Pro Tour Live Coverage

[CaptainAnhyzer]

After a shaky start, they seemed to fix MOST of the glaring issues...........
Still have to smack the hand that controls the zoom once in a while.
Also the camera operator at the green needs to follow the disc AFTER a missed putt.
Following a light-colored disc up into the sky is hard, it may take a different type of camera/lens/setting to pickup the disc because there were many times that a disc got "lost" by the operator.

Practice, practice, practice.......... they will get better.

 

[davetherocketguy]

I watched the post production stuff with as open a mind as I possibly could.

Not good. Certainly not better than CCDG or Jomez by a long shot as was promised by Dodge.

 

[toddnick]

Waco Coverage

So, how is it that both DGPT and Jomez will be both doing media coverage for Waco?

It seems to be the only tournament where both will coexist at the same tournament.

Have they announced which team is covering which cards?

Should make for an interesting dynamic and a chance to compare broadcasts side-by-side.

 

[AHagglund]

I watched the post production stuff with as open a mind as I possibly could.

Not good. Certainly not better than CCDG or Jomez by a long shot as was promised by Dodge.

Did he actually promise this? Because if he did, he was WAAAAYYY off.

 

[robdeforge]

Did he actually promise this? Because if he did, he was WAAAAYYY off.

Please refer to the attached graphics for details. First, we will be improving the live broadcast through better video quality, more graphics, and expanded coverage. Expanded coverage includes showing FPO live, as well as including other action on the course (outside of lead cards) during both the FPO and MPO live broadcasts. In addition, we will be bringing the quality of FPO1 and MPO2 edited coverage to both the level and turn-around time that we have grown to love and expect for MPO1. The next day edited coverage will continue to be a high-quality production that proudly showcases the best athletes in our sport. Other notable additions include expanding the number of pros that offer their insights during the next day edited coverage as well as the ability to integrate players from MPO2 who challenge for the win into both the live broadcast and edited coverage.

I don't think better than Jomez/CCDG was promised, but a lot of stuff here was not delivered on

 

[davetherocketguy]

Did he actually promise this? Because if he did, he was WAAAAYYY off.

We want to do more with less. That's our goal for 2019 media. We want to have the same amount or less people and actually produce more and better content.

That was found in this artice.

More and better.

:|

 

[DGStein]

I watched part of the first day's FPO stream (the disastrous one) and literally none of the rest of the tournament. I suppose if Steve Dodge wants to count that as a "unique viewer" then he can. But that's definitely not the same amount of Memorial coverage as I watched last year. I probably won't be watching anymore DGPT this year, either.

Don't kid yourself. You'll be watching.

 

[DGStein]

So, how is it that both DGPT and Jomez will be both doing media coverage for Waco?

It seems to be the only tournament where both will coexist at the same tournament.

Have they announced which team is covering which cards?

Should make for an interesting dynamic and a chance to compare broadcasts side-by-side.

Jomez has always covered Waco and the TD made sure that would continue. Home turf.

 

[JC17393]

That was found in this artice.

More and better.

:|

"want to produce more and better"

Key word being *want*. That doesn't strike me as a promise that everything they produce for the first tournament of the year was going to be perfect and better than anything we've ever seen before. It strikes me as setting a goal of improving their efforts so that the product ends up being more and better than we've seen before. It's still a work in progress. It will always be a work in progress to some degree. Viewing it that way, the improvement they had from the first day to the last of the tournament is evident. Is it perfect? No, but it's moving in the right direction.

IMO, those that watched day one or day two of the Memorial coverage (live and/or post-produced) and have definitively declared it a failure and won't be going back...that was what they were going to say no matter what the product looked like. There's no winning them over because they don't want to be won over.

 

[armiller]

I watched part of the first day's FPO stream (the disastrous one) and literally none of the rest of the tournament. I suppose if Steve Dodge wants to count that as a "unique viewer" then he can. But that's definitely not the same amount of Memorial coverage as I watched last year. I probably won't be watching anymore DGPT this year, either.

