Hey guys,

Anybody know of any decent loops in the Buffalo/Niagara area? I was out and about for about 80 miles today and it was nice, but no curves to speak of really. Anybody from around here, or suggestions as to where I could look?

Regards,
Riz

Hiya Riz!

To answer your question, I sat down last Saturday night to learn how to make a video from screen captures.  (Using good ol' Streets & Trips again.)  I figured it out, but the .AVI file that came out of the whole process was 22MB!  For a video that's just 1:02 long!  And there's hardly any motion!

I fooled around trying to find a way to compress the AVI format without losing half of the detail, but I didn't have much luck.  So, it's the 22MB file or nothing ... until someone can help me figure out how to do that compression.

If you want to give it a shot, download

http://www.bbburma.net/Videos/rizp_BuffaloLoop.avi[/list:u]and see if your system can handle it.

Meanwhile, here's a static, "no details" look at the loop and the total mileage:



A large portion of the route follows various river drainages, which is bound to make for some good twisties.    To see the trip segments that I talk through in the video, look at each of the following screen grabs:

1 - Buffalo to Attica

2 - Attica to Portageville

3 - Portageville to Scio

4 - Scio to Bolivar and Carrollton

5 - Carrollton to Ashford and Springville

6 - Springville to Sprague Brook County Park and Buffalo[/list:u]

EDIT: Fixed URL for trip segment 2.

Kerry,

Thanks so much for the incredible video. I appreciate you taking the effort to put it together, and can't wait to give that run a shot! I would've written in sooner but my wife and I were in Acapulco from the 2nd to the 11th. Interestingly though, the 2 days before we went on vacation, I accidently stumbled across the Tonawanda Creek Road you mentioned. Oh yeah, it's a blast.

About the compression issue. It wasn't really a problem d/l'ing through a cable modem, but you sparked my interest. I've dabbled a bit in video editing and totally know where you're coming from with the filesize problem. I ended up with a 1.02 gig file for a 4 minute fullscreen video I made when my wife and I were married (we projected it during our 1st dance)

at any rate, I struggled with compression quite a bit. What software are you using? with Adobe Premier, I'm pretty sure I had the best bang for my buck with outputting as an MPEG4, and lowering both my framerate and datarate considerably.  There's also a good deal of savings to be had by lowering the audio quality(it's half your filesize). I think alternatively, outputting as a quicktime file is pretty efficient as well.

I loaded the file into  Premier to look at the file properties, and thought you might be interested in seeing them:

File Size: 21.71MB bytes
Total Duration: 0;01;02;05
Average Data Rate: 357.98KB per second
Image Size: 736 x 616
Pixel Depth: 16 bits
Frame Rate: 200.00 fps

Audio: 44100 Hz - 16 bit - Stereo

AVI File details:
Contains 1 video track(s) and 1 audio track(s).

Video track 1:
Total duration is 0;01;02;05
Size is 10.94MB bytes (average frame = 1.76KB bytes)
This movie appears to have DROPPED FRAMES
There are 61 keyframes, 364 delta frames.
There are 12000 empty frames.
Frame rate is 200.00 fps
Frame size is 736 x 616
Depth is 16 bits.
Compressor: 'CRAM', Microsoft Video 1

Audio track 1:
Size is 10.47MB bytes
Rate is 44100 samples/sec, stereo
Sample size is 16 bits

I fiddled with the settings a bit and got it down to 6mb and change. Iif I went down to 8 bit mono and lowered the framerate more it could be even smaller, but I tried to maintain similar quality. I also lowered the size to 640x480. Here're the settings I used:

File Size: 6.60MB bytes
Total Duration: 0;01;02;06
Average Data Rate: 108.81KB per second
Image Size: 640 x 480
Pixel Depth: 24 bits
Frame Rate: 15.00 fps

Audio: 44100 Hz - 16 bit - Mono

AVI File details:
Contains 1 video track(s) and 1 audio track(s).

