LA to Oregon at Mach 9 569
Kallahar writes "Last April I hooked up a video camera to my front bumper and drove from Los Angeles to Oregon. The video is finally done; it's sped up 95x which makes the trip a mere 6 minutes long. To do the recording I hooked up a VCR inside the car and recorded in real time, then captured the entire thing to the hard drive and changed the framerate of the avi. The camera and VCR only cost about $50 total, which makes for a fairly affordable hobby/art project."
Big file (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Big file (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
actually a slashdotting would sound like this (Score:5, Funny)
#1 & #2: "SLASHDOT!!!"
#2:"quick redirect all traffic to that goatse.cx guy's website!"
Re:Big file (Score:4, Interesting)
Assuming the site was hosted in a colocation facility and the user even *had* 24/7 access to his cage or rack, more than likely all that would happen is the server begins chunking out, he tries to get into it to remove some content if he is paying attention, otherwise it just sucks till the demand drops (or if running older IIS, gets "set" by a "temporary stealth administrator" to display goatsepr0n.) If he cant get in, he triggers a remote power supply to reset the machine, it comes back up, he gets in... Crisis averted.
Unfortunately that rarely happens though on here it seems.. In my experiences, a good site slashdotting to the point of no return i'd say for links that I click maybe one in fifteen slowed down sites have content adjusted on the fly to compensate, most site admins don't appear to be paying the attention to notice that they're crawling to a halt. It is in itself an interesting phenomenon, a frequent reminder on how spontanteous and enormous the internet is.
But back to the point, no, I don't think that video would be any fun. If anything at all, itd be some kid in his 20s with a toolbox and a laptop sitting on a hard raised-tile floor for 20 minutes behind a wall of rackmounted crap.
Re:Big file (Score:5, Funny)
You can read more at my Slashdot Effect on Christmas Lights [komar.org] page.
Re:Big file (Score:2)
Freecache link (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Freecache link (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Big file (Score:2, Funny)
Zero to Slashdotted in 9 min.
You realize (Score:5, Funny)
He seems a dangerous driver (serious) (Score:5, Insightful)
I spend a lot of my time doing interstate driving. As such, I realize that there are plenty of assholes out there doing 65mph in the passing lane where the speed limit is 70. But drivers who tailgate in the passing lane (or any lane, really) are IMO just as much of a risk for accidents.
When you're in the far left lane, and you're gaining quickly on the car in front of you, you should either move to the immediate right lane and complete your pass at a safe distance, or if conditions don't allow this, slow the fuck down and back it off. Riding the bumper of the person in front of you because they're driving too slowly is NOT the proper response. Nine times out of ten, the driver in front of you is not going to "get the message" and yield his position.
This is a great video, I just wish it didn't depict so many examples of poor and unsafe driving.
Re:He seems a dangerous driver (serious) (Score:5, Interesting)
I think it's the same effect you get when driving as a passenger: when you cannot control the vehicle, a distance you would judge as safe when driving yourself, suddenly seems a bit close.
Add the (seemingly) extreme decelleration (sp?) and erratic steering, and it looks a lot more extreme than it really is.
You make a good point about safety though. Anyway, it seems to be human nature to respond to people pushing from behind by slowing down.
What I usually do, is use the turn signal to indicate I want to pass, and if that doesn't work, a brief flash of the headlights usually does the trick. There is a difference in road behaviour in different countries though: In Germany, this works great, in France or The Netherlands, not as good. Germans are used to people passing at 190km/h.
Of course, our situation in Europe is a bit worse, because it's illegal to overtake on the right.
Re:He seems a dangerous driver (serious) (Score:5, Funny)
Of course, our situation in Europe is a bit worse, because it's illegal to overtake on the right.
Unless you are in the UK where its the only side you are allowed to pass onRe:He seems a dangerous driver (serious) (Score:4, Informative)
Re:He seems a dangerous driver (serious) (Score:5, Funny)
Ah, I knew there was something funny about your political system! Thanks for clearing that up. It all makes sense now.
