Test Video - Using the Panama Canal's Cocoli Locks and WebCam Resolution

[help32250]

While my primary purpose in uploading this file was to see if the Cruise Critic's picture/video sharing website would accommodate a file as large as this (26MB) ...

The Panama Canal now uses 1280x720 Webcams for you to view their locks in real time.  For those of you taking a cruise through them it gives you an incredible opportunity for your family/friends to watch you transit the Canal in real time.  It also gives your family/friends to capture your transit and give you some great souvenirs of it when you return.  Alternately YOU could surprise them when they to through the Canal and cement their friendship for life!

 

I did the attached video by taking screen captures off my PC, quickly (and I mean quickly as the webcam restores every 5 to 10 seconds) storing them as JPGs into a unique directory, and then copying them into my video processing software.  To have my video look a little bit smoother I cut the individual images to only about 1 second and then put a very short fades between them.  Hopefully you will have less funky music than me.  Create/make your video as an MPEG as nobody seems to have a DVD or BlueRay player anymore.  But on a BlueRay the images are really sharp.

 

The nice thing is if your video isn't very good you'll still have the JPGs.  If you do one for your family or friend's transit you might tell them ... before their cruise ... to be on one of the upper decks closest to the South side (if they are going through the Cocoli Locks), next to the rail, and maybe separated by a few feet from anyone else.  This will make them easier to find. 

 

The Panama Canal's Webcam site is:

     https://multimedia.panama-canal.com/index.html

and you can easily point and click on 5 locks.  But for your convenience the Cocoli's is:

     https://multimedia.panama-canal.com/Webcams/cocoli.html

 

My experience is that cellular coverage is very good through the Canal.  So whether it's you or them, have the one transiting the Canal call to make sure that they can be seen.  I think these suggestions can make an incredible experience even more incredible.

--- help32250

 

[help32250]

Give Cruise Critic REAL KUDOS if they allow this one. 

 

It's the full transit of the same ship but you can watch the water levels being lowered AND at HDV 1080/60i 1440x1080 resolution (54MB).  Also note that you will be able to clearly see The Panama Canal's Cocoli webcam time stamp of the transit on the upper top part of the video

 

Now tell me THAT wouldn't be the best remembrance possible for any Panama Canal cruise!!!!  And if you could position yourself to actually be seen during it?  

WOW!

--- help32250

 

By the way, the  Panama Canal webcams are currently out of service.  But keep checking back on them because my bet is that they are performing some maintenance on them that will make your images even better.

 

[cruzincooper]

Wow thanks for all the i fo

[NCnurse]

So cool! We loved our Panama Canal cruise. Getting from Atlantic to Pacific Oceans in a day - amazing.