"And now a brief word from the Olympics..." (Tech stuff only, please)..

I wish we'd get CNBC in HD. We recently got USA-HD, which looks swell. My wife is a big Monk fan too.

Universal HD looks very nice as well.

Is Telemundo in HD anywhere? I noticed NBC is also using Telemundo for some Olympic coverage.

dan c

 

Bob Costas and Chris Collinsworth are doing the live version (in Beijing) tonight and Jim Lampley (man has he aged!) is doing the Beijing nightly (US morning to 6 pm) version.

 

Audio was WEAK!!!
Like nothing under 60Hz on my system (Comcast) for the ceremony.
NBC pre-recorded music; like going to break was fine.
However, the drums were disappointing.

 

Initially Bejing was going to bar western journalists from entering..I guess they'd had a change of heart,since they'd knew that the eyes of the World were watching,and Lord knows they don't need bad publicity now,that's for sure! Michael Boyce

 

Not strange at all. There's a reason NBC stands for No Broadcaster Cheaper. 90% of the personel are in NYC. That includes announcers, producers, technicians, etc. They crewed only the main venues: swimming, diving, track and field, gymnastics. And a skeletal crew in the IBC. Everything else they are just picking up the world feed. They don't want to spend the money, no matter what ever excuses they are using. I know, I've worked 3 Olympics for them.

 

Olympics goes all-HD for the first time

 

I hear that CBS stands for Cheap Broadcasting System...also Cash Be Scarce.


By todays standards NBC-Universal seems to still put a lot of money into their news and sports coverage.

I don't think it's uncommon for networks to pick up a lot of pool feed. It's not just a 'cheap' issue, it's also camera and staffing access among other issues. There is a ton of media there scrambling for the best positions.

dan c

 

Looks like it's all paying off for NBC.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26142994/

 

Blast from the past....

I don't want to derail the thread, but I can't help but remember the stunning coverage ABC Sports used to give The Olympics back in their glory days.

1984 is burned into my memory, maybe because at 14 I was absorbing everything in pop culture I could lay my young eyes on.

I was also a young TV geek who was absolutely fascinated by 'Super Slo Mo', which was totally new back then. It was eye-popping-incredible to watch.

ABC had the best crew and on air talent back then, no doubt. And IMHO they're still the one to beat.

RIP Mr. McKay.

dan c

August 1984 Sports Illustraited article:

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1122432/index.htm

 

Well I didn't watch 1984 too much as it was basically the US against a bunch of patsies but ABC Olympics in 1968, 1972, 1976 and 1980 Winter had just wonderful coverage. Amazing how they managed to air more interesting coverage in 60 hours than NBC manages showing 100 times as much. Sometimes less really is more.

 

I did not see it when it happened so maybe someone can clear this up. I was told- and have read a couple of places- that for safety reasons part of the opening ceremonies fireworks were CGI and not the real deal. I honestly don't know and am not trying to start some argument- I just had never heard that until today.

 

I did not see the Opening Cerimonies either, but here is the article on MSNBC regarding the CGI fireworks:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26139005/

 

OK. Thanks. I hadn't found that link until you pointed it out.