Video track 1:
Total duration is 0;01;02;06
Size is 1.35MB bytes (average frame = 7.22KB bytes)
This movie appears to have DROPPED FRAMES
There are 633 keyframes.
There are 299 empty frames.
Frame rate is 15.00 fps
Frame size is 640 x 480
Depth is 24 bits.
Compressor: 'MP42', MS MPEG-4 3688 V2              

Audio track 1:
Size is 5.22MB bytes
Rate is 44100 samples/sec
Sample size is 16 bits

let me know if you want to see the compressed file, or if ever need any help with maiking any new videos. It was really nice of you to put it together, and making a smaller file would certainly help those folks trapped in dialup land.


Regards,
Riz

Quote from: rizpThanks so much for the incredible video. I appreciate you taking the effort to put it together

My pleasure!  But it will be even more fun (and I may do it more often) if I can figure out some compression tricks....

Quote from: rizpcan't wait to give that run a shot!

Let me know how you like it.  It's one thing to guess about a route from a 2D, non-topographic map, and another to actually RIDE the route in 3D.  But no worries - the route recommendation comes with a full money back guarantee...  :mrgreen:

Quote from: rizpI've dabbled a bit in video editing and totally know where you're coming from with the filesize problem.

Ah - serendipity!  I just love it when things work out like this - I make a bloated video for a guy who can actually help me figure out how to squish it!  YES!

Quote from: rizpWhat software are you using?

Er ... ah ... time to come clean, I guess ....

Screen video capture:

CamStudio 2.1.  FREEware!
Attempted compression with TMPGEnc 2.521.  FREEware![/list:u]That's about as far as I got.  As I look at it now, the TMPGEnc encoder has options for frame rate and audio sampling frequency, but I didn't really mess with them.  

Quote from: rizplet me know if you want to see the compressed file

Definitely!  If you don't have sufficient webspace I can give you FTP login info for uploading to my site.

Quote from: rizpor if ever need any help with maiking any new videos. [...]making a smaller file would certainly help those folks trapped in dialup land.

I accept!  I'll try to only "impose" long enough to get the hang of it.

Former Buffalonian here...

219 should really be a nice ride to the southerntier.  You might consider taking a trip to Alleghany State Park and riding the several miles through the park.  Letchworth is another great ride/destination.  Trying to find much in the way of curves locally in the Buffalo/N.F. region is difficult.  You might enjoy a ride out through Lockport, Gasport, Middleport, Waterport and up to Lake Ontario.  You could then loop back along the lake shore into Niagara Falls up near Fort Niagara.  If customs wasn't such a pain these days, for a quicker loop I'd recommend crossing the Peace Bridge, running up the Canadian side, and crossing back over the Lewiston or other upper bridge to return on the US side of the Niagara Gorge...maybe stopping at Devils Hole/Whirlpool Park.  I can't remember the name of the outer road that rings Grand Island, but it would be a nice short loop as well, all along the Niagara River.  For more twisties, you might consider heading down the interior through Zoar Valley to Gowanda and on down to Lake Chautauqua, then out to Lake Erie back up to Buffalo...but certainly take Rt. 5 along the lake rather than the 90.  I really miss WNY sometimes...

...best of luck!

wow, so many trips! I really can't wait to get started on all of them. Kerry, I'll be out of town this weekend, but I'll pm you if I need the logon.
heent, thanks so much for the advice! you're not missing much this summer (foul weather has been perpetual) but of recent note, Taste of Buffalo was a blast. I've gotta ask, are you involvedin healthcare? or does heent have meaning somewhere outside of a physical exam?
Regards,
Riz

It would be fitting if I were in a medical field, no?  Alas, heent is a knickname I picked up in my teen years that's stuck for me among a small group of friends from up there.  Only later did I learn about head, ears, eyes, nose, and throat.  Hope you get a few more rides in before Canada starts sending cold air and lake-effect precip. and all that other good stuff your way.  Last time I said this I got in trouble because the WNY gal I said it to was a veggiesaurus...but have a real chicken wing for me.