i2sports Game Video

Is there any way to purchase other than Paypal?

I don't believe so. Season pass folks got an email about a week and a half ago that said, in part:

[q]Recent changes at our Internet Service Provider required us to switch
credit card processors from Verisign to Pay-Pal. We have just completed
transferring your subscriptions onto the new system.[/q]

Chris

Ah well, guess I'll deal with it. Thanks!

Hmm, I never got that email, and I did purchase the season package...

The new system doesn't seem to accept my login...

Sonofa...my email program apparently must have filtered out that email as spam...sigh

I wish those guys had a "Forgot password?" form on their site...kind of inconvenient to have to dig thru their entire site and find the only phone number to them under the job opportunities section

Yeah, that kind of screwed me up since the email I used to subscribe was a spam bait address I don't read often.

Just to follow up on this, I was able to reach somebody at i2sports via phone about 5 mins before the start of the game Friday night, and he was very friendly and helped set me up with a username and password for the new system (apparently my email program filtered out the automated message they sent notifying subscribers of the change).

They reduced the size of the video window though. I tried opening the vid feed directly in Windows Media Player, so that I could scale it up, but there was discolorings in the image for some reason that were not present when I viewed it embedded in the web page. Maybe they could let you adjust the size based on your bandwidth.

How's the picture quality? Is it worth it?

Ken '70 wrote:

How's the picture quality? Is it worth it?

Well....it's not ESPN, but it isn't terrible either. It's worth it to me

The picture is very sharp in the default (small) view, and very crappy in the full screen view. There is no in-between.

BTW, Jeff, that's an extremely good idea. I will forward it as a user CR to i2 and I recommend the rest of us do so as well.

Some sites will do an auto-detection to set it initially, but then they have ~3 buttons, usually labelled something like:

Dial-up
Cable modem/DSL
T1 or higher

and I believe the speeds usually fall somewhere around, respectively:

56kbps
128-300kbps
300-512kbps

This amounts to the higher bandwidth streams being able to produce a larger default image in the browser window.

Full screen is indeed poor, but if you watch it in the WM player (rather than confined in the web page) and drag the window corner to adjust the size, I've found there's a pretty good size/quality compromise that is bigger than the default window size but well short of full screen. Plus, the extra screen real estate leaves me room for the chat program.

As for different sizes for different bandwidths, I think i2sports's philosophy is that if your not broadband (300kbps+), don't bother watching.

How do you make the live stream go to your WM player?

Greg Berge '85 wrote:

The picture is very sharp in the default (small) view, and very crappy in the full screen view. There is no in-between.

Their techie guy said if you right-click in the middle of the video, you get a menu allowing you to select full-screen or double-the-size. Haven't tried it as I'm watching directly in WMP and thus can stretch the video window.

I was wondering the same thing.

Anyone know how to open the stream in WM?

Ken '70 wrote:

Anyone know how to open the stream in WM?

Open the video the standard way. Copy the URL address. Close the standard video window. Open WMP. Click "File" then "Open URL" and paste in the URL. It should open.

Else try right-clicking on the standard video window. I was told by the i2sports techie that you should get a choice of "full-screen" or double the original window size. Haven't tried it myself.

Unfortunately I get an "Unknown Error" when I try that.

When I tested it a month or so ago I could use WM, but I can't remember how I got it to work.

The i2sports player does only allow postage size or full screen.

I got the "unknown error" also, so I closed the original video window and then pasted the URL into WMP and opened it. That worked.

I get the Unknown Error and no combination of shutting the original feed and pasting the URL, etc. will make it work. Pbbbt.

Oh well, they're tiny hockey players, but they're clear.

Have you tried right-clicking on the picture?

Hey Al,
Yeah, I can zoom it up to full screen that way, and it looks pretty decent... And any version is a whole lot better than no way to see it at all

Is there a "double-the-size" option as well as full-screen?

You may wish to lower the resolution of your desktop to 800x600 - this way the 320x240 video occupies about 1/4 screen with pretty good quality.

If you go full screen, I recommend that you sit several feet away from the computer, the way you normally watch TV. The farther you sit, the clearer the picture!

By the way, any chance you guys could keep the video rolling at the end until after the Cornell players do their fan salute? Right now it drops down the blue score screen after handshakes, but if you add another minute of footage you get the salute too.



Post Edited (12-05-03 21:45)

To get the video in the WM player you go through the log in process, then when you get the page with the embedded WM , right click on the black "screen" and choose properties. In properties, locate the url for the stream and highlight and copy it. Then close that browser window that has the embedded video. Open the WM player and choose File-->Open URL and paste in the copied url. You can then stretch the WM Player's dimensions just like any window.

I will instruct my director to keep the video rolling until the players clear the ice. No problem!

Thanks!!!

For that matter, it would be great if the cameras rolled until after the announcers' wrap-up (5-10 minutes later). Realizing that there might be some contractual obligation to cut away within a certain timeframe, most (all?) of us are interested in the post-game audio.

[Q]Dr Kamal Jabbour wrote:

I will instruct my director to keep the video rolling until the players clear the ice. No problem![/Q]Thanks for listening, or rather reading. It's refreshing to have someone who really cares about their audience. Now if you could only teach the AD ... .

Thank you!!!

Alright, paid for the harvard game. Should i be able to log-in around game time to watch it? Thanks

-J

Dr. Jabbour...

Really nice to see you paying attention to the fans. I also agree (although I'm there in person more often, but not every time), that it would be great to hear the post-game wrapup. Turn off the cameras if you want and just stream the audio, but if we get it for $7/month via OCSN, it'd be really nice to get it for $5/game from I2S .



Post Edited (12-06-03 18:38)

John B '98 wrote:

Alright, paid for the harvard game. Should i be able to log-in around game time to watch it? Thanks

-J

Camera's on about 6:30, although it's not being tended. Pre-game radio show starts about then, too, and comes through on the broadcast.

Is anyone else getting error messages when trying to log in to i2sports tonight??

no. working fine

Nevermind. Error messages stopped on my third try. Maybe we're just overloading their servers tonight.

I must be a total spaz, but I can't pay through PayPal. I'm a new user and it's asking me for my "expanded four digit code" that I apparently just paid $1.95 for. However, the note says that I'll get the number on my credit card statement, but it wants me to input it now! How the heck do I do that? I don't know the number, and I didn't see any screen telling me what it is. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. A little help??? Thanks.

When I paid, it asked for an extra 3-digit number on the back of the credit card that is printed in the signature line. It's annexed onto the end of the number that is written there. Maybe the extra number is a different length for credit cards besides the one I used?

I have to say that I was impressed. I was glad I can hook my laptop up to my TV. Once I played around with the settings and put it on full screen, it looked pretty damn good! I highly recommend playing with it if you can get it on to your TV....

And thanks, Dr. Jabbour, for the post game show too.

I2 is really A1 in my book.

I also put it on full screen and the resolution was pretty damn good. After reading everyone's comments I was expecting much worse. A little blurry, but I could follow the movement of the puck. Even though it kind of had that Fox Sports tail when it was shot hard.

Well done i2.

Yeah.. That was a great show. I would still love it if I2 sports would stop harassing me about using Netscape (Yes, it works just fine). but... It was a great broadcast.

Jim Hyla '67 wrote:
It's refreshing to have someone who really cares about their audience

For values of audience equaling audience running Windows.

Hey.. Cowbell Guy is damn right to complain. He was providing a better audio/video than we've had over the last two years for FREE.