# DIRECTV launches Olympics coverage on demand



## Satelliteracer (Dec 6, 2006)

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080717/20080717005244.html?.v=1


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Thanks for sharing....this is a nice added "bonus" in terms of planning for DVR scheduling...


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## Koz (Sep 16, 2006)

Very cool. Is it free? I didn't see anything regarding cost in the article.


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

Thanks for sharing the news, SR!

I wonder if this should also be in *DIRECTV On Demand Discussion* ...


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

By the way, here's a trip down memory lane for how DIRECTV provided interactive Olympics coverage in 2006: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=52669


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Drew2k said:


> Thanks for sharing the news, SR!
> 
> I wonder if this should also be in *DIRECTV On Demand Discussion* ...


...and also the new NEWS TIPS at the top of the page....


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## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> ...and also the new NEWS TIPS at the top of the page....


 Link posted on home page. Thanks to justlgi for sending the submission.


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## Billsfan69 (Nov 9, 2007)

Koz said:


> Very cool. Is it free? I didn't see anything regarding cost in the article.


Yes. it is free.


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## Steve615 (Feb 5, 2006)

Thanks for that info Satelliteracer.Here is the press release from DirecTV. 

http://dtv.client.shareholder.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=322748



Satelliteracer said:


> http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080717/20080717005244.html?.v=1


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## EricJRW (Jul 6, 2008)

Billsfan69 said:


> Yes. it is free.


Now I like it... Will make a note about 1008!

Thanks


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## syphix (Jun 23, 2004)

Um...hasn't 1008 been around for a while?? I've downloaded programs off it several times for quite a while now...

Is this really just a press release about it? Or was it only available via CE's up until now?


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Yes, but there's going to be a lot more content, and hopefully that will include content that you won't see on the broadcast channels.


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## Dusty (Sep 21, 2006)

This is actually an example of where VOD is better than DVR. I don't have good ideas what I should plan to record in advance (except women's beach volley, of course). Glad to know there is VOD that I can download afterwards.


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## Sea bass (Jun 10, 2005)

Only good for DIRECTV Plus HD DVR or R22 DVR receivers...too bad nothing for R15. The VOD could be stored in the showcase...


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## TheRatPatrol (Oct 1, 2003)

Will it be in HD?


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## CrazyforYeshua (Feb 23, 2008)

From the article:


"The service will be available through the end of the Olympics in both standard-definition and HD".


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## TheRatPatrol (Oct 1, 2003)

CrazyforYeshua said:


> From the article:
> 
> "The service will be available through the end of the Olympics in both standard-definition and HD".


Yeah I saw that after I posted, sorry about that.


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## Dusty (Sep 21, 2006)

I tried the HD portion last night. Picture quality was good. Just a bit short. Most of them programns are 6 to 8 minutes, but well edited.


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## loudo (Mar 24, 2005)

On Demand is OK, but I hope that NBC and/or DirecTV goes one step further and puts the events on live, instead of hours after they take place, like some past Olympics. 

Viewing an event, once you know what the results are, is just not like seeing the events live as it happens. Kind of like eating leftovers, aren't as good second time around.


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## jpoet (Feb 9, 2007)

loudo said:


> On Demand is OK, but I hope that NBC and/or DirecTV goes one step further and puts the events on live, instead of hours after they take place, like some past Olympics.
> 
> Viewing an event, once you know what the results are, is just not like seeing the events live as it happens. Kind of like eating leftovers, aren't as good second time around.


Heh. If Directv cared about that, they would give us an option to turn of the G&# [email protected]%* PIG!!!!

John


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## herkulease (Jul 29, 2007)

loudo said:


> On Demand is OK, but I hope that NBC and/or DirecTV goes one step further and puts the events on live, instead of hours after they take place, like some past Olympics.
> 
> Viewing an event, once you know what the results are, is just not like seeing the events live as it happens. Kind of like eating leftovers, aren't as good second time around.


according to listings on nbc they are going to show the events live. The opening ceremony atleast here on the west coast and probably east coast will not be live. some of the "lesser" sports won't get full coverage her the US. Like Badminton, Table tennis, fencing, etc. they'll be part of 12 hours blocks that try to fit in some 6 different sports.

Not the greatest but it'll be live and from the looks of better than athens. the lesser sports in the US were given much shorter time blocks and were crammed in with nbc switching jumping all over the place in terms of events.

they are offer all the events live online too. Obviously it won't be in HD but I wonder if they can handle all the bandwidth.


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## Milkman (Dec 6, 2006)

Have they started putting any Olympics stuff up??? I know it doesn't start for another week, but I thought they would have a section already setup.

If they do, where is it?


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## TheRatPatrol (Oct 1, 2003)

Milkman said:


> Have they started putting any Olympics stuff up??? I know it doesn't start for another week, but I thought they would have a section already setup.
> 
> If they do, where is it?


I don't see it in the guide yet.

It will be on channels 750-757.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

I'm still trying to come to grips with the fact that the Olympics are inside a week away... :eek2: :eek2:  

I'm sure I'll be recording tons of things for the Mrs. to see at her convenience...


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## Milkman (Dec 6, 2006)

theratpatrol said:


> I don't see it in the guide yet.
> 
> It will be on channels 750-757.


Sorry - I meant DOD Olympics stuff.


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## maseace (Aug 31, 2007)

For me the HD clips were blank (black screen) when playing back on my HR20. Anyone else get it to work? Specifically the HD torch lighting clip.


