Transfer of images at football grounds

desantnik

desantnik

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Vlad
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Hello sportstogs!

A question for you... in big time football, how do you get your images back to the media centre?

Do the grounds have wireless provisioned or do you use 3g or your own private wireless network? Do you still use runners????

Thought this the best place to ask :)
 
Wireless at some grounds but if th wireless isn;t to good or signal is bad at one end its out witht he 3g dongle for me
 
How does 3g perform in that sort of environment?

Don't you get cell saturation and either little or no bandwidth at all?

Whenever I go to big (non-football) events, celluar coverage just bombs - I'm lucky to get even a SMS or phone call out, let alone any data.
 
And how does 3g perform?
 
The bigger Stadium I use St James' and Stadium of Light the wireless is fine so no issues there. at Boro the wifi is free but locked. if you want better wifi you have to pay for it so I use 3g dongle. its slow at HT but I find it ok during play first and second half

I also go to Hartlepool and find 3g fine all game there. no issues. seems to be alittle quicker than Boro but no great deal
 
What sort of transfer rates are you getting from 3g? (number of images per hour)

I assume you are shooting full size jpgs from your d300?
 
I am but there edited, resized and saved to file sizes of around 1-1.2MB

Not kept count of how many go and when. I let photomechanic work through the upload and I get a message when its done providing I look back or go to use the laptop within maybe 5 minutes
 
3G coverage at stadiums vary by operator and by stadium. For example, Twickenham is very heavily covered by O2 so a 2500px jpeg (approx 800k) flies up the virtual wire in under a second. Chelsea has good coverage from 3 but gets congested at half time and full time as the crowd check scores (and snappers send their pics), but you can get pics away during the match (2500px jpeg in 30 secs) and 30 mins after the game (same file in about 5 secs).

Some grounds have WiFi but it varies in quality and coverage. Reading has excellent WiFi in lazy man's corner but it fades further from the pitch.

I carry 3 mobile dongles from different operators and also use my phone as a wifi hotspot so I have 4 mobile options at every ground, plus any wifi that is available.
 
Interesting, thanks folks :-)
 
NUFC improved there wifi for the Olympics apparently, wasn't as good last year.
 
whitey said:
NUFC improved there wifi for the Olympics apparently, wasn't as good last year.
Click to expand...

It was never that good when I used to go.


I remember a couple of seasons ago when I covered Nottm forest v Newcastle I couldnt transmit until about 5.30 using my Vodafone dongle :shake:

Bramhall Lane was another yet 100 yds outside and they would fly!
 
I'll second Tobers above. Wi-fi availability is the exception rather than the rule at stadiums, and requires a lot of infrastructure that most clubs aren't prepared to put in. New build stadiums are excellent of course (Wembley, Emirates etc), but don't expect it at your average ground.

Wired positions pitch-side are also rare.

You will pick up BT OpenZone here and there and if you're willing to pay that can be useful.

It is sensible to carry two or more 3G dongles by different operators as their coverage can vary dramatically. At grounds with 25K plus crowds you can struggle at times when the network capacity bottlenecks - half time and full time etc - and if you combine that with poor coverage it can be really difficult at specific locations (I always struggle at West Ham for some reason).

This can also change your wiring behaviours just to get a picture out. If its really chugging I will just send the best frame and keep the file size/pixel dimensions down; we don't always have such freedom of course, but worth considering. Then lump the rest through when it calms down.

I would say unless you've got an absolute pearler, don't give so much attention to getting the image out or you'll miss the rest of the game. I've spent 80 minutes before fighting to get images out and unless its a cracker that few people got, just leave the computer and get on with the business end of the job.
 
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I use a 3 dongle, never have problems accept the odd occasion at Huddersfield but just logon to grounds wi-fi or do it after game outside ground.
 
Really appreciate your answers guys.

:thumbs:
 
Just having a technical discussion with a colleague... a debate over just how you guys pulled it off :D

I'm definitely not venturing into football myself!
 
Gary Coyle said:
I use a 3 dongle, never have problems accept the odd occasion at Huddersfield but just logon to grounds wi-fi or do it after game outside ground.
Click to expand...

