Beijing 2008 Olympic Games - Caution, may contain results!

[Tilpots]

nbcolympics.com is terrible to find out which times events are held. They put my time and China time on the site and then use military time when listing the event schedule. Who's military and their date or mine??? With the dates and times being different in my location and china, why don't they just use EST to list the events? Very frustrating and causing a lot of problems trying to watch events live.

Boo to NBC.

They also don't do a good job of telling you what's on their other networks at a given time. A simple, occasional crawl letting us know what's on CNBC, Universal, the soccer and basketball channel would be extremely helpful. ESPN does this all the time for their slew of networks. Just one more reason NBC shouldn't get their contract renewed. I now they spent a ton of time and money to broadcast fully in HD, but it does no good to let us know when its on.

Again, Boo NBC.

 

[scotthayes]

I'm guessing, but from all the posts in here I'm getting the feeling that NBC's coverage of the Olympics sucks. So how about we all agree to that fact and cut back on the huge number of posts saying so and get back to what really matters. And I don't just mean all the women in very tight outfits ...

 

[BoyBach]

I'm guessing, but from all the posts in here I'm getting the feeling that NBC's coverage of the Olympics sucks. So how about we all agree to that fact and cut back on the huge number of posts saying so and get back to what really matters. And I don't just mean all the women in very tight outfits ...

I agree. Some women are also wearing loose fitting outfits!

 

[Applespider]

etting around the same amount as rowing, swimming sailing and cycling. So our lack of success in track and field is surely a lack of motivation in the athletes.

Or because there's a lot more competition in the track and field since the barriers to entry are a lot lower - a pair of running shoes and most neighbourhoods have, or can mark out, a 400m track - so most of the world will have track and field athletes.

Only 'richer' countries can afford the velodromes, 50m swimming pools and top-end rowing facilities so if you invest in those, you'll probably see bigger returns.

I think it's amazing what Team GB are doing on the grants they are given since most of them, unless their families help out, will still end up having to work to pay the rent.

 

[rasmasyean]

Live on the east delayed for the west.

Are you saying that if I started watched an event in NY from 8PM to 11PM and then teleported to LA, I can watch that same event over again from the beginning? I would have figured that it was the same feed throughout the nation...rather then like a "8'O clock News".

OK Test: 5:04 EST: Playing Women's Volleyball, China 6, USA 8.
What do you see in the west coast.

 

[it5five]

Are you saying that if I started watched an event in NY from 8PM to 11PM and then teleported to LA, I can watch that same event over again from the beginning? I would have figured that it was the same feed throughout the nation...rather then like a "8'O clock News".

Yep. There have been many complaints from those of us on the west coast for this reason. The results of a lot of events are easily spoiled for us because of the delay.

 

[swiftaw]

It's amazing how much influence the US (or maybe just NBC) has on the world.
I either read or heard (I wish I could remember where) that the reason that the swimming was being held in the Chinese AM was so that it could be shown live on US Primetime.

I really hope the UK tell the US to get lost 4 years from now and schedule events in a way which best suits the UK.

 

[rasmasyean]

Yep. There have been many complaints from those of us on the west coast for this reason. The results of a lot of events are easily spoiled for us because of the delay.

OK then I won't tell you who wins but I suppose CHN vs. USA W. Volleyball didn't even start playing yet for you.

 

[it5five]

OK then I won't tell you who wins but I suppose CHN vs. USA W. Volleyball didn't even start playing yet for you.

Is it beach volleyball? If so, it doesn't start for another 3 hours here.

 

[rasmasyean]

Is it beach volleyball? If so, it doesn't start for another 3 hours here.

Yeah, beach volleyball.
Actually, you can already see the final scores in nbcolympics.com.

But wait, I'm getting all confused here. We were talking about "live" things, not recordings. But I suppose if it's the same as the volleyball, then yeah, I can see West would get a Live minus 3 hours. But there can't be live stuff right now because they are still asleep.

 

[it5five]

Yeah, beach volleyball.
Actually, you can already see the final scores in nbcolympics.com.

Yep. NBC really dropped the ball.

Anyway, time for more Olympics talk.

Has anyone else found themselves watching sports that you previously had no interest in? I've really enjoyed watching the tennis matches, which is something I used to find pretty boring. Same with the soccer/football games.

We'll see if this interest continues past the Olympics, or if it will be a once-every-four-years thing.

 

[rasmasyean]

Yep. NBC really dropped the ball.

Anyway, time for more Olympics talk.

Has anyone else found themselves watching sports that you previously had no interest in? I've really enjoyed watching the tennis matches, which is something I used to find pretty boring. Same with the soccer/football games.

We'll see if this interest continues past the Olympics, or if it will be a once-every-four-years thing.

It's just fun because of the crowd effect and the fact that "it's just once every 4 years" (even though it's not really). The audience being so loud helps make it easy to watch "non-interest sports". I personally don't care if USA wins. But it's like watching the all-star games because everyone is the best. To me it's pretty cool seeing triumph because it looks like it means a whole lot to some of these athletes by their reactions. It's like it's more than a "championship" so that's pretty cool.

