VS coverage of first weekend

[NickFalzone]

I haven't seen a lot of comments about the VS coverage. Seriously, 13 hours of qualifying, and somehow they kept it entertaining, informative, and mostly mistake-free. I taped a lot of it but was surprised at how much of it I actually watched, maybe 5-6 hours of it at least. I don't know how the ratings will pan out, but as an IndyCar fan I can't imagine anyone less than thrilled with the quality of the coverage. I felt kind of bad for Robbie Buhl though, what a year that team is having, stretching themselves too thin is an understatement, and a quality driver like John is suffering for it. It wasn't quite there, but Graham coming into him briefly reminded me of Dana going into Carpenter.

[Chamoo]

I haven't seen a lot of comments about the VS coverage. Seriously, 13 hours of qualifying, and somehow they kept it entertaining, informative, and mostly mistake-free. I taped a lot of it but was surprised at how much of it I actually watched, maybe 5-6 hours of it at least. I don't know how the ratings will pan out, but as an IndyCar fan I can't imagine anyone less than thrilled with the quality of the coverage. I felt kind of bad for Robbie Buhl though, what a year that team is having, stretching themselves too thin is an understatement, and a quality driver like John is suffering for it. It wasn't quite there, but Graham coming into him briefly reminded me of Dana going into Carpenter.

I wish I could comment on the TV aspect, however, I'll keep complaing because I can, that we canucks don't get any dang coverage. Then, once qualifying starts on indycar.com, they switch from the track coverage to the media center press conferences for each driver after their qualifying runs.

As for Graham avoiding Andretti and it comparable to the tragic Paul Dana accident, Graham entered the scene having scrubbed off a lot of speed through turn 1. Either he saw the yellow lights or his spotter spoke to him early, but he had dropped his speed quickly. Paul Dana had his foot on the floor when he hit Carpenter.

[FormerFF]

Flippin' Charter moved Versus way up the band, past the Spanish language channels. My Tivo unit can't receive it. Plus, they had previously shared an HD slot with the Golf Channel. Now it's all golf, all the time. I can only seem to get it on the upstairs TV, because the downstairs one is not on a cable box.

[NickFalzone]

I thought the whole thing with Kanaan stealing Mutoh's car was kind of funny, especially now that they're going to reshoot the qualifying picture:

Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials will let Kanaan’s Andretti Green Racing team repaint the car in 7-Eleven colors before taking the official qualification picture.

“They have to because nobody is going to buy that picture the way the car looks now,” Kanaan said. “We’re going to have to. The other option would be to get the car we did not run and take the picture but that car is dumped, I don’t want to see it.

“I divorced that one. I put a couple marks on it so that I can tell in case they try to fool me.”

[ChicagocrewIRL]

I think Versus is absolutely outstanding and I really feel for those of you that cannot get the channel for whatever reason. This coverage is simply fantastic and really takes seriously IndyCar as a MAJOR sport.

I have found that the only way to get something is to demand it and demand it and keep demanding it until you get it. This is dramatically true for cable and satellite providers. Get your friends, your friends friends, your neighbors, your cat and your dog to write cable and satellite companies every day if you have to, to get what you want. Believe me, this network and its coverage of the sport we all love, is worth the effort.

Having said that, I think the job the broadcast team is doing far exceeds the coverage we have had to endure from ESPN. The 13 hours of coverage just flew by and I could not believe how interesting the coverage was. I am fast becoming a Robbie Buhl fan.

Best of luck to all those of you still trying to get Versus. Don't give up the fight.

[Civic]

I thought the whole thing with Kanaan stealing Mutoh's car was kind of funny, especially now that they're going to reshoot the qualifying picture:

Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials will let Kanaan’s Andretti Green Racing team repaint the car in 7-Eleven colors before taking the official qualification picture.

“They have to because nobody is going to buy that picture the way the car looks now,” Kanaan said. “We’re going to have to. The other option would be to get the car we did not run and take the picture but that car is dumped, I don’t want to see it.

“I divorced that one. I put a couple marks on it so that I can tell in case they try to fool me.”

What's all this about?

[Civic]

I have Versus and I didn't see much at all. The channel kept going in and out. I don't know if it's the cable box's fault or the cable provider's fault.

I missed out on Graham's aircraft carrier segment as well as a lot of commentary during qualifying.

