Registered: Sep 2002
Location: US - CT
Posts: 1431

quote:

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Originally posted by biterbar
I had no issues with buffering other than that one crash. No repeating, echoing etc. the second half of the game. I think they have it fixed.

Where are the standings on the USA Curling site? CZ is a bit slow on the update so I went to the site and can't find them anywhere. I am sure I am overlooking the spot.

George has come back, I was thinking it was Shuster or McCormick, but now may have to give George a chance as well. I see Craig Brown is his 5th. I still think Shuster is the best shot to win next month for the Olympic qualifier at this time in the competition.

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Registered: Oct 2002
Location: Omaha, Nebraska, USA
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are there any spectators tonight? lots of empty seats in the lower bowl

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I watched from my IPad before and now "this video isn't encoded for your device"??!!

I was just watching the widescreen shot of them getting the ice ready.

Very frustrating.

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Registered: Oct 2002
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Not a good presentation at all. Most folks will just give up and leave the site.


I guess we'll get finger pointing between the USCA, USOC and TESN

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Registered: Feb 2011
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Posts: 348

I'm just hoping enough people give up that I can actually get a feed.

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Registered: Dec 2005
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Agreed ( it's a disaster.

iPad = "video isn't encoded for your device"

internet = "requested bitrate is not available"

DONE and GONE.

Good luck to all the teams and sorry we cannot watch you perform.

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quote:

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Originally posted by MostlyLurking
Agreed ( it's a disaster.

iPad = "video isn't encoded for your device"

internet = "requested bitrate is not available"

DONE and GONE.

Good luck to all the teams and sorry we cannot watch you perform.

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Registered: Apr 2006
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What we've got here is failure to communicate.

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Registered: Oct 2012
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Two great games in extra ends, and nobody can watch.

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Shuster is probably going to win this now.

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Registered: Nov 2013
Location: USA
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Its been an interesting bouquet of opening draws for the men and strong first draw for the Ladies.

Seeing a lot of potentially high scoring ends where rinks are laying 3,4,5 at a time... do you think this indicates weak play? or aggressive play?.... How do you predict U.S. teams will stack up against the European teams they will see in the lastchance qualifiers for the Olympics?

Also surprised to see a 12th end finish between Pottinger and Johnson. On the edge of our seats as the pools shake out! Much luck to everyone.


IIII

Last edited by Fourscore on 11-12-13 at 04:38AM

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quote:

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Originally posted by Fourscore
Also surprised to see a 12th end finish between Pottinger and Johnson. On the edge of our seats as the pools shake out! Much luck to everyone.


IIII

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Registered: Sep 2002
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Posts: 1431

Yes, very frustrating as everyone was looking forward to the webstream. From my non-technical view, seems the provider can't handle the stream/load.

Back to the matter at hand. Last draw for the men today for the first half. Shuster in control and Clark struggling. The other three teams could end up at 2-2. If Shuster goes undefeated through the entire RR he gains significant advantage in the playoffs, both hammer and choice of rocks for the entire playoff.

If the three teams tie at 2-2 they would also be tied in the standings. They are 1-1 against each other. Not sure how the reseeding would work then for the second half.

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Go Phils, got my WS bet on you

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Yes, this should be an Olympic festival of US curling but you''d have to be a real optimist to say this has been a good couple of days. Everything, especially in comparison to the recently completed RTTR is just third class.

The streaming problems are hard to fathom. Is not NBC Sports (a Comcast company) a sponsor? They can't handle one curling game?? I don't get it. And please don't float the bandwidth excuse because curling is tiny compared to everything else they stream.

Not many comments about the ice. Here's to hoping it settles down. It sure looked like Shuster was playing a good 5 1/2 feet of curl in draw 1. Everyone was missing shots badly and the games were really ugly. Maybe it is good that only a few could see the early games. Seems if the Olympic standards call for 4 feet of curl then that's what the trials should have.

Finally, disappointed that the USCA couldn't find athletic wear sponsors, or any sponsors!, so the best of US curling would look like athletic teams. Only Heaters team had names, numbers, and maybe a sponsor logo or two. Other teams were lucky to even have matching tee shirts. I'm not knocking the teams, it just seems in an Olympic year with national TV that the USCA exes could have found a way to outfit 9 teams and put the payers in a better light.

Sorry all for being pissy. I guess the stream frustration and comparison with Canada's pre-trials got me going negative.

