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Stawell Web-Cam

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      Gavin J Junior Train Controller

    Location: Stawell
    The new camera facing for Down trains was temporarily set up this morning.

    Having the 2 cameras running through the old laptops video card darkened the images quite a bit,
    so I had to manually tweak them. ( the grungy uneven light did not help )

    Luckily, the late running Down Patricks train came, just as I was tweaking the settings.
    The motion detection zone seemed just right ?

    So, you should now get both facing and trailing shots of trains, which will now
    be better of an evening, when the sun shines into the current camera.

    Obviously there will be adjustments as trains go through, and the big test will be tonights action.

    ( as I write this... a little Down wheat just went thru....a bit more adjustment is needed )

    Brian will be setting up a HD camera soon... position yet to be determined.

    The new camera will probably be unavailable during daytime on this Friday and Monday
    due to workmen.

    Gavin in Stawell
    Posted: 11 Dec 2013 11:38

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      bevans Site Admin

    Location: Melbourne, Australia
    Gavin, this is looking great.  The New HD Camera will be very similiar to Gheringhap Loop Camera #2 found at: http://www.railpage.com.au/railcams/gheringhaploop however given the angles Gavin is using we may all have to convince him we need a down and up facing HD camera?

    I have also created a sightings discussion thread specific to Stawell movements which is available at: http://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11376480.htm

    Regards
    Brian
    Posted: 11 Dec 2013 12:56

    Last edited by bevans on 11 Dec 2013 12:58; edited 2 times in total
      bevans Site Admin

    Location: Melbourne, Australia
    Gavin, I like the use of both angles to provide the content.

    Regards
    Brian
    Posted: 11 Dec 2013 16:50
      Ads Deputy Commissioner

    Location: Melbourne
    Thanks Gavin and team, appreciate the time and effort put into this setup. Grateful for the service provided.
    Posted: 11 Dec 2013 21:01
      Gavin J Junior Train Controller

    Location: Stawell
    Just a report back from yesterday...

    Firstly it was very windy in Stawell yesterday, so that big tree on the right hand side was blowing
    causing heaps of miss-shots...so I zoomed in past it.

    The new camera caught the Down Dooen and an Up wheat, that the old camera missed.....because of the sun shining into it.

    So that's a good thing.

    9701 came thru...missed by new camera, so I adjusted the motion detection zone  higher to get headlight in.
    9711 was recorded by both cameras, and BOTH shots, flickr failed to upload. Very annoyed with this.
    That is all the Down trains on Wednesday night.

    Up trains looked quite dramatic on new camera, will look good in fog or rain !

    This morning....
    Up Dooen was recorded nicely.
    Late running 9754 was recorded by BOTH cameras, although flickr 'lost' the new camera's picture.

    The higher motion detection zone to get headlight in at night, now puts it near another blowing tree, causing miss shots.

    I'll do more adjustments tonight...obviously you need a train to set it off to check it...
    and it doesn't help that flickr keeps loosing shots....

    If it wasn't Railpage approved, I'd give flickr the flick.....now that I'm here all the time, it is amazing to find out just
    what is not being uploaded, as it should.

    Luckerly if I get an SLR shot, I'll upload it...but out photographing, it is a bit embarrassing to find a train
    coming towards you, catching you by surprise, after relying on your own camera to pre-warn you.

    We'll see what happens today / tonight ?

    Gavin
    Posted: 12 Dec 2013 09:41
      JimYarin Chief Commissioner

    Location: Adelaide, South Australia
    thks for the update. do you have a time line for the HD camera?
    Posted: 12 Dec 2013 10:14
      bevans Site Admin

    Location: Melbourne, Australia
    thks for the update. do you have a time line for the HD camera?
    JimYarin

    Subject to availability I was thinking of making the trip next weekend.  I will speak to Gavin about this as I still need to get a new camera mount.  I also like the way Gavin has both cameras running for trains in the Up and Down direction.  On this basis it would be great to get 2 cameras up at the location (IP CAM's) in he same configuration.  However this will need to wait as I only have a single cameras available for the site which will get us up and running.

    The camera is HD and will be maintained through the RP railcam module and updated by the railcam maintainers group which includes Gavin.

