Resources / tips for broadcasting / streaming high quality road running / track events

I'm not criticizing what the Hanson's did. I think they put on a good show. I just think they need to use all the social media during the race, since their cam's were down. I was on Instagram and twitter plus their facebook feed. As Nick Willis was posting videos at the mile marks and others were posting videos on twitter. Unless you have the expensive equipment national tv stations have a continuous running pacer car or bike has bouncy images. I preferred the stationary as you got highlights plus how far behind other team were.

They just needed to have people watching the other social media, so they could talk about the other highlights and if possible show the others videos.

Track would benefit from a similar idea. Plenty of people at meets have cell phones and different events could show highlights from people watching those events. Have a phone posting images at the PV, HJ, LJ, Disc, SP, etc... would make the feed more inclusive. Need one control point showing the best highlights at one easy access site.

JNathletics wrote:

They just needed to have people watching the other social media, so they could talk about the other highlights and if possible show the others videos.

What about using someone on an iphone standing on the side of the road and pump that into the feed? A drone is more complicated than that. Could have had a few mile marks and shown runners a few times.

I know nothing about any of this btw.

Most of us have experienced tuning into a livestream/broadcast of a running event only to see just the race leaders for 95% of the broadcast. I sought out a way to livestream meets in a way that showcase all the runners. If we have a track and field season in the spring, I'll be able to show four different events simultaneously (running, jumping and throwing).

The first two links are from livestreams I've done showing how multiple cameras can be used with cameras positioned in a way to see all the runners. The third link is footage of Cole Sprout and Parker Wolfe finishing at last year's Colorado state XC meet. Parker just beat Cole's course record this past Saturday at the state meet.

https://youtu.be/-S15dM5nZBo?t=4473

https://youtu.be/GxjCAGoBRsY?t=3516

https://youtu.be/kXpDIs7C1HE?t=18877

Peters Nell wrote:

Most of us have experienced tuning into a livestream/broadcast of a running event only to see just the race leaders for 95% of the broadcast. I sought out a way to livestream meets in a way that showcase all the runners. If we have a track and field season in the spring, I'll be able to show four different events simultaneously (running, jumping and throwing).

I liked the multiple cameras you had. 1) For an XC race how are you making sure you get internet to them? Same thing would apply to a road race. Is there a good way for someone to do something beyond relying on a traditional cellphone connection that is not too cost prohibitive.

2) Have you tried to do anything with a moving camera in a lead car/gator? I think most fans want to see the leaders. Teammates/parents might want to see everyone.

I'd really like to see something like this more available to local road races. One part is the technology, and making it affordable to a medium-sized race (say a local HM with 600 runners).

The other part is figuring out what the interesting stories are during the race and how to tell them. "Ed Smith is on M50 record pace" and "Judy Lopez and Alicia Jones are neck and neck with 800 to go" are often more interesting than "Yep, Mike Conway is still ahead of second place by 10 minutes."

you guys are overthinking it. Just contact the local news station and see if they have some cameras ready to use that weekend. In this day and age there really isn’t much happening so I’m sure there would be some.

Covering transportation cost, paying for camera operators, live streaming, is just part of the business.

You gotta spend money to make money.

Free Streaming Software:

https://obsproject.com

Hire Seth Demoor as a consultant

Get Jamin to do interviews or ride a bike with webcam

1) Probably the best option for reliable internet in the field is using cellular bonded technology through a service like LiveU Solo. For a low/no budget production live my livestreams (I've been doing them for free), this is not an option. Another option is Ubiquiti LiteBeam....these dishes allow you to cast an internet signal around 3 miles. So, whether through LiveU, Ubiquiti, a cell phone as a hot spot, or wired in, you still have to position the equipment in locations to get good views, thus having either cables to cameras or wireless technology to the cameras, this will free things up to get cameras to interesting locations. Cables and wireless still have limitations. Thus to your #2, a moving camera on a gaitor.

2) I have not tried the camera on a lead car, however I would love to do that. The OSU invite broadcast on Flotrack last weekend did this very thing and the footage was pretty darn good (and that cross country course at Oklahoma State looks spectacular). NXN and Footlocker livestreams have the same gaitor camera cart used in addition to fixed cameras. I have hopes to do the gaiter thing and maybe use a drone in the future. Potentially, I could use a cell phone as a hot spot to do that as long as there's reliable service throughout the course. The LiveU Solo would provide a much more reliable service (but for a price). The Ubuquiti Lite Beam would not be an option in a gaitor situation. My guess is the OSU/Flotrack broadcast used mostlikely a LiveU Solo for the signal or a cell as a hot spot. Many mobile television crews use a LiveU Solo (or similar) type technology.

Live footage with drones over a bigger distance probably does not come cheap.

This is not the Tour de France. This is just a little obscure event in an event format which is only famous in Japan.