NBC Olympics online video: who else is pissed?
 

I love the Olpympics, but I have a problem with having to work and I only get 3 TV stations. So after some time I realized "Hey there has to be videos online of the events that arn't on TV". And sure enough on NBC's website there is. But it doesn't work in Linux! You have to have IE or Firefox running on windoze or mac for the video to work! Try it out if you don't belive me http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/index.html

WTF I'm freakin pissed! Who else is?

I can't say I really care about the Olypmics. I think the ludicrous money spent organizing and covering the event could be better spent on researching disease or taking care of the poor. The whole thing is a monstrous waste of money and time.

Well, maybe not *pissed*, but even under Windows the coverage and video could be better, and if I'd wanted "Silverlight" I'd have installed it when it came out. Microsoft is basically using the Olympics and their NBC connection to push Silverlight on users. Hope it works for them.

I don't much care for the Olympics either, especially the sports where they're scored by judges rather than actually beating the other opponent is usually purely favoritism on account of the judges. I'm also not a fan of how China treats it's citizens so I can really care less about supporting it this year.

I'm a bigger fan of the winter Olympics if I do pay attention to them.

Its not so much the Olympics that i'm asking about, I don't care if you like them or not. Its the fact that its something that is being broadcasted world wide and linux users are being left out. Thats what really pisses me off.

I have not tried this yet because I am at work right now. But it may be worth checking out - I will try it when I get home.

http://newblogonstuff.blogspot.com/2...-on-linux.html

I guess I really don't care as much then. If a site chooses a particular OS to support and leave out others, I just move on and not bother with the site any longer. I leave video watching to my LCD HDTV, not my computer. Computers are for computing to me, TV's are for watching TV, Movies and Videoss.

Normally I'd agree, but unfortunately most of the Olympic events aren't shown on TV, or shown in incredibly small amounts. If all one wants is beach volleyball and swimming then one can always visit California.

It is pretty hard for me to get upset about something I have no interest in, so I think the content of said videos is fairly important in the scope of your question.

Especially since this is hardly the first time Linux has been left out of the streaming video loop (Silverlight is not new by any means, and let's not forget the BBC incident); why be outraged only now?

Yeah, I'd have to agree, hence my original post saying my lack of interest in the Olympics.

I also agree about being pissed about it, there are plenty of sites that are geared only towards IE and Windows, etc. You have to realize, to corporations that read or probably see the statistics that claim 90% of more of the internet users are using IE which tells them they're also on Windows, they can probably give a rats ass about the remaining 10% of users on a different platform. That's just a hypothetical theory though, but if you think like a Corporation, it makes sense.

Outraged? That's kind of strong. But although the Olympics don't seem to be very popular here, they are very popular among the general population, so this has been a great opportunity for Microsoft to leverage their software onto the world stage. Don't know about the BBC incident, I must have missed it - but that's kind of my point. And Silverlight has been around, but not used much, which is also the point.

Ummm...has anyone called NBC to get their side of the story?

Nope, to be fair, haven't tried that. Of course where I'm at, NBC puts "LIVE" on their broadcasts when they're not in fact "LIVE", so I figure, why bother asking them? They have little credibility.

That's a good point pixellany, I work for NBC's parent company GE. I should see if there are any e-mail addresses in the global e-mail address book to send an e-mail to... anyone know any names?

There really isn't any point in contacting them. Even if you got a positive response (which is unlikely) there is nothing they can implement before the Olympics are over anyway.

Though on the other hand, there is something to be said for simply making your opinion heard; perhaps something will change for the next time.

To me NBC was a big fail when they did not even show the opening ceremonies live. I could care less about their site. Try going to cctv.com (China Central Television), because I am sure that there are going to be live broadcasts there, and from what I have seen, it isn't IE dependent.

I thought the opening ceromoneray (spelling!) was amazing.

you can bet your life the London 2012 olympic ceromonary (!) will be total crap in comparison. London the center of the creative world?! dont make me laff!

if you want to see the opening ceromony (ive been to the pub this evening), go to

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00cpf8p/

if your outside the UK, you may need to spoof your address or whatever

Keep trying...you're nearly there.

I had a good go at it though didnt I Brian!

I don't care too much about the Olympics in general, however this time got me excited as I wanted to see someone pass out from the smog during some major event, or maybe lots of people, like a cloud of smog coming into the arena and what kind of havoc that would cause during say a soccer game or athletics.

