O-Train Line 1 (Confederation Line) - LIVESTREAM - Near Blair Station

[Shane]

Enjoy this all-day, all-weather, all-season livestream of Ottawa's O-Train Line 1 (Confederation Line). Utilizing the Alstom Citadis Spirit LRV, it is the busiest LRT line in North America carrying up to 180,000 weekday riders. 

Opened in September 2019, the 12.5km line replaced the busiest rapid bus transit in North America, reducing GES and road traffic while improving capacity and frequency for its users. 

You can view trains traveling to and from Blair Station, the eastern terminus of O-Train Line 1 (Confederation Line), located less than 200m east of this camera's position. To the west, approximately 1300m away is Cyrville station. 

A very special thank you to @DavidBellerive (Twitter @Dbellerive15) for hosting and operating this camera for Rail Fans.

• Explore the current and future O-Train Network: https://www.railfans.ca/otrain/system-map
• More about Blair Station: https://www.railfans.ca/otrain/line-1-stations/blair
• More about Cyrville Station: https://www.railfans.ca/otrain/line-1-stations/cyrville
• More about the Citadis Spirit: https://www.railfans.ca/otrain/trains/alstom-citadis-spirit

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This topic is to discuss the livestream, observations, and other related points of discussion.

If you have a clear view of the O-Train track and alignment, please get in touch as we would love to add additional camera positions. (https://www.railfans.ca/forum/contact/)

[DavidBellerive]

I am more than pleased to "sponsor" this first livestream camera on the O-Train! Not only a first for RailFans, but also for Ottawa!

 

For those curious about the setup and wondering if you can do the same from your place!

Camera positioning: inside, behind a window (you can probably observe the slight color shift due to glass reflection. Inside a "black bag" to remove undesired reflections.

Camera: Reolink RLC-520 or you can use any RTSP enabled camera. I am recording at 1440p.

Software: OBS running on a older windows PC. Encoder settings are as follow: 6000kbps, Quicksync H.264, Quality Preset.

 

Camera is using a POE injector and then is attached to my local network, which OBS taps onto to provide the stream.

 

If you have any question or suggestion, feel free to let me know by tagging me, or simply sending a private message here or on the Discord!

[DavidBellerive]

Today, we are celebrating the 3 months anniversary of the O-Train Cam! 

Thanks to everyone who has been watching it or supported us in its testing and since its launch! Glad to see regular viewership and conversations arising from what is seen on the rails! 

If you've followed the livestream since we launched, you might have noticed a few changes! We have been working hard to improve upon the livestream and bring more information to the viewers regarding the O-Train network.

Here is a change log of things that were done (in no specific order):

• Addition of a PIP feed zoomed on the tracks (discontinued for the time being: might be reintroduced during some special situations)
• Addition of background music (discontinued due to licensing)
• Addition of a PIP featuring other content found on the RailFans YouTube channel (interviews, simulator and train rides)
• Camera resolution changes (increased to native sensor resolution, adding more vertical resolution)
• Encoding settings change with goal to improve sharpness and readability.
  • 6500kpbs
  • Software Encoder, Fast / Faster Preset, VBR
  • Increased output resolution to 1440p (In test, might be switched back to 1080p depending on effect on picture quality + readability)
• Weather based on the camera location, updated regularly (sourced from Open Weather's API)
• Bottom screen ticker (Various versions tested, still a WIP)
• Next departure and arrival time (Thanks to @Dellisd for this!)
• Overlay and camera position changes (mostly to remove residences south of the highway)

As always, if you have any feedback or suggestions, feel free to let us know!

 

NOTE: The current URL for the livestream has changed due to a streaming interruption. The livestream can be seen at O-Train Line 1 (near Blair Station), Ottawa, Canada | Rail Fans Canada LIVE - YouTube

[J.OT13]

Quality has really improved. Great move to add the stock Rail Fans video in response to losing the music to licensing issues. Thanks to everyone who contribute to this feature. 

[Shane]

Thank you David. 
 

The music is more an issue of money. I use Epidemic Sound for the music in the videos. It is a subscription based service in that as long as you are subscribed, any videos that are uploaded while the subscription is active are cleared for life. As I am not doing any videos that are using their music for the time being, it didn’t make sense to keep paying at this time for just adding music to the livestream. That’s why the music backing is gone and the stock videos came into the picture. I feel it’s a good change and more informative. Since a livestream continues indefinitely, you need an ongoing subscription. So it was a good way to save a bit of money on something that wasn’t all that needed.