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## gpg (Aug 19, 2006)

maseace said:


> For me the HD clips were blank (black screen) when playing back on my HR20. Anyone else get it to work? Specifically the HD torch lighting clip.


I tried all three new HD clips, and they all were black screen from start to finish.


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

maseace said:


> For me the HD clips were blank (black screen) when playing back on my HR20. Anyone else get it to work? Specifically the HD torch lighting clip.





gpg said:


> I tried all three new HD clips, and they all were black screen from start to finish.


Just downloaded the HD Gymnastics Recap for 8/9 and is was indeed blank...


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## wollmuth (Jan 20, 2008)

Mine were blank as well.


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## rbrome (Aug 18, 2006)

Wow the Olympics On Demand seems to be a joke. Why aren't people more up-in-arms about this? They have a tiny smattering of short programs in HD (um FOUR right now) but there's only a "sights and sounds" recap of the opening ceremonies, and it's not in HD? Oh, and they're all just blank blackness anyway. What the hell, DirecTV?!


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

rbrome said:


> Wow the Olympics On Demand seems to be a joke. Why aren't people more up-in-arms about this? They have a tiny smattering of short programs in HD (um FOUR right now) but there's only a "sights and sounds" recap of the opening ceremonies, and it's not in HD? Oh, and they're all just blank blackness anyway. What the hell, DirecTV?!


You're gripe should be with NBC. DIRECTV is, in fact, getting everything up as fast as possible. Remember, it's NBC that is providing the coverage and has the rights to the Olympics.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

AirRocker said:


> Just downloaded the HD Gymnastics Recap for 8/9 and is was indeed blank...


I have not seen first hand, but I have had reports that the Phelps HD clip was fine.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

DOD shows the Olympics Cauldron lighting in both SD and HD, yet you cannot select just the HD version for DOD download. I've tried it on 3 DVRs - same result.

If you first select the SD version and add to the queue, DOD then lets you add the HD version and adds to the list.

Strange.


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## loudo (Mar 24, 2005)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> DOD shows the Olympics Cauldron lighting in both SD and HD, yet you cannot select just the HD version for DOD download. I've tried it on 3 DVRs - same result.
> 
> If you first select the SD version and add to the queue, DOD then lets you add the HD version and adds to the list.
> 
> Strange.


Same thing here.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Read in another thread that there is a problem with it, and DirecTV is aware - the HD version should come back some time soon for DOD downloads.


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## tonyd79 (Jul 24, 2006)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> DOD shows the Olympics Cauldron lighting in both SD and HD, yet you cannot select just the HD version for DOD download. I've tried it on 3 DVRs - same result.
> 
> If you first select the SD version and add to the queue, DOD then lets you add the HD version and adds to the list.
> 
> Strange.


I think you will find that when your SD version is done, the HD version will error out.

The only HD highlight I could get to download is Phelps Wins Gold. Earlier (as I reported in another thread), they would download as blank, now they are erroring out with an "unexpected error" found in the History.

I guess this means they are correcting them at the home base.


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## macca (Dec 31, 2007)

I'll take your word for it that NBC is the bottleneck. In any case they did claim a "robust on demand offering" and instead what we have is nothing more than a novelty - 2 day old content, some of which cannot even be downloaded due to whatever technical problems. I tried watching a couple of the HD clips over the weekend and let's say it wasn't very impressive spending 20 minutes watching an 8 minute clip (waiting for the the buffer to catch up) on my 6Mb DSL connection. My connection usually gets that full 6Mb speed both in real world downloads and speed test sites so I don't know why it's that slow downloading from Directv.



Doug Brott said:


> You're gripe should be with NBC. DIRECTV is, in fact, getting everything up as fast as possible. Remember, it's NBC that is providing the coverage and has the rights to the Olympics.


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

Doug Brott said:


> I have not seen first hand, but I have had reports that the Phelps HD clip was fine.


Tried downloading the Phelps HD clip tonight... Terribly slow download time... It is a 13 minute clip, and with my 6.0mb/sec connection, it took over 30 minutes to get to 86%... then I gave up and just deleted it...


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## dbmaven (May 29, 2004)

I just downloaded the 8-10 swimming recap in HD.

33 min. of content, took ~50 min to download (it certainly wasn't maxing my end of the connection, I have 30 down/5 up and regularly get 90+% of the rated speeds even in primetime).

When I went to watch it - my HR20-100 flipped to '480p' resolution. I had to do a double-take, because it was a blurry mess - certainly not what I've come to expect from DoD HD downloads....

Is this expected ? If so, they really shouldn't be labeling it as "HD"


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## loudo (Mar 24, 2005)

AirRocker said:


> Tried downloading the Phelps HD clip tonight... Terribly slow download time... It is a 13 minute clip, and with my 6.0mb/sec connection, it took over 30 minutes to get to 86%... then I gave up and just deleted it...


It took about 45 minutes to download a 6 minute one this afternoon, but my connection is also a 6 mb/sec connection. It usually is a lot faster.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

Things should be better now from what I've been told. Make sure to look in the 'All' section as well as the 'Daily' section as some shows may have moved overnight.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Doug Brott said:


> Things should be better now from what I've been told. Make sure to look in the 'All' section as well as the 'Daily' section as some shows may have moved overnight.


Yup.

The HD Cauldron Lighting ceremony is back and downloads fine.


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