CBS's MotoGP coverage Poll

[JerryMather]

Vote Here !

[JerryMather]

How many of you VOTED for the third one?

[Whip]

How many of you VOTED for the third one?

 

I did......

 

"...but I'm not normal"

[Bob Palin]

Just as a matter of interest was the CBS coverage in HD?

[Whip]

Just as a matter of interest was the CBS coverage in HD?

 

Yes...atleast I could get it on the HD CBS channel....whether or not it was really HD?????????

[Bob Palin]

Easy to tell - was it in TV format with the black bars at the side or full screen? (Assuming you have your TV set to display regular TV in regular format, otherwise the bikes would be really loooong)

[Whip]

It was HD

[James Clark]

It was an HDTV broadcast of cell phone quality video. If you didn't know it said "CBS" on the microphone, you sure as hell couldn't tell by trying to read it.

 

I switched to the HDTV broadcast of the Canadian GP on FOX and got the same crappy video.

 

If you want motorsports in hi-def, you're stuck with NASCAR.

[dmk]

It was not in HD. Maybe your TV is set to crop and/or stretch. Dorna, the Spanish company who has the TV rights to Moto GP and provides all the feeds, doesn't use HD yet. They do offer an "HD" streaming video package on the official Moto GP web site, but it's not HDTV resolution, just standard PAL resolution. F1 doesn't provide an HD feed either.

 

And for the record, CBS's coverage sucked. I don't know why they couldn't just broadcast the English language feed from Dorna. CBS also covered a few F1 races last year, and they sucked at that as well.

 

Dave

[steve.foote]

Easy to tell - was it in TV format with the black bars at the side or full screen? (Assuming you have your TV set to display regular TV in regular format, otherwise the bikes would be really loooong)

 

No, it was 4:3 format. I too watched it on CBSHD, but it looked like the normal Speed feed. I think See-BS just did graphics and voice over's, though Schwantz must have been in Catalunya as evidenced by the end-of-race interviews.

[RonStewart]

As stated above, on the CBS HD channel, the MotoGP race was in low-res.

 

In Canada, on TSN-HD (the HD feed for one of our cable sports networks) the Canadian GP was in HD and the commentary was from the usual Brits. (I don't watch F1 much, so I don't know if it is usually in HD here.)

[90%angel]

As much as I didn't like CBS's announcer (for that "Nascar of motorcycle racing" comment alone!), I did like Kevin Schwantz (especially the way he corrected the other guy, and, when the other guy would get off in the weeds and be talking about who knows what, Kevin would just not answer him, and get back to commentating on the race! ), and I do think it was better than ABC last year; ABC used their own feed, and the volume on the bikes was so soft, you could barely hear them...now while the Euro guys go too far the other way (the bikes are so loud, you can't hear a word the announcers are saying sometimes), you do need a little bike noise for the race to be exciting, IMHO. Plus, ABC had their guys out there in suits! It was a million degrees in Laguna, and you're broadcasting to a racing audience...take the darn sport coats off already!

 

But, as many have said, if it helps draw interest (and sponsorship dollars) to the sport, then so be it. I miss my little "absolutely flying" guy though.

 

(Could be worse...they could have gotten Brian Drebber to call the race!)

[PhillyFlash]

As much as I didn't like CBS's announcer (for that "Nascar of motorcycle racing" comment alone!), I did like Kevin Schwantz (especially the way he corrected the other guy, and, when the other guy would get off in the weeds and be talking about who knows what, Kevin would just not answer him, and get back to commentating on the race! ), and I do think it was better than ABC last year; ABC used their own feed, and the volume on the bikes was so soft, you could barely hear them...now while the Euro guys go too far the other way (the bikes are so loud, you can't hear a word the announcers are saying sometimes), you do need a little bike noise for the race to be exciting, IMHO. ...I miss my little "absolutely flying" guy though.

 

As much as we like to joke about the SpeedTV commentators, they are absolutely much better than CBS's. Schwantz was OK, but I didn't think he was great. Neither of them had any real emotion in their voices. I was almost like a couple of guys commentating on a race they had already watched. The Brits, at least one of them, really do seem engrossed in the races and sound excited when there's a pass, a bump, a slide, a crash - all the things we get excited about. I'd be happy to have every race on SpeedTV, high-def or standard; just give me a race.

[russell_bynum]

As much as we like to joke about the SpeedTV commentators

 

I believe the "SpeedTV" commentators for MotoGP are the official MotoGP commentators. They don't work for SpeedTV. (I think.)

 

The "official SpeedTV" roadracing commentators would be Greg White, Freddie Spencer, etc. IMO, they suck too, but they're better than what we saw on ABC. What bugs me most about the Official coverage of AMA racing by Speed is the way they handle the starts. You see the bikes leave the line, then they go to some onboard shot from their onboard camera back in 273rd place or something, then they go to that stupid camera down on the ground right at the apex of the turn so you just see a bunch of blurs go by. Many times, the racers are a half-lap into the race before the commentators have said anything. Nothing about who got a good start/bad start/holeshot/etc.