 

[it5five]

I personally don't care if USA wins. But it's like watching the all-star games because everyone is the best. To me it's pretty cool seeing triumph because it looks like it means a whole lot to some of these athletes by their reactions. It's like it's more than a "championship" so that's pretty cool.

Same here. I usually cheer for the underdog or the team/person least expected to win.

 

[Applespider]

Yep. NBC really dropped the ball.

Sounds appalling. I'm really impressed with the BBC's coverage this time round. Between the 6 'red button' feeds that are available all day so you can pick up highlights whenever you want on your TV - and the brilliant online coverage with lots of clips (with some full events rather than just highlights), I think I've seen more of these Olympics than I did Athens (where the time difference should have made it easier) - even it was time-delayed.

 

[rasmasyean]

I'm guessing, but from all the posts in here I'm getting the feeling that NBC's coverage of the Olympics sucks. So how about we all agree to that fact and cut back on the huge number of posts saying so and get back to what really matters. And I don't just mean all the women in very tight outfits ...

On the contrary, there are a lot of live-videos of events online that was never accomplished to this scale before.

Unfortunately, they seem to save the "popular" ones to show during "prime-time" or other TV slots. That's to be expected though to honor their agreement with advertisers.

It also seems you can see a recording of any event practically...along with interviews and such. There's like hundreds of videos for each and they ALL work! ...surprisingly.

The Silverlight player is a generation past Flash too. I imagine it works even better with some of the advanced stuff in Vista's WPF technologies. This is definitely a great opportunity to "introduce" Silverlight to everyone for Microsoft. In the beginning I thought it would lag like crazy and it would suck, but there's like barely any lags or outage. The worse is like it gets a bit blurred for a couple of seconds...I suppose when bandwidth is tight at your IP address or something.

Hey, you can watch those skin-tight outfits over and over again!

 

[it5five]

Sounds appalling. I'm really impressed with the BBC's coverage this time round. Between the 6 'red button' feeds that are available all day so you can pick up highlights whenever you want on your TV - and the brilliant online coverage with lots of clips (with some full events rather than just highlights), I think I've seen more of these Olympics than I did Athens (where the time difference should have made it easier) - even it was time-delayed.

I've heard the BBC has done a great job.

I should say that NBC dropped the ball for the viewers, but delivered very well for advertisers. I'd like to see the Olympics go to someone committed to a good delivery of the games for viewers rather than someone who's first goal is to make loads of money off of the games. I have a feeling that won't be happening, though.

 

[iJohnHenry]

Good grief, you are all being manipulated by the network!!

Too bad PBS couldn't get their foot in the door. They could do it right.

But they have no coin for the IOC.

 

[rasmasyean]

Hey, does BBC have live online streaming too? Maybe they have events that NBC reserves for prime-time. Would ppl in the US be able to see BBC's live streams? Is it a Silverlight player too?

 

[Jaffa Cake]

The BBC's live online coverage is UK only, I'm afraid.

 

[rasmasyean]

It's amazing how much influence the US (or maybe just NBC) has on the world.
I either read or heard (I wish I could remember where) that the reason that the swimming was being held in the Chinese AM was so that it could be shown live on US Primetime.

I really hope the UK tell the US to get lost 4 years from now and schedule events in a way which best suits the UK.

Considering that 90% of US goods is made there, you gotta figure it might be wise to give US/NBC a small request like this.

As for the UK, the US armed forces does cover the UK pretty much and wherever the US goes, UK follows.

It's all politics.

 

[rasmasyean]

They also don't do a good job of telling you what's on their other networks at a given time. A simple, occasional crawl letting us know what's on CNBC, Universal, the soccer and basketball channel would be extremely helpful.

They want you to stick around for the whole duration so you wont feel you will "miss something". This increases viewer count for the advertisers. And you thought it was free? Nah...you pay with your time.

 

[iJohnHenry]

Even if you wanted to pay for commercial-free coverage, the advertisers would block it with threats of $$$$ withdrawal.

 

[Dimwhit]

Considering that 90% of US goods is made there, you gotta figure it might be wise to give US/NBC a small request like this.

Let's not forget who is training so many of these athletes. I can't believe how many international athletes train here in America.

 

[rasmasyean]

Let's not forget who is training so many of these athletes. I can't believe how many international athletes train here in America.

America has the best laboratories...er I mean gymnasiums.

Has anyone else found themselves watching sports that you previously had no interest in? I've really enjoyed watching the tennis matches, which is something I used to find pretty boring. Same with the soccer/football games.

We'll see if this interest continues past the Olympics, or if it will be a once-every-four-years thing.

Like right now I'm watching Field Hockey: Germany vs. Japan. I never even seen this sport in my life. And I don't even watch the world cup, not even if the US was in it!

One thing that is hilarious about this sport is that during a penalty shot, the defenders whip out these random masks and wear them. LOL

 

[MyDesktopBroke]

I'm sure I heard them playing Command & Conquer: Generals music before the women's 100m final.