I remember they were comparing Stanton Barrett's setup to someone else and they were talking about Stanton's front wing and how it affects his setup compared to I think, Helio's. Lost the signal for a minute.

I couldn't deal with it so after 20 minutes I just played video games instead.

[beachbum]

I think Versus is absolutely outstanding and I really feel for those of you that cannot get the channel for whatever reason. This coverage is simply fantastic and really takes seriously IndyCar as a MAJOR sport.

I have found that the only way to get something is to demand it and demand it and keep demanding it until you get it. This is dramatically true for cable and satellite providers. Get your friends, your friends friends, your neighbors, your cat and your dog to write cable and satellite companies every day if you have to, to get what you want. Believe me, this network and its coverage of the sport we all love, is worth the effort.

Having said that, I think the job the broadcast team is doing far exceeds the coverage we have had to endure from ESPN. The 13 hours of coverage just flew by and I could not believe how interesting the coverage was. I am fast becoming a Robbie Buhl fan.

Best of luck to all those of you still trying to get Versus. Don't give up the fight.I concur completely. I have Versus in HD and have to add that their HD is dazzling. I read somewhere that they are broadcasting in a higher resolution that most HD channels.

Technology aside, the coverage was the best racing show I have seen. The booth commentary team rivals the F1 coverage on Speed, which is a high complement considering this is their first year. Not only were they informative, they didn't talk down to the fans, and were often very funny. The bit about Robbie down on the floor making engine noises was classic.

Another refreshing change was not just covering the "Big 3" at the front. Every story and team was given good coverage. They even gave Barrett a fair amount of screen time, even though they were struggling. Before the season, Versus indicated they would show more of the human side of racing, and they have succeeded.

If you are a race fan and don't have Versus, try to get it. If your local carrier doesn't have it, harass them until they do. As ChicagocrewIRL states, it is worth the effort.

[Andrewmcm]

I don't get Versus as I live in the UK, but I did see some of it on a stream on the internet. I did greatly enjoyed the coverage - even Jackaroo was entertaining doing his chats with the drivers at his table. I hope they keep up the great work and that they get an exciting bump day to cover.

[Alexamateo]

I have Versus and I didn't see much at all. The channel kept going in and out. I don't know if it's the cable box's fault or the cable provider's fault.



I only upgraded to our cable companies digital package in order to get Versus last week. Much to my chagrin, Versus was blank, and others channels kept "pixeling" going in and out. They came out on Saturday to check it and ended up changing the cable between the settop box and the tv. It seems that some of the older cables cannot handle the newer digital signals. They swapped it out and now the picture's absolutely beautiful.

It may be that some of your cables and/or connectors need to be swapped out.

[garyshell]

I only upgraded to our cable companies digital package in order to get Versus last week. Much to my chagrin, Versus was blank, and others channels kept "pixeling" going in and out. They came out on Saturday to check it and ended up changing the cable between the settop box and the tv. It seems that some of the older cables cannot handle the newer digital signals. They swapped it out and now the picture's absolutely beautiful.

It may be that some of your cables and/or connectors need to be swapped out.


Unless you have an HDMI (that is digital) connection between the cable box and the TV set, swapping cables will not fix pixelation. Pixealation is caused by a device not receiving the full bandwidth of the DIGITAL signal. As far as I know the only way to go digital to the TV set itself is through an HDMI cable.

If the cable to your TV is the traditional COAX, S-Video or other analog signal cable what they fixed was actually something else. I only point this out because if your provider is like mine, if the problem was AFTER the cable box (like the cable from the box to the TV) the consumer is charged for a service call.

Gary

[Gluaistean]

I thought the whole thing with Kanaan stealing Mutoh's car was kind of funny, especially now that they're going to reshoot the qualifying picture:

Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials will let Kanaan’s Andretti Green Racing team repaint the car in 7-Eleven colors before taking the official qualification picture.

“They have to because nobody is going to buy that picture the way the car looks now,” Kanaan said. “We’re going to have to. The other option would be to get the car we did not run and take the picture but that car is dumped, I don’t want to see it.

“I divorced that one. I put a couple marks on it so that I can tell in case they try to fool me.”


I find that interesting. Kanaan takes someone else's car and qualifies it. I know it is bits and pieces that were used but is it not the car (complete) that qualifies? If that is not the case then a team could just change numbers and hand the steering wheel to a teamate with a faster car. Just sayin.

