New WCHA TV - Will it be better then the last

[davyd83]

So here are my thoughts on WCHA TV the next AM:

Has a lot of potential, mostly because of how inconsistent the quality is from team to team. I REALLY, REALLY hate how they try to incorporate social media into the interface because it spoils the game by revealing scores.

The thing I like most about streaming games is that you can watch many to most of them on demand. Often I'll not pay attention to scores on Friday if I have something going on that prevents me from catching games, so I can watch a "fresh" game in the AM. We'll as I said last night, I tried watching the Wisconsin-Ferris game and it had the final score pasted up on the right hand side of the screen as soon as I opened the feed. Why? Why is this necessary?

Same thing with the Tech-NMU game last night. This game was the reason I decided to get the day pass because of the recommendations I heard in this thread. Of course, because it had social media right next to the video, I knew the score as soon as I started the game. Why? What is the point of all this?

Aside from the whole social media thing, the quality of the broadcasts varies from school to school. I'm watching the Tech-NMU replay and the video is excellent, it is crisp and clear. They have multiple camera angles. The audio sounds good, though I'm not sure if there is a broadcaster because they're doing intros and I'm only hearing crowd and PA noise. Actually I'm now hearing a broadcaster, so that's good. Though now I'm into the game and the camera is kind of jittery. I wish this could get smoothed out.

On the other hand, I was watching the UAA-UAH game and it wasn't very good. It was totally like UAH handed a camera to a dad in the stands and asked him to tape the game. One camera angle. Video quality was not very good, on a scale of 1-10 it was a 5. No broadcaster. On-screen graphics were average.

Many of the webcasts have the video produced, but tie in to the home team's radio feed. There won't be a produced owning, just the wide shot of the arena until it's time to drop the puck, then the radio broadcast is patched in. On NMU home games, I've asked that they kill the mic during radio commercial breaks. They do this and go with crowd noise or a music bed. This allows me to talk back to the studio and not have that chatter on the WCHA tv product.

[gfmorris]

Re: New WCHA TV - Will it be better then the last

For my money, the two best productions in the league are the Minnesota schools. BSU has LPTV, and Minnesota State has the kids from the school next door that are working hard for good tape.

GFM

[manurespreader]

Re: New WCHA TV - Will it be better then the last

I tried to watch the Bsu/ Mankato game las night and the audio was about 20 seconds ahead of the video. Kind of disconcerting. Also it had intermittent definition problems. The NMU feed on friday and the Tech feed on saturday were ok. NMU was the best. the Tech feed had some buffering issues.

[bose301s]

Re: New WCHA TV - Will it be better then the last

They were having a lot of issues with the audio feed in the Tech-NMU game last night. Cut out many times and was really quiet for a few stretches. Also, why do the cut to the arena feed during the intermissions, I would much rather continue to listening to the radio broadcast and the interviews with the coaches and analysis between periods than listen to the on ice games or dead air between periods.

[davyd83]

They were having a lot of issues with the audio feed in the Tech-NMU game last night. Cut out many times and was really quiet for a few stretches. Also, why do the cut to the arena feed during the intermissions, I would much rather continue to listening to the radio broadcast and the interviews with the coaches and analysis between periods than listen to the on ice games or dead air between periods.

The systems and radio formats are different. Commercials that are played from the radio station and pre recorded interviews played from the studio are inaccessible to the vdeo crew at the rink. They can only grab the audio available on site.

[bose301s]

Re: New WCHA TV - Will it be better then the last

The systems and radio formats are different. Commercials that are played from the radio station and pre recorded interviews played from the studio are inaccessible to the vdeo crew at the rink. They can only grab the audio available on site.

I know, however up until about halfway through last season they played the radio pregame show and between period interviews etc. on the WCHA.TV broadcast but then stopped, so they can do it no problem, they just stopped doing it.

[davyd83]

I know, however up until about halfway through last season they played the radio pregame show and between period interviews etc. on the WCHA.TV broadcast but then stopped, so they can do it no problem, they just stopped doing it.

