Quaker2001 Posted February 6, 2014 Report Share Posted February 6, 2014 Well if we're going to have BBC and CBC threads, clearly we need an NBC thread as well. Go ahead everyone.. bitch away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLishere Posted February 6, 2014 Report Share Posted February 6, 2014 Let me start: #NBCFail already trending on Twitter. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barcelona_'92 Posted February 6, 2014 Report Share Posted February 6, 2014 Well here's the good news--the NBCOlympics Live Extra streaming worked perfectly for me today. Absolutely no buffering or freezing at all. A huge improvement from the first several days of the London Games. The bad news--the ridiculous number of ads in the streaming coverage. There was an ad after every skater, multiple ads during the warmup groups, etc. In 2012, I was able to block the ads using AdBlocker on Firefox, but this year, I just get a blue screen saying "Coverage will resume momentarily" during the ads. Not happy about that--I would gladly pay for a streaming package that does not include the disruptive ads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLishere Posted February 6, 2014 Report Share Posted February 6, 2014 Well here's the good news--the NBCOlympics Live Extra streaming worked perfectly for me today. Absolutely no buffering or freezing at all. A huge improvement from the first several days of the London Games. The bad news--the ridiculous number of ads in the streaming coverage. There was an ad after every skater, multiple ads during the warmup groups, etc. In 2012, I was able to block the ads using AdBlocker on Firefox, but this year, I just get a blue screen saying "Coverage will resume momentarily" during the ads. Not happy about that--I would gladly pay for a streaming package that does not include the disruptive ads. Even without ads, the Live Extra app suffers from cable syndrome (requires a TV subscription). And NBC is not airing the Opening Ceremony live - at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiveRingFever Posted February 6, 2014 Report Share Posted February 6, 2014 Well here's the good news--the NBCOlympics Live Extra streaming worked perfectly for me today. Absolutely no buffering or freezing at all. A huge improvement from the first several days of the London Games. The bad news--the ridiculous number of ads in the streaming coverage. There was an ad after every skater, multiple ads during the warmup groups, etc. In 2012, I was able to block the ads using AdBlocker on Firefox, but this year, I just get a blue screen saying "Coverage will resume momentarily" during the ads. Not happy about that--I would gladly pay for a streaming package that does not include the disruptive ads. At least the ads didn't interrupt any action. I had a few problems. Early in the moguls coverage, a "competition ended "message appered and the video was out for about 4 minutes. The good thing is that they tweeted alsmost immediately that they were working on it. I had some freezing for a split second fairly often, which sucks if it happens on a slopestyle or figure skating jump. Also, they're slow to get the link out at the start of the event on the website. Still, it's way better than the old days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durban Sandshark Posted February 6, 2014 Report Share Posted February 6, 2014 I wish I had those cable/satelitte subscriptions in time for Sochi. Alas, for this upcoming Olympics, I'm not going to participate for that... Wish I could. You just KNOW the NBC Olympic slamming would start early this time. Would like to have NBC allow NBC Sports Network do the full event coverage for today and let NBC proper handle the highlight version. But it had to protect the NBC Olympics primetime segment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PyroKinesis Posted February 6, 2014 Report Share Posted February 6, 2014 I must say, the streaming solution they have offered this year is much worse than in London. First of all, it's next to impossible to find this **** this time around. You go to /liveextra but there are no options, no infographics telling you what events are currently going on, and what events are available on-demand. I guess they assume people won't be streaming much because of the time difference, but this is just atrocious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTHarner Posted February 6, 2014 Report Share Posted February 6, 2014 Agreed, they said events would be available to view again starting at 3pm, but the only thing I found was the men's downhill training. Of course I may have missed it because this version of nbcolympics.com is a serious pain to navigate. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team USA Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 Poor Bob Costas has a pink eye from the water Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLishere Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 I watched the first 2 hours of NBC Primetime. It's honestly terrible. Here's why: - They have only 3 hours each night, minus commercials, to cover the entire day. Yet they insist on running story after story about where athletes grew up, politics of the day, fluff pieces, etc. - just show us the damn SPORTS ! - Too much focus on US athletes, again. It's ok to be patriotic and follow your own athletes, but you have to show top performances when they happen - NBC doesn't do that (except - Those commercial breaks. - We see more 'coming up' preview shots than actual competition. - Bob Costas' left eye - They edit the Primetime show as if things were unfolding live. You're not fooling us, NBC. - The commentary is way too generic; BBC and CBC commentators discuss sports tricks and analyze moves/performance, - It's definitely a trend, but NBC likes to portray US athletes as 'reality TV heroes' using epic music, studio shots, etc - it gets annoying. A more respectful way to give them the spotlight would be to show their actual performance (and those of others for context). - See the Twitter feed unfolding live for more complaints : https://twitter.com/search?q=nbcfail&src=typd&f=realtime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox334 Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 The slopestyle commentators where appalling. Didn't even call tricks most of the time >.> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLishere Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 I have this serious feeling that commentary during Primetime is not actually live, but instead recorded in hindsight. Some of the reactions are just too much of a set-up to hype US athletes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 its the same on cbc, at least the us production looks expensive there's a lot i like about nbc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox334 Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 its the same on cbc, at least the us production looks expensive The CBC did show the figure skating and the moguls live on their main channel, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLishere Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 True. CBC does a lot of fluff too, but only in Primetime. For actual sports, we still have the webcasts or any of their night, morning or daytime TV show. By the way, NBC spent the last 5 minutes of its Olympic Primetime show talking about.... Jay Leno. sigh. I'm so glad for CBC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quaker2001 Posted February 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 I watched the first 2 hours of NBC Primetime. It's honestly terrible. Here's why: - They have only 3 hours each night, minus commercials, to cover the entire day. Yet they insist on running story after story about where athletes grew up, politics of the day, fluff pieces, etc. - just show us the damn SPORTS ! - Too much focus on US athletes, again. It's ok to be patriotic and follow your own athletes, but you have to show top performances when they happen - NBC doesn't do that (except - Those commercial breaks. - We see more 'coming up' preview shots than actual competition. - Bob Costas' left eye - They edit the Primetime show as if things were unfolding live. You're not fooling us, NBC. - The commentary is way too generic; BBC and CBC commentators discuss sports tricks and analyze moves/performance, - It's definitely a trend, but NBC likes to portray US athletes as 'reality TV heroes' using epic music, studio shots, etc - it gets annoying. A more respectful way to give them the spotlight would be to show their actual performance (and those of others for context). I always get a good laugh when I see this. A week ago, I'm betting most people (probably yourself included) could not have cared less about snowboarding and freestyle skiing. Aside maybe from the X-Games, probably hadn't watched more than 5 minutes of most of these Winter Sports since the last Olympics. And now we're here and it's "OMG, I'm not getting enough snowboarding!" I agree NBC could tone it down with the features and other fluff, but to go to the other extreme, to "just show the damn sports" is not what the audience wants. They did it once before and it was a disaster. You can't expect NBC to show snowboarding and snowboarders to an audience that knows nothing about either think the audience is going to care. And the editing.. yes, the old NBC "plausibly live" strategy. You forgot how ignorant the American viewing audience is as a whole. I'm sure they know, but if they don't know results (yes, that is possible), they probably don't care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barcelona_'92 Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 There were actually less than 40 minutes of commercials tonight. For a 3-hour broadcast, that's pretty good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLishere Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 I always get a good laugh when I see this. A week ago, I'm betting most people (probably yourself included) could not have cared less about snowboarding and freestyle skiing. Aside maybe from the X-Games, probably hadn't watched more than 5 minutes of most of these Winter Sports since the last Olympics. And now we're here and it's "OMG, I'm not getting enough snowboarding!" I agree NBC could tone it down with the features and other fluff, but to go to the other extreme, to "just show the damn sports" is not what the audience wants. They did it once before and it was a disaster. You can't expect NBC to show snowboarding and snowboarders to an audience that knows nothing about either think the audience is going to care. And the editing.. yes, the old NBC "plausibly live" strategy. You forgot how ignorant the American viewing audience is as a whole. I'm sure they know, but if they don't know results (yes, that is possible), they probably don't care. Personally I've always been picky about the Olympics, especially Winter (I'm in Canada). But I totally agree with your post - many viewers switch to 'complaint department' only during the Games, then forget about it a week later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quaker2001 Posted February 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 Personally I've always been picky about the Olympics, especially Winter (I'm in Canada). But I totally agree with your post - many viewers switch to 'complaint department' only during the Games, then forget about it a week later. It's like I always say here.. people have a right to be upset because NBC does do a lot of things with their Olympic coverage that serves their bottom line better than it serves their viewers. It just amuses me all the people who are so outraged on Twitter and elsewhere about tape delays and the like and then continue to watch coverage night after night as if they don't care. We all know NBC and Comcast are in it for the money, but every Olympics it's the some rhetoric.. "NBC needs to change their ways or else because this won't work in the 21st century." Well, it does, and it continues to generate huge amounts of revenue for NBC. So they're going to continue to laugh all the way to the bank 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rio2016man Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 The complaint department will be open Friday morning as people around the globe watch the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics live from Sochi, while NBC forces viewers in the United States to wait until prime time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krow Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 i fully expect they'll find a way to tape delay rio as well, despite the fact that it'd only be 1-2 hours different to new york (i can't actually find a clear answer to the time difference online). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLishere Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 Switching gears a little : After a day of watching and testing various feeds, I think the most striking difference with NBC so far is the commentary. The two men commenting ladies moguls were all over the place. No idea who they were, but in Primetime, they spent more time gossiping about the athletes' home towns than analyzing tricks. Until they got to Hannah Kearney, then they paid attention and got technical all of a sudden. For that event, commentary was a far cry from CBC's Jenn Heil. Slopestyle was the worst. About half of the jumps and rotations were not even called. We had to guess. Maybe it was Day -1 and NBC commentators were being a little tentative? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 totally disagree as a mogul skier i found Mosley great calling the runs enjoyed the live call on cbc earlier as well to each their own Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athensfan Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 Poor Bob. The eye is definitely distracting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLishere Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 totally disagree as a mogul skier i found Mosley great calling the runs enjoyed the live call on cbc earlier as well to each their own Indeed. Was just checking NBC during Primetime, so it's not representative. I'm sure they're usually up to par. Figure skating, in particular - NBC has always had great veterans commenting. Personally I'm definitely sticking with CBC for the coverage alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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