Comments on: Censors not able to keep up with NBC's online Olympics coverage

Watching the live feed on NBC Olympics.com means experiencing the warts, too.

[MartyKroll]

I agree with Yahoo that there is a need and desire for a matrix-type schedule of events so we can click to a schedule and plan our day around work and chores.

Although it is easier to critique than to provide, perhaps Yahoo would be willing to post said matrix (without having to hunt and pack "Yahoo-TV") with an easy to find link. If they have, I can't find it.

[MartyKroll]

I agree with Yahoo that there is a need and desire for a matrix-type schedule of events so we can click to a schedule and plan our day around work and chores.

Although it is easier to critique than to provide, perhaps Yahoo would be willing to post said matrix (without having to hunt and peck "Yahoo-TV") with an easy to find link. If they have, I can't find it.

[fredmenace]

Have you ever watched a bicycle race on TV (such as the Tour de France)? This is actually pretty typical. And it is not because the commentators or their production teams are incompetent.

[Peter_Perez]

If you want to watch the Olympics, find a foreign (NON-USA) proxy and then go to YouTube or a dozen other places OUTSIDE of America.

Only in America would NBC whine, cry and pout about China censorship and then do worse themselves! Typical liberal media. It is not OK if you do it but it is fine if we do it.

Sorry NBC. I've been enjoying the olympics without your censorship and editing. Thank you for NOTHING!

[The_Decider]

I agree with you except for the juvenile "liberal media' comment. Since over 90% of all media in america is controlled by conservative owners, I think you might want to rethink your statement.

[stevicus]

minutes and seconds can be abbreviated ' and " respectively, at least in the case of latitude and longitude, e.g., 27? 45' 30"

[Peter T webshop]

There is too much sensationalism regarding the censorship issue. This is a sporting event, what are they censoring, scores? Names of Gold medal winners? Let's not complicate things and keep the positive, unifying aspects of the OIympics at the forefront of our minds.
http://webshopinabox.peter-tashjian.com/WebShopInABox.htm

[iamreallypicky]

It is appalling that this article with it's bias and cynicism is being presented as 'news' or 'journalism'. While there is much room for improvement with live online feeds from the Olympics, to say that a lack of commentary is a form of censorship or poor reporting is absurd.

Time and time again we see the consequences of a commentator's assumptions of what is or may be true. Think back to the 2000 election. In an analysis of an election or of an Olympic sporting event reporting 'just the facts' is paramount.

The example used in this article is an excellent example of journalist restraint. It takes courage to report 'I don't know' and it can be embarrassing to make this claim. The facts were not available to the commentator and it is honorable that the commentator recognized that bad data are not better than no data.

Further, many people enjoy watching sporting events uninterrupted and without audio commentary. These people are the people that buy tickets to attend sporting events in person. As this is not an option for many of these people during the Olympics, I am grateful that online streams provide an option that is close (well, closer) to actually being at the game.

[The_Decider]

Actually it is presented as editorial.

It is appalling that some people have such little reasoning and critical thinking skills.

[elmer92413]

Basing your entire opinion on one stream (which is what you did from what you wrote) is rather dubious. You've censored yourself by only watching such a small part of something to form your opinion on.
But I digress. Had you watched any other stream you would have gotten a more complete picture. I happened to watch a large selection of the streams from nbc. It's rather refreshing not being subjected to people endless drone on about trivial things while I'm watching something. As an experiment I watched the US vs. *** woman's soccer match online and simultaneously on USA. I could not stand to listen to the man and lady commentators. More and more it seems sports commentators are there just to provide background noise to the main show. The blog style commentating lends itself to being concise and to the point. It also allows one to watch several sports at once and still get the comments.
I particularly enjoyed the judo matches in part due to the commentator. The soccer guy was also notable.
I will agree with you though in my disappointment of nbc's total online experience of which beach volleyball, among many "prime time" sports, are completely absent. And even though it seems one is able to watch past soccer matches you aren't able to watch any other sport. I had been hoping to catch a few of the fencing matches that I had missed too.

[MrTsLoveChild]

the swimming events were shown live last night. in other words, NBC wasn't holding the Michael Phelps tape hostage and teasing us with fluff - they were just waiting until the event started.

and i know the gold medal women's fencing match is available online.

[cn2zv5oe]

While Michael Phelps was breaking the 400 IM world record NBC viewers were watching Chinese children getting haircuts, followed by Bob Costas LIVE in Tienenmen Square! Gee thanks for the effort to show Bob LIVE! It would have been a big let down to hear him blather on tape while we were missing the swimming. They eventually showed Phelps but only after endless teases, gobs of soft fluffy crap and ton's of commercials. NBC holds America hostage every Olympics. They SUCK SUCK SUCK SUCK!

