19 replies to this topic

[logifuse]

I noticed channels 86 & 95 have appeared. 86 is a 2D Olympic Test, 95 is 3D.

Edit: this is in Sydney BTW. Not sure how wide spread they are. And the 2D is just an info channel about the 3D channel.

I'll be watching on Foxtel, so zero interest here, but just a heads up.

Justin

[spudstrawb]

I have to say that I'm not all that excited about the upcoming Olympics. I'll watch the highlights but not much else.

I think the ongoing saga with performance enhancing drugs has really killed the credibility of many olympic sports. It's a bit sad, because if you see a "once in a lifetime" performance, you immediately suspect that drugs have played a part. You can't just appreciate the fact that you might have witnessed something special.

[TiggerK]

So ignorance was bliss? Back when we didn't suspect anything.... Ah innocent days. Then came the East Germans and Ben.

Wonder how many famous performances of the past were in fact drug enhanced in some way.

Easy to be cynical I know, but I still enjoy the Olympics, knowing that most are doing the right thing.

Cheers
TiggerK

[GlenR]

Oh yeah - the Festival Of Sweat will be dominating our Tvs soon. Time to go back through the old movie collection - please wake me when it's over.

[Dean1M]

Not all Olympic moments are forgettable. My wife and I were propping up the bar at Mt Selwyn snowfields in 1996 waiting for the 1500 swimming final in Atlanta.

Kieren Perkins was out of form, unwell and had qualified by a mere 1/4 of a second.
Daniel Kowalski was the red hot fave for the gong with everyone expecting it to
be a sad ending to a glorious career for Perkins.

Perkins owned the race from scratch. The bar at Selwyn nearly exploded, all skiing finished early in honour of his triumph. You don't forget moments like that.

Edited by Dean1M, 20 July 2012 - 12:47 AM.

[davidgol]

Being at the MCG for Comm Games in 2006 when Kerryn McCann came from behind to win the women's marathon by 2 seconds (and then do 3 laps of honour!!) was a highlight. I've never heard anything as loud as the roar of 90,000 people in unison. Absolutely breath-taking. And I'm not a big sports fan.
Sad that she passed away 2 yrs later..

[GlenR]

Can someone please explain whu Ch9 has introduced 2 dedicated Olympics channels, and still sees the need to fill both 9 and GEM with Olympics - both showing the same stuff simultaneously?

The multiple digital channels were supposed to allow greater broadcasting diversitym but out networks just seem to want to put major sport down multiple feeds. I appreciate that these are popular, but not everyone is into the Olympics and some alternate programming would be hood. Put Olympic coverage on one and give us something lse on the other feeds - plesae.

[logifuse]

One is 3D & the other is a tiny bitrate info channel for the 3D channel.

Gotta say, your analysis is nearly 180 degrees off. 7 use 7Mate for the AFL in Sydney & have stock programming on 7. This will be the first HD sport 9 has shown all year - despite promising that the cricket & NRL would be maintained in HD when 9HD changed to GEM.

The Aus Open is the only other sporting event this year where any of the networks have used 2 channels. 10 have stopped showing the F1 in HD (& always live) on One in favour of "a regular timeslot for the benefit of fans"... in SD.

Sport has actually been f***ed over in the multi-channel explosion.

Justin

[Niall]

One is 3D & the other is a tiny bitrate info channel for the 3D channel.

Gotta say, your analysis is nearly 180 degrees off. 7 use 7Mate for the AFL in Sydney & have stock programming on 7. This will be the first HD sport 9 has shown all year - despite promising that the cricket & NRL would be maintained in HD when 9HD changed to GEM.

The Aus Open is the only other sporting event this year where any of the networks have used 2 channels. 10 have stopped showing the F1 in HD (& always live) on One in favour of "a regular timeslot for the benefit of fans"... in SD.

Sport has actually been f***ed over in the multi-channel explosion.

Justin

yeah agree - fantastic to finally see sport back in HD - this is what it was made for... The stuff SNOT show on the HD channels is garbage and so disappointing to see it being wasted whilst we watch crap quality sport on the SD channels only.

In Melbourne we've not had any AFL footy in HD at all for almost 2 years now - the first 2010 grand final was the last HD match ever shown by Channel 7, the by the 2nd week replay 7mate launched and that was it for them- and then to make it worse ONEHD stopped broadcasting AFL mid 2011 and moved it to TEN SD only (and proceeded to show rubbish like ice road truckers in HD instead during the footy).. I noticed when I was up in QLD last week that they get AFL footy shown on 7Mate in HD - sounds like the same happens in Sydney too (I'm very jealous).. I suspect the flipside may happen for NRL in Melbourne - I think I've seen the odd match being shown on GEM but not sure as I don't watch that inferior sport.. 8)

[GlenR]

I have no issue with the sport being in HD - much preferred the F1 Live in HD than at "a regular timeslot for the benefit of fans" in SD. I just can't see why some of these are shown simultaneously in HD and SD. Defeats the purpose really.