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: Fairport, NY
Posts: 143

You know when things are going bad in your life and you just want to get an update as to what's going on and no one is there to respond. I hate that. So I'm going to do my best to address the issues with the stream.

1) TESN has used a number of back end providers (youtube, ustream, justin.tv, etc.) in the past to put curling on. We've used different software and hardware packages. Never have we seen the issues we've experiencing now. I can assure you that during testing for significant amounts of time before games, things have been tinkered with on the back end (not on our end) and have gotten to a point where we have felt comfortable going live. Once going live, when it counts, the back end seems to fail. We know how important this is to many friends, family and fans of the athletes competing. It's as frustrating for us as it is to you. Try doing a complete broadcast for only yourself, Tuck and BA .

2) We've spent some time last night testing other back end providers privately and things seem to work rather flawlessly. So one could easily say, "Hey there's your problem, switch back end providers." Needless to say, it isn't that easy and you can't just switch without going through the proper channels.

3) We'd love to blame someone here, but there isn't any blame to the USCA or USOC to give. They are the ones that are helping us get a solution together. Rick Patski personally got up into the rafters in the arena last night to run new cat5 cable in an attempt to try something, anything to get us on the air. The USOC reps are with us after each game, on the phone, doing everything they can to work with the back end provider to make something work.

All of that said, the results aren't there. We weren't up and running and people have every right to be upset. We're upset.

So here's what we are going to do...

1) We've just gotten word from the USOC that our games today will be broadcast using youtube. It's exactly what we asked for last night and they responded.

2) You will still find the games on usacurl.org.

3) We are going to put on a well produced webcast. The same one we've been putting on for ourselves the last two days. Only this time, we expect you to see it.

So those of you who have hung in there with us, thank you. For those of you who haven't, our sincerest apologies. We hope you rejoin us at noon (Central Time) for some fun as we've only got 6 games to get in ten games worth of bad jokes, Tuckisms, and some really high level curling.

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Thanks Joey C. your response to the situation is much more professional and useful than the response from the USCA. We appreciate all the hardwork and effort you all put into putting on this webcast for us! Hopefully things will be better!

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Looks good so far, but how are they curling already for a 12:00 CST draw?

Oops, practice.

Last edited by biterbar on 11-12-13 at 12:55PM

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Registered: Nov 2013
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I'm still getting stopping and starting with the stream. Tried a different Youtube live stream with a few hundred viewers (some Russian music show... !) and it seems to go fine.

Will keep trying but thought you'd like to know.

Thanks for the great work you're doing. I think a lot of people probably don't understand the massive amount of work that goes into doing something like this. TSN probably has 15 or 20 people getting paid a decent salary producing their broadcasts. There's about twenty vital points at which the entire system can fail. Good luck with it.

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Registered: Feb 2011
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Unfortunately, it is still pretty unwatchable. Perhaps TESN could do things the way they have been doing them previously and have the USOC take a step back for this event.

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Hit the pause button a minute or two and then start it again, it is pretty seamless when not buffering live.

For me anyway.

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Much better doing that. Thanks for the tip.

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Registered: Sep 2002
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So, a reset for the men with the first half of the draw done.
Fenson 3-1
Shuster 3-1
George 2-2
Clark 1-3
McCormick 1-3

McCormick needs to run the table and get help to make the playoffs. Not sure what the reseeding does unless they do the same as the first half. In which case the draw would be
Fenson v George and Shuster v Clark tonight maybe.

The webstream seems better with the switch to youtube and if you watch there, there is commenting so we can Drink with Tuck (tm me). Won't be running that tonight however, league night for me.

JH
quacking as loud as I can

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Registered: May 2011
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We're halfway through the double RR and its been great thanks to the streaming and extra stats. Thanks for working through all the troubles!

I could not find who qualifies for the playoffs - can anyone help clue me in?

I see two final games for men and women. Does that mean that three teams qualify (double RR eliminates one women's team and two mens)? Is the first final 2 vs 3 with the winner playing 1? Is the conditional third final in case an undefeated team went down in F2 (and thus no longer matters)? What are the tie breakers to determine the top spot?

Thanks,

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Top two teams advance to a best of 3 playoff. Tie-breakers are played if teams are tied for the second spot.

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Registered: Nov 2013
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hey where can I watch the replays of these games? thanks!

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