Discussion: WOC Live

I paid for and tried the video streaming and GPS tracking for today's middle races. Although I did get them to work for the women's race there were some "issues." One was very serious. Before I mention them publicly, I would like to canvass others who also tried these services and attempt to corroborate a few things.
Could you either post your review here or email me about your experience??

Joe, I feel pretty similar to the way you do, I think. Besides the fact that the GPS was off at some crucial moments (it seemed clear to all following the race at the time that Dana Brozkova never went to #4, for example), the GPS simply froze numerous times and stopped working entirely during the men's race. The live video worked well in the beginning, but also stopped during the men's race, and a Finnish online TV company provided much a better picture than the Hungarian paid service - for free.

@Boris: which TV company? :-)

Yes, Boris, I experienced those same problems:
- GPS display froze intermittently during women's race, requiring restart of their web app. Cool when it worked though.
- GPS app frozen and then down hard for most of men's race.
- Video feed down for 2nd half of men's race.
- Email to their support received no response (so far).

As I was fiddling with the site to get the video feed going, I believe my computer was infected by a spyware/virus. There are too many variables out of my control for me to say with certainty that the infection came from this site. However, I invite those of you who tried the video/gps services (and run a Windows dialect) to scan for viruses & spyware. Let me know the results... TIA.

The live video of middle event was here:
http://areena.yle.fi/player/index.php?stream=185&l...

anyone know if there is a YLE feed today?

Hoping there is, though I paid for the video feed for the middle and assume that includes the sprint too.

NRK plans live coverage of the sprint final:

http://www.nrksport.no/

Ken: http://areena.yle.fi/player/index.php?stream=186&l...
Starting at 10:20

The yle link isn't working for me. :-(

NRK web tv: http://www1.nrk.no/nett-tv/sport/spill/verdi/10699...

enjoy!

Thanks! Way cool!

Thanks! Norwegian TV is working, and I can understand the commentary (which I couldn't in Finnish). ;-)

Opps... he did it AGAIN!!!

[edit] that was some serious whopping between TV1 and TV2...

Women's sprint about to start --so cool to see Sam's name!!

There she goes! Go Sam!!

go sam!

Live comment from World of O: "20.08.2009 17:33:36 Samantha Saeger USA next starter. USA has had a finalist in all formats this year." Underscores how noteworthy and exciting this is for US orienteering.

yahhh!!!!! kathryn!!! sooo worth staying up to 2:30 to see

are NRK doing the relay too?? i cant find it

I tried too - looks like they're not covering it. Will they be covering the Long tomorrow?

the long isnt tomorrow

For those wondering about Martin Johansson, these are excerpts from the live comments.

21.08.2009 13:24:16
News that Martin Johansson SWE was injured in forest and Anders Nordberg and Thierry Gueorgiou have stopped to help him. He has a bad leg injury.

21.08.2009 13:37:02
Johansson on way to hospital, got a branch in his leg, a bad injury but not critical is the latest news.

21.08.2009 14:05:30
Nordberg interviewed - thinks Johansson will be OK. Gueorgiou - he was screaming for help, obviously a bad injury to his leg. Decided that Nordberg would fetch help and found cyclist, They removed the branch and covered it with clothes to staunch the blood. Comforted him and waited for doctor, he was too sick to move himself to the road and was too heavy to be carried without a stretcher.

21.08.2009 14:02:10
And Anders Nordberg, Thierry Gueorgiou and Michal Smola are jogging into the finish with great and sympathetic applause, Real fair play there today as they stopped to help Martin Johansson.

21.08.2009 14:07:48
Martin is on way to hospital with specialist help and is feeling a lot better, we hear.

21.08.2009 16:47:25
IOF President Áke Jacobson gave tribute to the 3 athletes who stopped to help Martin Johansson. A supreme example of the spirit of fair play and sportsmanship.

21.08.2009 16:45:12
Jacobson - fair play, we have seen the ultimate expression of it today. 3 athletes sacrificed their own run and their nations medal possibilities by attending to an injured fellow competitor. We must acknowledge this supreme example of sportsmanship. We express our sincere and hearftful gratitude. Martin Johansson is in the circumstances well and will recover hopefully soon. This statement follwed by prolonged applause for Michal Smola, Anders Nordberg and Thierry Gueorgiou.

ye fair play... Gueorgiou will never win a WOC relay at the rate he's going.. destined to lose

OR
22. Ireland
24. USA
25. France
26. Norway
27. Czech

@Boris, and others who used it, how was the GPS tracking for the relay??
I am surprised that Per does not use it while commentating. The person writing the live text comments refers to the tracks occasionally but not enough. Maybe they froze for him/her most of the time.
They are great when they work.

I'm not second-guessing their first aid actions, but I've always heard to leave impaled objects in place---because sometimes the object is stopping blood flow, and removal can allow large amounts of bleeding to occur.

expresso>>I thought the GPS tracking was fine. It froze occasionally, but I could refresh it pretty quickly. I definitely recommend WorldOfO's live blog for the commentary and updates, by the way.

Per definitely used the GPS tracking while commentating, and they'd show it on the jumbotron - which was really too far to see from where most people where... Only third leg runners wore tracking units, so he would only have been referring to the tracking then.

The tracking didn't seem that good in the arena. It was jerky and there were several instances of a very large juxtaposition of runners: i.e., someone would be behind then all of a sudden they would be ahead. IMO, it did not add much to the experience when it was working, and the fact that it occasionally didn't, made it easy to disregard.

The remote feed may have been better.

I am pretty sure it didn't come close to Jukola live coverage.

is there a free link video for the long distance?

i found one
http://ebustreaming.fr.edgesuite.net/vp/ebu/woc200...

sweet.... Anyone have a gps feed?

I think that's just a picture of the big screen on display at the event, but it does have the commentary by Per Forsberg.

Now its ok!

cheers but it just seems to be showing results

How is tracking working for you today Boris ??

Thanks for posting that link. It's great!!

Wow... is Hubmann a human? He looked like he could run another long course right after he finished! What a shape!

And now the inevitable who followed who debates. (World of O:
http://ebustreaming.fr.edgesuite.net/vp/ebu/woc200...)

works fine for me