ELynah Forum

General Category => Hockey => Topic started by: KenP on February 02, 2005, 10:01:14 AM

Title: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: KenP on February 02, 2005, 10:01:14 AM
http://www.xmievents.com/events/cornell/index.html

Remember, FREE VIDEO!!!  No matter how intense the rivalry may get, or how rude some of the 'Gate fans may get, always remember to say "Thank You!"
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: Pete Godenschwager on February 02, 2005, 10:06:11 AM
not this year :-(
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: KenP on February 02, 2005, 10:09:47 AM
Well don't I feel like the idiot.  Never Mind.
:`(
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: Pete Godenschwager on February 02, 2005, 10:15:29 AM
The game is on Time Warner Sports, I think that's the reason for no internet broadcast.  Because everybody gets Time Warner Sports.  Wouldn't want those people in California choosing the watch the internet broadcast instead ::rolleyes::
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: A-19 on February 02, 2005, 02:55:16 PM
i don't get time warner sports here in boston...do i?
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: Pete Godenschwager on February 02, 2005, 03:15:18 PM
You might, but the programming is regional.

(I was being sarcastic about everybody getting Time Warner Sports, in case that didn't come through.)
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: puff on February 02, 2005, 03:43:02 PM
yeah, down here in florida COX carries a nice lineup of time warner sports
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: RichH on February 02, 2005, 03:54:42 PM
[Q]A-19 Wrote:

 i don't get time warner sports here in boston...do i?[/q]
No.  This "Time Warner Sports" is from the Time Warner Syracuse Division, and serves from Ithaca/Cortland to the North Country.  Basically, if your local cable gets "News 10 Now," http://www.news10now.com  then you can get Time Warner Sports  http://web.twcny.com/twsports/ , and Friday's game.

From http://www.news10now.com/content/about_us/ :
[Q]It's a huge region, a 10,000 square mile chunk of Upstate New York spanning Tompkins County and the entire Greater Syracuse area, the Mohawk Valley, and the Watertown/St. Lawrence Seaway/Canadian border region. We operate in all or parts of four separate television markets: Syracuse, Utica, Watertown and Plattsburgh.[/Q]  
My Time Warner is in the Binghamton division, which services the row of counties along the NY-PA border.  So even though I'm less than an hour from Ithaca, I can't get it.

Note that the game will be rebroadcast 3 times: http://web.twcny.com/twsports/index.cfm?action=show&episodeID=635
Title: I HATE the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: RichH on February 04, 2005, 12:14:31 PM
So even though we won't have online video for the game, at least we'll have online audio from Colgate, right?  Wrong.  I just checked, and the only free broadcast out of Colgate tonight is Colgate vs. Lehigh squeakball.  Huzzah. :-(
Title: Re: I HATE the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: KeithK on February 04, 2005, 12:42:31 PM
So please post updates on the game for those of us who are at work and probably shouldn't be listening to games anyway, even if it were free.
Title: Re: I HATE the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: atb9 on February 04, 2005, 12:44:15 PM
I'm not sure about Greg, but I'll be online posting updates.
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: Jordan 04 on February 04, 2005, 01:10:42 PM
It's confusing sometimes to see discussion regarding audio/video coverage of the games.  It's not as if you're being taken to the cleaners in order to listen to -- [just started typing Adam Wodon and had to begin deleting] -- the Cornell feed.  Especially with what seems to be a large group that puts down the money for the internet video. (Yes, I realize getting both results in redundant purchases for all of the home games).

At the risk of sounding like an infomercial: If you purchase a month right now for $6.95, you get every hometown broadcast the rest of the way for about 87 cents a game.  I know I'll be ordering up the Cornell feed beginning tonight.  Heck, just including this weekend and the final weekend in North Country I feel it's worth it, even if I end up attending the other games.

Just a consideration, because there's not always a free lunch...
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: KeithK on February 04, 2005, 01:50:49 PM
Cornell provided free audio services for years before they decided to farm it out to the "professionals".  Not to mention the free video.  When you have been receiving a free lunch it's not surprising that  you might be upset when they start charging.  I don't think it's unreasonable to provide free internet broadcasts of the games as a service to alumni.  At least audio, which requires much less bandwidth (a scrace resource) than video.  If the service was significantly better now that there is a fee then there might be some good argument, but I don't get that impression, at least in terms of reliability.

Another point.  Some may not remember this, but the computer equipment that was used to stream the first audio broadcasts was provided as a gift to the University specifically for this purpose.  A pledge drive was started on the CHDF (predecessor to this forum) and after folks here had pledged some portion of the needed money the Boosters stepped up and donated the remainder.  I contributed to this gift (albeit a small amount - I was a grad student at the time).  I would greatly prefer this model - streaming audio provided as a service to alumni supported by donations.

