[Nick the Brit]

Folks, keep an eye on the Speed website. For those that missed some of this years WRC events it looks like a different re-run schedule this year - not the usual all day New Years RallyFest!

All these times are Pacific.

Wed Dec 22nd - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Monte Carlo
12.30am WRC Monte Carlo

Dec 23rd - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Sweden
12.30am WRC Sweden

Dec 24th - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Mexico
12.30am WRC Mexico

Dec 25th - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine New Zealand
12.30am WRC New Zealand

Dec 26th - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Cyprus
12.30am WRC Cyprus

Then a couple of days break until:

Dec 29th - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Acropolis
12.30am WRC Acropolis

Dec 30th - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Turkey
12.30am WRC Turkey

Dec 31st - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Argentina
12.30am WRC Argentina

Jan 1st - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Finland
12.30am WRC Finland

Jan 2nd - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Germany
12.30am WRC Germany

This is all they've posted at the moment but keep watching.
Time to make sure that Rally video library is up to date!

Cheers.
Nick.

 

[DemonRally]

I liked the all day/night marathon last year, many cans of redbull were consumed, much laziness occured

 

[Nick the Brit]

Bump-a-roni and cheese!

 

[JohnLane]

Well I sure prefer watching Rally on the Tube rather then the usual 'All Nascar All The Time' routine we have currently.
Just a little curious it is that Tractor racing (No bull!!) gets a LOT more airtime then rally here in the states.

John Lane
Viva Le Pro Le Ralliat

 

[tifosi77]

They are doing it this way because they canned the marathon they had last year. Oh well at least we have it, according to Seed the ratings stink for the WRC but I think a lot of that is do to the commentary I would like to see the comentator from a few years ago back it sounded better then.

 

[Mike Rossey]

This really pisses me off, WRC is the last program on at 3:30 am. What the F*** is that all about. I think we should all mass e-mail speedTV. I have mailed them before and expressed my opinion on airing cartoons instead of a good re-play lets say ProRally.

I cannot believe shows like Chop Cut Rebuild (what crap), or International Bobsledding have precedence over a professionally filmed show like WRC.

Maybe the ratings stink because of the time the show is aired, everybody I have talked to loves Rallying. I know it is Christmas and I should be happy, I am, but would like to turn on the TV sometime this break and watch what I love.

Oh well that means I will be spending more time in the garage.

Marry Christmas to all.

PS my e-mails to SpeedTV seem to have made a difference in the past.

 

[isburns]

This post on nasioc seems to be getting some momentum regarding this issue. I filled out the feedback page at http://www.speedtv.com/feedback/ which includes a place for comments.

I agree the commentating and the coverage quality seems to be less, even though the amount of coverage is better than several years ago. They don't show enough in-car coverage- most of it is repetitive shots from a fixed camera showing the same shots but of different cars. The commentating just sounds brain dead.

Shea

 

[PrezeS_PL]

I just send them very negative feedback. 1:30-3:00 AM MT - that's nuts, that time is reserved for infomercials.
I loved the all day marathon.

 

[Morgan]

I had dinner with Nicky Grist while I was at Catalunya and he was suggesting that we may not be getting the TV coverage right after the rally next year. It may go back to being a week after the event. Nicky said that while the ratings are high enough to keep WRC on TV, they are not high enough to justify the huge costs of sending the feed via satellite to the US.

Personally, I welcome that if it means they will be able to edit a better show (probably won't though). I have always felt that the half hour shows of the late 90's early 00's were way better and that they gave a better sense of what happened at the rally than the current 1.5 hour shows. Not to mention they were works of video and editing art IMO

 

[rallytaff]

Morgan, I hope you paid for Nicky's dinner for the privelege of sitting with this great Welshman! Next time you talk to him, unless you furnish me with his private email, can you find out if he can do the commentary instead of the boring voices we have had this last year? At least Nicky knows what he's talking about, except when it comes to his predictions about Petter and Marcus winning! I know how these Scandinavians can drink!

 

[ihbobry]

Nicky said that while the ratings are
>high enough to keep WRC on TV, they are not high enough to
>justify the huge costs of sending the feed via satellite to
>the US.

