Closed Circuit Television @ K-con 2010 or 2011

[AllyKat]

Hey Folks!

(wow my first thread started by me! exciting!)

Well, I did a bit of digging on the forums and found this topic hasn't been brought up (or at least I can't find it
being brought up recently) in awhile (since 2004 as far as my research says) and so I figured I'd try and bring
it up again; seeing as this year we may have need for something for people to do in their hotel rooms....

*prepare's her best Iron Chef Narrator voice*

If memory serves me correct it was 2004 when someone asked if CCTV would be offered at Kumori-con. At the
time the convention was small and could not afford such a luxury. In the years that passed the convention
grew and with it, need for more activities. Since those early days, viewing rooms numbering up to 4, and also a
AMV viewing room, have been added to suit the needs of those desiring to watch Anime at the Anime Con. However,
in the year 2009, at the convention held at the Hilton in Downtown portland, overcrowding caused viewing
rooms to be uncomfortably full, and also forced groups to be trapped upstairs whilst the lobby was at max compacity.
This, in and of itself would not have been so bad if guests had had something Con-related to do in their rooms
while the surges in occupancy loomed. But there was no such relief in the rooms of those attending the convention.
And so they waited... alone and bored.

*normal voice*

Basically, I think the time may have come to re-think the CCTV issue. I for one would love to have this option; a 24/hour
non-stop anime channel like the viewing rooms, where-with we could enjoy con-related entertainment in our rooms when
we are either too tired to venture out, or we want to get away from the crowds, or if we are stuck up-stairs due to
over crowding.

To be honest, I don't know the royalty issues, the viewing costs or the logistics of setting up CCTV with the Hilton. I am
not suggesting this'd be easy or even feasible. All I'm saying is if it hasn't been considered this past year or if it hasn't
been brought up for this coming or future conventions, it should be.

It would alleviate (I'm sure) at least a little of the crowding outside ("hey, wanna just go chill in the room and watch anime?")
and maybe get people who were unable to get into a panel or event out of the lobby or not so upset about not making it
into something else.... plus.... It would get people off the sidewalks/doorways!

So lets recap:

Long Lines? CCTV!
Full Panel? CCTV!
Full Lobby? CCTV!
Minor After Curfew? CCTV!
Bad weather? CCTV!
Hungry? CCTV!
Tired? CCTV!
Scurvy? CCTV!

Okay... wait... that last one... may not... have anything to do with... anything...
But still! CCTV might be a great help to alleviate some of the % of issues we've
been appraised to have this coming year!

~Allykat

[Rathany]

We can get CCTV at the Downtown Hilton.  However, since a person can easily tape anime off of a TV, most companies do not allow permissions.  Also, with all the re-arranging of companies and whatever-the-heck it was that happened to ADV like 3 days before con, even getting viewing room permissions was a huge undertaking for this year.  We wound up not showing 5 titles that we would have liked to have shown because we could not figure out who owned them. 

We'd go to a company and be all "hey, you have rights to this, right?"  Company would reply "That is licensed, but we do not currently have the rights."  Sadly, some titles may be in limbo because companies are holding off announcing acquisitions.  Funi in particular treats buying up titles from other companies the same as getting a new license from Japan, and likes to hold off and only announce it at conventions like Anime Expo.  So, yes, when we are battling companies playing 'keep away' with viewing permissions, CCTV anime is just not likely to happen. 

I am not sure why we did not have CCTV for our own live events this year, but, I think it should be a priority for next year.  It's actually high up on my personal list of things to change for next year. 

(Also, if anyone is interesting in being a 'viewing permissions coordinator' for next year lemme know?)

[TomtheFanboy]

well, we did kind of have CCTV for the cosplay contest.
Of corse I dunno if 1 TV counts as a "circuit". 

[EmAino]

My friend and I were able to get a live feed of the cosplay contest in our room...of course, the video feed cut out right as the contest started, but we could get the audio. LOL.

