Pro Tour: Silver Cup Coverage Announcement

[BionicRib]

One more commentator that can chime in from time to time when terry is not near the camera man that is filming other groups.

I know this would be very tough given your current set up, but I think you guys need a better way to show how the players are progressing down the fairway (perhaps a hole map with color coded dots for each player). There are many times when terry will say something like"that shot ended up in some other holes fairway"...if the viewer has played the course then that dialog helps, but for viewers that have never seen the course it is very hard to appreciate what a player is facing without having a rough idea of where they are. (Especially on wooded courses)

The transitions from commercials to terry and the different cameras were the best I've seen from you guys yet.

Id also like to see more of that gag reel,

 

[jvphobic]

That gag reel was produced by Joe Canali at the Memorial. It is funny every time I watch it.

The additional commentator is a great idea. With Terry now being wireless, it helps a bit. And as soon as Dana gets done with his round, he joins Terry. But you are right, we could be a bit more descriptive as to where discs end up for those who don't know the courses that well.

And that is the prime reason why we have Terry out in the field. How many times did discs not make it to our "catch camera" because they ricochetted into the woods. That would be almost impossible for a booth to see and report on with only 2 cameras. (I still want a booth guy in the future though.)

Thanks for your feedback.

 

[Anon]

Stream looked pretty darn good all weekend. Not much to complain about on the uplink front.

Less dissolves and more hard cuts. Much better for the flow of action

I did notice that there seemed to be some mis-cues on your DDR clips and some issues with it not auto-playing the asset when you switch it to Program. I'm sure those are minor issues to work out within Wirecast and it was only a sporadic issue throughout the weekend. So nothing really too big.

Minor audio issues. Without some sort of IFB system its pretty tough to communicate in real time. So often we'd catch Terry talking 'behind the scenes' to you or doing his little countdowns before you take his shot. Just things that take away from the overall polish of the broadcast. Certainly not damning to us 'black spotters' but that kind of stuff REALLY stands out to casual viewers who are used to the extreme polish of professional sports broadcasts.

I still feel that it is almost NECESSARY to have somebody on the mic, back in the studio, that can give an overall impression of the events and 'throw' to the guy in the field when disc golf is actually happening. For example... if JT was in the production booth/truck/office with you keeping track of the overall storylines, statlines, etc and acting as an MC/host of sorts. The guy in the field doing the lions share of the commentary just has too many issues. It seems like eventually we are going to come to a point where it just doesn't work anymore if you want the broadcast to go to the next level.

I can echo the sentiment for some sort of 'map overlay' that shows the hole as the players are progressing from the teebox. Just something to give the viewer an idea of where everybody ended up. Not sure if you can tap into uDisc API for that kind of functionality or if it would require another person and computer being sent into the switcher as another input. It would be a pretty simple and basic 'telestrator' setup but would really help to put the viewer into the action.

Probably more that I can't think of atm. I should have taken notes.

 

[jvphobic]

Stream looked pretty darn good all weekend. Not much to complain about on the uplink front.

Less dissolves and more hard cuts. Much better for the flow of action

I did notice that there seemed to be some mis-cues on your DDR clips and some issues with it not auto-playing the asset when you switch it to Program. I'm sure those are minor issues to work out within Wirecast and it was only a sporadic issue throughout the weekend. So nothing really too big.

Minor audio issues. Without some sort of IFB system its pretty tough to communicate in real time. So often we'd catch Terry talking 'behind the scenes' to you or doing his little countdowns before you take his shot. Just things that take away from the overall polish of the broadcast. Certainly not damning to us 'black spotters' but that kind of stuff REALLY stands out to casual viewers who are used to the extreme polish of professional sports broadcasts.

I still feel that it is almost NECESSARY to have somebody on the mic, back in the studio, that can give an overall impression of the events and 'throw' to the guy in the field when disc golf is actually happening. For example... if JT was in the production booth/truck/office with you keeping track of the overall storylines, statlines, etc and acting as an MC/host of sorts. The guy in the field doing the lions share of the commentary just has too many issues. It seems like eventually we are going to come to a point where it just doesn't work anymore if you want the broadcast to go to the next level.

I can echo the sentiment for some sort of 'map overlay' that shows the hole as the players are progressing from the teebox. Just something to give the viewer an idea of where everybody ended up. Not sure if you can tap into uDisc API for that kind of functionality or if it would require another person and computer being sent into the switcher as another input. It would be a pretty simple and basic 'telestrator' setup but would really help to put the viewer into the action.

Probably more that I can't think of atm. I should have taken notes.

Anon, I was COMPLETELY thinking about you when I was doing almost all hard cuts this weekend. I did SPRINKLE in a few dissolves, because I am an addict that is trying to break an addiction.

This was the first show with the newest version of Wirecast. I recreated my production environment and I did miss a few checkboxes that said, "Remember where left off". So When I went back to an asset, it was stuck at the end and I had to quickly switch to another one and then fix that asset. Good catch on that.

I worked hard on the audio to make sure nothing was too loud. Some were too quiet, but better that than the other way. As far as hearing behind the scenes stuff, we are on a 20 second delay as opposed to what is happening on our conference call. So I count Terry down 20 seconds early, and occasionally I have been known to cut the asset when there is 20 seconds left because my hand gets confused with my brain counting Terry down. And occasionally Terry is wrong with how much time we really have until a player comes back.

My "dream" next step would be this. JT (or whomever, but JT is great) in a booth onsite providing live up to the second stats that he currently records for us. Talking while we don't have action, or commentating action on a camera that doesn't have a commentator. We go to Terry on the main card when there is action there.

