Please visit our sponsors. A portion of sponsorship proceeds will go to the USPA Competition Trust Fund!
If your company is interested in being a future sponsor of OmniSkore!HD  please send an email with contact information to omniskorehd@yahoo.com.

Welcome to Omnibits for Thursday, 22 October (Day 1)

0700

Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day!

As mentioned yesterday ... MFS registration closes at 10am this morning, competitor briefing at 11am. VFS follows same schedule plus 6 hours.

This morning I'll be setting up the YouTube streams, so stay tuned for the URLs. Since only one judging panel will be operating with MFS, expect to see both channels carrying the same feed.

0830

Can NE1 recommend an alternative to KompoZer? KZ does a pretty decent job but its adhoc assignment of fonts and styles drives me nuts. That's why you see these pages in random styles. Grrr.

Anyway ... the live events are up on YouTube!!! Hopefully they'll stay that way for 9 more days.

They are:
Channel One
Channel Two
These channels will stream live judging from two of the three judging systems set up in the "fishbowl" in the main hangar. Note that at any given point in the competition, not all three systems will be active; in fact, most of the time only one or two will be creating scores. For example, only one system will be used for MFS today, adding a second for VFS tomorrow.

When only one system is being used, both YouTube channels will be tuned to that system, so if you see the same image on both channels, you'll know why.

The video streams are created from instances of the OSHD JukeBox application. The JukBox app will switch to replay mode if there is a break in the live judging. Look for the labels REPLAY or LIVE JUDGING in the upper right corner of the video -- this will tell you whether the video you're seeing is a live judging sequence.

Note that until the JukeBox apps have some actual videos to work with this afternoon, all they will do is show you the competition splash screen. Once there are scores you will see replays as well as standings.

Also be sure to visit SkydiveTV for their always excellent coverage of these Nationals. SkydiveTV will also be streaming live (URL TBD). When 4-Way is starts on Monday and we have all three systems kicking out scores, SkydiveTV will stream the third scoring system.

On the "to do" list for us here is figure out a way to get programming notes to YouTube viewers. It would sure be nice if you knew what was coming up in the next hour. We're working on that :)

1000

Apologies for the crappy photo quality ... I forgot to pack my Nikon (despite being on both my packing lists!) so until I find something better I have to use my dumbphone.
Sammy interviews USPA Competition Director Jim Hayhurst for SkydiveTV
Sammy interviews USPA Competition Director Jim Hayhurst for SkydiveTV.
Iva at the SkydiveTV controls for the live interview
Iva at the SkydiveTV controls during the live interview
The fishbowl
Skydive Arizona improves their judging "fishbowl" every year, set up in the center of the main hangar. OS!HD copy stations ready for action out front.
Skydive AZ manifest
Susie Taylor, Skydive Arizona's Chief Pilot, flying manifest this morning.
Fish in the bowl
Some fish in the fishbowl preparing for this afternoon's action. Note that OmniSkore!HD is now running on laptops. Yay, finally!!!
Three headed monster
A big TV for each of the three judging panels, Mark I analog announcement conveyer system underneath.
JukeBox #2
OSHD JukeBox #2 stands ready in the hangar.
Seeing green
Has Skydive Arizona ever done a number on their landing area!!! It has more than quadrupled in size since the drop zone first relocated to Eloy 25 years ago, and the grass has never looked better.

1200
Tim "T2" here - been practicing judging this morning. At one point someone came in the fish-bowl and put down some stacks of paper. I asked what they were for and someone said "scratch paper." I said in a failed humorous voice "whoever needs scatch paper using OmniSkore is an idiot." A voice behind said "I use scratch paper." I turned around and it was the Chief Judge Deanne. Still trying to remove foot from mouth....;-)

1630

MFS has completed two rounds and (knocking on wood) everything is running smoothly here under gorgeous skies. Very pleased to see some pretty good activity on the YouTube channels!

VFS will be briefing shortly ...

1800

... VFS briefly done shortly ago.

Did you happen to catch Skydive-TV.com's interview with me at 5pm? What I found fun about it was the location. The hangar's video closet. This is where LiveSkore!, OmniSkore!HD's great great great great grandfather, had its debut 22 years ago at the 1993 FAI World Meet here. I sat in that closet with my MS-DOS 6.22 computer -- which had a graphics overlay card added to it at great expense, and three months of crash software development (pun inteneded) -- and tapped the space bar . On the other side of the closed door, roughly two hundred compspectators watched the three large (tube!) TVs hanging from the ceiling. I'll never forget the eruptions of hoots, hollars and applause at the end of many a working time. What a great meet that was.

1930

All done for the day. The YouTube channels will continue with replays until live judging resumes in the morning, both MFS and VFS. See you there!

 
Copyright 2015 Ted & Tim Wagner | All rights reserved.