F1 British Grand Prix on Sunday - SKY screwup [SORTED]

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photoman

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Master Geek

Topic # 14620 12-Jul-2007 12:49

Does anyone have a recording of the F1 British Grand Prix from Sunday past?

I was away at the weekend and booked both the qualifying and the race on my Sky box. When I got home last night, I watched the qualifying and then started to watch the race.

Or I would have, had Sky not decided to change the channel it was broadcasting it on, so I ended up with four hours of cycling.

It's remarkable that they can post out a magazine two weeks before the race stating it will be on a particular channel. Having missed previous grands prix because the magazine information was incorrect, I decided this time that I would use the EPG and book the program. I then set my HDD recorder to start five minutes earlier and finish two hours later. Now it turns out the magazine was correct.

I plan to phone and complain to Sky, but doubt that it will be of much use other than to vent my annoyance with them. I only have Sky sports because of F1 and the WRC, so it's a rather expensive option for me to watch two sports.

barf

643 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 77851 12-Jul-2007 13:59

alot of F1 and WRC videos are on emule
I catch up on all the WRC action thanks to broadband, Sky's WRC coverage sucks compared to Eurosport's

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photoman

217 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 77854 12-Jul-2007 14:58

No offence barf, but I want to be able to watch F1 and WRC on my TV in the comfort of my lounge, not in a small window on my PC. I sit in front of a PC all day and muck around with them at home for a few hours a week. I don't have any desire to sit there even longer.

Anyway, from my limited understanding of emule and other file sharing systems, I will be both downloading and uploading these files, which adds yet more to my monthly data cap. I pay enough for internet access. I don't want to have to pay more.

I'm not sure of file sizes or resolutions, so please correct me if I'm way off the mark here. Let's say a grand prix lasts 90 minutes and takes up 600MB (a nice round number). To get that 600MB, I am going to download 600MB, but at the same time I will be uploading at least half of that with other people sharing the same files I just downloaded. That's 900MB for a file that I have to watch on my PC (the TV is at one end of the house and the PC is at the other end). And what sort of resolution are we talking about here? Is it something that will occupy a small window or can fill the screen (and still look good).

allstarnz

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Reply # 77860 12-Jul-2007 16:11

check your e-mails.

As for the Sky mag, read the articles and chuck it in the recycling. It's always out of date, as Sky change the schedule all the time. I know that towards the end of the week it had been changed to SS3. Always check the EPG or website before you leave. I've been caught out too before.

sbiddle

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Reply # 77862 12-Jul-2007 16:15

photoman: No offence barf, but I want to be able to watch F1 and WRC on my TV in the comfort of my lounge, not in a small window on my PC. I sit in front of a PC all day and muck around with them at home for a few hours a week. I don't have any desire to sit there even longer.

Anyway, from my limited understanding of emule and other file sharing systems, I will be both downloading and uploading these files, which adds yet more to my monthly data cap. I pay enough for internet access. I don't want to have to pay more.

I'm not sure of file sizes or resolutions, so please correct me if I'm way off the mark here. Let's say a grand prix lasts 90 minutes and takes up 600MB (a nice round number). To get that 600MB, I am going to download 600MB, but at the same time I will be uploading at least half of that with other people sharing the same files I just downloaded. That's 900MB for a file that I have to watch on my PC (the TV is at one end of the house and the PC is at the other end). And what sort of resolution are we talking about here? Is it something that will occupy a small window or can fill the screen (and still look good).

You've pretty much summarised all P2P networks - uploading as well as downloading are all part of belonging to the community.

As for the quality it all depends on the file you're downloading, one of the reasons downloading TV shows using P2P networks has become so popular is because of the availability of High Definition files. If you have a dedicated PC or PVR hooked up to your TV you can download F1 races for example in 720p high definition widescreen just as Bernie wants you to see them. It's just that Sky NZ don't transmit them in HD or widescreen.

barf

643 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 77869 12-Jul-2007 17:55

I download WRC in HD, file size is about ~250MB for 27mins and with the right settings I transfer a total of about 300MB, far from the 50% overhead some seem to experience. No offence taken because, my setup at home is a bit different we use PC on our plasma screen because its higher quality than Sky's composite-video output and etc.

