Welcome to the world of tomorrow!
by Dais on Oct 11, 2010 11:40 PM EDT
Email
PrintThe evils of ESPN3 have been pretty well documented on this site, and I agree with nearly every complaint listed. I still love the concept, and feel compelled to say a few words in support of the emerging platform.
Rarely do I get a chance to post anything of substance on this site because while Cardinal Athletics is my passion, sports are not where my expertise lies. I honestly can’t tell you why a draw play reads like a passing play, or why people are suddenly using the term “wildcat” to refer to our offense. Ask me about the differences between Android and iOS and I could go on for hours. While all things U of L will get my attention, I am far more upset about the fact that the U.S. ranks 15th in overall broadband connectivity, than the fact that our football team was picked to finish last in the Big East. In short, I'm a total geek.
When I was growing up I was constantly fed lies about my future. “When you are an adult,” my wise elementary teacher would say, “You will have a robot housecleaner, we will have colonies on the moon, and you will eat entire meals in pill form!” Perhaps that was just an episode of the Jetsons, but I know somebody along the line promised me a flying car. It is now 2010 and, outside of the Roomba, I feel cheated. In many ways we expected so much more from technology.
On the other hand, we’ve been given opportunities never before imagined. Computers are connected across the globe allowing communication near the speed of light. Mobile computers place near the sum of all human knowledge in the palm of your hand. I dare you to say “I wonder why we get motion sickness” (Hint: It’s an evolutionary hold-over to prevent poisoning) or “What year DID Benjamin Franklin die?” (1790) I’m going to be over wikipedia faster than a proton can cross the CERN Synchrotron. Perhaps the greatest gift the internet has given us is its use as a media platform capable of a seemingly infinite variety of content. We no longer have to decide what newspaper to subscribe to when every major newspaper, magazine, community newsletter, or underground counterculture tabloid is available online. More importantly we are no longer tied to traditional television as the only means of video delivery. If I want to get ESPN in HD, Insight requires me to pay for 225 other channels I may never watch. If I wanted to get ESPNU I would have to pay for 316 channels, because apparently getting 20 movie channels isn’t enough, I need to get the West Coast feed for those channels too! We are standing on the brink of a media revolution, where content need not be controlled by the regulated cable monopolies, or the few satellite companies, but set out for the world to see online.
Many television stations are licensing their shows for online streaming. Some producers are skipping the old standard all together and releasing directly online. Netflix allows for thousands of movies to be streamed, now onto your phone. The biggest thing those who have given up cable and dish are missing is live sports, but we’ve made tremendous strides here too. I know most of the sports world disagrees with me, but I think ESPN3 is one of the coolest innovations in the last few years. Yes they’re evil, but the promise of streaming high quality live sports is too exciting for a geek like me not to love. We’ve been living in a world where live events can be broadcast in High Definition in near real time, assuming you subscribe to the right channel, and that channel decides to broadcast the event. Now I can load up live streams from across the globe, all on the same platform. When I think of ESPN3 I feel a little less cheated about the future I was supposed to have. Someone still owes me a flying car.
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Xbox Owners
There will be an update soon this month on the Xbox 360 allowing you to watch ESPN3 broadcast games. YAY!!!
If you fall on the ground that's your asphalt
by AllinWithMyCards on Oct 12, 2010 12:33 AM EDT reply actions
to bad it doesn't make up for its 50%
failure rate(yes i was shocked to see how many others suffered the red ring of death) or its horrible selection of exclusive games…. ps3 better in every way
FREE ENES
Really?
Yeah the failure rate sucks but the only good exclusive game I’ve played for PS3 is MLB The Show. God of War 3 is the exact same as the first two games just prettier. And the Uncharted games are pretty disappointing. And no shooter is better than Halo.
COD MW2 is better than Halo. I don't think Halo's that great.
And while I don’t want to hijack this post, I would be remiss if I didn’t let everybody here know how much better PS3 is. As the commercials say, it truly can do everything.
by UofL Redbirds on Oct 12, 2010 1:10 PM EDT up reply actions
I've got both.
I play the 360 every day. Last time I did more than make sure the firmware was up to date on my PS3 was April. I think the PS3 has the potential to be great, but Sony is just stupid.
by CardinalDude on Oct 12, 2010 2:36 PM EDT up reply actions
Im a PS3 fanboy
But dont get too far ahead of yourself, kywild. Unless you own one of the newer models (of which I do) you run the risk of blue ray drive failure. I had this happen to my original 80gb model, bought back in late 2007. Ive seen it happen to countless others as well.
Far as Uncharted-IMO Uncharted2 is the closest thing to the original Socom I and II titles Ive played to date. 3rd person, small rooms-fun for the most part.
