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General discussion

How Can I stream live video footage from a helicopter?

Aug 11, 2010 11:06AM PDT

Suppose I rented a charter helicopter WITH pilot for business, and there was a big story going on.

I have my VHS Camcorder hooked up to my laptop using Gigaware or any video capture software.

I know some friends who works at the television stations in town, and they have NO news helicopters.

From my VHS video camera (hooked up to my laptop), while riding in a charter helicopter, how can I stream live video footage to the news stations, so viewers can see action from the air?

Discussion is locked

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With an FM transmitter . . .
Aug 11, 2010 12:05PM PDT

Call a station that has a chopper. Ask them how it's done. After you find out, bring lots of money. Major lots.

A laptop wi-fi connection will not work.

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IMHO...
Aug 11, 2010 12:58PM PDT

While it seems to make sense to capture video to some sort of media, like VHS or DV, then send it via some telephone or broadband source. While wifi, may appear to seem to work, it all depends on the wifi services of the area, to include having an account or free air. The bigger markets already have this sorted out, why not navigate abit and see what seems to be the common method. No, I have no direct source to these things other than to offer my opinion above.

tada -----Willy Happy

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Let's look at a recent PAPER on this.
Aug 11, 2010 1:17PM PDT
http://www.lcc.uma.es/~pedro/publications/convtc07.pdf

See the first table and I see the usual 3 frames per second. And that's probably acceptable for shots "live" of a freeway jam or flood scene.

The bottom line is you need a real techie to get this all wired up. Hint: Use a few Cell phones. Use one for the video link and another to talk on.
Bob