Re:He seems a dangerous driver (serious) (Score:3, Informative)
Nope. His wording makes it sound funny because he's stating things a little differently than the law does, but he's essentially correct for how the TX traffic laws are. I think it's reasonable of me to assume that other states (at least some of them) would be similar.
"Slower traffic keep right" is a legal obligation - so if you're going slower than someone and you don't yield to the right to allow them to pass on the left, you can be ticketted for it. The "passing lane" is always the leftmost - it is ne
Re:He seems a dangerous driver (serious) (Score:3, Informative)
This varies by state. Some states have no laws to that effect, some at the other end of the spectrum have laws that you cannot be in the leftmost lane on certain roadways unless you're passing, and some are somewhere in the middle.
Re:He seems a dangerous driver (serious) (Score:3, Funny)
We got pulled over, and the officer told us that it was actually illegal to flash your high-beams for any reason. You know why? It blinds the oncoming traffi
Re:He seems a dangerous driver (serious) (Score:5, Insightful)
And be very careful. Should an accident occur while you're pulling this stunt, even if it's through no fault of your own, you may end up taking the blame, as you were deliberately blocking another driver. The "Yeah, but he was being an asshole!" defence doesn't tend to stand too well
Re:He seems a dangerous driver (serious) (Score:5, Insightful)
Hey, why do you suppose it's called the passing lane?
People accidentally loiter in the passing lane all the time, it's easy to drift off and not realize where you are, but when you are reminded nicely to get out of the way(flashing lights), and you not only refuse, but start being an asshole about it you deserve be pulled over and fined.
Being passed in the passing lane is illeagal here, and for good reason. How would you feel if you were being taken to the hospital with a critical illness, only to be held up on the way by some idiot with a sore ego and something to prove?
Re:He seems a dangerous driver (serious) (Score:5, Interesting)
Pride in Road Rage (Score:5, Insightful)
This is a profoundly Bad Idea. You're setting the stage for a deadly accident -- perhaps involving you, perhaps involving others.
Pride in road rage is the Devil's work -- you're making the world a worse place for everyone to live. The world is bad enough already, without such needless provocation. Please think about the dreadful consequences of your actions.
-kgj
Re:He seems a dangerous driver (serious) (Score:5, Informative)
I am schooled as a transportation planner. That being said, traffic laws vary from state to state, but in general, every state has laws against impeding traffic. While you are correct that driving over the speed limit is illegal, it is importatn to note that impeding the flow of traffic is also illegal. Even if someone is speeding, you are still required to yield well in advance to the overtaking vehicle.
Sorry bub, you're not allowed to play traffic cop in your mom's minivan.
New Orleans to Seattle... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:New Orleans to Seattle... (Score:5, Funny)
I hope you stayed out of the fast lane doing this, grandpa!
kidding...kidding...
65MB videos? (Score:4, Informative)
Why no freakin' BitTorrent? That seems obvious, especially if you're the one who submits your site full of absurdly large videos to
(FYI, I'm getting 22k/s, on a link that usually gets about 25. Not too bad, now watch that server burn in about 5 minutes...)
Re:65MB videos? (Score:5, Informative)
trace up to dreamhost.com. They've got pipe.
Also, check out the session management they've
set up in Apache. They'll survive
It's the idiots who run videos off a small
pipe or dumb default-apache setup that have probs.
Re:65MB videos? (Score:2, Interesting)
It's at dreamhost.com? Damn, I didn't even traceroute it. I know their equipment! Small world. Ya, they have plenty of bandwidth, and their servers are pretty good. It's probably maxing out the connectivity for that one machine (or cluster, I don't know their stuff that well).
For anyone interested, they do have a really sweet setup. I've talked to their techs a few times, who gave me the tour.
Re:65MB videos? (Score:2, Insightful)
>Slashdot, of all places?
Because smart people setup this website.
More interesting route. (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyway, it's a pretty cool video and actually something I'd thought about years ago. Glad to see someone else had the same idea.