[AllyKat]

We can get CCTV at the Downtown Hilton.  However, since a person can easily tape anime off of a TV, most companies do not allow permissions.  Also, with all the re-arranging of companies and whatever-the-heck it was that happened to ADV like 3 days before con, even getting viewing room permissions was a huge undertaking for this year.  We wound up not showing 5 titles that we would have liked to have shown because we could not figure out who owned them. 

We'd go to a company and be all "hey, you have rights to this, right?"  Company would reply "That is licensed, but we do not currently have the rights."  Sadly, some titles may be in limbo because companies are holding off announcing acquisitions.  Funi in particular treats buying up titles from other companies the same as getting a new license from Japan, and likes to hold off and only announce it at conventions like Anime Expo.  So, yes, when we are battling companies playing 'keep away' with viewing permissions, CCTV anime is just not likely to happen. 

I am not sure why we did not have CCTV for our own live events this year, but, I think it should be a priority for next year.  It's actually high up on my personal list of things to change for next year. 

(Also, if anyone is interesting in being a 'viewing permissions coordinator' for next year lemme know?)

Well awesome! Thats really all I needed to hear, that options were in place to at least have a possibility of
*something* in the way of CCTV in the rooms... even if it is still in it's early stages... thats really cool!

Also; what does being viewing permissions coordinator entail? I'd be interested in performing those duties
for you if I could be pointed in the right direction as to learning what kind of steps to take, and the proper
channels as well as forms and procedures... or if I am capable of finding all this myself. If this possition needs
a person to helm it, I see no reason why I couldn't do the digging and the calling to find out who could provide
us with permissions and to what extent those permissions can be given.

~Allykat

[DarkStar]

I am not sure why we did not have CCTV for our own live events this year, but, I think it should be a priority for next year.  It's actually high up on my personal list of things to change for next year.

Okay, well the plan was to have CCTV for all Main Events this year. It is entirely my fault for not being 100% prepared, but unfortunately wasn't on my radar until Thursday evening before the convention.

It was actually set up by the hotel and tested on Friday with myself doing a lot of the coordinating to make sure it would be ready to go, however we had a couple of issues...

Where the plan broke down started when I realized the hotel didn't have any info about the "Green Room" needing a CATV hotel feed. Unfortunately there was no direct line running from the "headend" for the cable system to that room and the wiring didn't support just patching something in.

I was assured that the hotel would have something in place by the Cosplay Contest, but then I started getting more concerned about the necessary video equipment available. Luckily the Bang Bang Neko cosplay group brought the necessary camera and cabling, however it would only be used for the Cosplay Contest (not any other Main Events).

When the Cosplay Contest arrived, I was searching the "Green Room" for the necessary connection the hotel was going to provide for the CATV hotel feed, but it didn't exist. So our backup plan was instituted as Bang Bang Neko was providing the connection for the Green Room, so we abandoned the CCTV feed and directly connected to the TV in the Green Room.

For 2010 and beyond:

I've submitted a proposal to the Board of Directors that would allow for a two camera video operation that would be live on CCTV from the Main Events room to the hotel rooms. It's not cheap, but it's a one-time purchase that should last at least 10 years and then could be retired to other supplemental purposes...

The equipment requested will also allow us to broadcast on CCTV other programs including past Kumoricon events. My personal improvement goal for Main Events Tech for 2010 is to implement some sort of live CCTV Main Events video feed.

The best thing attendees and staff can do is to let the current and future directors know that CCTV is important to you and that they should try to find a way to fund it. Thanks!

[Rathany]

We can get CCTV at the Downtown Hilton.  However, since a person can easily tape anime off of a TV, most companies do not allow permissions.  Also, with all the re-arranging of companies and whatever-the-heck it was that happened to ADV like 3 days before con, even getting viewing room permissions was a huge undertaking for this year.  We wound up not showing 5 titles that we would have liked to have shown because we could not figure out who owned them. 

We'd go to a company and be all "hey, you have rights to this, right?"  Company would reply "That is licensed, but we do not currently have the rights."  Sadly, some titles may be in limbo because companies are holding off announcing acquisitions.  Funi in particular treats buying up titles from other companies the same as getting a new license from Japan, and likes to hold off and only announce it at conventions like Anime Expo.  So, yes, when we are battling companies playing 'keep away' with viewing permissions, CCTV anime is just not likely to happen. 