    Regards
    Brian
    Posted: 14 Dec 2013 12:26

    Last edited by bevans on 14 Dec 2013 13:01; edited 1 time in total
      Gavin J Junior Train Controller

    Location: Stawell
    Another update...

    having both cameras hooked up to the old laptop was taxing the poor thing out.

    It affected framerates, exposure and also the motion detection accuracy for the Up camera,
    which seemed to fire the shot about 3 seconds late.

    When I had the Down camera disconnected when the workmen were here, the Up camera
    worked normal...eg:: yesterday: all those Up trains, perfectly shot.

    I've done some more setting changes this morning...including swapping over computers,
    thus I had to adjust settings etc, yet again.

    So both cameras should be operating, now....

    I await 9822 or the Overland to see what happens.

    Next setup change will be when Brian sets up the HD camera !?

    Gavin
    Posted: 17 Dec 2013 11:45
      waynes Junior Train Controller

    Location: Victoria
    Gavin you have done a great job.  Now all you need to do is get the HD cam in and the service will be simply brilliant!

    Great resource.
    Posted: 18 Dec 2013 21:06

    Last edited by waynes on 18 Dec 2013 21:06; edited 1 time in total
      Gavin J Junior Train Controller

    Location: Stawell
    Gavin you have done a great job.  Now all you need to do is get the HD cam in and the service will be simply brilliant!

    Great resource.
    waynes

    The HD cam was installed this afternoon.  Waiting for a few trains to come by so we can tune the camera. Sightings will appear on the current Stawell feed located at: http://www.railpage.com.au/flickr/tag/Railpage:railcam=2/
    Posted: 22 Dec 2013 18:46
      X'Trapolis-904M Deputy Commissioner

    Location: Melbourne
    The HD cam was installed this afternoon.  Waiting for a few trains to come by so we can tune the camera. Sightings will appear on the current Stawell feed located at: http://www.railpage.com.au/flickr/tag/Railpage=2/
    Gavin J
    No live feed Crying or Very sad
    Posted: 22 Dec 2013 19:27
      stuie83 Train Controller

    Location: Stawell
    New hd camera is looking good.
    A live feed wouldn't be that good, its not like melb, 4 trains today in 12hrs.
    Posted: 22 Dec 2013 20:04
      JimYarin Chief Commissioner

    Location: Adelaide, South Australia


    looks a little fuzzy?

    praise for the team who put that together.  let's hope the work gets the recognition and praise it deserves.
    Posted: 23 Dec 2013 09:26

    Last edited by JimYarin on 23 Dec 2013 09:27; edited 1 time in total
      s3_gunzel Not a gunzel developer

    Location: Western Sydney, AU


    looks a little fuzzy?

    praise for the team who put that together.  let's hope the work gets the recognition and praise it deserves.
    "JimYarin"


    Probably just the shutter-rate. It should be able to be adjusted for still images.
    Posted: 23 Dec 2013 10:48
      bevans Site Admin

    Location: Melbourne, Australia
    Probably just the shutter-rate. It should be able to be adjusted for still images.
    s3_gunzel

    You are quite correct.  I have done this earlier today.

    Once this site is complete moving to the two new sites.  

    Regards
    Brian
    Posted: 23 Dec 2013 10:55

    Last edited by bevans on 23 Dec 2013 10:55; edited 1 time in total
      bevans Site Admin

    Location: Melbourne, Australia
    Probably just the shutter-rate. It should be able to be adjusted for still images.
    s3_gunzel

    How does this look?



    A little better?

    Regards
    Brian
    Posted: 23 Dec 2013 12:27
      X'Trapolis-904M Deputy Commissioner

    Location: Melbourne
    How does this look?



    A little better?

    Regards
    Brian
    bevans
    Looks Awesome 10/10
    Posted: 23 Dec 2013 19:40
      Gavin J Junior Train Controller

    Location: Stawell
    Another update.

    HD camera was setup and tested OK as per above post.
    However at the moment the photos are not being uploaded to flickr for some reason.
    Brian is getting them at his end, though.
    Bizarre.

