TrainsMag.com Reader Poll – February 9, 2004

[oubliette]

Keep it as it is. Being here in the UK the webcam gives me an idea of the traffic flows for hopefully one day when I actually visit the site in person. I have been booted a few times and don't want the chances of that to increase.

An increase of 1.5 frames will not make that much difference. Next we will be asking for sound...mmmmmm :-)

Maybe one day when the technology develops even more, the speed can be increasesd, until then find one happy cutomer in the UK.

[ltritt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bergie

Here's your chance to give us some feedback on how we can improve your Rochelle Webcam viewing experience.

Today, the webcam serves live images at the rate of approximately one frame every three seconds. We can increase the stream rate to one frame every 1.5 seconds, but there's a tradeoff: Doing so will eat up more bandwidth, which means only half as many viewers could watch the live camera at any one time. This would mean viewers would get bumped off more quickly.

What do you prefer? Please vote then share your comments below.

Polls on Trains.com are not scientific and reflect only the opinions of the users who have chosen to participate. The results cannot be assumed to represent the opinions of Internet users in general, the readers of our magazines, nor the public as a whole. Bottom line, our polls are meant for fun and to stimulate conversation amongst our forum users.

[Anonymous]

Leave it as it is. Never a problem of getting in or being bumped off at Rochelle. I do remember the problems with the Iowa cam. Give as many people as want the opportunity to participate.

[Anonymous]

the rochelle webcam is the best one i have seen so far but they seems to be a problem with it there are no pics i cant even get on for the last 3 days please fix it thanks

[trkerelvis]

Fear change. It's seldom for the better. (although scanner traffic or signal aspect would be cool)

[Anonymous]

I think leaving it the way it is would be great for everybody. I watch it a lot and enjoy. I railfan a lot throught the US and feel that Rochelle is one of my favorites. The scanner would give a preview or you could pick up the sound of the speaker in the shelter with scanner and horn sounds. Fostoria , Ohio is a very busy spot and would make an excellent additional camera sight.

[Anonymous]

I think leaving it the way it is would be great for everybody. I watch it a lot and enjoy. I railfan a lot throught the US and feel that Rochelle is one of my favorites. The scanner would give a preview or you could pick up the sound of the speaker in the shelter with scanner and horn sounds. Fostoria , Ohio is a very busy spot and would make an excellent additional camera sight.

[Anonymous]

The web cam in FT.Madison allows you to view the image even when others have controll of the camera. Would it be possible to set up the same type of camers in Rochelle? Possibly it could be mounted to allow the viewing of approaching trians from either the UP or BNSF.

[eolafan]

Keep it at the same rate, but increase the screen size.

[dabhid07]

I'm interested in learning about the technology that you have implemented where it can always arrange to stop refreshing when the camera is pointing at empty track, and then when I press the Refresh button on my browser I've just missed some engines and I can look forward to ninety seconds of identical coal hoppers or doublestacks going by. (I'm sure that this technology is related to the one used by the sports networks, who arrange that when I turn on the hockey game I'll have just missed a goal seconds earlier.)

[Anonymous]

half as many participants verses twice as many frames is not a good idea!

[d4fal]

Looks as if I am in the minority here. I say go for the improvement, and the drawbacks will only be temporary as systems are upgraded and improved to counter the drop-off and capacity issue. Aint technology great. Even that frame rate is considered slow in some circles and as more users upgrade to broadband, real-time cameras at television quality pictures and rates or even better will begin to come into play. We are not there yet, but we can dream.

[Anonymous]

It's great as is, so if it's not broke please don't mess with it, so what's 1.5 sec's more
out of life, enjoy the train that's why your here isn't it.?..

[Anonymous]

i like the web cam the way it is so i say leave it the way it is!how ever i like to see them put a web cam at gobal 3 that whould be cool to watch. thank you [e-mail]

[081440]

I'd like to see the trains real time, even if you get bumped. Every 1.5 seconds would be much better.

I agree with the others about scanner, signal, or other form of knowing how soon the next train will be rolling by.

Take a look at my web page, below. (Click the icon).

[Anonymous]

How about night vision mode? Also more cams would be nice... how about a yard cam or another main line crossing hotspot?

[Anonymous]

Enjoy watching the action and think it is fine how it is. But I WOULD like to see the UP approach from Proviso. What happened to MP245?
kparky
Victoria, Australia

[Anonymous]

I share the majority opinion: keep the webcam as it is. By the way, it was the Rochelle webcam that inspired me to visit Chicago and drive around Illinois in August 2000. I loved my day at Rochelle and hope to be back some day. John Hine, Birmingham, England

[Anonymous]

Keep it as it is. Sitting here in the newsroom of an east coast all-news radio station requires a break from time to time of all the horrible things we have to report. Watching trains go by, even if it's every three seconds, transport away to the land of "I would love to be there. Gary

[Anonymous]

Please leave the camera the way it is.

As for improvements. Any chance of adding a webcam in Altoona, Pa (Horseshoe curve)?? Scanner traffic or signal aspects would be nice - but definitely would like to see more webcams.

Again, thanks for the web-cam.

John Coxey
Evansville, Indiana, USA

[Anonymous]

In lieu of changing refresh rate, increase picture size.

[Anonymous]

how about sound to go with it the webcam?

[Anonymous]

I vote to leave it as is. The extra frame rate would not be worth half the
number of viewers. It might even cause shorter connect times since the # of folks waiting would be kicking viewers off almost constantly.
At off peak times I can stay connected for quite a while right now.

[Mickhall]

I'm actually all for keeping it as it is but if you do increase the frames you could also add a counter to notify potentiel viewers how many users are currently accessing the webcam and how many the bandwidth can accomodate. That way if a user couldn't get on immediately he or she could always check back later when less folks are on the webcam page.

[Anonymous]

If it workes don't fix it. Thats a good saying ,but, it seems to me that if there wasn't any
need to adress the "problem" by taking a poll, the need for one say's, time for change.
I don't see where decreasing bandwith would solve conflicts. I'm with the idea of more "Camsights".

[Anonymous]

Is this heaven? or Is this hell ? Id say keep It the way it is.mrlove.

[Anonymous]

Well I enjoy watching it, and have no problems with the timing of it. Unless the trains start moving through at 300 MPH then 1.5 sec. won't make much of a difference.

It's just too bad that we can't have it so the window could be larger. Not sure how this would effect the bandwith issue. I too, as others have specified, would love to have sounds.

Just to have live train sounds on my computer while working would totally rock.

[Anonymous]

I miss the Fort Madison Web Cam

Dennis Holmes

[Anonymous]

I guess this topic will qualify for my first post: short-time watcher, first-time poster...please be gentle with me! I stumbled across this whole site just a few days ago, really enjoy the live cam; and have yet to be kicked off...even after having it open for hours at a time. I'm the campus paramedic at the 3rd largest college in Iowa. Most of my 12-hour shift involves watching the world go by, so watching trains go by is a plus! I would vote to leave things as they are, but with one request that I haven't seen yet: If possible, configure it so that it could be in it's own little window, that could be "parked" anywhere on the screen. This way, a viewer that has to actually do work on the computer can, and yet the train cam is still open, and viewable. Several TV stations in Iowa have done that with their weather radars, which by the way, only refresh every 3-5 minutes. I'm quite happy with the 3 seconds!

Thanks much for the cam, it and this whole site are a wonderful diversion from WORK!

[Anonymous]

I would like to see it more flexible like the moveable cam that you had at the bridge on the Mississippi that time