As far as the map/dots thing does. I think that would require another person onsite with the lead card, it isn't a Udisc thing. USDGC used to do that WAY back in the day. It was cool.

 

[JC17393]

As far as the map/dots thing does. I think that would require another person onsite with the lead card, it isn't a Udisc thing. USDGC used to do that WAY back in the day. It was cool.

Anyone who remembers the days of DOTS truly appreciates live video coverage of any quality, let alone the great things you guys have been able to do and continue to improve upon.

 

[jvphobic]

Anyone who remembers the days of DOTS truly appreciates live video coverage of any quality, let alone the great things you guys have been able to do and continue to improve upon.

I think integrating something like that into the broadcast could be very cool.

 

[Anon]

Anon, I was COMPLETELY thinking about you when I was doing almost all hard cuts this weekend. I did SPRINKLE in a few dissolves, because I am an addict that is trying to break an addiction.

It was noticeably better. Much less jarring.

For the next event you should definitely get an animated DGPT logo / sponsor transition for kicking to things like the stats segment, full screen scoreboards, etc. Maybe there was one and I just wasn't paying attention enough to notice it.

I could easily make a file with alpha or an image sequence (not sure what wirecast prefers) using our Tricaster's animation software if you have some high quality image assets. I'm pretty sure we have a bunch of animated templates laying around from the past that i could dump it into.

 

[jvphobic]

http://www.discgolfprotour.com/logo

For Wirecast I have found that an MP4 file works best with green screen background that I can chroma key out. It is finicky with alpha channel animations and stuff.

 

[hellbound]

Loved the streaming this weekend. The Friday night start was a great idea. 1st good coverage for signal. 2nd People at work like myself could get home to view it. Only thing I didn't like about that one was the young kid. Spoiler alert every hole! Uli hit it out of the park. Think it works best with someone who wasn't on the card, so as to have a more live feel to it. Maybe even have Terry cover a different card and get players feed back on say the 2nd 3rd card?

All and all I thank you guys for the hard work

 

[jvphobic]

Thanks hellbound. Terry and I will talk more about it on the podcast as to how that went down. But I thought it was a good change of pace. I can't say much about Ben as I wasn't really listening to any of their commentary, but it could be the issue of having him on the card that made it tough for some people. He might have been better if he didn't know what was going to happen. But Ben is a great player and a really nice guy who stepped in when we needed him that night. I have nothing but good things to say about him.

 

[hellbound]

Thanks hellbound. Terry and I will talk more about it on the podcast as to how that went down. But I thought it was a good change of pace. I can't say much about Ben as I wasn't really listening to any of their commentary, but it could be the issue of having him on the card that made it tough for some people. He might have been better if he didn't know what was going to happen. But Ben is a great player and a really nice guy who stepped in when we needed him that night. I have nothing but good things to say about him.

I need to catch up on the pod casts this week. But as for Ben? I got the same feeling that he was a great guy and knew his stuff. Just felt like he wanted to explain why his shot went south before everyone got a chance to see it. Anyhow not trying to open a can of worms. Like I said keep the good work going.

 

[Anon]

I liked the 'CCDG-style' Friday night show too. Very good way to showcase a round where the live uplink is no good. Felt like a bunch of guys sitting around just watching a round, shooting the ****, having some beers.

It definitely felt like Ben was focusing on his bad shots and trying to play them off before they even happened. I think that is a pretty natural psychological reaction for anybody watching themselves doing something in hindsight. I think I've even heard similar comments from Paul, Nate, Ricky, etc when they get brought in to commentate on one of their own rounds. Certainly not as much, but they are more polished on camera.

 

[onemilemore]

I still feel that it is almost NECESSARY to have somebody on the mic, back in the studio, that can give an overall impression of the events and 'throw' to the guy in the field when disc golf is actually happening. For example... if JT was in the production booth/truck/office with you keeping track of the overall storylines, statlines, etc and acting as an MC/host of sorts. The guy in the field doing the lions share of the commentary just has too many issues. It seems like eventually we are going to come to a point where it just doesn't work anymore if you want the broadcast to go to the next level.

My "dream" next step would be this. JT (or whomever, but JT is great) in a booth onsite providing live up to the second stats that he currently records for us. Talking while we don't have action, or commentating action on a camera that doesn't have a commentator. We go to Terry on the main card when there is action there.

I'd love to see an amalgam of these two ideas. Ideally, you get two guys in a booth to do commentary - play by play, stats and color, etc. - then have the guy in the field who you can go to for confirmation of where a disc landed, what he's hearing players talking about, etc. The true "sideline reporter" type of deal.

As far as other critiques, I thought the multiple Steves bit came off a bit too hokey, personally. I know that is Steve, and he likes the fun things like that, but it just didn't come off as professional. But my tastes tend away from the goofy/fun type of commentary and broadcast and more toward the polished sports channel approach. Different strokes and whatnot.

On the whole, though, the broadcast was great. :thmbup: Action was easy to follow, and the addition of the drone flyovers for the final was really helpful. It's clear that you guys are working hard and constantly improving, and I commend you for coming on here to seek feedback. I look forward to seeing what you have up your sleeve for the Majestic, and hope the hard work is rewarded with some more viewers.

 

[Consult20]

I watched as much as I could, and overall it was excellent. One thing I would like to see though is more zoomed in shots of players getting ready to throw, and then quickly pan out to see the flight of the disc -- probably easier said than done. For instance, in the last round on 18, MJ had a throw hit a tree and kick way into the woods. I'd have liked to see a zoomed shot of him throwing from there, and then a pan out to see the flight. But maybe it's a limitation of the zoom capabilities of the cameras.