It varies from rink to rink. One thing that may have happened is that whatever broadcast they were using audio for may have changed how they did things. Not being in the control room or radio studio, neither you nor I can give a definitive answer. On my broadcasts, I interview the coaches and send them back to the studio. Player interviews between periods are also prerecorded during the week of the game and played out of the studio. Therefore the tv production cannot access them. I also request that tv kills our audio during commercials so I can communicate with the studio engineer without that going out to the webcast audience. If the tv were to simply hook into the radio broadcast coming over the air, there would be delay between what you see on the screen and the play by play you hear. I can only speak for my broadcasts as thing may be different at Tech, Fairbanks or Huntville. Bemidji has the best set up since they simply rebroadcast the TV feed they already have.

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: New WCHA TV - Will it be better then the last

I know, however up until about halfway through last season they played the radio pregame show and between period interviews etc. on the WCHA.TV broadcast but then stopped, so they can do it no problem, they just stopped doing it.

Because they used to use audio picked up from radio received up in the SDC. Remember the games with tons of static? That was because the signal in the SDC was bad so to fix that they went with only the feed in The arena and chose to change intermission to in house. I switch to pasty.net now for intermissions.

[davyd83]

Because they used to use audio picked up from radio received up in the SDC. Remember the games with tons of static? That was because the signal in the SDC was bad so to fix that they went with only the feed in The arena and chose to change intermission to in house. I switch to pasty.net now for intermissions.

I figured it was something along those lines. You're right radio signals aren't good and even cell phone signal strength varies depending on where you are in the building. I had to try a couple times to email my interviews with the coaches back to the studio via cell.

[bose301s]

Re: New WCHA TV - Will it be better then the last

Because they used to use audio picked up from radio received up in the SDC. Remember the games with tons of static? That was because the signal in the SDC was bad so to fix that they went with only the feed in The arena and chose to change intermission to in house. I switch to pasty.net now for intermissions.

OK, makes sense, and I do the same, would much rather hear the interviews with the coaches etc than the in-house feed.

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: New WCHA TV - Will it be better then the last

OK, makes sense, and I do the same, would much rather hear the interviews with the coaches etc than the in-house feed.

yeah, but I'll take what they have now over the static they got for so many games with the old system.

[maverick2009]

Re: New WCHA TV - Will it be better then the last

Has anyone watched Minnesota State Maverick hockey on Comcast channel 999 in the Twin Cities last year?

This is the article I heard this from - sounds like 11 or so games are on Comcast 999 in the Twin Cities.
http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/wcha...omcast-channel


What kind of comcast package is needed to get channel comcast 999?

[bravohankins]

Re: New WCHA TV - Will it be better then the last

For my money, the two best productions in the league are the Minnesota schools. BSU has LPTV, and Minnesota State has the kids from the school next door that are working hard for good tape.

GFM

The BGSU home games are almost all direct feeds of the Buckeye Cable SportsNet(BCSN) game broadcast. Replays, Stats, intermission interviews the whole 9 yards.

With BG's early schedule I have tried both the B2NtoGo Plus and NCHC offerings.......they are no better and no less expensive. SO much of this just depends on the quality of the home team broadcast team and feed. Canisius' feed was in standard def......could not even make out the jersey numbers. You could "generally follow the game action" that's about it.

RIT.....no feed from a 10,000 seat arena...figure that one out.

Anyway, you get as good of broadcast as the school puts into it.

[gfmorris]

Re: New WCHA TV - Will it be better then the last

The LSSU feeds were vastly above what they were doing two years ago. but Bill Crawford is hard to listen toooooooooo, if you know what I meaaaaannnnn.

GFM

[pdt1081]

Re: New WCHA TV - Will it be better then the last

Watched the feed from UAA tonight. At the start of the 2nd period, there was no audio. It took a minute and 12 seconds of playing for the audio to start. At that point, someone paused the video feed until the audio caught up. The broadcast ended up being about 5 minutes (actual time) behind the CHN app. Not really a big deal, unless you don't turn off the CHN notifications.

Other than that, the feed wasn't terrible. Definitely not in HD. Most of the time it seemed like it was a little below SD quality, but this was probably compounded by watching it on a 46" TV.

I really wish there was a way to choose the visiting team's radio feed, but it is what it is.