OK, I'm somewhat stupid,

and

Maybe there are a lot more zero's and ones than I think possible but...

What is the deterent or what would it take, or what would the delay be, to send it through the internet. Does not the well heeled network parent/owner of Speed have a T-1? or 2(to spare not configuratrion)?? How busy is it on a Sunday afternoon???

Bernie

 

[Morgan]

>Morgan, I hope you paid for Nicky's dinner for the privelege
>of sitting with this great Welshman! Next time you talk to
>him, unless you furnish me with his private email, can you
>find out if he can do the commentary instead of the boring
>voices we have had this last year? At least Nicky knows what
>he's talking about, except when it comes to his predictions
>about Petter and Marcus winning! I know how these
>Scandinavians can drink!

What do you mean? Nicky paid for the privilege of sitting next to me}(

 

[Morgan]

>
>OK, I'm somewhat stupid,
>
>and
>
>Maybe there are a lot more zero's and ones than I think
>possible but...
>
>What is the deterent or what would it take, or what would the
>delay be, to send it through the internet. Does not the well
>heeled network parent/owner of Speed have a T-1? or 2(to spare
>not configuratrion)?? How busy is it on a Sunday afternoon???
>
>Bernie
>
>



I would guess the reason they may not use the internet to transmit the show is because the shows are produced on location in the service parks, and I don?t think they get high speed internet like we do in some of those countries

 

[Widget Codriver]

Digitized Media

Some observations from the fringe....

Donna and I were fortunate to be the escorts for the Immarsat VIPs who toured the service and production areas at WRC Mexico. The video stuff in particular was pretty cool. As soon as a car comes in the video tapes are downloaded into a massive multi-terrabyte database and the production crews get to work putting together the programs. Certain TV networks/stations (typically national networks) have their own production staff and voice talent, while others buy pre-packaged shows, with or without their own voices, but it all appears to be done right there on the spot. Mexico was a particularly difficult challenge because of the time shift for European TV, since they're working on at least four shows simultaneously -- the daily Fri/Sat/Sun and the overall event, not counting what the others are doing.

It's my guess that Speed would use the same footage whether or not we got it via satellite or tape delayed. I doubt they'd divert the sat costs into additional editing costs.

I'm not in that business, however, so these are just my observations from the fringe.

John

P.S. As for shipping via internet -- we're talking about huge bandwidth requirements for broadcast quality video, probably not much cheaper and certainly less reliable than dedicated satellite link.

 

[Nick the Brit]

RE: Rally On TV - update

Don't miss it!
Dec 29th - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Acropolis
12.30am WRC Acropolis

Dec 30th - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Turkey
12.30am WRC Turkey

Dec 31st - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Argentina
12.30am WRC Argentina

Jan 1st - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Finland
12.30am WRC Finland

Jan 2nd - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Germany
12.30am WRC Germany

Jan 5th - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Germany (again)
12.30am WRC Germany

Jan 6th - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Japan
12.30am WRC Japan

Jan 7th - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Wales (GB)
12.30am WRC Wales (GB)

Jan 8th - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Italy
12.30am WRC Italy

Jan 9th - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine France
12.30am WRC France

Jan 12th - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Catalunya
12.30am WRC Catalunya

Jan 13th - Midnight WRC Rally Magazine Australia
12.30am WRC Australia

Then a break until Sunday Jan 23rd - 8pm and 1am Monte Carlo 2005.


Cheers.
Nick.

 

[Flores]

RE: Digitized Media

Broadcast quality video can be done LIVE, reliably with about 20MBps of bandwidth...

If your just going to download the show for broadcasting, and time is not a huge issue, you should be able to get away with much less bandwidth. A couple of T1s (3Ms of bandwidth) could transfer an hour long show in about 2-4 hours without too much issue.

The big problem is getting the digital video footage in a transportable format. Most of the video gear folks use for broadcast lacks the 'ip' input

 

[Mad Kiwi]

Nick drop me a line, I need to ask qestions re Lisa,s Corolla
Leon [email protected]