I am not sure why we did not have CCTV for our own live events this year, but, I think it should be a priority for next year.  It's actually high up on my personal list of things to change for next year. 

(Also, if anyone is interesting in being a 'viewing permissions coordinator' for next year lemme know?)

Well awesome! Thats really all I needed to hear, that options were in place to at least have a possibility of
*something* in the way of CCTV in the rooms... even if it is still in it's early stages... thats really cool!

Also; what does being viewing permissions coordinator entail? I'd be interested in performing those duties
for you if I could be pointed in the right direction as to learning what kind of steps to take, and the proper
channels as well as forms and procedures... or if I am capable of finding all this myself. If this possition needs
a person to helm it, I see no reason why I couldn't do the digging and the calling to find out who could provide
us with permissions and to what extent those permissions can be given.

~Allykat

Sweet.  My assistant and I did this job ourselves this year and can definitely train you on it.  It's a job that starts about 4 or 5 months out from the con.  Some companies you just need to shoot a quick email, others there are forms to fill out.  The critical bit is just tracking what we get permissions for and from whom.  The industry should be a bit more stable in 2010, so it should be a little less of a mess.  Also, if anime company X says 'you can have permissions if you play this trailer 5 times over the weekend', you let Prog know stuff like that so we can make sure it happens.  It's not a ton of work, it's just easier if I can farm out things like this that need to be tracked so I can focus on other stuff  I tend to be very on top of industry news, so I can almost always answer questions about what's going on there.  And, if I can't, I know who to ask.  

[AllyKat]

Alrighty then! So does that mean I have my first ever title? Can I change
my signature to say "Viewing Permissions Coordinator"

Or should I wait until after elections!

*is so giddy cause she has a duty to perform for the convention! YAY!*

~Allykat

[Rathany]

I am not sure why we did not have CCTV for our own live events this year, but, I think it should be a priority for next year.  It's actually high up on my personal list of things to change for next year.

Okay, well the plan was to have CCTV for all Main Events this year. It is entirely my fault for not being 100% prepared, but unfortunately wasn't on my radar until Thursday evening before the convention.

It was actually set up by the hotel and tested on Friday with myself doing a lot of the coordinating to make sure it would be ready to go, however we had a couple of issues...

Where the plan broke down started when I realized the hotel didn't have any info about the "Green Room" needing a CATV hotel feed. Unfortunately there was no direct line running from the "headend" for the cable system to that room and the wiring didn't support just patching something in.

I was assured that the hotel would have something in place by the Cosplay Contest, but then I started getting more concerned about the necessary video equipment available. Luckily the Bang Bang Neko cosplay group brought the necessary camera and cabling, however it would only be used for the Cosplay Contest (not any other Main Events).

When the Cosplay Contest arrived, I was searching the "Green Room" for the necessary connection the hotel was going to provide for the CATV hotel feed, but it didn't exist. So our backup plan was instituted as Bang Bang Neko was providing the connection for the Green Room, so we abandoned the CCTV feed and directly connected to the TV in the Green Room.

For 2010 and beyond:

I've submitted a proposal to the Board of Directors that would allow for a two camera video operation that would be live on CCTV from the Main Events room to the hotel rooms. It's not cheap, but it's a one-time purchase that should last at least 10 years and then could be retired to other supplemental purposes...

The equipment requested will also allow us to broadcast on CCTV other programs including past Kumoricon events. My personal improvement goal for Main Events Tech for 2010 is to implement some sort of live CCTV Main Events video feed.

The best thing attendees and staff can do is to let the current and future directors know that CCTV is important to you and that they should try to find a way to fund it. Thanks!

I think that if we make it a focus, getting everything coordinated hopefully wont be a problem.  The hotel will definitely do walk throughs and stuff like that with our techs.  I think CCTV is important, but our budgets are going to be tight for next year.  Does your proposal include a cost estimate?  The more detailed the proposal is, the more likely we can get it done.  Also, if you include details like exactly what types of cameras will work, we can look into ways to get them w/o buying them.  

