Live web coverage of Rally de France on WRC.com

[wrc_flipper]

Frem the press release.....

Stages from this week’s Rallye de France Alsace will be streamed live and exclusive on the World Rally Championship’s official website, wrc.com, as part of a pilot project to investigate future digital opportunities for the all-action series.

[wrc_flipper]

"...
World Rally Championship promoter North One Sport has made a substantial investment in the trial, which will be used to test the latest camera and streaming technology as well as to gauge the appetite among fans for live online coverage and more interactive content.

The pilot is also the first test of a new partnership between North One Sport and digital specialist, Streamworks.

Around 14 hours of coverage is planned, spread across Friday and Saturday’s competition, with the action available to view free of charge on a web media player accessed exclusively from the home page of wrc.com.

The coverage on Friday (30 September) will run between 1300hrs and 2000hrs (local time), with action from Saturday (1 October) shown between 1245hrs and 1930hrs.

On both days content will consist of interviews and atmosphere from the service park and the end of day press conferences. This will be mixed with stage action shot from two helicopters and by cameras mounted inside the rally cars. English and French commentary will be available.

“The digital landscape presents numerous opportunities to further expand the reach of the World Rally Championship and this experiment is a big step forward in our plans to develop formats and content to suit,” said North One Sport CEO, Simon Long.

“We have made a significant investment to get the project to this stage and it’s exciting that we are now ready to try and turn the theory into reality; however it’s important to make clear that this is a trial first and foremost and we expect to learn a great deal. This is unchartered territory, both technically and in terms of programming, but it’s a vital stage in our development plans for the next 12 months"

[dimviii]

don t bother guys.The wrc.com will break down as always.

[Francis44]

It will be worth the look I think.

[Barreis]

don t bother guys.The wrc.com will break down as always.

It's impossible to watch any of their videos during rally days.

[Franky]

Everyone place your bets. How long will WRC.com be functional after 12:00 (GMT) on the 30th September?

[blissard]

10$ on the server going down, prove me wrong wrc.com.

[focus206]

Everyone place your bets. How long will WRC.com be functional after 12:00 (GMT) on the 30th September?

Haha :D
Anyway, am I wrong or wrc.com already did something like this (but smaller coverage) with the 2009 Rally Norway?

[Mintexmemory]

My £5 is on a blackout just as it looks like Ogier is going to take the lead from Loeb (of course that should coincide with a strike of French technicians)

[MR666]

don t bother guys.The wrc.com will break down as always.

lol this was my first thought also.

[Motorsportfun]

...what about broadcasting like the Fia GT1 World Championship does with DailyMotion? No "crashes", good video quality!

[AndyRAC]

...what about broadcasting like the Fia GT1 World Championship does with DailyMotion? No "crashes", good video quality!

I did wonder about that, same as Blancpain Endurance series. Or what about YouTube on the wrc.com channel??

[Motorsportfun]

For all who doesn't know that, it's something like this video: Dailymotion - GT1 Championship Race from Beijing Watch Again - une vidéo Auto et Moto (http://dai.ly/pSbL1K)

[AndyRAC]

Audi & Peugeot show the LMS/Le Mans races live on their own websites. Something that Ford, Citroen & Mini could do???

[Motorsportfun]

Audi & Peugeot show the LMS/Le Mans races live on their own websites. Something that Ford, Citroen & Mini could do???

It's much more expensive to broadcast in that way. IMHO Dailymotion (or, better choice, YouTube) would be a live streaming more "viral" than developing an own website ;)

[bluuford]

Using WRC.com is good idea. all their sponsors are there and they do not depend on any other programs. Eurosport has a good server base and it does not happen too frequently that their coverage is down. It is because they are specialized to broadcast events over the internet. I am not too good in IT but as far as i have understood the main problem is the location of their servers. To my knowledge, to give good quality all over the world you need to spread your servers accordingly. One to Nordic countries, one to western Europe and one to central, one to Asia and one to US probably. Then those servers connect to main server and I as Nordic user am going to connect with Nordic server. Then we can spread the load of those servers geographically. Idea is basically simple, but it costs a lot to establish and costs little more to maintain servers in many locations all around the word. But it should fix the current problems pretty easily.
Sorry, but my knowledge on IT, especially servers is not too good :-)

[Motorsportfun]

^^

That's interesting...

