On board bike cameras

tuneskyline

We are talking about pushbikes. Stick a camera on the forks and it will look real fast going down hill catching the motorbikes on the bends. Up hill it is slow and having a close up of some idiot running alongside in a mankini might bring a whole new audience but I doubt it. It might possibly clear up a few crash incidents. Sprints could be more exciting. Cameras must be switched off when riders take a natural brake as urination is not a TV winner unless your into that sort of thing or one of the riders entertains us by trying to aim his wee wee at a passing animal beastie.

markhewitt1978

The likes of F1 etc the onboard cameras are the only way we can get really close into the action. But with cycling they already have cameras on the motorbikes etc, right beside the riders, so it's not quite as important.

mechanism

Has this one showing the finale of the last stage in California been linked? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeCRnFq_9Lo

alan_sherman

That is good footage. Seeing Sagan and Cav go either side, then the switch to the front facing camera to see big D come back past them (well past Cav just after the line!). Thanks for posting.

ddraver

I seriously cannot understand how anyone watches these videos and doesnt think it's awesome...

mechanism

It obviously gives great results for a sprint but I'd also like to see the cameras used on a mountain stage to see/hear the crowds, the descents too.

Anonymous

Imagine an upwards facing camera looking directly at Contador, as Froome dropped him last year, or wiggins when froome attacked. etc

Would be awesome.

gsvbagpuss

Rick Chasey wrote:

a) more sky sports style analysis. Especially during slow days. No-one's going to mind putting the breakaway action in the corner of the screen while a man with a tv who looks like he's in minority report goes through some analysis - a breakdown of the previous day's sprint, highlighting little tit bits, etc etc - going through the final run in in detail with images and diagrams etc. Look at head to head graphics - when sprinters do better and worse. Look at what position they are with a 1km to go and see how that impacts their finish position etc etc.

This +lots. Get Cosmo on it? I am an interested cycling fan but I don't watch the race to see the break plod along for 4 hours before the teams wind them back in the last hour. I know some people watch whole stages religiously but cycling is not going to lose those viewers by breaking away for 15 min segments of analysis, which would certainly get me to tune in.

The sprint video from Degenkolb is outstanding and must be followed up. The technology is a pointless debate - where's there a will there will be a way. I'd like to see track stuff too - Hoy bmobing round the keirin would be fantastic viewing!

Crampeur

Interesting to see the difference in space/respect Degenkolb gives to the Continental teams vs. the WT teams.

above_the_cows

ddraver wrote:

I seriously cannot understand how anyone watches these videos and doesn't think it's awesome...

^This.

That latest Degenkolb vid is going to be the most interesting thing I'll watch all afternoon.

Liked how you see Wiggins hanging around the front at the beginning just to make sure he's out of trouble before he's got GC sewn up.

thomthom

Made me exhausted just watching it. Incredible footage.

DeadCalm

johnboy183 wrote:

I don't know if this adds to the discussion for everyone...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1WPT0mAUA ... fj&index=2

Edit: and this


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ufgbLNBCxH4

Okay, so it turns out that people who actually know what they are talking about are saying that live on-board footage is not only feasible but is something that they are actually working on now.

frenchfighter

55mph descent on stage 8:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bEw7eXizLg

thomthom

frenchfighter wrote:

55mph descent on stage 8:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bEw7eXizLg

It takes just one pen on that road and it will all look very ugly.

mmacavity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k148t83gSI0

Macaloon

While cycling experiments with colour transmission and slow-motion replays:

Ross Tucker ‏@Scienceofsport
One application of Hawkeye to enhance viewing of tennis. Tip of the iceberg, what a data source. Always say this... pic.twitter.com/deiiEbh0rj

Paul 8v

Yeah suddenly makes cycling broadcasters look even more like dinosaurs. They can't even do a highlights program...

Pross

I suspect cycling and tennis have very different TV budgets available and then add to that how much cheaper it is to broadcast from a contained arena in the middle of an urban area and from an event spread over a couple of hundred kilometres are, often very rural, roads. What budget there is for cycling gets used up on the helicopters and motorcyclists so not a lot left for fancy gimmicks. I'd rather money gets spent providing reliable pictures first and foremost.

rick_chasey

Main problem for live TV isn't the infrastructure blah blah.

Give it 5 years and it'll be do-able.

The main issue will be riders don't want the public to hear what's going on and being said in the peloton all day. Editing it out at the end of the day will most likely be a good compromise.

rick_chasey

Mechanism wrote:

Has this one showing the finale of the last stage in California been linked? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeCRnFq_9Lo

Bloody exciting.

Macaloon

Pross wrote:

I suspect cycling and tennis have very different TV budgets available and then add to that how much cheaper it is to broadcast from a contained arena in the middle of an urban area and from an event spread over a couple of hundred kilometres are, often very rural, roads. What budget there is for cycling gets used up on the helicopters and motorcyclists so not a lot left for fancy gimmicks. I'd rather money gets spent providing reliable pictures first and foremost.

Look at the number of corporate logos in that image. Cycling thinks it has a money problem. It's worse than that. It's had an imagination bypass if it thinks stoneage coverage is helping it compete for corporate dough.

mfin

Like people say, better highlights programmes can make cycling more watchable. That said, watching a 4,5,6 hour programme of a live stage is always going to be boring to anyone who's not obsessed, there's only so much that is going on.