Re:More interesting route. (Score:2)
Re:More interesting route. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:More interesting route. (Score:3, Interesting)
However, I've taken 101 all the way from LA to Lincoln City, then over to Salem. Much more interesting. The stretch of Oregon coast between Florence and Newport is particularly gorgeous.
I'd have to say I'd take I-5 over driving through S Dakota any day. Gawd. Nothing. Some Wall Drug signs for mild amusement, but that's it.
Now if I were to do something like this and had to pick a highway... without a doubt, the AlCan. The Alask
Re:More interesting route. (Score:4, Insightful)
I remember a book that was funded by the WPA (I think -- I haven't seen the book in years) that documented the highways of Texas as they existed in the 1930s, including landmarks (drive 0.3 miles west and turn left at the red barn). Imagine if the technology had been in place to put frame-per-second camera on cars and document the highways of the time on film. In fact maybe we should do something like this now. Our cities and highways will probably look as quaint and antiquated to the people of 2074 as the highways of 1934 look to us.
Re:More interesting route. (Score:2, Informative)
makes the trip a mere 6 minutes long (Score:5, Funny)
Torrent link (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Torrent link (Score:3, Interesting)
Way to go - fun experiment!
Greetings poster (Score:3, Funny)
You must be new around here.
Or just really needing your ISPs love and attention
Anyway, it was nice knowing you and all.
Sweet! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Sweet! (Score:2, Funny)
If he mounted the camera on the rear, we would probably see nothing but middle fingers
Poor guy, server just fried (Score:3, Informative)
0K (wget dots) 0% @ 372.78 KB/s
50K (wget dots) 0% @ 279.33 KB/s
100K (wget dots) 0% @ 271.74 KB/s
150K (wget dots) 0% @ 2.87 MB/s
200K (wget dots) 0% @ 1.95 MB/s
and then it fried....
34850K (wget dots) 50% @ 74.18 KB/s
34900K (wget dots) 50% @ 78.25 KB/s
34950K (wget dots) 51% @ 60.83 KB/s
35000K (wget dots) 51% @ 56.56 KB/s
35050K (wget dots) 51% @ 46.64 KB/s
Slashdot effect in action people... I'll post a BitTorrent if it ever finishes
Ugh, had to do a find replace of all the
Re:Poor guy, server just fried (Score:2)
0K (wget dots) 0% @ 372.78 KB/s
50K (wget dots) 0% @ 279.33 KB/s
100K (wget dots) 0% @ 271.74 KB/s
150K (wget dots) 0% @ 2.87 MB/s
I think the obvious and important question here is who is your ISP, and who do I have to sleep with to get them to provide service in a non-top-50 market?
Despite speeding it up 95x... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Despite speeding it up 95x... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Despite speeding it up 95x... (Score:2, Informative)
I agree I-10 in Texas sucks. I got pulled over there once for going 79 in a 75. That's right, four miles over the limit. The cop never gave me a ticket nor did he ever intend to. They were just randomly pulling cars over to look for drugs. I guess my California plates looked suspicious in the middle of Bush country.
Not that I can really complain, since they didn't write a ticket or anything.
Re:Despite speeding it up 95x... (Score:2)
I thought the guy built a HYPERSONIC plane. (Score:3, Funny)
950 miles in 6 minutes (Score:4, Funny)
Question about his methods (Score:2)
To create the video I had to capture the entire movie (25 gigs or so), extract it to single frames with VirtualDub, delete 99 out of 100 of them (left 10,000 frames), color correct and...
What's the purpose of removing so many frames? Just to reduce size further, or when speeding up something like this does dropping frames make it appear smoother or something?
Re:Question about his methods (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Question about his methods (Score:2)
The limit on what we can percieve is 60 frames per second or something in that arena, you do the math.
Re:Question about his methods (Score:4, Informative)
Incorrect. First off, the eye doesn't see in "frames per second". Second, 60 fps is well below the maximum frame rate our eyes can see (nobody has yet proven a maximum frame rate). For example, look at a CRT monitor at 60Hz and then one at 100Hz. I bet you can tell the difference (yes, Hz and fps are different, but they're similar enough for this discussion). If you can't, or won't admit that you can, you'll still know when you have crazy eye fatigue and neck muscle strain later. The same goes for flourescent lights at 60Hz.