[Livewireshock]

Will be interesting on how the actual coverage is handled. The amount of talking heads on camera or lack of them. Does this mean that Colin Clarke will have to prove he has a face fit for live TV? Will Becs get a formal studio to broadcast out of, to look nice on camera or remain in whatever space they find for her?

[N.O.T]

I think its pointless to do any comments until we see what is on offer...I hope they focus more on the event rather than in service interviews.

[BVB Rallying]

+1

[wildboar]

It works already. Currently showing some footage from Sardigna, I think:
https://wrcpaywall.appspot.com/static/player.html
You need to fill out a little survey before you can have access.

[dimviii]

It works already. Currently showing some footage from Sardigna, I think:
https://wrcpaywall.appspot.com/static/player.html
You need to fill out a little survey before you can have access.

thanks mate!

[Allyc85]

I have the stream on now, but no sound!

[rage82]

I don't have any sound on that player. When I try something else like you tube etc. everything is working properly just this stream is without sound. Do you gyus have sound and it's just me with this issue?

[dimviii]

no sound for me also

[Allyc85]

I have sound for adverts, but not for rally action!

[focus206]

No sound neither for me, I hope tomorrow it will works, otherwise... :mad:

[Motorsportfun]

OMG, I see myself at the VW press conference... damn!

Btw, I think that's a test for tomorrow' streams, etc...

[MR666]

I have the stream on now, but no sound!

Same here

[raybak]

It's crashed already, over it's server quota :(

[Brother John]

Good morning, This is what I see! :dozey:

Over Quota

This Google App Engine application is temporarily over its serving quota. Please try again later.

[6789]

If they do this live streaming (which i think they should) they need to do it properly. Nothing here for me

[raybak]

I've got it now, but it's old footage and still no sound

[MR666]

Its not till 1pm rally time.

It should have started at the start of the rally, just about every rally this season has had things happen early on the first day and once again we are seeing that here.

[GigiGalliNo1]

Watching now... is LIVE?

MINI rallying.....

NO SOUND! :(

Listening to WRR at same time

[GigiGalliNo1]

SOrry they were doing replay... idiot me it's tarmac rally not gravel! hah

[Mintexmemory]

Given how bad the times /splits pages are and that the stream has crashed on test due to server overload (when most people know the live stuff starts at 1300 rally time) looks like a major SNAFU is on the way

[N.O.T]

SOrry they were doing replay... idiot me it's tarmac rally not gravel! hah

why you even bother with the sport ??

[Rallyblog]

There's sound, but very, very low volume.

[rallyfiend]

There's sound, but very, very low volume.

You're all jumping the gun a bit aren't you?

They've said it won't be live until 1300!

[KKS]

WRR sound at live video streaming :)

[dinartegouveia]

Let's see how it works. I'll try it :P

[MR666]

Sound is very low

Edit

Rally radio is the sound for the video... so got both going lol

[KKS]

no sound for me :(

[MR666]

English has rally radio as sound and French has the interviews as sound.

Edit

Now interviews in English.... thumbs up so far from me lol

[KKS]

volume adjustment didn't work, same level as for 0% and 100%

[tolis]

Fantastic! Helicam!

[raybak]

Good coverage. Even expert comments from Dale :)

[Allyc85]

Its working well for me! Im chiling out with a cold bottle of Magners and watching the WRC, bliss!

[GigiGalliNo1]

Oh NOT

I've had a long week!

