Launching our new Surfcam Replays

Ben Matson picture
Ben Matson (thermalben)
Swellnet Dispatch

Last week saw the long-awaited return of the Swellnet Surfcam Replays. 

Our Replay system simply records live surfcam vision in the cloud into ten minute blocks - much like a home DVR recorder - so you’re able to check out the surfcam vision from any time over the past seven days at your own convenience. Check out our Replays from: Byron BayDuranbahSnapper RocksGreenmount, CurrumbinBurleigh HeadsAlex HeadlandNoosa Head.

For those of you without access to the surfcams throughout the day, this will make it easy to review expected day-time swell pulses after dark, or confirm the arrival of the sea breeze against the local wind observations.

Although these kinds of DVR technologies are becoming more common across live broadcasts, Swellnet was actually the first surfing website to implement an automated Replay system, more than ten years ago. The wonderful Wayback Machine actually has an archive snapshot of our first Replay system from December 2007.

For the tech nerds, back in 2007 our Live Surfcams were streaming in Windows Media (.wmv) and the Replays were static videos in Flash (.flv) format - both technologies of which are essentially redundant now - all of our surfcam streams now utilise H.264 encoding.

However the process to create Replays videos is now much easier, thanks to cloud based streaming services and storage, and most importantly the rollout of the NBN, which allows for much faster uploads and thus higher quality surfcam vision.

The first version of our new Replays system - as you see it now - is fairly straightforward, with the last seven days of footage available from dawn to dusk. We’re currently offering Replays from most of the points in SE Qld and Northern NSW, and we'll soon roll the Replays out around the rest of the country. 

We also have a development schedule for the coming months that will enhance the Replay functions and improve usability to make it easier for you to check out what the surf is doing. This includes:

  • Upgrading all vision to full screen HDTV*
  • Ability to save selected Replay clips to your profile (all Replays are currently purged after 7 days)

We’re also working on a couple of other exciting Replay tools, but we’ll keep those ideas under our hat for now. Stay tuned!

(*Swellnet has Australia’s only 100% HDTV surfcam network - every single camera is HD quality - but it’s impossible to ‘stream’ HDTV video across ADSL connections, which still constitutes around half of our network. As we complete our national NBN upgrade, we’ll be able to offer a streamlined HDTV product for all surfcams).

Check out our Surfcam Replays from:

Byron Bay
Duranbah
Snapper Rocks
Greenmount
Currumbin

Burleigh Heads
Alex Headland
Noosa Head

Comments

Woof woof 41's picture
Woof woof 41's picture
Woof woof 41 Tuesday, 6 Feb 2018 at 5:03pm

Sick! Possibility of actually seeing a wave you caught at snapper and proving it.

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Tuesday, 6 Feb 2018 at 5:14pm

Indeed! In fact it’s been unreal watching the Greenmount and Snapper highlights from last week’s swell.. some amazing rides in there.

surfstarved's picture
surfstarved's picture
surfstarved Tuesday, 6 Feb 2018 at 9:51pm

Still no NBN in my corner of the Adelaide Hills and there won't be until the end of 2019. Roll on progress (just slooooowly).

Nick Bone's picture
Nick Bone's picture
Nick Bone Wednesday, 7 Feb 2018 at 8:48am

Literally. The street perpendicular to mine (i.e i turn off that street to get to mine) has it but we wont for another two years??

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Wednesday, 7 Feb 2018 at 8:54am

I've got some stories to tell.. been a horrendous couple of upgrade experiences at my end. Might end up writing a book on it at some stage. 

wayneoz's picture
wayneoz's picture
wayneoz Wednesday, 7 Feb 2018 at 2:17pm

By the time you get NBN, 5G will be out and probably make NBN obsolete. $50 billion dollars... Now there is a book!

gcuts's picture
gcuts's picture
gcuts Thursday, 8 Feb 2018 at 6:39pm

Ah, check closely, and you "may" find 5G too is already surpassed, and the tech available here in Oz (hint: animation studios, SE Qld) ... 5G is NBN on steroids, the 'next level' is well 'out of this world'.

Have you ever seen the car race they did with a production car, a V8 Supercar and an F1 race car? Well, think NBN as the production car. Yep. It's here in Oz already, and was BEFORE they started to build any of the NBN!

Like this:

johnruciak's picture
johnruciak's picture
johnruciak Thursday, 8 Feb 2018 at 1:16pm

Looking forward to replacing the SBS 56 hour Ghan video loop with the Southport cam, which is just as flat..