(Yes I know this runs against some of my hyper-capitalist beliefs.  So what?)
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: KenP on February 04, 2005, 02:02:47 PM
Jordan,

If you want another reason why people are upset (myself included), just look at the long list of links to free net audio.  Cornell is one of the few schools in ECAC that consistently charge for audio feeds.
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: Greg Berge on February 04, 2005, 02:08:31 PM
Oh, I'll be online.  I get back from picking up my older daughter and dropping off my younger daughter at 6:30, then I leave to pick up my younger daughter at 9:30.  Does everybody parent *around* hockey? :-D
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: atb9 on February 04, 2005, 02:09:09 PM
[Q]KeithK Wrote:

(Yes I know this runs against some of my hyper-capitalist beliefs.  So what?)[/q]

I don't think it does.  There's no competition so you're forced to accept crappy service.  When Real runs the program it's extremely difficult to fix problems because they can't micromanage all of the programming (although it's easy to get refunds--because they know they can't fix individual problems).  If Cornell runs the program, then we at least have the ability to get face time to improve the problems.
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: Jordan 04 on February 04, 2005, 02:09:39 PM
[Q]KenP Wrote:

 Jordan,

If you want another reason why people are upset (myself included), just look at the long list of links to free net audio.  Cornell is one of the few schools in ECAC that consistently charge for audio feeds.
[/q]

True, but those free audio links are quickly becoming the exception rather than the rule.

Obviously many univerisities have gone to paid audio, NFL audio broadcasts used to be free but are no longer, MLB audio was free for all games but are no longer, and if and when the NHL returns I would be surprised them to no longer have free audio.  

Obvoiusly I'd love if our home feed was free.  But unfortunately it isn't.  But it's not as if we're being charged through the nose for the ability to listen to (and watch, at $5/game) Cornell hockey from anywhere in the world.
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: atb9 on February 04, 2005, 02:14:07 PM
[Q]Jordan 04 Wrote:
Obvoiusly I'd love if our home feed was free.  But unfortunately it isn't.  But it's not as if we're being charged through the nose for the ability to listen to (and watch, at $5/game) Cornell hockey from anywhere in the world.[/q]

But that's because, as was pointed out, it takes almost no bandwidth to provide streaming audio.  It's absolutely insane to me that CDs and DVDs are almost the same price even though one has 40x more information than the other.  If Real charged as much as XMI I think I would develop a twitch.
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: Greg Berge on February 04, 2005, 02:14:46 PM
I would think having a universally-accessible, free, high quality Cornell internet video channel, featuring sports, lectures, research briefings, images from around the campus, PSAs, and messages from the administration, would be a tremendous asset to the university.  But that's just me...
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: Will on February 04, 2005, 02:17:54 PM
[Q]Greg Berge Wrote:

 I would think having a universally-accessible, free, high quality Cornell internet video channel, featuring sports, lectures, research briefings, images from around the campus, PSAs, and messages from the administration, would be a tremendous asset to the university.  But that's just me...[/q]

Just to play devil's advocate here...how would the university pay for that?  I can't imagine having such a thing would be cheap, and a drastic tuition hike probably wouldn't be good for recruiting potential applicants.
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: nyc94 on February 04, 2005, 02:19:55 PM
[Q]Greg Berge Wrote:
I would think having a universally-accessible, free, high quality Cornell internet video channel, featuring sports, lectures, research briefings, images from around the campus, PSAs, and messages from the administration, would be a tremendous asset to the university.  But that's just me...[/q]

How many write in votes do you think it would take to win an alumni elected trustee position?
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: atb9 on February 04, 2005, 02:22:56 PM
[Q]Will Wrote:

 [Q2]Greg Berge Wrote:

 I would think having a universally-accessible, free, high quality Cornell internet video channel, featuring sports, lectures, research briefings, images from around the campus, PSAs, and messages from the administration, would be a tremendous asset to the university.  But that's just me...[/Q]
Just to play devil's advocate here...how would the university pay for that?  I can't imagine having such a thing would be cheap, and a drastic tuition hike probably wouldn't be good for recruiting potential applicants.[/q]

I know my local high school (Shenendehowa, graduates 800+ kids each year) already does something like that.  I can't imagine it would be too big of a deal since they already film just about everything.  Hell, a company I worked for a few years back, Applied Materials, did exactly that on their internal website.  Do we have some kind of AV degree at Cornell?
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: mha on February 04, 2005, 02:50:51 PM
Streaming audio takes a lot less bandwidth than streaming video, but it isn't negligible by any means. 28-30 simultaneous 24 kbps audio streams from WVBR's streaming server fills about half of a T1. Serving even audio to more than a couple dozen people takes serious bandwidth over a serious network connection, and that gets pricey.
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: CowbellGuy on February 04, 2005, 03:17:08 PM
Well, this server can do 4,165 simultaneous 24kbps streams or more than 300 high quality video streams. I would hope athletics could be at least as resourceful as, well, me. On the other hand...
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: RichH on February 04, 2005, 04:34:14 PM
[Q]Jordan 04 Wrote:

True, but those free audio links are quickly becoming the exception rather than the rule.[/Q]
They are?  Of Cornell's 17 opponents this season, 3 require a fee, 2 have no online audio to offer, and 12 have some method of listening online for free.  What's your definition of "exception?"  Last season, Princeton was part of the Sports Pa$$ plan, and now has moved back to free, university supplied audio.  Brown and Harvard are both part of the Sports Pa$$ network, but they both also offer a free feed to the radio station.

