Streaming Olympics on NBC, NOT! 2
Watching Olympics on NBC
I’m addicted to Olympics. I admit it. As I watch them on my OTA setup, the fluffers, you know, the announcers between sports, are constantly saying to watch all the events Live by visiting nbcolympics.com. I’ve been there a few times and been disappointed.
Sorry, this becomes a rant.
Fluffers Announcing …
Usually it rejected my browser for some reason and I figured it was due to Linux. Again, last night the announcer said to visit nbcolympics.com and click on the Gold Zone to watch all events live today. Again, I did and this time I had hope as more of the page actually loaded, until this image showed up.
With a cable, satellite or telco TV subscription that includes MSNBC and CNBC, you can access live streams of EVERY Olympic event.
Ok, so now I need a paid TV provider? This has never been mentioned on-air. They imply that access will be without cost, to anyone who can see the broadcast, though they are careful to never say free. I’m watching NBC using an antenna – over the air. I look for a way to buy a pass for online access. I figure there is a $10 plan, right? There is no option to access these streaming videos for OTA viewers.
Seems like false advertising to me. I thought that was illegal.
Looks like I may be forced to join others using alternate methods.
Comcast owns NBC. Gee, who would have thought that was a bad idea? Everyone.
NBC Tape Delays
I don’t have any issue with NBC deciding to tape delay some events for TV. There is a lot of stuff happening and they can’t show it all. I would much prefer if the web part were live, but these folks are TV and they want to avoid Live when they can. OTOH, these are sports, so Live coverage is the whole point.
My real frustration is with NBC News and local affiliates announcing results before they’ve aired the competition. The first few days, they tried to warn viewers before any announcement, but pretty soon, that ended. The short clips used by the local stations that show a race finish and say 20th medal are definitely happening before we’ve been shown the 20th medal race. Boooo. Spoilers suck.
I’ve disabled all social networking and I’m watching the TV broadcasts in order specifically to avoid knowing the results. NBC, either you are all into delayed results or you are into Live streaming. Make a choice, get your news anchors and teams on board with financial incentives to keep the spoilers out.
Ok, guess it is time to get out my Visa card and pay an ISP in the UK $6. Sad, so very sad.
I agree. I was listening to the radio on my way home from work tonight, and BBC world news came on. The VERY FIRST thing that they talked about was the number of US gold medals won in track & field today. I tried to turn it off before I heard anything, but they didn’t give any warning that they would be discussing Olympic results so I heard the total count without any specifics. I know they aren’t NBC or local affilate, but it still would have been nice to have a spoiler warning since they know they are syndicated to US where we are not watching live.
Well, I can’t blame any other news outlet for providing News in a timely way. I can only blame NBC for screwing this, however I did see that during NBC newscasts, they are still doing the warning and playing music when the totals are put up on the screen.
Since I can’t/don’t watch live, I’m usually about 12-16 hours behind the no-live broadcast. All the commercials are stripped from the files before watching and I skip uninteresting events.
I’ve made a conscious effort to not watch any news from other outlets this week. Since I don’t use social networking, there’s little risk of someone else ruining the outcomes. It would be tougher if I worked in a busy office filled with other people – nearly impossible.
Diving
BTW, my Tips for Judging Diving might be interesting to some. Diving scores don’t vary as widely as other subjectively judged contests, like gymnastics. There really is a pretty clear set of rules for judging and even I can watch the best divers in the world and know what the scores will be within 0.5.
The Chinese divers really are pretty fantastic though I wish they’d point their toes more. I’d also like them to act more human by smiling after a good dive and showing a little excitement. There’s plenty of time to be disappointed during practice. It isn’t needed during a competition after a nearly perfect dive. Seeing Qin very disappointed at the end of the contest earning Silver was humanizing. I felt bad for him. Some of the taller, lankier, divers from other countries just look boney and don’t seem to be able to get their feet, much less their toes pointed.
At least the world knows now that the Chinese can be beaten.
I’m watching the 2012 Olympic Mens 3M springboard final now. The Mexico diver deserved a lower scores on his last dive, he never got his hand together on the entry. Most of his other dives were fantastic and fun to watch. Qin, the Chinese, diver got what he deserved on his last dive, maybe a little less than he deserved. It was a very nice dive. I like watching him dive.
The top 5 women on springboard are amazing to watch too. I have to watch them. Truly amazing.
Just started watching the 10M Womens prelim contest. Wow. They aren’t hitting many dives or entries.
You might see the coaches critiquing every dive after ward. This isn’t really all that helpful since you’ll not do that dive again for a few days usually. It is very helpful psychologically as a habit and is very comforting to the diver. Having a coach remind you of the key things just before a dive is extremely helpful, but that doesn’t usually happen in practice.
Tiny Diver Towels
Those little towel-like things that every diver has is a synthetic chamois. It is super absorbent, super tough, wrings out nearly dry and ready for more. Imagine getting out of the shower 50-100 times a day. You wouldn’t want a towel. They do have towels in the changing room. The difference in drying capability between the large and small chamois is unimportant. These synthetic chamois needs to be moist all the time. If they dry out, they become brittle. When I was diving, there were only a few colors available and the light yellow was much cheaper. I still have one.
If you are trying to grab your shins for a big spinning dive, you need both your hands and shins to be dry, but you prefer for everything else to be wet. It is a comfort thing.
I also have a quick-dry MSR Packtowl Personal towel for travel that folds up tiny. This will dry completely in about 15 minutes even in high humidity. If you aren’t positive about the towels in a travel location, take this.
Hot Tubs at the Pool
During diving practice, there isn’t too much time between dives for your body and muscles to cool down. This is good. During a contest, the time between your dives can be 5 or 10 minutes or more. Every dive is like a cold start and tough on your body and flexibility. Keeping the muscles warm and flexible is the only way that I know to prevent injuries and not also tire the competitors out. During a contest, every dive takes between 30 and 60 seconds, so when the semifinals have 18 divers, that’s probably 14 minutes between each dives for each competitor. TV only shows about 4 divers per round, so everything seems much quicker than it is in reality.