Rain’s A Big Deal Here

Meteogram Generator

We do a seven day forecast at KMIR. Yesterday I mentioned Day Eight. It got a shout out (as Day Seven) again tonight. That’s because there’s rain forecast next Thursday.

The actual value to rain in the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs area) is debatable. We average less than six inches per year. The majority of our water comes from an underground aquifer. It would be long gone if not supplemented by water piped in from Parker Dam on the Colorado River. Rainfall seeping down is a small piece of our specific puzzle.

Nature doesn’t provide nearly enough to support our population and the hundreds of thousands of tourists who arrive every week during the season.

Whether rainwater helps or not, people in the valley value it. Mentioning rain here is like mentioning snow in New England. It grabs your attention.

If you break down next Thursday’s rain forecast over Palm Springs, it comes to .06″. Tiny. Hardly noticeable.

A forecast for that small amount of liquid a week away is chancy at best, especially when you throw in:

EARLY NEXT WEEK A GULF OF ALASKA LOW WILL DEEPEN OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST AND SEND A SERIES OF SHORTWAVES DOWN THE WEST COAST AND ACROSS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. THIS UNUSUAL APRIL PATTERN WOULD BRING A DECENT CHANCE AT PRECIPITATION IF WERE TO UNFOLD. BUT THIS PATTERN HAS BEEN FORECAST SEVERAL TIMES THIS WINTER AND HAS EITHER 1) SUBSTANTIALLY WEAKENED OVER TIME OR 2) FAILED TO MATERIALIZE AT ALL. FOR NOW WILL HOLD ON TO A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR PRECIPITATION FOR THE MIDDLE AND LATER STAGES OF NEXT WEEK. – Area Forecast Discussion NWS San Diego

Wish us luck. It will get my attention on every newscast.

Now I’m The IT Guy

snapshot_000DC5D4C863_20150221162928When I started my studio project I had no idea I’d become “the IT guy.” Everything is digital. Nothing is analog… except me.

The good news is I like this stuff, but this is way deeper in than I’ve ever been. I’ve got servers and a bunch of other single purpose computers, like my switcher and the modem that allows me to send HD video over the Internet.

Nearly every device is sharing with every other device. Files need to be available no matter where I am or they are.

I poked holes in my firewall and forwarded ports to allow the outside world to communicate directly with some of my gear. It’s not without danger. Miscreants are robotically probing for weaknesses in systems like mine 24/7.

In the analog days video and audio were like water flowing through pipes. You could cut the pipe at any point and split it or meter it.

Not today.

The flow is more orderly and intensely complex. Data doesn’t flow, it’s routed. As you might imagine, 1080i video consumes lots of data. Every hour my studio is feeding it sends around 5Gb of data.

Packets are flying through my network at breakneck speed, but it’s still the bottleneck of my system… of most complex networks. Optimization is everything. I’m working with vendors’ experts who know their systems to tweak every last bit of performance.

This isn’t a never ending project, is it?

It’s Starting To Look Like A Studio

I was just in the garage. It’s more studio now. Boxes still litter the floor. The rugs we ordered haven’t yet released their folds. The lights aren’t properly pointed. But there are signs it’s not for cars anymore.

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I was just in the garage. It’s more studio now. Boxes still litter the floor. The rugs we ordered haven’t yet released their folds. The lights aren’t properly pointed. But there are signs it’s not for cars anymore.

The sideview monitors are mounted. That’s how I’ll see the maps while on-air. There’s another monitor in the TelePrompter.

I’ve also erected a sound baffle/equipment room from an old cubicle KMIR let me have. Inside are utility shelves I brought home from Lowes. Equipment sits on them, waiting.

My Blackmagic Studio Camera has arrived, as has its zoom lens. The focal length was a guess. The camera itself is as cool as can be with a large flat monitor on the back.

The size and cost of cameras and everything electronic has dramatically plunged. This seems a good time to get in.

There are just two pieces missing. I am praying they arrive this week. Hey, NewTek, I’m talking to you. Pretty please. Seriously.

NewTek makes the Tricaster Mini. It’s the brains of the operation, acting as a full broadcast control room. Without it there is nothing.

