Weekend Update 1/12/25

[C855B]

I see the engine surging.  Bypass Youtube to prove that they are the problem if you haven't done so already - upload the video from your camera device directly to to a laptop and view it there.  If the surging only shows up on Youtube then a possible source of the problem is Youtube's compression algorithm that saves on storage and streaming bandwith.   But from the periodicity of the surging my best wag would be that you have a slightly higher framerate than what they store videos at.

This sort of lag/jerky motion can occur in streaming video with compressed digital modes, MPEG4 especially. The problem typically stems from too-high GOP settings - groups of pictures - where the reference frames are not updated often enough. I don't know what compression mode YouTube uses, but the way digital video works is that there's a reference frame which is then updated with only changed pixels until the next reference frame. A 30 fps video with a GOP of 30 means that you get a "correct" reference frame every second.

The bandwidth controls how many changed pixels are sent with each 'I' (intermediate) frame. If the percentage of changed pixels per 'I' frame exceeds the bandwidth, as would happen with motion that occupies a lot of the frame, you'll get a stuttering result. That is certainly what appears to be going on here. GOP appears to be 10 or 15, with the "correction" frames popping the video every 1/2 or 1/3 second.

A key responsibility of my pre-retirement job was setting up and maintaining digital video networks in limited bandwidth settings. The scars from the arrows in my back (pioneer) are proof of that.

[altohorn25]

Milwaukee Road E9B number 33B.  This is a factory painted Kato unit that I scraped the factory lettering off of and re-lettered and re-numbered.  Tamiya panel line accent color has been added to the trucks.  I'll finish weathering it tomorrow to match the look of the A unit.  Digitrax DN163K0D decoder installed.  I also swapped out the large flange wheels with newer Kato low profile wheels for better operation on my code 55 track.

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[gi-depp]

Some more work on the engine house. (Railhaed Fort Bliss)

[John]

One of the industrial areas on the Maryland Midland / aka Western Maryland RR is Finksburg Md ..  It contains a Congoleum flooring plant that receives a few boxcars, and in the past unloaded Talc powder from rail cars.  The other major customer is a material handling area.

For the MMID, this place is an important customer, unloading stone hoppers brought in from from the Barrick quarry in Woodsboro Md ..



. The MMID runs a dedicated train on most days from the quarry to their Finksburg terminal where the cars are dumped and the material sorted into bins for sale to customers. 

On the layout I am building, I will have these two industries in a highly compressed scene.  First up is the warehouse structure near the tracks - the building is approximately 700' long, and around 55-60' wide .. I designed wall sections, windows, and the vents in Tinkercad.  The structure is scaled down from the dimensions to fit my available space. I'm going  for the look and feel and not a contest level model. 

Looking at it from the bridge




The long building appears to be used for storage - the prototype is about 1000 feet long according to Mr. Google .. I condensed it to 225 N scale feet .. This is still a work in progress, with the sides, windows and roof vents 3D printed. The roof is styrene metal siding from Evergreen .. some things just don't lend themselves to printing . In retrospect, I should have just done the whole shell in styrene and only printed the windows and vents .


I'm trying to keep the layout benchwork to around 18" max .. which for this area is too tight, so I went with 24" because I need to squeeze the patapsco river and 1/2 of the Congoleum building in there along with a bunch of bits and bobs ..





There is still a lot of work to do on this model --everything is just taped on for now

[Jesse6669]

John, that warehouse really captures the feel of the original even though compressed.

[NtheBasement]

This sort of lag/jerky motion can occur in streaming video with compressed digital modes, MPEG4 especially. The problem typically stems from too-high GOP settings - groups of pictures - where the reference frames are not updated often enough. I don't know what compression mode YouTube uses, but the way digital video works is that there's a reference frame which is then updated with only changed pixels until the next reference frame. A 30 fps video with a GOP of 30 means that you get a "correct" reference frame every second.

The bandwidth controls how many changed pixels are sent with each 'I' (intermediate) frame. If the percentage of changed pixels per 'I' frame exceeds the bandwidth, as would happen with motion that occupies a lot of the frame, you'll get a stuttering result. That is certainly what appears to be going on here. GOP appears to be 10 or 15, with the "correction" frames popping the video every 1/2 or 1/3 second.

A key responsibility of my pre-retirement job was setting up and maintaining digital video networks in limited bandwidth settings. The scars from the arrows in my back (pioneer) are proof of that.

Great info.  Does this mean that lowering the resolution (if possible) could fix the issue?  I've got some 1080P videos that don't have that problem.  Maybe YT uses different algorithm settings for higher res.

[John]

John, that warehouse really captures the feel of the original even though compressed.

Thanks .. It took a while to get comfortable with the dimensions .. every picture I've seen is distorted by the angles ..

[C855B]

Great info.  Does this mean that lowering the resolution (if possible) could fix the issue?  I've got some 1080P videos that don't have that problem.  Maybe YT uses different algorithm settings for higher res.

You have the gist.

[cjm413]

Milwaukee Road E9B number 33B.  This is a factory painted Kato unit that I scraped the factory lettering off of and re-lettered and re-numbered.  Tamiya panel line accent color has been added to the trucks.  I'll finish weathering it tomorrow to match the look of the A unit.  Digitrax DN163K0D decoder installed.  I also swapped out the large flange wheels with newer Kato low profile wheels for better operation on my code 55 track.

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Kato should do another run of these, but with the original 200 series roadnumbers (renumbered in 1959), they'd be useful with both their combined COLA/Challenger set (1956) and the new Olympian Hiawatha set.

[btrain]

Had a good time today running around on the Free-moN set up at the Great Train Show in Columbus. I brought down my Lake Shore Central and Toledo Division loop and both did well. I did put some temporary buildings in place on the LSC from other layouts I have, but I’m looking forward to more free time this winter and spring to complete the structures that will fill those spaces.

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[draskouasshat]

New weekend, new models!
SP MT-5

Drasko [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[rickb773]

Visited the Patcong Valley's open house this weekend. A very large HO club layout that is museum quality modeling.

[vermonter_railfan]

Nearing completion of my latest Free-moN module that'll have its debut at the Amherst Railroad Hobby show at the end of the month.

[SP-Wolf]

New weekend, new models!
SP MT-5

Drasko (Attachment Link) (Attachment Link)

I'm in -
What mech is it designed for - ?

Please, keep me posted as to when it will be available.

Thanks,
Wolf

[VonRyan]

I started a little project yesterday. Hoping to have something at least “halfway done” before a micro layout meet in WV this coming weekend.

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