BASICS


BASICS: "Hummingbirds.....where is the person, I ask, who, on observing this glittering fragment of the rainbow, would not pause, admire, and turn his mind with reverence..." (J. J. Audubon).
This is a blog about my summer life at the Baiting Hollow Hummingbird Sanctuary, at my winter garden, Calypso, in the Bahamas, and aspects of life in general.
This private sanctuary is now permanently closed to the general public, as a result of a lawsuit brought by a neighbor. Only my friends and personal guests may visit (paul.adams%stonybrook.edu).

Saturday, June 16, 2018

More about Fredcam

youtube.com/channel/UCvTj9WdD0zItyBLI6m-U9Og/live

Every time the Fredcam livestreams, it creates a new URL, and when I stop livestreaming, that entire video (up to 12 hours duration!) is archived, and can be viewed at any time. For example in yesterday's post "Fredcam!" you saw the URL (and corresponding embedded thumbnail) "bhhs 2" which during the livestreaming itself showed the actual livestream. If you had viewed the entire livestream (2 hours and 42 minutes) you would only have seen Fred 3 times: for the first minute, then from 4.15-7.09 and again 23.17-23.40. You would also have seen a robin perching twice. At 36.57 I zoomed out to show a more general view (with Old Field Point in the distance) and by the end of the livestream it was totally dark, with only 2 steady lights at Shoreham, and a brief flash every 10 seconds from the Old Field Point Lighthouse (alternating green and red) plus some flashing aircraft. This livestream is now archived as 'bhhs 2" at that same URL.
The URL at the top of this post:

youtube.com/channel/UCvTj9WdD0zItyBLI6m-U9Og/live

is the permanent URL for the livestream from my channel (I use the pseudonym "Fred Smith"). Thus clicking this link allows you toview the current livestream fromthe sanctuary in real time (or after a delay of about 1 second). This livestream link can always be seen in the right-hand blog column (which isn't visible on your phone unless you switch to the "web version" of the blog). As I write the current livestream is "bbhs4" but I'm now going to stop this and restart the feed as "bhhs5". You will find that the above link does indeed take you to the current livestream,  and not to the now archived "bhhs4". If instead you go to my Youtube channel

youtube.com/channel/UCvTj9WdD0zItyBLI6m-U9Og

you will shortly be able to view the now archived livestream video (which begins with Fred perching but then has a long dry spell), as well as previous archived livestreams (such as bhhs 1,2and 3) and all my other public videos.

But what we all want isn't these various URLs but the embedded version of the livestream, so you can just click on the thumbnail to view the current livestream. For example you can click on this thumbnail:


and see an old video of Fred and his gorgeous ruby gorget at the sanctuary in 2014. But I cannot yet supply you with a thumbnail which will take you directly to the current livestream -but I'm working on it! For the time being you have to click on

youtube.com/channel/UCvTj9WdD0zItyBLI6m-U9Og/live

Unfortunately if I'm NOT livestreaming, this URL will simply take you to my YouTube channel.

Lastly, an even more technical detail. To connect my Vixia G30 to my computer (actually a MacAir I no longer use much) I'm using the Elgato Camlink. I set the Vixia so it provides a "clean" hdmi output, without all the annotations I see on the viewfinder or lcd screen of the camera itself. I'm using a 15 foot hdmi cable to the outdoor camera which means I can only just reach the Camlink device which is plugged into an USB socket on the (indoor) MacAir. I'm going to try and find a longer hdmi cable, so I can livestream from different outdoor locations. Of course the ideal would be to use wifi or bluetooth to send the camera output wirelessly to the Camlink or to the computer itself, but though I can control and view the Vixia via bluetooth, I don't think I can use it as a webcam this way.







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