timing/metrics on the olymic road race

[phatmanace]

perhaps just wrong expectation after tour de france, but I couldn't help noticing the lack of any on screen 'data' on the race this morning.

Zero sign of:

• Distance done/to-do
• Current order of riders.

Curious if anyone knows why this is?

-Ace

[Rocksteadyeddie]

Cos the coverage was st? The BBC don't do cycling and it stood out a mile. Commentary was woeful - seemed as if Hugh Porter hadn't watched a road race for five years. Camera work was poor. Director was half asleep. And no one knew what the gaps were except Rabobank via their Iphone app. As an advert to attract people to our sport in the biggest window we've perhaps ever had it was a st show.

[SixtySpeedTwin]

I thought the best bit of direction was when they showed the riders stopping.

They assumed the riders had broken down or something when they were actually stopping en mass for a pee

great tv

[Paul Drawmer]

I'm surprised there wasn't more tracking. I would have thought that each rider could have a transponder, and they could be read by sensors stapled across the road in rubber tubes. Then there could have been live timing boards for the public and commentary team, which would also be useful to the competitors.

Probably all comes down to cost, but I wonder if was even thought about.

[aspender]

The timing stuff all exists and was in use. What appeared to be the problem was getting that information to the Olympic Broadcast Service. OBS are responsible for the production including all on-screen graphics. They are a monopoly organisation granted rights to film all the Olympic events since 2008 by the IOC. Some of their camerawork was extremely poor as well.

The BBC and Eurosport have no control over what appears, they can only take and re-broadcast the feed from OBS.

Now, Hugh Porter on the other hand, there's no excuse for him!

[Gizmoish]

aspender said:

The timing stuff all exists and was in use. What appeared to be the problem was getting that information to the Olympic Broadcast Service. OBS are responsible for the production including all on-screen graphics. They are a monopoly organisation granted rights to film all the Olympic events since 2008 by the IOC. Some of their camerawork was extremely poor as well.

The BBC and Eurosport have no control over what appears, they can only take and re-broadcast the feed from OBS.

Now, Hugh Porter on the other hand, there's no excuse for him!

Agreed on all counts.

The delay in switching cameras on the last corner onto the Mall in particular was ridiculous.

[Paul Drawmer]

Ah, thanks for the pointer to OBS.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/28/bbc-ol...

So; OBS is just another part of the 'lock-down' effected by the IOC to make sure that everything runs smoothly revenues are maximised back to IOC.

[phatmanace]

Thanks for that - I knew ph would have the answer !