[quaffapint]

Personally I commend NBC for providing the amount of online hours that they provide and with the quality that they provide it in. I like being able to click on a sport to watch and be able to at least watch part of the events, if not all of the event, in some cases. It's certainly much more than was provided in years past, where I never got to see even a minute of many events.

:: whisperbot.com

[MrTsLoveChild]

@ cn2zv5oe:

the swimming events were shown live last night. in other words, NBC wasn't holding the Michael Phelps tape hostage and teasing us with fluff - they were just waiting until the even started.

i kind of hate the design of nbcolympics.com but i appreciate the amount of video available and i can't really complain about the TV coverage since they're having to make up a 12 hour time difference.

[KSONeill]

Screw the positive atmosphere or whatever it is you think we're supposed to have. NBC is indeed way, way too Amero-centric for my tastes; for example, we got to see the prelims of Men's Epee, since Seth Kelsey of the US was fencing. He's out, predictably. Do we get to see the finals? Why show the FINALS of the event, there are no Americans? Idiotic. Go look at the archives, there's nothing but the prelims available. Is this censorship? I don't know, it's the censorship of idiotic Amero-centrism, I guess. Thinking we're so provincial we don't want to watch anything if the players are French or Italian. I thought that was what the webcast was supposed to overcome?

Idiotic and useless, I'm going to go figure out how to get on a foreign feed, NBC and its whitewashing of the Chinese in the opening ceremony and its lack of coverage of actual sports can go do something unspeakable to themselves.

[urlgrl]

I've been truely dissapointed by nbc's coverage of the olympics. You would think in this day and age and all the technology we have they would be able to get it together. I would really love some sort of tivo like system where i could watch FULL sports happening not just snippets because NBC doesn't deem them poular enough. I could care less about volleyball but it's on for hours, yet I see mabye 1/2 hour of swimming and i learn about medals on the news and yahoo! before they happen. NBC - you have truely dissapointed me yet again with your crappy sports coverage. Hopefully, you will get it together for the winter olympics, learning from this disaster.

[jture]

NBC was at a disadvantage before they aired one second of footage: the time difference between the US and Beijing. It's awfully hard to get people interested in viewing taped coverage of an event that happened yesterday, whose result they read with their morning coffee, and whose next round (if there is one) won't happen until the middle of the night, US time.

[benjaminstraight]

Funny, all this tech and stuff can't be censored.

[katznaperr]

Even the network coverage has had a few warts. Saturday night before 10pm CT sign off host Bob Costas was interviewing gymnastic icon Bella Caroli and went into a conniption live on air because of a mic problem. He sounded like a pouting little brat ?well that was interesting couch Caroli, I could hear it but the rest of the world couldn?t because you do not even have a microphone, to bad because that was very interesting?. He looked like he was about to let out a couple of !$#@!!. Funny stuff.

[Tsee-1968031069905097881578618]

Can people stop complaining about the liberal media. Geez, what the hell does this have to do with political orientation? If anything, the regular pitstops that are NBC shots of Bush were quite flattering to a deeply unpopular president.

Maybe you need to stop watching Fox for awhile.

[Ilgaz]

Use MS Silverlight instead of a Real Networks Helix or even Flash streaming, those are time and millions, billions of playback in all conditions tested technologies.
You will have outage of course, genius.

[cj1005]

This writer obviously has no clue about the sport of cycling. A road race in particular is a far cry from a swimming pool or track where each competitor has their own lane, or even a field where the players are in a contained area. Getting updates on the race from the open road relies on cameras on motorbikes sending signals to a helicopter which then relays those signals to a broadcast booth. It's often impossible to know immediately precisely what's going on in the race. And with half the race still to go, who is "winning" and who is "second" is usually irrelevant.

[tamis1]

I've become addicted to watching the Canadian Broadcasting Corp (CBC) online feeds at http://www.cbc.ca/livevideo/ ..and I must say I LOVE not having the (often very overdramatized, biased, etc) commentary!! I almost never watch the NBC TV feeds because the commentary drives me up the wall!! Granted, some sports - perhaps like cycling - may be more difficult to follow without commentary, but if all you want is live stats, just open up the Results area of the official Olympic site (http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/Schedule/index.shtml) in a new tab while you're viewing online, click on the sport ya want, and you'll get live scoring updates (intervals, etc) 'til your heart's content. It's not rocket science..nor is following most, if not all, sports without the aid of a commentator (who has usually just got the aforementioned official website in front of them and spewing that info anyway!). C'mon, do you want unlimited Olympic sport coverage, or do you want dumbed down network Olympic coverage?

[tamis1]

btw, I think the CBC feeds are available in the US and other countries? If not, let me know through here...