People make the mistake of saying that the eye can only see X frames per second (where X is 24, 30, 60, or what have you), when they mean to say, "It only takes X frames per second for the eye to discern motion," where X decreases as effects such as motion blur are added to the source media. 24 frames per second of a video game like Quake sucks horribly, but 24 frames per second for a movie is acceptable because the film camera picks up motion blur. That's also ignoring the fact that video games are measured in average frames per second (your 24fps Quake game is going to slow down horribly when you get multiple meshes and particles going). It's also horribly evident that 24fps is not nearly enough when you watch long horizontal or vertical pans in movies.
Just because movies play at 24fps, or NTSC plays at 30fps (well, 29.xxx fps, and shown in half-frames for an effective 60Hz refresh rate), or PAL is at 25fps, or your LCD monitor happens to refresh at 60Hz doesn't mean that's all the eye can see. I'm also ignoring the more motion-receptive portions of your eye (peripheral vision), which you can play around with by looking at a CRT out of the corner of your eye. I bet you can even tell that a 100Hz CRT flickers by looking at it that way.
Ads? (Score:4, Insightful)
1. Send thousands of people to download a huge .avi
2. Make sure your ad for a "great web host" is in plain text at the top of the page.
3. Listen to the collective gasp as your site actually manages to keep up with the downloads (as of 11:20pm pacific)
4. Profit?
Of course the whole thing goes out the window if the server actually does crap out in about 5-6 hours when the east coast get's to work and collectively hits the download link in one giant spasm of excitement at the chance of seeing the %$&%-ing highway 5.
weee?
Re:Ads? (Score:2)
In the time it took to preview, correct some stupid spelling mistakes and then hit submit. My download crapped out, and now I can't connect again.
Guess I should have left step three as ????
That will teach me to proof read.
Re:Ads? (Score:5, Funny)
For what it's worth, living in both LA and SF I almost never hear it refered to as "interstate 5" it is reffered to as either "highway five", or more often, just "the five".
Actually, even more often it is referred to as "what? you mean I HAVE to take the fucking five!?"
Re:Ads? (Score:3, Informative)
The camera and VCR only cost about $50 total (Score:4, Funny)
Thanks (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Thanks WHAT?! (Score:5, Funny)
[sarcasm]
This is
[/sarcasm]
Sign of the times on The Coast (Score:5, Funny)
SF - Redwood City at Mach 1 (Score:2)
I'm not sure mach 9 is as watchable, it's certainly faster, but I kinda like the way I can pick out details at a simulated speed of 720mph
i've done this myself and I offer these tips (Score:5, Informative)
Do not move the camera. Use a tripod. If you cant rig up a full size tripod in the passenger seat check best buy or similar stores for tiny desktop tripods. They work well when seated on the dash as long as you have something to keep them in place (duct tape).
Cut out moments in post when your vehicle is not moving. I forgot to do this once and my video came to a 3 second hault as I reached an intersection. Needless to say it distracted from the video greatly and was truly annoying. Just trim it out so that it looks like you ran the red light or something and the video will continue to flow. This tip also goes for bumps or swerves as they look terrible at high speed.
Do not add a blur effect in post production, or atleast not the ones that come with Vegas. They seriously distract from the video. If you need that light-speed look I suggest duplicating the video layer, moving the top one forward 2 or 3 frames and changing its opacity to 50%. This will create a cool effect especially when passing cars and changing lanes
If you are going to mount the camera inside the car (which I highly suggest) make sure:
A. Your windshield is clean
B. Its not raining. I did this once with the windshield wipers on and it looked horrible
C. Your state and county stickers are not in the picture. If the camera does move it will be much more noticable if there is a static image on the video.