Im exhausted with the COD franchise-tired of a repackaged gimmick that keeps us paying 59.99 for new maps. All “Black Ops” consists of is MW2 with a few tweaks and new maps. Bring out a title that has a little more replay value, Activision. And tone down the bs “perks” that allow any dumbass to grab a controller and play.
sorry for the /hijack
by twistedwedge on Oct 12, 2010 2:51 PM EDT up reply actions
I made the switch from xbox to ps3 last year and i've never looked back
xbox just can’t touch the processing power of the ps3
by quiet cardinal on Oct 12, 2010 2:56 PM EDT up reply actions
Prossing power is by the far the single most important aspect in any gaming system
I think the little stuff like “games” and “online capabilities” are far overrated
Not actually true
(excuse the diversion into computer geek mode on a sports blog)
The PS3 has a more powerful (generally speaking) but more difficult to program CPU. The 360 has a more powerful GPU. Neither is by all that large of a margin (not surprising, considering both CPUs were designed by IBM, and the 360 CPU is essentially 3 of the main core in the PS3 CPU, while the designers of the systems’ GPUs have been pretty even competitors for a long time). Effectively, there’s not really a lot of difference between the systems’ capabilities as game machines now (a few years ago, when developers were still figuring out the PS3’s oddball architecture, there was a clear advantage to the 360), other than the PS3’s Blu-Ray drive making larger games more convenient.
PS3 exclusives
god of war, kill zone 2, gran turismo 5, infamous, metal gear 4(need i say more but i will lol), resistance fall of man, the game that makes halo its bitch SOCOM, uncharted, and the new twisted metal game will be ps3 exclusive… xboxs has halo and gears of war… i own both 360 and ps3 and while i did replace my ps3 once my 360 has been replace like a gazillon times.. add that you have to pay for online gameplay that is about the same as the ps3 FREE online and that the ps3 xmb is 20 times better then 360’s so is the processing power oh and a little thing called blu-ray… the ps3 is far superior .. but thats not because sony is better they just did what microsoft did to them.., wait untill they put out their next gen system and make theirs better.. microsoft did that with the original xbox which was clearly better then ps2
FREE ENES
by kentuckywild on Oct 12, 2010 6:08 PM EDT up reply actions
but i have the halo reach game and its awesome
but halo’s online just gets old quick .. the first player game was awesome… by the way playing new castlevania… its great.. rip off of god of war fighting style but still epic
FREE ENES
by kentuckywild on Oct 12, 2010 6:13 PM EDT up reply actions
Xbox 360 exclusives:
Left 4 Dead games, Forza games, Halo games, Gears of War games, Fable games, Beautiful Katamari, and most importantly Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2.
Like I said, the PS3 has the potential to be great, but Sony doesn’t know how to get out of it’s own way. Way too expensive when first released, removed support for PS2 games, touted the ability to install other OSes then REMOVED that feature, and way too many firmware updates. And how many times has Sony released firmware that bricks a lot of PS3s? Sony has the hardware to be superior, and I think the Move will be way better than the Kinect, but Sony needs to stop tripping all over itself.
by CardinalDude on Oct 12, 2010 7:30 PM EDT up reply actions
We are living in the future
I’ll tell you how I know
I read it in the paper
Fifteen years ago
We’re all driving rocket ships
Talking with our minds
Wearing turquoise jewelry
And standing in soup lines
- John Prine
Nice post, although ...
“Perhaps the greatest [gift] [curse] the internet has given us is its use as a media platform capable of a seemingly infinite variety of content.”
It occurs to me
that it would be appropriate for anyone and everyone responding to a post from me henceforth to begin in that fashion.
by Leeroy Jenkins on Oct 12, 2010 8:48 PM EDT up reply actions
LEEEEEROOYYYY JEEEEEEEEEENKINSSSSSSS
As you wish.
by UofL Redbirds on Oct 12, 2010 9:10 PM EDT up reply actions
Isn't it supposed to be
“Ah Leeeerhahoyyyyyy nnnJenhhhnnnkkinnnnnssssss”
“Oh no, Leroy, you idiot”
I like Hello Kitty Adventure alot more
ThreadKiller
I want that Pit Bull hoverboard.
That thing is way better than the pink one.
by UofL Redbirds on Oct 12, 2010 1:12 PM EDT up reply actions
I mostly agree
and would like to add that no ‘ESPN bottom line’ on ESPN3.com (the constant scroll of the same info over and over!) makes me wish they would take it off ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU when airing live events!
I like it
Once the connectivity problems are corrected (invitable), it will be wonderful. I was babysitting on Saturday after the UofL game. After the baby was asleep, I wanted to watch football. My friends don’t have cable and I couldn’t get their TV to pick up wave channels. I got on their big, fast Mac computer and in minutes inwas simultaneously watching the UK and Florida games in PIP, in near HD, with vey little lagging. It’s also nice to know that out of towners can watch games that were once just on WHAS.
In 5 years, every new TV will connect to the internet, and then you’re watching these games from the couch on the big screen like you have been. I love it. I just hope they don’t turn around and start charging ridiculous amounts for it like they do now for Gameplan, etc.
by uoflcard on Oct 12, 2010 10:47 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
Connectivity Problems
I didn’t experience any of the issues others reported on this site. I live downtown and I would imagine that some neighborhood nodes were getting flooded, while mine was opening up due to businesses being closed. The quality was constantly superior than what would have otherwise been broadcast by WHAS.
