Broadcasting FRC Events

There has been a bit of discussion about how to broadcast FRC events recently.

Frank talked about it in his Frank Answers Friday piece. A huge amount of praise was given to the Chezy Champs and Game Sense crews for their terrific broadcast of their event this weekend.

We wanted to look at some of the recordings from various streams so people have an idea of the various ways groups are streaming events.

FIRST Championship Einstein

Here is how FIRST broadcasted the 2014 Einstein Finals.

Chezy Champs + PNW Video Equipment + GameSense Crew

Here is Chezy Champs Finals Match 1

Detroit Public TV Michigan State Championship

Here is the Michigan State Championship as it is broadcast on Detroit Public TV

EngiNERDs Michigan Districts

Here is a simple GoPro Recording of MSC Finals 1. This is how many of the Michigan districts are streamed. This setup was pinorred and often setup by The EngiNERDs. 

PNW District Video Crew

This clip is from IRI 2014. This year the crew from the PNW District did the broadcast for the event. Notice the use of multiple cameras during the match.

Citrus Circuits

Another awesome group doing live streaming of events is team 1678 The Citrus Circuits. In the video below you can see their full field coverage plus custom video overlay for match scores and teams.

Spectrum

We use a system inspired by The EngiNERDs but add in the score overlay directly from the FMS. This is a very inexpensive system. Total cost is under $500 plus a laptop to run it on. For more information on our setup see our draft version of a white paper on the subject.

There's more than one way to ______ a ______* 

(we couldn't decide so see the bottom of the post for some possibilities)

We're sure there are probably more examples of teams and events doing high quality streams of FRC events but these are all we can think of right now. We love what Chezy Champs was able to do with their stream but that may not be possible for every event. However it should be possible to get HD recordings of every FRC match. The budget requirement isn't that great and the volunteer support required is minimal.  Hopefully this will be useful to groups looking at adding a live stream to their events. Teams have even streamed events from the stands with a web camera and a cellular hot spot.

- Spectrum

"Any good broadcast, not just an Olympic broadcast, should have texture to it. It should have information, should have some history, should have something that's offbeat, quirky, humorous, and where called for it, should have journalism, and judiciously it should also have commentary. That's my ideal." - Bob Costas

*

1. Eat a Corndog 
2. Throw a Frisbee
3. Wear Denim
4. Accept an Alliance Request (graciously or otherwise)
5. Build a Robot
6. Win an Event
7. Make Bumpers
8. Pop an Aerial Assist Ball