[Leon]

why we have to hear 4 voices. 2 from the interview and 2 from the WRR

[Pinto]

im having trouble with the stream pausing alot is it the brutal irish broadband or is any one else having bother,it was a hundred percent an hour ago.

loving the coverage do the WRR crew really make it so on that count away ahead of the Eurosport IRC

[N.O.T]

the video coverage is very nice...those useless radio guys talking all time without saying anything of substance is pointless and stupid...i turned off the coverage because of this.

[Leon]

What is the reason to show a picture of someone being interviewd (wilson, smeets etc) without being able to hear it. bloody coverage :mad:

[Motorsportfun]

They just need to improve the coordination between the video crews at the Service Park and the tv-times for the live stages with Colin... for the rest it's a very good job 'till now!

[Allyc85]

As a start it is just great to be able to watch live WRC, but as said it is bloody annoying to not be able to hear the interviews on screen!

They also need to improve the streaming of onobard video as that did pause alot, but im sure that will come :)

[wrc1600]

Just tune in and I can see great quality, hope they won't charge for that any time soon

[jonas_mcrae]

works very well for me, sound and video quality OK

[tolis]

Thumbs up for the great coverage! It's as you are in France!

[rv65]

Right now it's on replay.

[rv65]

Now I'm watching the service parks, and there are some interviews.

[whereschris]

I was really impressed! It wasn't perfect but a great start. Lets hope they do it all the time! Thank goodness I was "working" from home.

[tolis]

Very nice coverage today! Let's hope this continues for more WRC rounds next year!

[Retlub Ecaps]

As a Canadian, I'm glad just to finally have WRC coverage I'm legally allowed to watch. :D

(If you're not interested in reading a web developer talk about what they could add to the system, you can skip the rest of this post :p )

This could have fantastic potential if they expand on it, particularly by investing in greater infrastructure on their end so that they can put out more than just one video stream. If they really want to take advantage of this sort of technology, then they need to make it more user-focused and allow viewers to see what they want. For example, they could have a fully-produced streaming broadcast like they experimented with yesterday, but as well as that they could make the live onboard camera streams of every car in a stage available, letting viewers watch whichever they want.

After each driver finishes a stage, their onboard video could then go into a 'recap' section where fans can watch any driver on any stage they like at any time - that way fans who are busy or asleep during the rally still get to watch it. It could be expensive to keep all that video up forever, but if that were a problem they could just leave it up for a few days or a week before taking it all down. And making the rally viewable for a whole week would make it more accessible to new fans.

Similarly, all the interviews and behind-the-scenes stuff could be put into the fully-produced stream as they happen, but also be available on-demand afterwards. This morning I only woke up while SS8 was finishing, so I got to see a lot of that webcam view of the service park. It would've been so much better to be able to catch up on what I missed.

A Canadian broadcaster, CTV, did something very similar this for the Vancouver Olympics: the TV coverage of every event was streamed live, and any other simultaneous events which they couldn't put on TV were also streamed live online (just without any commentators). Everything was also made available on-demand after airing live, and stayed accessible for a few weeks. And when you watched video of an event, the progress bar of the video would have markers for all the different parts of that event. So, for example, if you were watching the ski jump competition, you could go straight to the jumps of the athletes you want to see. A system like that could be great for the rally videos -- they could make the helicopter footage of each stage available in full, with an easy way for viewers to jump straight to the footage of their favourite drivers.

This would all require quite a bit more infrastructure than the single stream they're doing this weekend, but they can build from here and add the extra features over time. I think it could do a lot for the sport to have real race coverage available to anyone at any time, instead of just once or twice on TV after the rally is over.

[Barreis]

Can not watch it. After marketing passes there's wrc.com logo on the screen and nothing else.

[GigiGalliNo1]

Nothing must be on atm

[GigiGalliNo1]

I hear WRR on live stream but no video?

[Jamie Love]

It says from 12:45 french time!

[koko0703]

They still have lots to improve the live streaming but I think it is much better than what I was expecting. Good job to wrc.com and hope they keep improving the live broadcasting.