[Q]Obvoiusly I'd love if our home feed was free.  But unfortunately it isn't.  But it's not as if we're being charged through the nose for the ability to listen to (and watch, at $5/game) Cornell hockey from anywhere in the world.[/q]
"Well, I'll just accept a crappy system because that's the way it is.  Why bother trying to change things for the better?" is basically your attitude.

My main objection, and refusal to sign up for this College Sports Pa$$ isn't even because it isn't free.  It's a poor business model for my (and many other CU Hockey fans') needs.  (For this argument, I'm even going to ignore the fact that there were and are people willing to supply the work and equipment needed to provide free and reliable service.)  I go to a majority of the games in a given season.   For the few road games I don't get to, I would gladly pay a couple bucks to cover the costs of a quality, reliable product...on a per-game basis.  I don't appreciate being muscled into a bloated, unreliable subscription system where one of the selling points is that I get access to "thousands of games" from schools I really have zero interest in.  Yeah...I'll be able to listen to the University of Tulsa basketball games....woo-hoo, what a value.  I'd basically wind up paying $35 for audio of a handful of CU Hockey games each season.  Sorry, but no thanks.  MLB Gameday Audio costs $14.95 for the SEASON.  Also, the "free trial," system has had its share of problems...I'm sure several posters here could tell you horror stories of their credit card being charged for months after "cancelling" this service.  And lets not forget the spotty service that this gives; all you have to do is look through the eLF archives for people bitching about the feed cutting out...often.

By comparison, the current business model of the video webcasts (currently supplied by XMI) is much more ideal.  With a choice for either a season-rate or ala carte, it makes a lot more sense.  And $5/game for video is a reasonable price, IMO.  I go to every home game, so I have yet to have a need to purchase a webcast, but if I ever have to, I'd be very happy to buy a game for a one-time shot.  Not only that, but the customer service seems to be much more attentive.  When there are service interruptions, they seem to have been good about giving subscribers and single-game customers credit.

If CU Hockey audio broadcasts had a way for me to purchase a single game for $2 or so, I'd gladly do it.  
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: Pete Godenschwager on February 04, 2005, 04:39:23 PM
[Q]I'm sure several posters here could tell you horror stories of their credit card being charged for months after "cancelling" this service[/Q]

Yep. That's exactly why I didn't sign up again this year.  I wouldn't mind giving my money to Cornell for the broadcasts, but I'm not giving anymore money to Real Networks for a bunch of extra crap I don't want and have to pay for even after I've cancelled.
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: Jordan 04 on February 04, 2005, 05:12:49 PM
[Q]RichH Wrote:

 "Well, I'll just accept a crappy system because that's the way it is.  Why bother trying to change things for the better?" is basically your attitude.

 [/q]

That's not anywhere close to my attitude; rather, those are words you've chosen to put into my mouth.

My attitude was -- and actual words were -- that for a month such as this one, where there are 8 games for the monthly price,  only 3 of which I may attend, it's more than worth it to pay less than $7 to listen to a consistent, home broadcast.
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: jtwcornell91 on February 05, 2005, 09:58:09 AM
[Q]RichH Wrote:a bloated, unreliable subscription system[/q]

Don't forget the software bloat factor.  The pay feed only works through the RealOne player, which doesn't work on my preferred platform.  Compare that to the video, which is an mms stream which I can watch with a variety of players.
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: puff on February 05, 2005, 12:35:31 PM
No kidding there on the software. of any of the half a dozen or so different programs i have for playing media files or anysort, Realplayer falls to the bottom of favorites.
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: Pete Godenschwager on February 05, 2005, 02:20:40 PM
Realplayer used to have tons of spyware bundled with it.  Supposedly they've cleaned up their act, but I refuse to install it and find out.
Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: jeh25 on February 05, 2005, 08:05:20 PM
[Q]nyc94 Wrote:

How many write in votes do you think it would take to win an alumni elected trustee position?
[/q]

Oh boy.

I nominate Age if only because the expression on Andy Noel's face would be priceless....

Title: Re: I love the Colgate athletics dept
Post by: Al DeFlorio on February 05, 2005, 08:37:55 PM
Seconded.  ::nut::