I’ll be directing my own segment while on-the-air with its assistance. Yes, that is totally crazy!

The other missing item is the tripod. It will hold the very light camera and the much heavier Teleprompter.

I went to Fry’s and bought some cable last night–75 ohm coax with bnc connectors on each end in varying lengths. Even the nerd at Fry’s didn’t know where it was. These will be used to tie equipment together. I overbought. It’s inexpensive enough to consider an insurance buy.

I ordered a few 50 foot lengths of HDMI cable today. These will be used on the sideview monitors. 25 foot lengths were originally ordered. Oops.

Once the studio’s complete I’ll need to test with the station and make sure everything’s perfect. A week from today would be nice. It’s my goal.

I think I’ll call it Studio 5E, after the apartment I grew up in. I’m living the dream.

It’s Starting To Look Like A Studio

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“Take Doppler to piddle, but stop in the garage before you come upstairs.” Helaine wanted me to see what she’d accomplished while I was gone.

Holy crap. It’s a studio!

It took lots of work on her part preparing and painting the wall. The electrician removed an outlet right in the middle. Helaine patched and sanded before applying two coats of Behr Sparkling Apple.

It looks amazing. She’s amazing.

Two backlights are overhead. The key lights are on stands. They’ll be held in place with sandbags. That’s how it’s done in real studios.

There are mounts and power for monitors and a clock hung from a beam.

Cox came and installed service. I’m told I need 6-8 mbps for high quality, low latency, HD video. I’ve got triple that.

Most of the equipment is still enroute. I’d like to set it up next weekend, if possible. I’m itching to get started.

Little things keep popping up. We’re starting from scratch. I ordered a charger, 8 AA NiMh batteries, a few 25 foot HDMI cables and light meter, tonight.

In a few weeks my garage will be a chroma key driven sound stage. It’s for work. It’s a toy. This is a very cool project.

The Future Of TV… Though Not Yet

Watching shows on the net today reminds me of watching UHF pre-cable. It was there, but a hassle. It’s more likely I’d watch on my PC where there’s a fuller multimedia presentation through your browser.

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When Amazon briefly marked its brand new Fire Stick down to $20, I bought one. It now joins my Roku and Chromecast as ancillary TV receivers. It’s TV over the Internet instead of over the air. Some ‘channels’ are linear others totally on demand.

Definitions are getting blurry. Are they channels? Is ComediansInCarsGettingCoffee a channel or show or both or neither? That’s still being decided.

cbsn-logoI downloaded an app to watch CBSN, the new all news offering from CBS.

It’s available only via the net.

It looked pro. They’ve gone for warmth with a tie-less anchor and brick walled studio. The production seemed a little thin. 24/7 is a lot of time with few additional bodies. TV can be done inexpensively. The product is almost as good.

It is well written and serious–CBS’ish.

Screenshot 2014-12-02 21.26.07They play an animated “We’ll be right back” bumper. Really? In 2014? These are early problems which will be solved.

I probably won’t watch CBSN much on the big TV in the loft. Too many steps. Using the big TV for shows on the net today reminds me of watching UHF pre-cable. It was there, but a hassle. It’s more likely I’d watch on my PC where there’s a fuller multimedia presentation through the browser.

What happens to the incumbents–newspapers and local TV news outfits as more and more services set out to the Internet? They adapt or perish.

Some adapt, still perish.

Have you read a newspaper with a hyphenated name? The Journal-Courier, Courier-Journal, Star-Ledger, Times-Picayune, Times-Herald-Record, Post-Gazette, Post-Dispatch? Consolidations and shakeouts happen.

When I was a kid, New York City had seven citywide English language newspapers with additional dailies in Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens. Not anymore.

This market, Orange County, is greatly under-served. Maybe some clever video news provider will shake-in? Alas, the bigger trend is in the other direction.

Addendum: I am considering sending the Fire Stick back. It is unstable or unusable on the two sets I’d like to use it on. I believe the problem has to do with DHCP, a method of digital rights management and these individual sets. Will Amazon fix the problem? It’s stopping me from using their product.