View Full Version : Holy crap the coverage sucks!
Audi_A4
11-07-04, 11:31 PM
I am a big champcar fan and am so disapointed in the tv coverage. Are the play by play guys actually at the track or are they in a studio far away? The coverage of the mexican race lacked enthusiasm and bored me to death.
They were there, just saddled with a host broadcaster that wasn't what they wanted.
Whenever you hear, "The pictures today are being provided by our host broadcaster..." that is TV code for, "We don't want to be seeing this either, but we have to show what we're being fed."
Sean O'Gorman
11-08-04, 12:28 AM
They were there, just saddled with a host broadcaster that wasn't what they wanted.
Whenever you hear, "The pictures today are being provided by our host broadcaster..." that is TV code for, "We don't want to be seeing this either, but we have to show what we're being fed."
Yeah, Benjamin seemed noticably irritated when he said that, during the part where RHR's wheel was on fire that wasn't being shown.
I wonder whether the race was actually any good. Obviously Seabass ran away with the win, but from the coverage there was no telling whether there was actual racing going on.
It was a rather poor quality video feed. The audio seemed washed out and overall a crappy production. Here's hoping next seasons new TV contract dishes out better.
RB noted that the N-H team may have been having trouble with their radio to SeaBass, but on two different occasions, they opened the audio from the radio and I thought I could hear a cartoon type skid sound (you know, just before impact when Bugs finds the air brake on the crashing plane). Once was just as SeaBass was hitting his marks in the pit. I was beginning to think Warner Bros was producing the Audio for the race.
Chiphead_Dave
11-08-04, 10:02 AM
I was so bored watching the crappy coverage
that I started cleaning the basement out.
TV on in the room but barely watching.
Could have been a lot worse, and it has been.
Well, I don't know if it was the TV product this year or not but, I didn't watch an complete race this entire season. Bits and parts here and there; 50% of the time none of it at all. I paid for the season of Race Director so that I could view the practice and qualifying but, used it maybe 3 times. It is a good product, I suppose my interest isn't there like it used to be.
The bad news is that I don't watch Champ Car like I used to, the good news is that no other racing series took its place. I go fishing on Sunday afternoons now and end up not even thinking about the race until I get home. Then its just a check to see the finishing order from the webpage.
I don't think I am alone.
Fitti Fan
11-08-04, 11:25 AM
They were there, just saddled with a host broadcaster that wasn't what they wanted.
Whenever you hear, "The pictures today are being provided by our host broadcaster..." that is TV code for, "We don't want to be seeing this either, but we have to show what we're being fed."
Exactly, just as in Australia. This is not something new--always happens in Mexico--used to happen in Japan too I think. It's not in the control of the U.S.
oddlycalm
11-08-04, 02:43 PM
TV Azteca's coverage of the Mexico City race is one of the worst examples of how a local broadcaster can screw up race coverage. Poor choice of camera angles make the cars look like they are on a perpetual pace car lap and their director will have us watching a Mexican driver motoring around in 15th place rather than on other drivers passing for position. Forsythe should send the TV Azteca director to watch the TV production of a MotoGP race in Europe next year to learn how it's done.
oc
Well, I don't know if it was the TV product this year or not but, I didn't watch an complete race this entire season.
Same here. Tivo'ed every race at some point at double speed, and if it was particularly awful: the dreaded Triple Speed.
Next year should be better with CBS and hopefully Speed taking up the slack.
Could have been a lot worse, and it has been.
ditto...I thought it was better than some I've seen this year. I perceived much more of the cars speed than a few of the broadcasts this year.
Well, @ least I could hear this race. :saywhat:
-Kevin
Well, I don't know if it was the TV product this year or not but, I didn't watch an complete race this entire season. Bits and parts here and there; 50% of the time none of it at all. I paid for the season of Race Director so that I could view the practice and qualifying but, used it maybe 3 times. It is a good product, I suppose my interest isn't there like it used to be.
The bad news is that I don't watch Champ Car like I used to, the good news is that no other racing series took its place. I go fishing on Sunday afternoons now and end up not even thinking about the race until I get home. Then its just a check to see the finishing order from the webpage.
I don't think I am alone.
nope
Well, @ least I could hear this race. :saywhat:
-Kevin
Very true. But frankly, I didn't have any problems with the coverage. It's hard to generate enthusiasm when Bourdais leaps off of the pole and runs away to such a lead that he can do a spin-stop-and-win later in the race.
I don't want to take anything away from Sebastien, but really, what was there to watch in that race? Other than a couple of races, the season has been the same. I don't want to say these things, and am totally against any rule meant solely to close up the field, but I think this has not been the best season-ending battle ever.
I almost wanted to see PT Schumacher Bourdais just so we'd at least have some controversy.
Sean O'Gorman
11-08-04, 09:04 PM
A lot of the races this year were good, and a lot of them were awful. By now, I know which ones to avoid watching (Monterrey, Vancouver...) and which ones to tape (Cleveland, Road America). Yesterday's race wasn't very interesting, but I was switching between that, Grand-Am Cup on SPEED, and NASCAR. Overall, the on track action was pretty decent this year. :thumbup:
Bring the costs down to raise the car count and lose the street courses and we wouldn't have this problem nearly as often.
I had the Race Director Feed on as Audio, which helps. I actually thought that Benjamin and TK did really good, particularly Benjamin. DD and Fish in the pits did good, and I think that took some pressure off the guys in the booth.
Jdcooperclan
11-09-04, 02:01 PM
Let's hope that whomever handles next years broadcasts will keep the announcer team together. By all means, avoid the debacle seen at the beginning of this year. Maybe Parker Johnstone could be hired as well...
Still, despite the coverage it was great to even HAVE a series.
Press On !
girlsRfast2
11-10-04, 11:52 AM
Agreed, it was awesome to HAVE a season this year.
There is something wrong with the broadcasts that I can't put my finger on. I'm not a TV producer. I really like RB and TK, as well as Daly, Beekhuis, and Fish. I think it's the audio. It sounds "flat".
Mr. GRF2 and I happened to be staying in the same hotel as Rick Murphy last summer, and when he asked for suggestions to improve the telecast, I really didn't know what to tell him, except to watch some F1 telecasts and glean ideas from those. I did mention the audio to him, specifically the car sounds, and he launched into a 20-minute dissertation on how hhhaaaaard it was to position the microphones correctly around the tracks. Boy, that man sure can talk. But, he DID fire Jenkins. :thumbup:
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