Like some of you, I'm starting up a local TV channel -- or rather, a livestream because Comcast refuses to even TALK to me about carriage down here -- Here's what I'm having trouble sourcing/figuring out.
- The Weather - This is THE number one most important feature our channel needs. When I worked at Charter Cable in the late 90s, it was simple to dial-up and download the forecasts. Our Chyron box handled the graphics, etc. I cannot for the LIFE of me figure out how to access NWS or NOAA data for this anymore, or how to get it onscreen as a 'current conditions' and a 5 day forecast grid. I see the After Effects templates for this stuff all over, but nobody has a clue how to tie it together. ONE possibility is the Weather Channel Simulator 4000, which is exactly what it sounds like. We're near NASA and Ellington Field in Houston; their weather stations supply all the info WCS4K needs and it works like a charm. The only problem is that in order to use it, I have to run it on a Windows PC -- can't push it from a web server. :-( Oh, and its graphics look bad on a small screen.
The Yahoo Weather widget thingie was discontinued awhile back. If it were still around I wouldn't have a problem.
- Dynamically generated slides / slideshows: Back in the day, community cable stations had slideshows for events, notices, etc. The data was input either into a database front-end or a spreadsheet and then data merged once a week. The system would then generate the slides. I don't mind making all the slides by hand, as needed like with Powerpoint, Keynote or just static PNGs (am I right to assume OBS can run these fullscreen bitmaps and I can set the on-screen durations?) I **can** set up InDesign to data merge from a CSV file and export as individual bitmaps. I'm hoping to find a more automated solution, tho. This is not really a priority like the Weather Forecast.