For me, I tend to watch live coverage on the rare occasions that I'm free. Lately, that means I sometimes get a chance on weekends. For the 2019 Memorial, it means I was spared what sounds like the worst of the coverage, on Thurs/Friday, but I did benefit from some of their lessons learned on the Rd 3 post-produced coverage AND live coverage.

I'm annoyed at DGPT for preventing us from getting good quality coverage, and it seems like the coverage took a step back ~2 years. But there was coverage, and the live coverage I saw really wasn't bad compared to past live stuff I've seen. Then again, post-produced has always been (and remains) my preference.

 

[SD86]

Same here. It's cool if they change angles to better film a different line but when everybody is throwing a big hyzer I don't want to guess where the hell everything is 4 different times. .

Exactly. If they're showing the different angles to best show the disc flight, it would be more understandable. But it looked to me like they were showing four different angles for the sake of showing four different angles, without regard for the best showing of the disc flight.

 

[DGStein]

I feel bad for JVD. He got TrollMezed pretty hard in the live coverage chat. He was pulling double duty with all the moderating.

 

[Hal9000]

I feel bad for JVD. He got TrollMezed pretty hard in the live coverage chat. He was pulling double duty with all the moderating.

I can't even imagine what it would have been like if JVD didn't step in at the last minute. JVD will be on a cruise during Waco. Really wonder how the coverage will be, especially with the sketchy cell service in Waco.

 

[ZMan44]

This whole issue is like a soap opera. I was skeptical regarding the quality of the DGPT coverage. My position hasn't changed. I'm willing to watch for improvements and give them a few events to "iron out the wrinkles". That being said, my level of skepticism has increased based on the coverage at The Memorial. I expected the live coverage to be the most troublesome out of the gate, with the post-production being pretty close to the quality we have come to expect from Jomez/CCDG. Live disc golf is not easy...and the DGPT's first attempt had many hiccups. However, it wasn't so bad that I'd never consider watching it again. The post-production quality of camerawork was just awful. You could tell the editing was rushed. There were so many mistakes that should have been caught. And I felt bad for Uli and Risley having to try and lay down commentary over it. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, or maybe others heard it too...did it seem like Uli and Risley were a little taken aback by the quality of the video they were watching? It sure sounded like it to me at different points, especially where Paul was commenting on the "camera angles". It lacked polish. In short, where I expected the DGPT team to struggle (live coverage) there were definitely some struggles, because it's just a difficult medium for disc golf. Understandable. Where I expected them to be somewhat average (post-produced) they really dropped the ball.

From a business perspective, Waco is the biggest stage for the DGPT in this endeavor because Jomez will be there. The DGPT simply cannot afford to let Jomez one-up them in a head-to-head content creation battle at the same event. Given that Jomez already understands the internet service complexities that come along with the Waco location, they probably have a decided advantage in the competition. The DGPT has a lot more riding on the content battle at Waco than Jomez. Will the DGPT step up it's production value and cement it's position as the Tour for the top-level pros? Will the DGPT be embarrassed by a company they shunned, thinking they could do it themselves? Tune in two weeks from now on the next episode of "As the Course Turns".

There will also be a disc golf tournament.

 

[davetherocketguy]

There's no winning them over because they don't want to be won over.

Well that sort of thing is going to happen when you woefully underestimate the fan base of one of the most popular brands in disc golf.

-Dave

 

[VictorB]

My observations from this weekend:

- The initial day was obviously a train wreck. I think there was an opportunity to do more in advance, off the grid, in order to do a dry run test with the equipment, operators, and stream.

- The next day coverage was not what I'd call up to 2018 standards. That's what was promised and they did not deliver.

- Live commentary was pretty good from Nate and Val. Hoping they do a few more events this year. As a rookie venture for that team, I thought they handled doing so much coverage really well.