[PA Rick]

Unless you have an HDMI (that is digital) connection between the cable box and the TV set, swapping cables will not fix pixelation. Pixealation is caused by a device not receiving the full bandwidth of the DIGITAL signal. As far as I know the only way to go digital to the TV set itself is through an HDMI cable.

If the cable to your TV is the traditional COAX, S-Video or other analog signal cable what they fixed was actually something else. I only point this out because if your provider is like mine, if the problem was AFTER the cable box (like the cable from the box to the TV) the consumer is charged for a service call.

Gary
Pixelation is usually caused by the cable box not receiving a full frame from the cable due to signal degradation. In the old days, we got snow when the signal dropped out. Now we get pixelation or in extreme cases a frozen frame or a blue screen.

Most cable boxes send video via RCA connector, S-video , or HDMI. There is analog video on the RCA or S video connectors, or digital video on the HDMI or digital video connectors. By the way, you can have digital cable and HDTV with an analog connector to the TV from the cable box.

Look at it like your computer. All video data is digital but there is either an analog connector to the monitor via your SVGA, or a digital video connection via the digital video connector.

[PA Rick]

I find that interesting. Kanaan takes someone else's car and qualifies it. I know it is bits and pieces that were used but is it not the car (complete) that qualifies? If that is not the case then a team could just change numbers and hand the steering wheel to a teamate with a faster car. Just sayin.


I think the engine has to stay the same,. Even though they have t cars they have to swap engines. I think each driver is handed an engine on the way in.
I think car was actually the team spare.

[nigelred5]

What's all this about?

Kanaan's primary car was junk, so they pulled out one of Mutoh's cars, installed TK's engine and front and rear wings and qualified significantly faster. It was a total hodge podge of red white blue and green. they hastily added a wrap wiht 7-11 to the sidepods, but I'm sure the sponsors weren't happy about that as the rest of the car had mutoh's paint scheme.


I think the coverage has been fantastic. It was good enough to get me in trouble for watching it all day on sunday.

[nigelred5]

I find that interesting. Kanaan takes someone else's car and qualifies it. I know it is bits and pieces that were used but is it not the car (complete) that qualifies? If that is not the case then a team could just change numbers and hand the steering wheel to a teamate with a faster car. Just sayin.


It's always been the tub that constituted the car in the past, not the bits that surround it.

[Gluaistean]

It's always been the tub that constituted the car in the past, not the bits that surround it.

Really?!!! Wow, that gives a lot of room to manoeuvre. How do they make them abide by the rules if the tub is "the car"?

[Civic]

Kanaan's primary car was junk, so they pulled out one of Mutoh's cars, installed TK's engine and front and rear wings and qualified significantly faster. It was a total hodge podge of red white blue and green. they hastily added a wrap wiht 7-11 to the sidepods, but I'm sure the sponsors weren't happy about that as the rest of the car had mutoh's paint scheme.


I think the coverage has been fantastic. It was good enough to get me in trouble for watching it all day on sunday.


Do they have pics of this hodge podge? I'm gonna check out motorsport.com's gallery to see if there's any pics of it.

[Civic]

http://motorsport.com/photos/indycar/2009/ind/indycar-2009-ind-tm-0310.jpg

http://motorsport.com/photos/indycar/2009/ind/indycar-2009-ind-tm-0329.jpg

http://motorsport.com/photos/indycar/2009/ind/indycar-2009-ind-tm-0243.jpg

[Wilf]

Do they have pics of this hodge podge? I'm gonna check out motorsport.com's gallery to see if there's any pics of it.

Courtesy of Russ Lake Photos

[Easy Drifter]

Sounds like the tub on TK's primary car is worn out and flexing. It happens even with carbon fibre. That may also explain his results earlier this year. Also indicates a team that is overextended if it wasn't discovered before.
With most F1 teams a tub has a shelf life and then goes to the test team and then to the scrap heap (or gets sold to some unsuspecting rich sucker).
As far as Versus coverage is concerned it is not in Canada. The cable and satellite companies are not allowed to carry it. The only people that can get it are those with a 'grey' dish and receiver (Illegal).
I will have to check with my ex as her dish and set up on her motor home might just get it. If she can I may just watch there although I think she is working Sunday.