Thanks

[AllyKat]

What we'd need to come up with is a team that can take down and set up the cctv in
a short amount of time and is trained to due so for the two main rooms and the ballroom, it
would have to be something that these people have done more than once before the convention
(which I'm sure with our meetings being there in some instances shouldn't be too much of an issue)
And prepare for any situation on the off-chance something doesn't work right.

On the subject of equipment, how friendly are we with Sakura-con's tech people? I don't know if
this has ever been considered on asking our big sister for help but... if we went havsies on certain
equipment (thinking about it since most of our tech team works for sak too I'm sure this is already
in effect) Could we see what kind of equipment they have and work out a loaner contract if there
stuff corresponds with ours? Or if we purchase the equipment together and each use it for our
seperate conventions? Kinda like a NWAC Equipment division (North West Anime Convention) for
both the cons to offset incidental costs? Not sure how regular repairs and mait. would work under
that, I'm sure they do similar things with the TVS and such... cause... do we seriously own all those
TVs in gaming?? If we do thats awesome... but I imagine some of that equipment has to be doubled up
right?

~Allykat

[Rathany]

Alrighty then! So does that mean I have my first ever title? Can I change
my signature to say "Viewing Permissions Coordinator"

Or should I wait until after elections!

*is so giddy cause she has a duty to perform for the convention! YAY!*

~Allykat

Best to wait until after elections.  I can't actually appoint staff unless I win  Thought, it is never too early to start talking to candidates about wanted positions.  

[AllyKat]

Alrighty then! So does that mean I have my first ever title? Can I change
my signature to say "Viewing Permissions Coordinator"

Or should I wait until after elections!

*is so giddy cause she has a duty to perform for the convention! YAY!*

~Allykat

Best to wait until after elections.  I can't actually appoint staff unless I win  Thought, it is never too early to start talking to candidates about wanted positions.  

*SMILES BIG* It's so true... feels like the moment the staff walked out the door of the hotel with the last
uhaul of goodies from the convention (Read: massively heavy equipment and other stuff they brought) that we
were banging on the doors of the hotel again to get ready for 2010... I akind it to Halloween town alread but
doing this and being a director is really practically a full time year-round job aint it? No 4 month break between
conventions huh? Especially if you plan on working this one and Sakura-con... I admire those of you who have
been doing this since it's inception, it must take a lot of love of the Japanese culture to bring it to the masses
like you do!

~Allykat

[Rathany]

On the subject of equipment, how friendly are we with Sakura-con's tech people? I don't know if
this has ever been considered on asking our big sister for help but...

Considering that they stuffed our lockers full to bursting with donated equipment right before con this year and that some of their higher ups work as staff for us?  Yeah, Big Sis likes to help us  We have been known to raid Big Sis's closet for cool clothes.  But, we don't want to bother them too much.  They have their own deals and moving equipment can be a risk.  

(Also, the TVs in gaming, we do own those ... and alot of them were gifts from Sak)

The idea of a common equipment locker sounds cool at first blush, but, trust me, there are reasons that it would lead to drama.  Good fences make good neighbors.  Also, we have our own deals involving our equipment that would make sharing certain items with other cons impossible.  Additionally, we break out our toys a couple times during the year for mini events (the dances, K-lite, campus outreaches, Eugene Asian Fest, the video game room we run at Gamestorm), so we'd be 10x as much wear and tear on the equip than Sak.  

[MichaelEvans]

I think that if we make it a focus, getting everything coordinated hopefully wont be a problem.  The hotel will definitely do walk throughs and stuff like that with our techs.  I think CCTV is important, but our budgets are going to be tight for next year.  Does your proposal include a cost estimate?  The more detailed the proposal is, the more likely we can get it done.  Also, if you include details like exactly what types of cameras will work, we can look into ways to get them w/o buying them.  

Thanks

I agree, possibly in staff only space, you might provide more details on the kind of specifications involved for various portions of the gear.  A field-quality camera might be difficult to acquire, but I could see relations or publicity working out a deal with a local TV station to have their gear/crew on scene (as press) for various key events with the provision that we get a live read-only feed and some usable archive of the event from their crew/station.