[Allyc85]

Stream is starting now :D

[MR666]

Stream is starting now :D

I have no sound :(

Edit: All good now :)

[tfp]

That live coverage is practically unwatchable, either the streaming isnt very fast or BT broadband isnt very good, its very stuttery and slow

[rallyfiend]

That live coverage is practically unwatchable, either the streaming isnt very fast or BT broadband isnt very good, its very stuttery and slow

I think it's your broadband. I've got Sky in London and the picture is superb.

[N.O.T]

For me is working like a charm....but the annoying voices of the radio people spoil it a bit....

[Barreis]

Works well for me right now. It's good for sport for sure.

[GigiGalliNo1]

S2000 Pug on Live feed now!

I wonder how much fuel and $$$$ they are wasting hovering that helicopter? LIVE?! haha

[Allyc85]

The live stream has been seamless for me so far. I dont mind rally radio but it would be nice to just hear the cars and pace notes every so often.

[N.O.T]

Rally radio should stick to brief comments and end stage interviews...to have 2 annoying voice talk all the time, giggling like kids and making useless comments while we see the drivers pushing like hell in the stage reminds me of little girl sports like F1 and Footbal.

[Miika]

Missed yesterday´s stream but from what I´ve seen so far today I would sure as hell pay for a service like this for a full season, compared to the content and quality of the Katsomo service for example. Also I´d prefer this kind of live stream over the end-of-the-day-middle-of-the-night reviews which are old news by the time they are aired. Only thing worth nagging about is the lack of updating split+stage times on screen, since this stream is good enough to watch on full-screen mode.

[Barreis]

If they want popularity of the sport it must be free.

[GigiGalliNo1]

Either way, first time they are doing this and it's working great! Perhaps next time they'll have fixed commentary but we should be grateful! Even being free!

Now if I had to pay.. Let me know how much!! :D

[vkangas]

Maybe they could combine free and pay-per-view. I would love to pay for more coverage but to get the critical mass they will have to offer something for free.

Generally you get what you pay for.

[N.O.T]

I would pay only if there were specific features in it...for example to have the coverage with sound from the cars only.

[gtimad73]

Have to say i loved all of it. All worked really well. good job all round. Im just a bit worried that it might cost an arm and a legs when they roll it out.

[malloc]

Good experiment, but there is something to fix.
They have to realize that radio commentary is simply different than (web-)tv commentary: on radio you have to minimize silence, but if you are watching images that amount of background chit-chat sounds pretty annoying. Using same audio track for radio and tv is just plain wrong!
I also noticed a frustrating lack of split times (and wrc.com is terrible for realtime updates).

[Motorsportfun]

My two cents.

This experiment - well, it's better to say "this pilot" - has been a good success. Not great, but good enough, because of many things made it extremely interesting.

The video quality has been great, even in "low" resolution the images were perfect (probably better than the GT1 World Champ on Dailymotion) and they were just sometimes a bit buffering. Nothing worrying, as this issue could be solved with some more servers.
It has been great to see a great amount of cameras around the Service Park, with dedicated cameras to each teams' service area, other than the two used for interviews and the "bird's eye" over the Citroen team.

I just think could be good to have 1 or 2 wireless cameras for some action on the stages, in addiction to the Wescam on the helicopter and the on-board images. A connection for the WRC interview crew at the stop-line would be awesome too, for some fresh interviews there. A WRC interface around the live-feed could add more space and visibility to the championship (and event) sponsors!

For the moment, my vote 1/10 is 8,5

[bretddog]

Considering what we are used to, I think it's totally awesome for a first broadcast.

Now they just need to find a way to offer this for 5eur per rally. That's what you pay for a whole month of the Eurosport Player. And if they have any business sense, they absolutely must make the first season or two free, to build up a wider fan base of quantity viewers. A few rallies will only trigger the existing fans.

[Barreis]

It was great.

[bennizw]

How come there is no live coverage tomorrow? Because of the power stage?