But, yes it does piss me off that you need M$ silverlight to watch the videos, and for no reason because the HD will not really show, and you probably need a very good connection. I don't see anything comprehensive no youtube either.

Except for the US vs USSR hockey game in 1980, I've lost interest in the Olympics after being cheated out in the basketball game where they kept turning back the clock until the outcome was what they wanted. It also isn't an amateur competition it was once supposed to be and they've expanded it to cover too many phony sports like beach volleyball and snow boarding.

Just a note about sopcast, that was mentioned in a previous post... I haven't watched any part of the current olympic games, and don't want to, but sopcast is a reasonable alternative to access otherwise unavailable broadcasts.

I use it to watch locally blacked-out, pay-per-view NHL games during hockey season. I just checked the sop-cast channel line up and there's lots of live feeds of olympic stuff available. I'm going to check them out later.

yeah, well I think alot of people find the actual games boring, I really dislike the rowing, I think its incredibly boring.

and whats the long jump all about?

some of these people dedicate their lives to practicing jumping over some sand, so that they can say they can jump further over sand than anyone else in the world, what an achievement!

you cant tell me that there is a following for the long jump, nobodys interested in that, apart from the few people who do it.

Ive always viewed athletes with suspicion. they're not normal. I used to know a few at school and they were extreamly odd people.

and who can forget (even if we desperatley wanted to), paula radcliffe stopping half way through the london marathon a few years ago, to take a dump AT THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, in full view of spectators and tv cameras.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/4454315.stm

Ive just been speaking to an old runner friend of mine, and he said when he used to run for the city, it was a 'normal occurance' to see runners going for a crap in peoples gardens, and at the side of the road! lol ???

I have heard that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation streams it in a Linux friendly format. Couldn't get it going, but I didn't try very hard. Since I have Gnash installed instead of Flash, I thought that might be my issue.

I wouldn't really classify these as phony sports. Have you done either? They take more talent and work than some of the existing sports in the Olympics and other competitions.

It's not just about jumping, it's the endurance and ability that is usually beyond human capabilities.

I can say I have no desire to watch it myself but if you really think about it, the current world record is 8.95 meters. Go measure that out and see how long of a distance it really is, you might be amazed that someone (a human) could run and jump that far of a distance.

well yeah ok Tricky, but its still boring.



and why is there a long jump AND a triple jump?

surely its the same thing, both involve jumping over sand, why does there need to be two seperate competitions for the same thing?

you could perhaps understand creating a new triple-jump competition if longjump was exciting, but its not.

Well simply put, some people find it exciting, others don't. Don't assume everyone is like you. I don't necessarily find it boring, I just have no desire to watch it myself. Soccer and Golf is boring to watch to me, but fun to play. It's called personal preferences.

How cool ! I missed that one. At least it was something out of the normal boring Olympic trials. I wonder if they aired it live, it sucks that I missed it :(

As for the rest, I dunno where you live, but that's f'n nasty, I've never seen anyone do that. In fact the only public bathroom activities I have witnessed was someone pissing near Notre Dame ... I hope the bastard is now cursed for wetting Holy ground.

Nothing wrong with using the restroom, perfectly natural process of the human body. If you're running to win, you just don't have time to go grab the newspaper or magazine, find a public restroom to park yourself down at to do your business. ;)

well in that case Tricky, Ill change my running route tomorrow, to include your street, and if I feel any 'movement' ill leave you a little present on your lawn :)

Well, here in Texas we're allowed to shoot trespassers on our property so that might not be a good idea, unless you like getting shot at.. ;)

lol ok, I wont then.

And if you do shoot at people aim for critical areas, otherwise if they live, they'll sue you and win a lot of money, so make sure they're really dead.

hmm, interesting..

how good a shot are you, Tricky?

Dunno about tricky, but I'm not a very good shot, that's why I have a heavy-duty katana :D

Of course!


Again, I live in Texas, almost everyone owns a gun. When we shoot, we shoot to kill, we don't like getting sued by wussy crybaby criminals. I'm actually a very good shot, even without a scope at far ranges. Trust me, my yard isn't that big, I could do it with my eyes closed even! ;)

I live in TX too, but don't have a gun. I however don't understand how a lawsuit could even be considered by the courts, if said person is shot on property he isn't supposed to be on. I don't see any basis for a lawsuit.

Haha, anyone can sue for any reason in a civil case, that's the great thing about this sue happy country we live in.

It's insane, it only feeds the hungry rabid pack of lawyers.