pacey988

NBC will be offering several Olympic DVDs, among them a 2-disc set with the opening ceremony, then Olympic highlights with extras featuring memorable American performances in full, and a DVD commemorating Michael Phelps' 8 gold medal performance, with behind-the-scenes footage and all 8 races in their entirety.

I too hope NBC remains as the U.S. Olympic broadcaster. Besides not having the experience, Fox does not have a national sports channel to compliment whatever they show on the main network (it's all regional channels) and I can't possibly see them having enough depth in terms of announcing. As for ABC/ESPN, the thing to remember is that ABC Sports as everyone knew it is no more. ESPN now puts its name on every sports program that is broadcast on ABC; they may be good at broadcasting sports, but they're not good in sports news. Think of the scenario that would play out if one or more of the "Sportscenter" hosts took part in the coverage. If one of them were doing a highlight package of the events, they would probably use catch-phrases and just not take the whole thing seriously, in a poor attempt to add humor to the broadcast (as Bob Costas once said of ESPN Sportscenter anchors, "they act like they're doing a stand-up sitting down").

Bumping up this thread... How has everyone been doing so far? On my end, at least, it has been a very interesting experience, with some mishaps (mainly due to human and/or mechanical error). Aside from two small errors in recording the first two nights of primetime coverage on NBC (with the primetime show running over time and me missing the very end of it), there have been some notable errors for me. On the first Saturday of the Games, I set up a second VCR I hooked up to record the USA cable coverage (the first 8 hours on tape and the remaining 4 hours on DVD) but it did not get the last 4 hours because I mistimed the recorder. Then, that night, the men's volleyball match in late night runs long and I miss the end of it, and then to top it all off, on Sunday morning I miss the start of the US-China basketball game because my DIRECTV receiver would not switch over to the local NBC station on time. I have tried my best to not let it bother me, but it's been a challenge, and now until the end of the Games I guess for me at least the key is going to be flexible since a lot of the coverage is live. I am taping selected cable coverage (mostly on USA, on days when the US men's basketball team plays) and morning and primetime NBC coverage for the first week, then late night added to the morning and primetime from this Friday onward until the end of the Games. I am working with two VCRs and I am really having to pick and choose what I tape. Has anyone else here had any issues or problems with taping?

I was watching the game too, and I saw a brief snippet of a commercial for the Olympic Zone show coming on in my area. I'm outside the New Orleans area, I was not at the time of the Torino Games, so I don't know if this is the first time that my NBC station is showing the Olympic Zone show, but it is going to be shown before Olympic coverage in my area.

NBC has now put out an hour-by-hour listing of its main network coverage on nbcolympics.com. The cable listings remain unchanged.

Sent you a PM.

Durban, You're doing this set on Blu-Ray? I don't have a Blu-Ray player. Do you think you could make a set for those who have standard players?

Is there any way you can make copies of them without having to give them away?

BT, What do you have from Athens? I have a few things from Barcelona, maybe we could trade?

As some of you know, I lost all of what I had (2000, 2002 and 2004) in Katrina, I have 2006 but it is not complete, and possibly not in good condition due to a poor cable feed, so this year is probably the first chance I will get to have at least a substantial amount of coverage. The picture quality should be improved since on my end it is going to be from the DIRECTV feed. I plan on recording all of NBC's coverage, as was the case before, plus almost all coverage from Oxygen and USA, and possibly some from CNBC.

I have DIRECTV, but I only have standard service, and I don't have a DVR. Did they say anything about the on-demand programming being available to customers who do not have DVRs?

Durban, I got your message but now I can't reply to you because your inbox is full again. I need your help on something, I just got a bunch of coverage from 1992 in Barcelona and I don't have the opening ceremony. Please let me know if you know anyone who may have this.

Durban, What's your email address? I can't contact you here because your inbox is full.

This news has nothing to do with the Olympics, but it does have to do with one of the NBC Universal channels, USA, which is getting out of the sports business after this year. ESPN and The Tennis Channel have made a deal for rights to cable coverage of the US Open tennis tournament, thereby giving ESPN coverage of all four Grand Slam tournaments. The Tennis Channel shares the rights with ESPN for the Australian Open, the French Open, and now the US Open. As for USA, what this means since they say they are getting out of the sports business is that Beijing might be the last Olympics on their network. It's certainly something to think about heading toward 2010, where there is generally less coverage than the Summer Olympics, but an interesting thing to ponder.

