Team BKool CycleChat

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<Tommy>

Illegitimi non carborundum
Location
Camden, London
I use video occasionally, usually in solo mountain rides. I find the quality ok, but then I use a 15" laptop screen and have sweat on my glasses for most of the ride :smile:

I always use it for the mountain rides too. Quality is good enough but I dare say it's a lot smoother at a slower pace. Which rides have you tried bob? D'huez is pretty good quality for me and like you say, it can make it a bit more enjoyable / interesting.
 

Breedon

Legendary Member
Does anyone use the video option for solo rides? I have tried and run a pretty souped up alienware box but the video quality is lamentable, whatever settings i use. Cyclechat bkool riding needs aside this is the one thing i would like to see improved. If they cannot stream hd quality then allow downloads that if necessary expire at the end of the ride. I cannot be the only one( i cannot believe i am saying this) who would like to ride the "real" ventoux etc on my screen rather than the generic 3d profiles that are so often a mess and really offputting. I know i would be faster with video!;)

i would love to ride the real ventoux, priced up to ride it stopping at a camp site near it would love the preyynes as well (might be spelt worng)
 

JLaw

Veteran
Does anyone use the video option for solo rides? I have tried and run a pretty souped up alienware box but the video quality is lamentable, whatever settings i use. Cyclechat bkool riding needs aside this is the one thing i would like to see improved. If they cannot stream hd quality then allow downloads that if necessary expire at the end of the ride. I cannot be the only one( i cannot believe i am saying this) who would like to ride the "real" ventoux etc on my screen rather than the generic 3d profiles that are so often a mess and really offputting. I know i would be faster with video!;)
I do a bit of both. I have noticed that I get dramatically more FPS when doing a video ride. I'm sure it's an artifact of the need to render all the objects in the 3D world on-the-fly vs "just" video playback for the video rides.

But the pain of uploading to bkool means that the quality of the video suffers greatly, particularly for longer rides. The downsampling necessary to fit in the bkool restrictions leaves visible artifacts all over the place. I guess I'm just getting used to them at this point. I find them less annoying than the wobble from using a gopro on a slow climb :-O
 

bobinski

Legendary Member
Location
Tulse Hill
I do a bit of both. I have noticed that I get dramatically more FPS when doing a video ride. I'm sure it's an artifact of the need to render all the objects in the 3D world on-the-fly vs "just" video playback for the video rides.

But the pain of uploading to bkool means that the quality of the video suffers greatly, particularly for longer rides. The downsampling necessary to fit in the bkool restrictions leaves visible artifacts all over the place. I guess I'm just getting used to them at this point. I find them less annoying than the wobble from using a gopro on a slow climb :-O

I see.
Like boxers I am on a 32in hd tv a few feet from my face. Most of the vids render as if vga. I shall have a closer look at what's available for the best known mountain rides and see if I can find some better quality ones.
 

JLaw

Veteran
I see.
Like boxers I am on a 32in hd tv a few feet from my face. Most of the vids render as if vga. I shall have a closer look at what's available for the best known mountain rides and see if I can find some better quality ones.
I would start by looking at shorter rides as those are less likely to have needing down sampling to meet the restrictions. Also those shot from a motorbike are likely going to be both shorter than the same route from a bike and more stable
 

AAAC 76C

Large Member
Location
LIVING THE DREAM
Last night I struggled to access the sim with my laptop , opens up ok & I see the nice mountain pic & my user name and a little man on the right & a new user option on my left , clicked on Tiny01 to start & it asked for password , entered that & nowt happens still page won't move , dragged everything inside & fired up the main pc & the sim opens up straight away !

Any ideas anyone , I've changed password etc this morning but still seems the same with the sim on the laptop

Again, check your browser saved password, if you changed your password via your PC your Lap Top may not have caught up.
 

AAAC 76C

Large Member
Location
LIVING THE DREAM
I see.
Like boxers I am on a 32in hd tv a few feet from my face. Most of the vids render as if vga. I shall have a closer look at what's available for the best known mountain rides and see if I can find some better quality ones.

Stupid question but have you set your video quality on high in Settings>Video View and perhaps even settings.

Got to agree that videos taken fro swinging and twisting handlebars make yo ill.
Videos need to be done from a motorised vehicle or a gyro stabilised camera.
Shame you can't press the space bar and look behind or see other rider avatars superimposed as opposed to a big superimposed shape.

PS. The have messed up the Velodrome overhead view as well. You can't work out who is you and who the other riders are.
 

Tiny01

Darren on Bkool
Location
Essex
Are any of you guys able to help me , I can't for some reason seem to acces the sim via my laptop , it's not a connection issue as I've hard wired it to test , I get to the page below & put my password in but there doesn't seem to be anything to click to take me any further , pressing enter on the keyboard doesn't do anything , doing my head in now it is , any advice before it all go's over next door ?





image.jpg
 

kipster

Guru
Location
Hampshire
Are any of you guys able to help me , I can't for some reason seem to acces the sim via my laptop , it's not a connection issue as I've hard wired it to test , I get to the page below & put my password in but there doesn't seem to be anything to click to take me any further , pressing enter on the keyboard doesn't do anything , doing my head in now it is , any advice before it all go's over next door ?





View attachment 150017
Once you've enter the password click on your avatar
 

Whorty

Gets free watts from the Atom ;)
Location
Wiltshire
I use video occasionally, usually in solo mountain rides. I find the quality ok, but then I use a 15" laptop screen and have sweat on my glasses for most of the ride :smile:
Likewise i almost always use the video rides. Have an oldish laptop and works OK - I assume the quality is only as good as that uploaded in the first place.
 

Add

Guru
Location
Powys, Wales
Vote so far (as I understand it) for Handicap Chase time...

Can do 7 pm but can't do 8pm (+Start Time)

@AAAC 76C

Can do 8 pm but can't do 7 pm (+Start Time)

@JLaw
@Perky77

Prefer 7 pm (but can do 8 pm)

@CXRAndy
@Jim Brown
@rob01792
@LBHIFI
@Whorty
@berty bassett
@bridgy
@BILL S

Prefer 8 pm (but can do 7 pm)

@Soarerv8

Don't mind

@Goldwolfie
@bobinski
@Tiny01
@TurboTommy

Can do 5pm (which wasn't on offer) but tucked up warmly in bed by 8pm....

@Bonno
I will start participating more from now on Geoff, but I won't be able to do 7pm on a tuesday, only 8pm. That said, I am happy to use tuesdays as ride what I like night, if the handicap runs earlier.
 

bobinski

Legendary Member
Location
Tulse Hill
Stupid question but have you set your video quality on high in Settings>Video View and perhaps even settings.

Got to agree that videos taken fro swinging and twisting handlebars make yo ill.
Videos need to be done from a motorised vehicle or a gyro stabilised camera.
Shame you can't press the space bar and look behind or see other rider avatars superimposed as opposed to a big superimposed shape.

PS. The have messed up the Velodrome overhead view as well. You can't work out who is you and who the other riders are.

Yeah, all the right settings and hardware acceleration by default for video files on PC. I will report back once I have had a more intensive look at the videos available
 

bridgy

Legendary Member
Location
Cheddar
Are any of you guys able to help me , I can't for some reason seem to acces the sim via my laptop , it's not a connection issue as I've hard wired it to test , I get to the page below & put my password in but there doesn't seem to be anything to click to take me any further , pressing enter on the keyboard doesn't do anything , doing my head in now it is , any advice before it all go's over next door ?





View attachment 150017
I 'm using a laptop and putting the password in and pressing "enter" is working fine for me - sorry that's not much use other than maybe narrowing down the problem...
 
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