If you are going to tape more than an hour of driving you may want to setup a laptop on an inverter hooked up to the camera with firewire set to take an image every X seconds. You can then drag all of these into your favoriate post video production software but in my experiences you dont get as smooth an image unless you overlap the images with opacity fades and by that time its become one helluva project
Tip for vegas: You can increase the velocity encelope up to 300% but thats not a whole lot. Do this alone with shortening the clip while holding down the CTRL key will allow for up to 12x the speed without the need to reencode.
If you need to speed up the video faster than what your post video production software can do you can always render the video no or low compression, import the now rendered video and do it again. lather, rinse, repeat.
And always:
Mix it to good techno if thats your cup of tea
I'm interested in hearing what other tips video enthusiast slashdoters have come up with. Please share.
As always I apologize for the bad spelling and horrible formatting, I'm rushing to get to sleep
BTW: This also works well for filming Ballroom Dancing [usabda.org]. It looks hillarious and cool at the same time. Try overlaying multiple segments of the dance at different oppacities and adding a black and white or sepiatone filter and playing witht the white balance for a great ghostly look.
Re:i've done this myself and I offer these tips (Score:3, Interesting)
For fun I do time-lapse of relatively stationary stuff - like plants growing, where the speed-up really brings out patterns that you don't see at normal speed.
Maybe that's why I actually liked the part in this video where he's parked at a gas station and you see some plants blowing in the wind, for a change of pace.
Some issues are different when you're doing a time-lapse over 1 hour versus multiple days. But one thing that I've found useful for slow-changing
If only... (Score:2, Funny)
Many times during the monotony of the drive up I-5 I've wished I could teleport (even only 20 miles at a time). Mach 9 sounds just as appealing.
Cross-Country video (Score:5, Informative)
I did the same thing driving with only one sleep stop from Florida to California. It ended up being rather boring. Lots of night driving where you could only see tail lights and reflectors, and plenty of "Road Runner" desert country.
I shortened the whole 2500 mile drive down to 5 minutes, which was too much for most people to watch.
I did a web broadcast for most of the drive, losing my Internet connection while driving through most of the South West US. It picked back up in the few major cities that I passed through, and that's when I got all the voicemails on my phone saying "Hey, your feed broke!"
Most of the drive was rather quick. I got pulled over twice in Texas, where the cops were entertained to see a laptop in the passenger seat and a camera on the dash. Either of them asked why it was there, they just gave me a warning, and I went on my way. I really had the urge to tell the cops "My car can do almost 200mph, I'm doing 80mph, I want to go lots faster, there's nothing out here and no traffic!", but I held back to avoid an escort out of Texas.
I got stuck in traffic going through San Antonio, Texas, which looked wierd on the video. Scenery was flying by, suddenly you saw the same minivan I was stuck behind for several frames. You could also see every time I stopped for gas, which lasted for just a couple frames.
I made a run from LA to Salem Oregon and back, about a year ago. The drive took from Friday evening to Sunday morning. Again, it would have been a boring video. Most of Northern California was during the night, and Oregon was all under fog first thing in the morning when we arrived. I was in a rush, so we didn't get the laptop and camera set up for this one.
California 7A88404, Thats me! (Score:5, Funny)
3:39 seconds in
Is it just me or at the 5:00 point does it looks like he started speeding like a bat out of hell?
Cool Movie (!), but... (Score:2)
Way cooler.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Way cooler.. (Score:3, Informative)
That's called "Time lapse photography", google for it, I'm sure there is plenty out there.
Re:Way cooler.. (Score:4, Informative)
ROAD TRIP (Score:5, Funny)
First one there, MOBLOG IT!
GO!
I can see my house from here... (Score:2)
Cool way to make the treck less boring even if it's after the fact.
Motion sickness? (Score:2, Funny)
I don't normally get motion sickness at all any more, but that's what I felt when I watched this.
Uh? $50? Isn't that a bit low? (Score:2)
Similar experience... (Score:4, Interesting)
Just be sure to turn your camera off when... (Score:5, Funny)
She lost! Re:Just be sure to turn your camera off (Score:4, Funny)
Can't sleep? (Score:3, Informative)
This programm was broadcasted at night, and was the best ever sleeping-drug I could imagine. Watching it after a busy day, it took only like 10 minutes before I fell in a deep sleep.