Other portions of the gear may be equipment we already have or which individuals might consider getting for their own needs anyway, but with specs that Kumoricon could use if the equipment was loaned during the convention.

[DarkStar]

On the subject of equipment, how friendly are we with Sakura-con's tech people? I don't know if
this has ever been considered on asking our big sister for help but... if we went havsies on certain
equipment (thinking about it since most of our tech team works for sak too I'm sure this is already
in effect) Could we see what kind of equipment they have and work out a loaner contract if there
stuff corresponds with ours? Or if we purchase the equipment together and each use it for our
seperate conventions? Kinda like a NWAC Equipment division (North West Anime Convention) for
both the cons to offset incidental costs? Not sure how regular repairs and mait. would work under
that, I'm sure they do similar things with the TVS and such... cause... do we seriously own all those
TVs in gaming?? If we do thats awesome... but I imagine some of that equipment has to be doubled up
right?

Unfortunately Sakura-con rents most of their equipment now. They also hire an outside company to do Main Events tech, including audio and video production.

[AllyKat]

Unfortunately Sakura-con rents most of their equipment now. They also hire an outside company to do Main Events tech, including audio and video production.

Wow.... big sis really has grown up!

~Allykat

[melchizedek]

So when we were at the hilton in 2007, they had anime playing in the rooms the whole con. 

As for broadcasting main events, maybe talk to AAI?  I know some of the students there helped us with subversion and were able to lend equipment in exchange for pimping their school.  The students that helped out were great.

[catboy-trades]

So when we were at the hilton in 2007, they had anime playing in the rooms the whole con. 

As for broadcasting main events, maybe talk to AAI?  I know some of the students there helped us with subversion and were able to lend equipment in exchange for pimping their school.  The students that helped out were great.

I agree.  Hilton 2007 was fantastic.  Perfectly done on a lot of the panels and main events.

[CMD Productions]

I think that if we make it a focus, getting everything coordinated hopefully wont be a problem.  The hotel will definitely do walk throughs and stuff like that with our techs.  I think CCTV is important, but our budgets are going to be tight for next year.  Does your proposal include a cost estimate?  The more detailed the proposal is, the more likely we can get it done.  Also, if you include details like exactly what types of cameras will work, we can look into ways to get them w/o buying them.  
Thanks

The proposal I saw will have a financial impact but was about half of what we spent on our speaker purchases back when we decided it was dangerous to borrow from Sak politically. From what I understand Sak now rents their equipment and has paid out of con techs do all their work.
On the other hand I've found with tech equipment, we need to own it and make it ours before we really can utilize is to it's full potential. Our lack of trussing costs us about 8 hours to set up, and get from a rental company for main events. Lack of a camera and support equipment, mixers, monitors, signal boosters, cables, tripods, etc; means we are on the mercy of others for video feeds and cc tv feeds.  We were lucky last time that we could borrow a camera. We should be ready and own our own equipment.

[AllyKat]

Okay, sorry to drag up a dead post but I was snooping around the interwebs for
information on CCTV and Viewing Room Permissions and stumbled on to some stuff
that confused me. With my interest in assisting in this area, and not being sure
who to ask in regard to this (it may be informations someone will have to PM me
because I doubt it matters to the convention go-ers as a whole) I decided to ask it
here:

With regard to viewing room permissions, I have found a lot of information on library
viewings of Anime and specific agreements to do this with any anime, in that you
cannot charge a fee for entry. As we do not spefically charge an entry fee for the
viewing rooms, I can see that as a primary loop hole... but we do charge a "Membership
Fee" for getting into the convention... I'm curious if that effects us. Also, I'd be interested
in knowing what other conventions do but my ability to find contacts across the
continent are somewhat limited to the specific forums of each convention. Do we have
a convention network?