[Nornbugger]

really enjoyed the live coverage, just didnt have enough time to get to watch it as much as I'd have liked

[6789]

Is this something for next year or are they thinking even longer term, introducing it in 2013? Would be awesome to see it for next year!!

They would have to get a dedicated commentary team for the stream and then it would work alot better. Were people getting buffeting when it was on the in car cameras? I never got buffeting for interviews in the service park, so it must have been some issue getting the information from the car?

[Motorsportfun]

How come there is no live coverage tomorrow? Because of the power stage?

They're quite busy at each rally because of the Power Stage, as they make a "TV rehearsal" on the 1st pass. In fact, there's a live-tv power stage at every first pass on the designated stage, but (except in Portugal) they're not broadcasted.

[Barreis]

please link for the power stage stream.

[Motorsportfun]

please link for the power stage stream.

It's live on tv, take a look here World Rally Championship - Fanzone - WRC TV Guide (http://www.wrc.com/fanzone/wrc-tv-guide/) and then check the tv-listing of your broadcaster ;)

[koko0703]

It worked very well for me last 2 days. I think it was a very good experiment. If it's free, I'll definitely watch it. If not, I guess how it will be packaged cuz some of the rallies are almost impossible for me to watch live due to time difference.

[Livewireshock]

How come there is no live coverage tomorrow? Because of the power stage?

There are also commercial rights issues with showing the power stage live. With various TV organisations paying what ever costs for the rights, it would be a breach of contract if North One broadcasted the footage itself. Technically, it is an internet broadcast and not a television broadcast, but North One would not want to upset current rights holders. I dare say future rights negotiations will take into account any possible internet broadcasting.

[pete c]

great concept and of course there were a few hiccups along the way.
personally i would definitely be prepared to pay on an event by event basis, as long as the price was reasonable.
a lot of hours of entertainment in each days coverage, so a lot of advertising opportunities for WRC.com and North1
cheers pete

[N.O.T]

if they split the coverage from wrc.com radio, add a few cameras on the stages, and inprove the positioning of their onboard cameras (for example add foot cameras and have it in small window at the side along with the onboard) i would pay definately.....but if they have as a plan to pay and having a headache with all the useless talk from the radio then no way...

[pete c]

definitely need a proper rally commentary team. rally radio team do a good job at stage ends, but lose the plot when they play music when other stages are live, or keep repeating everything over and over.
a proper team and as N.O.T said live incar sound and should be good

cheers pete

[tolis]

World Rally Championship - Video - Browse All - Live internet project a resounding success (http://www.wrc.com/video/browse-all/video-live-internet-project-a-resounding-success/?vid=2349)
Day 3 highlights: WRC 2011 - Rally (http://www.woop.gr/woopgallery/41864/wrc-2011-rally-gallias-day-3)

[dimviii]

is it so difficult to have as a speaker a retired co-driver or driver from past years of wrc?

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Glad to hear the live coverage went well.

But I so agree you should be able to have coverage without commentary, just graphics to show times etc.

This vid is how it should be.... just awesome...like being there... turn it up LOUD !! :D



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ls0Wn-UPrA

[Franky]

But I so agree you should be able to have coverage without commentary, just graphics to show times etc.

This vid is how it should be.... just awesome...like being there... turn it up LOUD !! :D

That's a very small minority who would be happy with that and it wouldn't attract big audiences then at all.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

That's a very small minority who would be happy with that and it wouldn't attract big audiences then at all.

Maybe... but it should be possible to select ambient sound only - like Sky does with its interactive football where you can just have the crowd noise.

I hate the Motors TV comms so much I want to be able to turn it off and just listen to the cars...

If you ask any fan who attends live rallies, its the noise that they love most about it...

[GigiGalliNo1]

Having stupid commentators talking about non rally related things when your in the bush (Australia) or on farms/fields (NZ) is annoying as hell!

Commentary of some sort, WRR or natural sounds should be 3 options!