BTW you don't need a car and a VCR to create movies like this. If you live next to water where boats go by, or a busy road, or construction-works, it's very easy to create a timelapse-movie with only a webcam and webcam-software. Just make a pic every second, and use a tool to stitch all those pics to 1 movie afterwards. I did this a lot with cloudy skies, and it much fun to watch afterwards.
Re:Can't sleep? (Score:5, Informative)
I'll back this one up. It's definitely worth trying. It's just amazing the things you can see. If you're looking in the direction of an airport, a time-lapse movie will make contrails appear like missile launches. You can actually see the shadows of cirrus clouds moving across cumulus clouds. The most amazing thing is seeing the different cloud layers travelling in different (if not totally opposite) directions. The best frame rate I've found is taking 1 frame ever 10 seconds, replaying at 30 frames seconds for clouds.
You can actually make your own time lapse software using Microsoft's MFC Vidcap demo. Just add a delay loop for the desired number of seconds. The only restriction is that there's a 2.5 Gigabyte file limit (around 2200 640x480 frames).
Hook up a GPS too... (Score:3, Insightful)
Can't he keep right? (Score:4, Informative)
Great geek; terrible driver: http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html
I personally think motion blur would have helped (Score:3, Interesting)
Still, not to look a gift horse in the mouth -- it was a pretty cool video. Thanks!
thad
Re:Best Wey (Score:2, Funny)
It ain't done teached me nothin
Re:Why not just record straight to the hard disk? (Score:5, Interesting)
Power for one. An affordable digital video hard disk recording solution may consume more power than a VCR. Remember, at a minnimum you'd have to power a disk, a video encoder and a backplane (unless both the hd and video controllers are integrated I suppose). A professional solution would cost more than a VCR. A homebrew system is possible, but also has drawbacks. It's probably more cumbersome and complicated. VCR's require very little time to get from an unpowered state to an actively recording state since digital solutions may require a booting period. A VCR has standard and easy interface. The homebrew interface may be rougher.
Re:Why not just record straight to the hard disk? (Score:2)
I think it's more likely that a VCR is cheap and relatively sturdy, whereas a laptop (even an old one) is not. Not to mention, a lot of car insurance will limit coverage for electronics unless it's on the way from the store to your home or you're moving from home A to home B (I f
Re:Why not just record straight to the hard disk? (Score:2)
Re:Slow day (Score:2)
Re:Slow day (Score:2)
Instead he would have created it from snapshots of the trip someone else took he downloaded off of google images.
Re:Pretty groovy... (Score:5, Interesting)
Americans drive left-hand drive cars and drive on the right hand side of the road. I had to take travel sickness tablets after watching that.
Having never been to America, I now have an insight to what the scenery from LA to Oregon is like.
The roads are a lot wider? Is that because the US has bigger cars?
I think I shall drive from Sydney to the Gold Coast in Brisbane and do the same thing to compare and contrast with that video. Although I doubt the scenery would be as interesting as the route follows the coastline.
Re:Pretty groovy... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Pretty groovy... (Score:5, Interesting)
There's something really cool about driving at 160kmh, seeing a highway patrol car and freaking out that you are busted until he overtakes you at 180kmh and waves...
The bad news is that if you are a long way from somewhere when your car overheats and breaks down, you will probably die [wikitravel.org].
Well, you could use the New England highway... (Score:3, Informative)
An even better route Sydney to Brissy... (Score:2)
The route up from the pacific highway through Gloucester is spectacular - I'd love to see that at 95x speed! And it'll save you several hours over the other main routes because
Re:Pretty groovy... (Score:3, Interesting)
Also, a defensive line... (Score:3, Interesting)
Good plan, except that a couple million of us are between the 5 and the ocean...
What right lane? (Score:2)
Re:LA to Oregon? (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, LA is a state, L.A. is a city. Then again, L.A. is more like a state of mind so maybe it was appropriate after all.
Re:Trippy road trip (Score:3, Informative)