Niall is right about what gets shown in "HD" here. Old 70's and 80's shows are not suited to hD - it just highlights the limitations of the video of the era, yet this is what our networks do (except for SBS which just repeats SBS1 on SBS-HD).

Hopefully, once analogue is switched off and everyone will be able to see the digital channels, the networks will program them better.

I live in hope (and probably delusion).

[logifuse]

Niall, don't be too jealous about the AFL on 7Mate. It's the crappy 7SD coverage upscaled to the macroblock central 7Mate HD. It looks shocking. Foxtels upscaled coverage of the same games is better, but is still poor compared to their own genuine HD games.

Glen, as I pointed out, there's hardly any sport shown in duplication. 9 can't just show the HD feed only because 9SD must be a pure duplicate of their analogue service. That being the case, if they're going to show it in HD, it has to be duplicated. And lets face it, if you have the rights to the Olympics & don't show it in HD, it's time to give up.

The ch 9 covered NRL games produced in HD & are screened live in HD around the world.... except in NSW & Qld, i.e. the target market. If that doesn't tell you how f***ed over sport has been in multi-channelling, then nothing will.

This is how multi-channel economics works: 7Mate, 7Two, Gem & Go all make (clear) about $100 million a year each. They do this because they are full of sh1t that the networks have paid next to nothing for as part of general rights deals. The bulk of the money for the deals goes to secure hit shows & formats & the rest is tacked on. Before multi-channelling, most of this stuff never saw the light of day (for good reason). Suddenly you find that you can grab a 3-5% of the viewing market, the $110-120 million dollars in ads that market share gives you. Couple that with programming that you've already paid for, so it's effectively free, & only $10 million a year broadcast costs because the transmitters already exist & you don't need any on-air talent, & hey presto, you're swimming in cash.

Ch 10 stuffed up because they tried to make 2 new "real" channels & had the costs associated with that. 7 initially stuffed up because 7Two's programming was too close to 7 & cannibalised their own viewers. Once they worked that out, it became the template.

So Glen, that's why the reality is that you see next to nothing simultaneously in SD & HD, because you can't sell 2 sets of ads to 2 different markets.

Justin

[Innie808]

Now back to the Olympics. I thought the Opening ceremony on the 3D channels was fantastic. A) it was HD, B)3d Was actually ok, C) AVR lit up all 5 speakers so 5.1 sound, D) no Commentary, just the show.

HAs anyone tried to record the 3d channel? Any tricks or does the recording keep SBS format?

[davidgol]

my issue with the Ch9 coverage of the sport is the suitability of the ads for young kids.
My kids (7 & 9) want to watch the olympics before bed (7-8pm) and the ads are totally inappropriate (Today Tonight smut, Underbelly previews).
Really Ch9? Is that really necessary?
Not to mention the fact there's an ad break every 2 minutes. PLease!!!
So now I have to sit there watching too, so that I can pause/ffwd the ads. Awesome.
I don't feel bad about downloading ad-free versions of tv shows from the 'net anymore.
Screw you Ch9.

[TiggerK]

Ten minutes into the Ch9 Opening coverage, and I was off to get the UK version. Ah that's better. No ads, minimal yet tasteful commentary plus a fairly unbiased focus. Honestly Ch9, we all love Australia, but Olympics are about a worldwide experience, a coming together of countries in the Olympic spirit. Not a mind-numbing stream of biased patriotic repeated drivel cliche-ridden commentary , mixed with endless crappy ads. But I know they need the ads to pay for it all, so have to be fair and accept that they happen.

Where would I be without my 30 sec skip forward button........ Brain dead I expect.

Loved the Opening, very impressive, wiring up all the seats was genius, and the music was particularly well executed with top quality sound broadcast too. Pity Daniel Craig wasn't standing behind the Queen as she came in, and she needed a cup of coffee to wake up a bit too, poor m'am.

Anyone notice the Paul McC sync stuff up at start of Hey Jude? Took me straight back to Live Aid.... cringe.

Onwards with the Games....

[Innie808]

I noticed this morning that the 3D broadcast now has commentary on the opening, but it's the UK commentary, not the Aussie drivel.

But why are they looping the opening ceremony, events have started, surely they would be broadcasting events in 3D by now? (OK, they are showing highlights after the opening ceremony.)

and yeah, Those Channel 9 bugga's are only showing events with Aussies, what about all the other events going on! Times like this Foxtel is preferable.

Edited by Innie808, 28 July 2012 - 09:34 PM.