The Olympic Thread

[Ian Price]

Agreed there Philly. I think Thorpe and Johnson are great!

[nfe]

Sending robots to Mars costs 1/5 as much as the Olympics :lol:

[TheyCallMeVolume]

Do all you guys in the UK get the events live?

[nfe]

I don't have a tv. But I think with all the Red Button features you can watch pretty much any event live. I have just been watching the iPlayer updates they put up in chunks that show you the featured events.

[WezV]

of course its all live, currently on BBC 1 i can watch 1 of 9 events with the red button, but its often more than that.   then there are the other bbc channels all showing stuff at various times  and the bbc website streaming a similar amount of live events


since we are hosting the event i suppose they arrange the main events around  prime time to some extent.  they don't have to do an NBC and delay coverage to fit the schedule they think is best for ratings

[TheyCallMeVolume]

Yeah, over here in the States, they're delaying all of our feeds, and they don't show the main events until 11:30, so I think they're doing a pretty cr@ppy job.

[nfe]

And they cut the memorial for terrorism victims from the opening ceremony because it wasn't about USA victims. Mental.

[Ian Price]

That was a ridiculous decision to cut the memorial.

The BBC also have a ridiculous number of Olympic channels (24 I think). Many of them showing just live action without commentary - particularly tonight with some of the athletics.

[Philly Q]

The BBC also have a ridiculous number of Olympic channels (24 I think). Many of them showing just live action without commentary - particularly tonight with some of the athletics.

People keep telling me about these channels, but are they on Freeview?  I can't find them. 

Must admit I'm not very good with the "red button", I very rapidly get pissed off trying to negotiate the menus.

[Ian Price]

The BBC also have a ridiculous number of Olympic channels (24 I think). Many of them showing just live action without commentary - particularly tonight with some of the athletics.

People keep telling me about these channels, but are they on Freeview?  I can't find them. 

Must admit I'm not very good with the "red button", I very rapidly get pissed off trying to negotiate the menus.

Red Button is terrible - takes way too long to react to be useful.

I think the Olympic channels are freeview (they really should be). From channel 474 on my box - they have them for standard and High Definition.

[Philly Q]

I only seem to have three Olympic channels (and HD equivalents) on my Freeview - BBC1/BBC1 HD, BBC3/BBC HD and "301" (which is basically the Red Button channel, I think).

You'd have thought all BBC channels should be available on Freeview.  I'm probably doing something wrong....  :?

Doesn't really matter that much, I'm primarily interested in the "main" sports like athletics, swimming, cycling, boxing and they're (mostly) on the channels I have available.

[WezV]

Red Button is terrible - takes way too long to react to be useful.

its no good for channel surfing - but fine if you know what you actually want to watch

[Philly Q]

Red Button is terrible - takes way too long to react to be useful.

its no good for channel surfing - but fine if you know what you actually want to watch

I always find it says something like "Choose your sport" or "Choose your commentary" in the corner of the screen, but when you actually press the button it doesn't take you where you wanted to go (or thought you were going).... just to the Red Button Main Menu.  And from there none of the options seem to respond as they're supposed to and I'm never able to find anything!

Matbe it's just me, but I don't usually have problems with technology.

[Ian Price]

This is pretty good. And yes, I also get confused with sailing.

http://gawker.com/5932302/the-best-olympic-commentary-ever-is-too-good-for-television?tag=londonolympics

[TheyCallMeVolume]

Sailing or track cycling have always stumped me.