3 get my vote aswell

that reminds me, need to top up before the w/e
 
I carry a 3 and o2 one. 3's never let me down, can be abit iffy at West Ham, but on o2 they flew out when everyone else had problems.
 
Same as others have said. I try to use the ground's wifi first if I can get on it ok but if not then I've got a 3 dongle, an O2 one and can also tether my iPhone which is on EE. Haven't found a ground yet where one won't work but I do find speeds vary a lot during and after the game.
 
I have been having problems sending images during the games. I covered Leeds v Tottenham on Sunday. I managed to send 1 image during the game. I use 3 mifi, t-mobile wireless pointer and iphone on o2. I carry 2 mobile dongles from different operators and also use my phone as a wifi hotspot so I have 3 mobile options at every ground, plus any wifi that is available. My computer just kept showing a ? mark in my full signal bar on my computer so was unable to send. Is there a way to boost the signal in any way?
 
I've just upgraded my dongle to the Mifi option from three, connects wirelessly and I found using it at the weekend at Boro that the upload speeds were far better than that of the standard dongle I had previous
 
One thing that I have noticed is to connect your dongle to your laptop using a USB to USB lead. Brought a 3.0 version and it allows the possibility to move the dongle around to find a decent signal without moving the laptop. Not the most convenient in some situations but an inexpensive option if having difficulty.
 
nigpd said:
Thanks Steven. If it's that good, I think I'll have to read up on it and maybe give it a go. Can you let us know how it performs ongoing over the next week or two?
Click to expand...

Will do, at Sunderland tonight and then Newcaslte on Saturday so it would be good to know how it stands up.

I usually use the wifi at Newcastle but will be sure to test it out
 
I;ve always been grateful to those that helped me along the way so happy to help others if and where I can
 
Just a quick update

At the Stadium of Light last night, sent in some images early in the frist half, mifi flew and off they went. I edited and sent some others at HT, it was slower but quicker than the standard dongle when i have tried at the same time in the past.

Second half was alittle slower than first but the battery had ran out on the mifi so a quick USB lead later it was charging / sending at the same time

There was another snapper next to me using a Vodafone dongle and he couldn't send anything at all. My phone contract is also on Vodafone and that had no 3g signal either.

Sent 4/6 player images over at the end as there was no priority there. they flew over once the stadium cleared aswell which isn;t really a surprise

Alittle slow at times but its far better than what I have experienced in the pas and certainly better than the guy sitting next to me who couldn;t get on the wireless either

Will give St James a whirl on Sat and update
 
Good times Steven! Just a thought...... is the MiFi battery an interchangable one? Would there be any mileage in getting a spare if it was? My thoughts without knowing the set up (:bonk:) would be it could be less "messy" than having it connected by USB :thinking:
 
Yeah they are, will look into a spare

It just hadn;t a full charge since I got it so wasn;t sure how long it would last, I let it run out just to see what sort of mileage it did
 
Just had a quick look on the 3 website and found this on the "How to charge your MiFi"

"Your MiFi battery will last for about four and a half hours. The battery loses power even when it's not being used. So if you haven't used your MiFi for a while, you'll need to recharge it."

You would think that should be enough for a whole game, but knowing my luck, even if fully charged before the game, it would still run out :bonk: I'd be tempted to have a fully charged spare just in case.

I must say, I'm seriously tempted by the MiFi and your experience on Saturday may well clinch the deal

Thanks again for offering your thoughts and experiences, Steven. It's much appreciated :thumbs:
 
No problem at all

I hadn't fully charged it yet, I will make sure its charged on a Friday night before a Saturday game, a monday night before a Tuesday game etc.

Contract wise I only went for the 1gb one as over the past 3 months I have found I only used about 3/400mb each month
 
In my excitement :D I hadnt thought about a contract or cost. Ive currently got a PAYG dongle from 3 at the moment which is relatively cheap. I cant see on the website about PAYG MiFi. Is contract expensive?
 
I used to pay £10 every 30 days for 1gb, now I pay £10.87 for a month, no topping up and its faster. win win
 
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