I'd love the idea of getting involved with conventions who work CCTV to their advantage
and what they do to keep the suits at bay. I'm sure it's mostly a large convention
thing and not really pertinent to us now (I'm speaking of course of the idea of having
anime's on the CCTV, not about having Main events on CCTV I know we are allowed to do
that) but it would be interesting to look into for the future, or just to keep an eye on.
I like the idea of letting the big wigs at places like bandai or the disney center that deals
with Hayao Miyazaki movies here in the U.S. (Studio Ghibli doesn't own the rights over here
at least for distribution it seems,) that we are interested in their stuff and seeing what
they WILL do for us, or what they wont.... just for curiosities sake at the least. Though
I know most of these calls have been made in the past, it seems like, the growth of k-con
permits a revisiting of some of these ideas, if not for anything but simply updating our
presence to these companies.

~Allykat
companies.

[Rathany]

Our wording on the website and stuff does not fully reflect this but, we are a membership organization at the corporate level.  There is not technically and 'entrance fee', as our members are premitted entrance to our yearly convention.  Full Weekend passes = year members.  Day passes = day members. 

However, they are members of Kumoricon and not AltoNimbus.  Membership in AltoNimbus gives a person voting rights in Alto-Nimbus which are for staff only.  Staff are members of AltoNimbus.  This is an issue that came up during our bylaws revision.  Madame Secretary and I will likely clean this up soon as we review policies. 

[TomtheFanboy]

However, they are members of Kumoricon and not AltoNimbus.  Membership in AltoNimbus gives a person voting rights in Alto-Nimbus which are for staff only.  Staff are members of AltoNimbus.  This is an issue that came up during our bylaws revision.  Madame Secretary and I will likely clean this up soon as we review policies. 

This distinction makes me happy.

So I know that CCTV of anime itself has a bunch of hurdles.
What if the content we showed was 100% ours? Like footage from previous Kumoricons? I know that we've got a lot of cosplay contest and closing ceremony footage. It might not be too popular but a lot of people aren't coming to con to watch their room TV anyway. This option would be best if we can get a live feed from Main Events on the CCTV as well, but would still be cool with even a playback recording. Like if you filmed opening ceremonies and then put the recording of it on CCTV an hour later or something.

But again, I don't know what the base investment of CCTV would be with the Hilton. There's that cost to consider before we look for any content at all I suppose.

Would the people in the know consider that "prohibitively expensive", "somewhat expensive", or "reasonably priced"?

[Rathany]

However, they are members of Kumoricon and not AltoNimbus.  Membership in AltoNimbus gives a person voting rights in Alto-Nimbus which are for staff only.  Staff are members of AltoNimbus.  This is an issue that came up during our bylaws revision.  Madame Secretary and I will likely clean this up soon as we review policies. 

This distinction makes me happy.

So I know that CCTV of anime itself has a bunch of hurdles.
What if the content we showed was 100% ours? Like footage from previous Kumoricons? I know that we've got a lot of cosplay contest and closing ceremony footage. It might not be too popular but a lot of people aren't coming to con to watch their room TV anyway. This option would be best if we can get a live feed from Main Events on the CCTV as well, but would still be cool with even a playback recording. Like if you filmed opening ceremonies and then put the recording of it on CCTV an hour later or something.

But again, I don't know what the base investment of CCTV would be with the Hilton. There's that cost to consider before we look for any content at all I suppose.

Would the people in the know consider that "prohibitively expensive", "somewhat expensive", or "reasonably priced"?

I think it's not so much the cost from the Hilton, but how much we want to invest in camera and equip to give them a live events feed.  Previous con footage could make for some good programming blocks.  Though, it would be nice to use a copy that says "From 2007" at the bottom so people don't get confused. 

I wonder if we could somehow generate more homegrown content.  Maybe have some sort of video-based contest during the year?  Since we pay Ascap licensing fees, which covers all Japanese music, maybe ...  hrmm...   I should poke Cassie about this. 

[TomtheFanboy]

I wonder if we could somehow generate more homegrown content.  Maybe have some sort of video-based contest during the year?  Since we pay Ascap licensing fees, which covers all Japanese music, maybe ...  hrmm...   I should poke Cassie about this. 

This is a great idea. I would be glad to help out. I know my camera isn't the best quality but I'll do what I can.

