bottom right cannot be removed, as it is apart of the streaming company.

8. Bob, yeah. haha.

Knowing kids and the pranks they pull Josh, I wonder how long it'll be before somebody tries to moon the camera.

Good luck with that Kyle, their butt would be so pixilated it would look as big as the moon!

This is awesome. Any chance there will be any more Cams around town?

"Just Me" - I plan on it, getting a few more business's to do this, but we need the funds. It took about 600-700 dollars to do just one camera, and the camera was donated, so it was in total about $1400..

Look at the camera, that thing is a shaking!

I just gotta say...kudos to you Mr. Rath....the cam looks great.

CHEERS

The cam is great Josh but It seems a little smaller than when it was first up. Perhaps this is because it's no longer at the center of the page?

Also will a "Full Screen" option be available? I try to click on the icon on the right but it doesn't do anything that I can see.

If I get enough requests for fullscreen I will reenable the button. Also Kyle, it is about 50 px smaller all around due to the page size restriction.

Full screen would be great Josh...thanks..

I also like the full screen.

Right on, ill enable it.

EDIT: Enabled.

[This message has been edited by Josh Rath (8/17/2009)]

Update:
1. Bump.
2. The website has now been updated with a list of sponsors, and ad spaces.
3. Each click on every ad can now be tracked, so we can tell who is popular and who isn't, and it is also good for advertisers to see how they are doing.
4. The Sign Provided by ABC Glass here in town is now up in the Window of The East Montana Vision Center, along with turning the computer so at night people walking by can see what the camera is.

Thanks a bunch guys!

Hmm, the cam seems to be down at the moment.

On Justin.tv, in the Misc. Section, we are in the top 15 live channels! Number 8 to be precise!

http://www.justin.tv/dire...ot&lang=en

A photo of the MilesCam:



http://www.flickr.com/pho...859896052/

Heh, Thanks David.

I try to remember to wave at the camera every time I drive by!

Hey Josh,

The cam looks "Mobile" in that you could rotate it around correct? Are other directions possible for the cam view? What's on the opposite view of the cam's current view?

Yes Kyle, you are correct. It can spin 360 degrees. I may ring up Dean to see if we can spin it around toward the bridge for awhile. But knowing my luck, we'd do that and then something major would happen where it was pointed. Why Kyle, Which direction did you want it to be turned?

The opposite view probably wouldn't be as interesting IMO...

Same Howdy, but I am open to suggestions. Also, I see Larry got the "Live Webcam" Box back online here on MC.com

> I see Larry got the "Live Webcam" Box back online here on MC.com

Still working on it ... almost there.

Thanks Larry!

Here is a thought, thanks to hal. If anyone has old shots of the 600 cafe corner that the camera is looking at, I'll upload it to my server or use your link, and add it to the new "Photos" Page. I can also add videos this way.

> Still working on it ... almost there.

Okay, I got the service running now. The webcam icon on the front page should automatically update once every 10 minutes.

Cool Larry, Also. New Additions to MilesCam.com.

Photo's Page.

http://milescam.com/photos

As of this very moment, the sky appears to be purple on the cam.

Is Prince in town?

Drag.

Now it's just a very light lavender.

Can we get something in sepiatone?

[This message has been edited by Brian A. Reed (8/27/2009)]

I honestly liked it. It wasn't a complaint.

Unique hits in one day:


That is a new record.

4:30 my time and I was just watching. Sure looked like a white pickup hit a pedestrian crossing the street, but I cannot be sure. Is this taped?

Nope, this is not taped unless upon request. But I must know ahead of time.

Hi..

Just wondering if I may make a suggestion...

When clicking a link on the Cam page, can you set it to where the new page loads in a separate window/tab?. That way the Cam page is still showing.

I know we can right-click the link and choose open in a new page/tab, but having it done automatically is easier.

Thanks

I can, but it would require taking the site down for maintenance. Which I am planning on.

Looks good.

What's your pipe? I have a 15x1mbps Bresnan link here and it looks pretty good.

Also, could you add a clock so people who visit the site know what the local time is?

I can add a clock easily to the website. Also, the upload is 256K. Just 4 times faster than dialup. No download required. (But The East Montana Vision Center does have a 256/256k line)

Josh,
Any possibility that you could add the weather like on Milescity.com?
Bob

There is weather on the site... Right in the sidebar...

Sent from my Blackberry Tour.

Super Update!

The MilesCam is now in the Top 20 of Justin.TV's producer list! http://www.justin.tv/directory/featured30 to 60 constant views right now, hopefully even more soon.

Funny thing, there is a chatroom on the Justin.TV channel, http://Justin.tv/milescam, and every day someone asks.... "Where is this... Mexico?" haha

Josh, I just want you know how much I enjoy the webcam! You've done a super job. I have friends out of state who have enjoyed seeing what our town looks like! Wonderful job! Thanks!

Another Update.

The Kiosk is almost complete. It is setup with everything inside of it right now. All that there is left to do is to Place the sign on the front, and get the UPS setup.

Also, The Website ( http://www.milescam.com ) Has the current date and (1 hour behind ) our current time. I cannot seem to get PHP to allow me to offset the clock from server time, and my server is in california. Along with a widely asked for feature... Video Popout! So you can keep this window up at all times while browsing the web, without the whole site.

Finally, as we go along there will be tweaks to the site itself. With more donators added as we go I hope!

Edit: Also, at some big whiners request! (KYLE) The video window is now back to it's original size from the beginning site.

[This message has been edited by Josh Rath (9/9/2009)]

[This message has been edited by Josh Rath (9/9/2009)]

For some reason or another, I awoke to a camera not functioning today. So, I came to work as usual but stopped and looked at our camera on the way.
Low and behold the camera has been tilted about 30-40 degrees into the sky and the cables seem to have been ripped from the camera. Unsure right now, but we are working on getting up there to see what happened.

Here are my guesses:
1. The camera was shot, and it slung upward.
2. A bird flew into it.
3. Someone was on the roof screwing with it.

Most likely it was a bird who flew in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'll update when the camera is back online.