Wrc+

[RS]

I think kubiczech has hit the nail on the head there about what has been missing from the live WRC coverage for years actually. This is something Eurosport did really well with the live IRC coverage. They don’t even seem to make much use of splits on the live WRC stuff.

[seb_sh]

Overall "all live" looks promising and i think i will keep my subscription after the free trial ends. I would like to point out one (IMHO) big problem, which was present in all live stages and powerstages in recent years, and was still present on Monte. During the live stage i want to visualy follow interesting drivers, who are in some kind of fight for position or they need to attack from any other reason. That way i, as a spectator, am witnessing the drama of brilliant drive or possible mistake. Instaead of this i am now for 70% of the stage following first car on the road, which on the 2nd and 3rd day of the rally is almost surely someone who had problems and is out of contention or some gentleman driver. Try to remember how long we watched Khalid Al Qassimi on Live TV stages last year (nothing against him, but his driving really is not spectacular enough nor important for the "story" of the Rally). We were lucky to have Breen on Monte in this position, who was at least interesting to watch, but he was not important person for the rally. I can imagine, it is technicaly easiest way to follow first driver on the stage all the way to the finish and then cath every next car on last few kms of the stage. but this scheme will be much more problematic when we are All Live. In recent years we were happy to see any few kms live and it was not as important who we watch. But now when we can follow all stages and the story, it will soon become really dull and frustrating to watch mostly cars which are out of contention. Otherwise thanks to everybody involved. Good job done. I am sure they know that it is not finished and there is a lot to improve.

This is a very good point, they kind of show cars randomly instead of directing and showing the interesting parts. It's like if F1 showed the driver in P5 going around alone instead of showing overtaking.

[Suusameister]

In WRC+ case it seems like there is much bigger role on IT team doing this stuff and clearly (as in most big IT projects) things will be delayed and testing will take long time.
Also, I imagine the server loads, the signals between different devices and location characteristics will be a great challenge.

Though wrc is financially not that strong to provide free stuff I still would like to see some live feed from their YouTube channel.
This would amp up yt subscriptions and probably would get more people involved.

[AndyRAC]

Though WRC is financially not that strong to provide free stuff I still would like to see some live feed from their YouTube channel.
This would amp up yt subscriptions and probably would get more people involved.

Agree. There need to be more 'free live content'. The one Saturday stage on RedBullTV is nice, but not nearly enough.....

[PLuto]

I wrote it somewhere here few days ago. Same like kubiczech wrote, one of the biggest problem of live coverage on WRC (also last years powerstages, but it was same this year) is that they are absolutely missing what is happening on that stage. They can say results after previous stage, make lot of commentars regarding the situation of the rally, but they are not adapt to what is actually doing on the rally. If anything happened on the stage, they usually dont know about it (despite in results it is written, on twitter/facebook there are informations and pictures). They are not focusing on the real battles on the stages, dont following interesting drivers. There were lot of talks about "stupid" rotating stage map, about pre-recorded interviews showed during the stage, lot of camera watches to the crews during stage end interviews, where only voice is important and video should be taking care other crews. I also dont like so many and so long camera shots on the starts of stages. For first car yes, but for others I prefer to see action on stage, not watching standing car on start line. Also director doesnt know what is happening and is not able to adapt to the situation. One great example was that "famous" left corner after long straight, where lot of crews went out to the field. Since first cars (and also after first loop) you know that this is important place, where lot of drivers are making mistakes. So why not to switch to every car, when it is close to this place? I think it will be interesting to watch this important places more than following cars somewhere else. Same with second Turini slippery place, where Bouffier went off. Thanks god this time they showed problems of others mainly from record, but why not LIVE when the cars are approaching that place? Or another example - first stage on Saturday. From splits you can see that Sordo is flying on that stage. So why not switch to his onboard to see his speed and how he handle with that fast speed?

[latek]

Now that we have all stages live onboards it would be great if they implemented what canal+ did in Alsace 2014 with live virtual timings so we can see where drivers are gaining or losing time. It's a bit blind now with those sparse splits.
https://youtu.be/9w2s30Y_UlI

[Franky]

PLuto, I know exactly what you mean and it's one thing that has annoyed me also for quite a long time. The PIP function (smaller picture in the corner) should be relatively easy to use. But there's one thing that I guess they've overlooked themselves. You need people to look at all the feeds. One person can't do it, not even two, in my opinion. I could bring a personal experience from a studio production, but think it won't be much point. But I've heard that on crosscountry skiing and most likely also on biathlon events, there are people like spotters before the camera zones informing the directing crew that certain athlete is approaching.

If they could figure out how to fix that thing, I think it could be much better.

But yeah, the whole start procedure showing is pointless. Even more as a replay. Another place for a PIP.

But if they manage to improve the response to action by actually showing it live, reacting to what's happening and add timing (splits) graphics to the broadcast ... I guess wives and girlfriends will start hating WRC or they'll get plenty of free weekends, where the other half is glued to the screens viewing WRC.

[lnvs]

Or another example - first stage on Saturday. From splits you can see that Sordo is flying on that stage. So why not switch to his onboard to see his speed and how he handle with that fast speed?

There is some limitations how they get the feed. They can't see all cars all the time. Sometimes none like we saw in Monte. Cars need to be at range to receive video. Link plane obviously has some pre-planned route. Don't know about copters probably them too. "Let's fly to the action place and skip all the stage interviews" sounds like a dream but it would be hard to change program plan completely.

In this video you can see the link plane on the map and feeds they are receiving.
https://twitter.com/nepfinland/statu...05091864424448

Those after stage interviews are the worst. Usually there is nothing to ask or say and taking the helmet off takes longer than the actual interview. These should be PiP or just voice like said earlier.

[the sniper]

Agree. There need to be more 'free live content'. The one Saturday stage on RedBullTV is nice, but not nearly enough.....

The only problem with the RedBullTV coverage is that nobody beyond the hardcore know it's there, and us hardcore are now paying to watch on WRC+ instead. I understand Red Bull wanting to push their own media channel, but given the effort that goes into that quality broadcast, it's a shame for the WRC that it isn't broadcast somewhere else. Either live on the WRC's You Tube/Facebook, or ideally refocused towards one domestic market and broadcaster on a mainstream channel so it can attract the greatest possible mainstream audience. I don't imagine they're making any/much money off this coverage anyway, so imagine if it were possible to approach something like the BBC here, tell them they can broadcast it for free and just repackage/graphic it like BBC Sport coverage (like how a lot of 'BBC Sport' coverage is actually produced by outside companies). Mainstream coverage, even if paid for by the WRC, gets the product out there and having a major broadcaster seemingly being involved gives the sport mainstream legitimacy.

I'm not saying all the pieces would fall into place and make this possible, but I'd be pushing hard in that direction if I were them. I'm thinking of the BBC's coverage of and deal with the NFL as a model here, which must be based on similar theory.

Now that we have all stages live onboards it would be great if they implemented what canal+ did in Alsace 2014 with live virtual timings so we can see where drivers are gaining or losing time. It's a bit blind now with those sparse splits.
https://youtu.be/9w2s30Y_UlI

Great idea. I know some people weren't a fan of 'virtual spectator' back in the ISC/North One days, but I liked it. At the moment though I think they should just focus on getting the splits to work and be displayed reliably!

[Franky]

Actually, if someone is intersted, then NEP, the company producing all the content, has got quite a few pics and videos from behind the scenes on their Twitter feed - https://twitter.com/nepfinland

Thanks for sharing the link lnvs.