[RemSaverem]

A few quick queries:
(a) How hard would it be to go from taping events & feeding them live to TVs in the hotel, to taping events & streaming them live on video?
At least at a hotel at which we can afford online access in programming areas?
(b) Perhaps connect with, I believe his name is Alan Olsen, the person from Orycon who coordinates their CCTV, for advice?

[DarkStar]

A few quick queries:
(a) How hard would it be to go from taping events & feeding them live to TVs in the hotel, to taping events & streaming them live on video?
At least at a hotel at which we can afford online access in programming areas?
(b) Perhaps connect with, I believe his name is Alan Olsen, the person from Orycon who coordinates their CCTV, for advice?

It isn't difficult at all to go from a hotel CCTV feed to an internet stream. We would just need an internet connection and a computer with a video capture card. There are a number of free live streaming services (like Justin.tv or LiveStream.com). If attendance is capped and we reach that capacity, I would love to see Kumoricon offer a live video stream.

[Rathany]

A few quick queries:
(a) How hard would it be to go from taping events & feeding them live to TVs in the hotel, to taping events & streaming them live on video?
At least at a hotel at which we can afford online access in programming areas?
(b) Perhaps connect with, I believe his name is Alan Olsen, the person from Orycon who coordinates their CCTV, for advice?

It isn't difficult at all to go from a hotel CCTV feed to an internet stream. We would just need an internet connection and a computer with a video capture card. There are a number of free live streaming services (like Justin.tv or LiveStream.com). If attendance is capped and we reach that capacity, I would love to see Kumoricon offer a live video stream.

You mean something that would be accessable off-site?  Even if we cap, allowing people who aren't at our con to see our biggest ticket events for free doesn't seem fair.  Also, it takes away the incentive for people to get rooms at the con hotel.  Making sure we fill our room block every year is one of the most important things to keeping this convention going.  One reason to spend money to make sure we have good CCTV would be to ensure the long term feasability of the con.  Also, we would want to be able to sell highlight DVDs at a later date and that would kill most of the interest in that. 

This might seem greedy, but keep in mind we provide alot of content for free or at no profit to various events during the year.  We can't just give away everything.  Some things need to be kept to the con-goers.  It's not fair to the attendees sitting in the back if someone is sitting at home with a better view. 

[AllyKat]

Exactly what Dawn said. Whats the point of paying for con Admission
if you can watch the big ticket events online, and then just go to the
free meet ups the rest of the year. Add on to that "whats the point of
getting a hotel room and the Convention hotel if I can just watch all the
events from my computer at a different hotel" and then we start having
serious problems.

We have to fill that hotel or it means bad news for the convention. As
Dawn explained in her "Dawn Explains it All" expose', we (the attendees)
get the hotel rooms discounted, but the ability to fill said rooms allows
us (the whole convention) to get the con-space (Ballroom, live events ect..)
at a significantly discounted rate. The normal rates without a group booking
are ridiculous for us, so we need these hotel bookings to offset that cost.

It benefits the guests because they are right at the conspace for a good rate,
they also will hopefully get access to good content right from there rooms,
and it's generally safer than venturing out late at night after your panels to
get to another hotel! Win/Win/Win!

[DarkStar]

You mean something that would be accessable off-site?  Even if we cap, allowing people who aren't at our con to see our biggest ticket events for free doesn't seem fair.  Also, it takes away the incentive for people to get rooms at the con hotel.

I was basing my reply on my experience with sports television. Frequently, unless the event is Sold Out the program will be blacked-out in the local market as an incentive for people to go purchase tickets. More and more you've been seeing the same thing apply to online streaming of various events.

I'm not saying that it's necessarily a good idea or a bad one, but when the decision is made to either cap or expand, it should be considered as an option. Heck, we might be able to even work out a deal where internet users could "subscribe" to various live video feeds and then we can look at it as an additional product we can earn money from.

[TomtheFanboy]

Heck, we might be able to even work out a deal where internet users could "subscribe" to various live video feeds and then we can look at it as an additional product we can earn money from.

I like the sound of this.
Anybody know a site the convention could pay to host/process the live streaming and handle the billing?