RichN95.

Macaloon wrote:

Look at the number of corporate logos in that image. Cycling thinks it has a money problem. It's worse than that. It's had an imagination bypass if it thinks stoneage coverage is helping it compete for corporate dough.

Corporate dough goes to those that provide the best corporate entertainment packages

Crampeur

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGiLRzE1TyE

For the new David Millar film. MSR.

Macaloon

RichN95 wrote:

Macaloon wrote:

Look at the number of corporate logos in that image. Cycling thinks it has a money problem. It's worse than that. It's had an imagination bypass if it thinks stoneage coverage is helping it compete for corporate dough.

Corporate dough goes to those that provide the best corporate entertainment packages

Emirates pay handsomely to have their logo plastered on interesting images watched by a large number of people some of them affluent? Maybe I'm misunderstanding.

I'm suggesting that the real-estate (on the rider) would be much more valuable if the sponsors logo was associated with epic images, from the bike, from today's stage. I'm not a very imaginative guy, but real-life drama, trumps the fake sh1t by a massive margin.

I understand that some things are more difficult than others. It's the conservatism I find baffling.

mm1

You can almost feel the grit in your eyes and the water running down your neck! I am really looking forward to the DM film.

RichN95.

Macaloon wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Macaloon wrote:

Look at the number of corporate logos in that image. Cycling thinks it has a money problem. It's worse than that. It's had an imagination bypass if it thinks stoneage coverage is helping it compete for corporate dough.

Corporate dough goes to those that provide the best corporate entertainment packages

Emirates pay handsomely to have their logo plastered on interesting images watched by a large number of people some of them affluent? Maybe I'm misunderstanding.

I'm suggesting that the real-estate (on the rider) would be much more valuable if the sponsors logo was associated with epic images, from the bike, from today's stage. I'm not a very imaginative guy, but real-life drama, trumps the fake sh1t by a massive margin.

I understand that some things are more difficult than others. It's the conservatism I find baffling.

But they don't invest in the drama, they invest in the glamour. This is why F1 makes so much money, why billionaires buy football clubs and why the likes of golf and tennis are so lucrative. The speak to a certain lifestyle. Royal Box at Ascot, Centre Court at Wimbledon, yacht at the Monaco Grand Prix. These are glamorous. Driving up the Stelvio in a Skoda in a snowstorm is not.

Exposure is secondary to prestige.

Macaloon

RichN95 wrote:

But they don't invest in the drama, they invest in the glamour. This is why F1 makes so much money, why billionaires buy football clubs and why the likes of golf and tennis are so lucrative. The speak to a certain lifestyle. Royal Box at Ascot, Centre Court at Wimbledon, yacht at the Monaco Grand Prix. These are glamorous. Driving up the Stelvio in a Skoda in a snowstorm is not.

Exposure is secondary to prestige.

Believe your mistaken there, big man. These iconic venues only attain their glamorous status due to hosting epic human dramas: Prost | Senna, Borg | McEnroe, Shergar | Burger Van. If sponsors don't care about drama why do broadcasters (SKY footy especially) work so hard to conceal the fact that there's so little of it about?

RichN95.

Macaloon wrote:

Believe your mistaken there, big man. These iconic venues only attain their glamorous status due to hosting epic human dramas: Prost | Senna, Borg | McEnroe, Shergar | Burger Van. If sponsors don't care about drama why do broadcasters (SKY footy especially) work so hard to conceal the fact that there's so little of it about?

No, the glamorous venues get their status from the people who attend - Monaco, the rich man's playground, Royal Ascot, the royal box at Wimbledon. Polo, America's Cup, Henley Regatta - magnets for the rich and their money - I bet you can barely recall an event from any of them. The wealthy go to these places to be seen and network, not to watch.

Cycling clings to and trades on it's outdated idea of 'convicts of the road' - the downtrodden escaping the mines and the fields and suffering uncomplainingly to provide newspaper stories - it's all utterly outdated but many lap it up. And it doesn't sell a life style people aspire to. No amount of TV coverage will breach that gap. It should be better but it's not going to tap into the serious corporate cash because no-one important wants to 'be seen' at a bike race.

Macaloon

RichN95 wrote:

No, the glamorous venues get their status from the people who attend - Monaco, the rich man's playground, Royal Ascot, the royal box at Wimbledon. Polo, America's Cup, Henley Regatta - magnets for the rich and their money - I bet you can barely recall an event from any of them. The wealthy go to these places to be seen and network, not to watch.

Cycling clings to and trades on it's outdated idea of 'convicts of the road' - the downtrodden escaping the mines and the fields and suffering uncomplainingly to provide newspaper stories - it's all utterly outdated but many lap it up. And it doesn't sell a life style people aspire to. No amount of TV coverage will breach that gap. It should be better but it's not going to tap into the serious corporate cash because no-one important wants to 'be seen' at a bike race.

Impressive cynicism. Chapeau. I'm with you all the way on the disgusting exploitation* of the under-educated by the over-wealthed: hello HELLO! But I think you miss the essential narrative element: the Eastenders team has been at work on Road to Rio storylines since London. Sick-bags at the ready.

My argument is that with cycling you don't need to stretch credulity to meet the genuinely epic, and with a little help from technology the sport could dip a toe into the modern world. Pictures tell good stories.


*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzevl0Hw79g&feature=kp