Congratulations!

If your prediction holds up, I will be taping USA, CNBC and NBC, though it would be good to get some of the finals of events that the U.S. is not involved in, such as team handball, etc.

It all depends, to be honest. In Athens, I liked watching the equestrian events, I wanted to see the other sports like I mentioned, but it all depends on the schedule. I doubt I will be taping Oxygen's coverage since it runs only two hours each weekday, but everything else I will try to tape.

I have DIRECTV, but mainly by choice because the local cable company did not service my area after I returned home from Baton Rouge. About the only thing that could go wrong would be losing the signal, but hopefully it will not happen, if it does I won't fret. Overlapping coverage, though, is a concern, because if USA and either MSNBC or CNBC (depending on who has the coverage on weekdays and weekends of long form events) overlap, I will have to change tapes at the end of either 6 or 8 hours. If what was posted on the NBC Olympics message board is made official, my plans will be to tape coverage on NBC, USA (presumably where U.S. team sports will air) and CNBC (if they are the main boxing channel throughout the Olympics).

I think, realistically, that it will be impossible for me to tape everything, even with three VCRs. I think this time will be no different than before, at least for me. I would like to tape whatever I feel I would like to tape. I'm not in any way setting out to create what one might consider the official video record of the Games, but I would at least like to create a plan that works for me and would make for ideal viewing.

In 2004, I never really had a chance to watch all of the coverage, and there were a lot of things I missed out on, such as boxing, tennis, team handball, table tennis, taekwondo, badminton, sailing, and other things. Hopefully that will change this time around. I will try to get as much of this year's coverage as I can, and if anyone needs anything from me, not just from this year but from what I listed before, I will be glad to contribute.

Matt, I can help you with the men's hockey final from 2002. I was able to reclaim most of the coverage from those Games, and here is what I have as of now: 2002: Day 1: Opening ceremony Day 5: MSNBC and CNBC coverage, NBC afternoon, NBC primetime Day 7: MSNBC coverage, NBC afternoon and primetime Day 12: NBC primetime coverage Day 13: NBC primetime coverage Day 14: CNBC afternoon coverage, NBC afternoon coverage, NBC primetime coverage Day 15: NBC primetime coverage Day 16: NBC afternoon and primetime coverage Day 17: Men's hockey gold medal game and closing ceremony 2004: Day 1: Opening ceremony Day 2: NBC primetime coverage Day 6: NBC primetime coverage (from overnight replay) Day 7: NBC primetime coverage (from overnight replay, missing first 20 minutes) Day 16: NBC primetime coverage Day 17: NBC afternoon and primetime coverage 2006: Day 1: Opening ceremony Day 2: USA morning and NBC primetime coverage Day 3: NBC primetime and late night coverage Day 4: NBC primetime coverage Day 5: USA morning, NBC afternoon, primetime and late night coverage Day 6: NBC afternoon and primetime coverage Day 9: NBC primetime and late night coverage Day 10: NBC primetime coverage Day 11: Women's hockey bronze and gold medal games Day 12: NBC primetime coverage Day 14: NBC primetime coverage Day 15: NBC primetime coverage Day 16: Men's hockey bronze medal game, NBC primetime coverage Day 17: Men's hockey gold medal game, NBC primetime coverage

I've been a crackhead since 2000. Glad to see I'm not alone. I will be using three VCRs to tape the Games, perhaps my most extensive effort ever. For me, personally, the Summer Olympics have been the best times I've had in terms of taping. The 2002 and 2006 Winter Games did not go well for me, especially 2006. I did not have a DVD recorder, nor did I have satellite or digital cable, and aside from the cable coverage, the local NBC affiliate in Baton Rouge was one of the poorest-run, poorest-engineered stations anywhere, at times either coming back late from commercial breaks or missing the start of an event. During the men's gold medal hockey game they accidentally ran a commercial break during play! I had to get a replacement, and when I went back to look at the tapes a year later during transfer to DVD, some of them wouldn't play (they were recorded in EP and I could not fix the tracking). As mentioned, I am missing a few things, but I am happy to have what I have, and it is always fun to compare and contrast different Olympics and how things were between then and now. I am sure that for me, at least, this year will be much better, and as in the past, I will have a complete Olympics.