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allstarnz

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Reply # 77883 12-Jul-2007 19:35

sbiddle:As for the quality it all depends on the file you're downloading, one of the reasons downloading TV shows using P2P networks has become so popular is because of the availability of High Definition files. If you have a dedicated PC or PVR hooked up to your TV you can download F1 races for example in 720p high definition widescreen just as Bernie wants you to see them. It's just that Sky NZ don't transmit them in HD or widescreen.

Yes, agreed about point 1.

I am 99% sure F1 is not yet broadcast in HD anywhere in the world. It has been trialed and broadcast one off to some countries. However now that FOM own HD capable equipment, I suspect this will change either later this year or for 2008. Remember F1 has only just gone to 16:9 widescreen this year, except in backwaters like NZ, grumble grumble.

PromNZ

154 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 77972 13-Jul-2007 11:07

I gave up on SKy Sport a long time ago, and now watch the F1 races via a torrent, mostly sourced from PirateBay.

Silverstone version was ex ITV, including buildup and came to @700mb for 1'29"00" of racing. Very nice, widescreen and no commercials, xvid format which played nicelt on my media centre - none of this silly watching on a pokey computer monitor

sbiddle

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Reply # 77973 13-Jul-2007 11:40

allstarnz:
sbiddle:As for the quality it all depends on the file you're downloading, one of the reasons downloading TV shows using P2P networks has become so popular is because of the availability of High Definition files. If you have a dedicated PC or PVR hooked up to your TV you can download F1 races for example in 720p high definition widescreen just as Bernie wants you to see them. It's just that Sky NZ don't transmit them in HD or widescreen.

Yes, agreed about point 1.

I am 99% sure F1 is not yet broadcast in HD anywhere in the world. It has been trialed and broadcast one off to some countries. However now that FOM own HD capable equipment, I suspect this will change either later this year or for 2008. Remember F1 has only just gone to 16:9 widescreen this year, except in backwaters like NZ, grumble grumble.

I read somewhere a few months ago that all the European rounds beginning with Spain where going to be in HD this year.

edit: a quick google search found this - ITV do have it in HD and are offering it to a cinema chain where you can pay £15 to watch a F1 race!

allstarnz

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Reply # 77984 13-Jul-2007 13:19

thanks for the link sbiddle

PromNZ - the only down side to 'no ads' is that ITV's ad breaks are significantly longer (about 2 mins longer) than Sky, as well as being more frequent. They have a bad habit of missing incidents too.

As for the build up, agree 100%, ITV's pre race is excellent, shame it's not shown here.

sbiddle

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Reply # 77987 13-Jul-2007 13:36

The MPEG4 HD Freeview DVB-T trial has actually finished in the UK at present so that probably explains why it's not being trandmitted in HD. Apparently everybody is waiting for the Government to announce a launch of the MPEG4 HD service so they're stuck with non HD MPEG2 at present.

photoman

217 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 77991 13-Jul-2007 14:04

Thanks to those who offered me a copy of the race, and to those who suggested other alternative sources. I'll check these out when time permits.

The next obvious question is can I convert these files and burn them to DVD to watch on my TV.

Old Grey Geek

140 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 78066 14-Jul-2007 13:22

Converting .avi files to DVD to play on your DVD player can be done but it's a real pain. Iv'e been using this prog. DVD Flick, can be downloaded from http://www.dvdflick.net/.

" Supported file container formats are, amongst others, AVI, MPG, MOV, WMV, ASF, FLV, Matroska and MP4. Supported codecs are amongst others, MPEG-1\2\4 (XVid, DivX, etc.), Windows Media Audio\Video. MP3, OGG Vorbis, H264, and On2 VP5\6. For a full list of supported container, audio and video formats, see http://ffmpeg.mplayerhq.hu/ffmpeg-doc.html#SEC20

DVD Flick is Open Source, meaning that anyone can download and view or modify the program's source code. It also means that it is absolutely free of charge. Several external programs are used by DVD Flick to do the dirty work like encoding and combining of video material. All of these programs are free, some are Open Source too."

But then again, the best way, IMHO is to get a DivX capable DVD player, most these days are apart from some of the real cheapies, and copy the.avi files to cd or dvd. The really best way is to get a decent video card with TV out. Composite is ok for most TV downloads but of course Svideo, component or even HDMI would be better.