Burning Man livestream gives 24/7 view of the playa from anywhere in the world

You don't have to go to Burning Man to get a glimpse of the playa.

A live web stream is broadcasting the annual festival 24 hours a day through Sept. 2.

For most of the time, the camera is pointed at the wooden effigy at the center of Burning Man.

The link can be found on Burning Man's website at burningman.org/live-webcast/ .

While it doesn’t ever focus in on faces of attendees, keeping with Burning Man’s privacy and consent principles, it does scan the playa giving a view of art cars and art pieces.

There are also times when people jump on to talk about Burning Man or do an interview about the festival’s history.

Livestreaming at Burning Man dates back to 1996

For nearly three decades, there has been some version of a live Burning Man web camera. For many of the past few years, it has been facilitated by Matthews Reyes, a product manager at a game company.

It's his gift to Burning Man.

He said on the air Tuesday that he is interested in figuring out how to boost participation and would love input from programmers to help so there are fewer technology issues.

“Burning Man is so freaking expensive,” Reyes said on the livestream. “The ability for remote participation without having to pay for dealing with all the crazy that is out there, I’m looking forward to more ways of doing that.”

This year the number of people watching is exceeding even Reyes’s projections.

He said millions from around the world could be watching the burn on Saturday night.

Reyes moved the streaming from YouTube to streaming service Livepeer this year. He raised more than $9,000 by asking his social media followers to donate so he could host the livestream on a platform without ads.

This article originally appeared on Reno Gazette Journal: Burning Man livestream gives 24/7 view of the playa from anywhere in the world