    Also the infrared leds for night time are not working.
    Further investigation.

    I re-instated my new Down view camera...more problems
    despite it being a newer model, better infrared beam, better movie quality and it cost twice as much as the old camera,
    it is no where near as good.

    setting up ,out of box....bad colour, too much sharpening, too much gain, shutter speed seems to be too low. Image looks awful.

    The manual says you can change these things, however what the manual says, what the PDF setup guide says, and what the
    camera can have adjusted...are all totally different things.

    Another big problem was the infrared beams which turn on at night....this new camera has auto cutout of the infrareds...so when
    it sees the headlight of the approaching train...it thinks its daytime and turns off the IR beam.

    Once the loco passes, after about 5 seconds it now senses its night time and turns it back on. Looks bizarre in the videos.

    Despite you being meant to turn it on/off and set a delay so it doesn't turn off...it cannot be done.

    I can 'trick' it by covering the detector light...which will mean the IR will be on all the time. I'll try it tomorrow.

    Most annoying all this, as the original camera was taken out the box, bolted up, no adjustments...and it does everything perfectly.

    Now just to add to all this, flickr at the moment seem to be losing a lot of images...the cameras (all three) are catching the trains
    but they don't end up on the flickr site.

    As my sarcastic comments under some photos get more common, it is most annoying to setup all this and try to
    test it with the handful of trains we get, but then having the resultant photo not appearing,

    Yesterday, after spending Sunday with Brian setting up the HD, on Monday I reconnected my Down camera as well,
    I then went out to get the shots at Great Western....only to be caught out by the Up Dooen, when I heard it approaching..
    I check my own StawellWebCam as a gunzel should, I do not see it.

    3 cameras now...and still flickr looses all 3 shots.

    Got home, checked video..yep there is the Up Dooen..caught on camera...but not on the website.

    OK, enough complaining....

    I've now set up my Down View camera to the old Picasa site, that I used temporarily, when flickr was down earlier in year
    https://picasaweb.google.com/114325754734313397054/DropBox#

    I would suggest you check both sites now as a safeguard against missing shots.
    Brian is working on getting the HD camera back.

    Merry Christmas from Gavin in Stawell.
    Posted: 25 Dec 2013 00:17
      bevans Site Admin

    Location: Melbourne, Australia
    seems to be issues persisting with flickr. I am doing some tests at present which will help me find the issue. You will note a new camera in the railcams section.  Let's see if we get updates from both HD cams at Stawell.
    Posted: 26 Dec 2013 21:20
      stuie83 Train Controller

    Location: Stawell
    Images from the 2 new HD Rail cams in stawell. First image is the overland up Friday and NR22 leading Saturday



    Posted: 28 Dec 2013 16:06

    Last edited by stuie83 on 28 Dec 2013 16:23; edited 1 time in total
      s3_gunzel Not a gunzel developer

    Location: Western Sydney, AU
    Looks great guys, thanks to BE for fixing the camera. Now if only it went off about .8 of a second earlier.
    Posted: 28 Dec 2013 18:01
      Trainplanner Chief Commissioner

    Location: Along the Line
    Nice quality images. Thanks. Yr efforts r appreciated.
    Posted: 28 Dec 2013 21:07
      X'Trapolis-904M Deputy Commissioner

    Location: Melbourne
    The camera just makes pics When a train is not there
    Posted: 28 Dec 2013 21:13
      stuie83 Train Controller

    Location: Stawell
    There are 2 camera's on the Stawell Joint HD Camera Project, 1 facing the station off the goods shed and 1 on Gavin's house.
    Both are still in testing, one has been setting off due to wind, very windy today.
    Its a bit hard to get the setting correct when there are not many trains.
    Posted: 28 Dec 2013 21:41

    Last edited by stuie83 on 28 Dec 2013 21:47; edited 2 times in total
      bevans Site Admin

    Location: Melbourne, Australia
    Updated the Gavin cam this morning. Removed heaps of false positive shots.  You guys obviously had some high winds around there yesterday and overnight.  Gavin, have updated the motion detection as it was catching the bushes behind the line.  windows 3 now in use.
    Posted: 29 Dec 2013 11:27

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