- Way too many times did the A camera lose a shot, and the B camera only barely got the disc landing. I really thought this was a glaring issue on the last round coverage especially.

- Getting poor angles when showing putts that were being made, I couldn't tell a lot of times the distance and/or level of difficulty of the putt.

Overall it was watchable, and not the worst I've ever seen. They did some things right, screwed up a lot, but it's not a failure if they learned some things. I think there needs to be a show of marked improvement by June if this plan is going to work for DGPT. It's difficult to say that I won't watch, since they have a monopoly on the content. I'm ok with missing live coverage if it's going to be a mediocre broadcast where I can't really even see what the shots are doing - and it's even worse in that case if they are using those missed shots for post production footage.

I'm fairly neutral about the situation. I want to see improvement, but will still give views to the content (even if I don't follow/subscribe to any of their social media)

 

[BlueMonk]

I know it was the first weekend and all that and expectations should be tempered accordingly. I get it. But...

At this point, I have to assume that the decision to move coverage in-house was purely a cost-savings measure. If you have some grand plan to take the coverage to the next level, it should have been on display from the get-go. Even if you fail on your first attempt, viewers can at least see what you're trying to do. I think a lot of people would understand any glitches if the vision was bold and exciting. But I didn't see anything like that here. What I saw was an attempt to copy what has been done before but doing it on the cheap. With a debut that included two legends of the sport set to the backdrop of a bed sheet.

The bottom line for me is the DGPT had three-and-a-half months to prepare for this and it took an eleventh-hour rescue by JVD to salvage the weekend. That's why I think this was ultimately just about dollars and cents. Not that I'm begrudging the importance of that; businesses have to deal with economic realities and you can't expect the pro tour to come out and advertise the move as nothing but a way to save money. But right now I feel like that's what this is.

 

[jmdaire27]

I caught some/most of the coverage throughout the weekend. Truthfully, up front, I am upset they cut ties with Jomez, like the rest, b/c Jomez is the cream of the crop. However, I really enjoy watching disc golf, and having the ability to watch it live like this makes me happy. It was cool to even watch (some) of the women coverage live.

I thought Nate and Val did great, given the situation (them sitting on their bums in Oregon...). I also enjoyed being able to watch (more or less) both the lead and second card (although they were moving pretty quick the last round and there was a little less second card action).

I do hope they make improvements, although I wouldn't call it unwatchable the way it was. Bottom line, I got to watch live disc golf on my TV, and that's cool to me. Again, like the general consensus, I am sad about less Jomez coverage. But, we will see where this goes.

 

[lyleoross]

Perhaps my parents were weird. And I realize the Internet has changed things. I was taught to treat everyone respectfully, even folks who I thought might be trying to cheat me. My parents felt attacking other folks in public made me look bad. They felt that rectifying a situation took calm conversation and even if you didn't get what you wanted, you should speak politely.

I fully admit, that forums bring out the worst in us and have even been a willing participant in too many harsh conversations. It's still wrong.

Oh, and saying anything nasty to Grandma in any way didn't get a no, it got a visit from Mr. Belt. Yep, my parents were old school.

Now, I don't know Terry's numbers, nor Steve's. So I can't say one is taking advantage of the other. What I can say is that each has brought a ton to our sport. Because of that, I've supported both via Patreon.

When Steve cut Smash, I cut my donation, but truth is, I will come back. Even without live, what DGPT is doing is good for the sport IMO.

 

[Twmccoy]

I don't watch the coverage live. I just like to catch up on it later on Youtube.

A couple other things I noticed about the AZ coverage:

Lots of missed shots. They'd randomly miss someone's drive or putt with zero explanation.
The drone footage was meh.
No good long shots of the course. This is important. In Vegas they'd pan out a lot and give you great long views of the whole area and course. AZ had much choppier looking camera work.
Not having the scores on the screen as the players played. I like that little perk.