The infrastructure is available for us all to have faster connections, but our ISPs throttle bandwidth fairly arbitrarily according to service plans. As consumers we need to push for more innovation, and higher speeds in order to compete with the rest of the world.
HDMI out on a PC/laptop to your HDTV is your friend
ESPN3 Picture for UofL is better than the local feed of the University of New Mexico here in Albuquerque.
I stream (and record) my kids favorite shows, Pandora, Netflix, etc. Cable will soon be a thing of the past.
And Dias…I get pissed about our broadband speeds all the time. Looking at the technology in places like South Korea is mind blowing to the average American. (I think most Americans think we have the best of everything.)
I guess we pay the price with our current connections because (in general) we put up our infrastructure first and our greedy corporate country realize they maximize profits by NOT upgrading technology until it is established/predicted as profitable.
by Remote Cardinal on Oct 12, 2010 11:24 AM EDT up reply actions
I mean, seriously, Asia?
You framed an Asia poster? How hard did the people at the frame store laugh when you brought this in?
ThreadKiller
Bingo.
Using Boxee on Windows or Plex on Mac helps even more. HDMI to the TV and if the video quality isn’t preferable, the method of delivery certainly is.
We’re sitting on miles of dark fiber, even in Louisville. Insight is starting to market fiber plans to business customers at staggering mark-ups, even though the cost to them is negligible. I really hope we see the continued growth seen in Asia and parts of Europe. Light the dark fiber and we’ll be ready to give up on local storage, physical media, and any content distribution system other than continuous on-demand high quality programming.
Blessing for us out of state
As a Cardinal living in Big12/SEC country ESPN3 means I don’t have to go watch Louisville games in a smokey sports bar on a 12" TV with no sound. HDMI out of the PC directly into my receiver works great and while I have the occasional “hiccup”, it’s pretty rare.
Don’t get me wrong, I would just as soon have the games on ESPNHD, but right now that’s not happening… and having ESPN3 is way better for me then when games where shown “Exclusively” on WHAS or WDRB.
I expect most of the issues with it in Louisville, is that Insight has too many customers trying to stream video simultaneously from the same site (slowing down the entire network).
I'm an out of towner and I love it
But there’s still no reason to block out local broadcasts. Anyway, very well written. You should post more often.
by REALISTICCARDSFAN on Oct 12, 2010 1:38 PM EDT reply actions
Applause
I had to comment here just to applaud your use of the LHC (CERN Synchrotron) is this post, as I am also a fellow nerd.
by LouisvillePhysics on Oct 12, 2010 2:34 PM EDT reply actions
Is it bad that everytime I see "Large Hadron Collider"
I read Large Hard-on Collider in my head for just a sec?
by Remote Cardinal on Oct 13, 2010 4:18 PM EDT up reply actions
We've got Internet in Iowa!
I’m stuck here in god awful Iowa (please Rick play Iowa or State again) missing my cards more than a grown man should. My media service is Mediacom. I have had really good success with ESPN3 using a HDMI connection coming from my Mac.
10 years from now...
…you’ll look back at this conversation and laugh. Of course that means the world doesn’t end in 2012. Just saying…
Wrap your brain around this
The world ends every time you go to sleep…
And begins anew when you gain consciousness
I know, AND I don’t even smoke pot
ThreadKiller
no excuses
There is no excuse for ESPN3 being so bad (Actually I was at both games and am going by 1,031,758 reports). Why?
Because a couple of years ago during March Madness (anyone find it interesting that March Madness ends in April?) I was scheduled for a you don’t want to know which meant spending a great part of the evening on the john. I had the TV on in the den and my laptop in the bathroom. I watched a lot of B-Ball on www.cbssports.com and had not one problem (discounting the internet was a few seconds behind the TV).
If CBS can broadcast basketball on the internet with no problems why can’t ESPN do football? That’s why fooey on ESPN. It isn’t what they are doing, it’s how poorly they are doing it.
But isn't that a local internet provider problem?
I’m curious b/c my ESPN3 feed from home here in NV has been awesome. The picture quality is a big upgrade from pirated internet feeds as well and my laptop is a low-end, 3 yr old Sony Vaio (not nerdy enough to know what video card/processor it has but it’s not a gucci laptop by any means)
Conversely, I tried watching ESPN3’s broadcast of the UK/UofL FB game in a small-town California hotel room, with the same laptop, and the feed would give me about 5 seconds of live football per 15 minutes of frozen screen.
by UL is my hot hot sex on Oct 12, 2010 6:57 PM EDT up reply actions
Probably provider and the set up wherever you are watching it.
They gone have to stop sleeping on me one day.. I gotta be one of the best
About 3 hours ago by Eric Wright Cleveland Browns – Cornerback
I understand, as a big daddy come and take my spot type of demeanor?
by mooncamping on May 14, 2010 7:24 AM EDT
On CBS; March Madness via internet
I’ve had several problems with CBS March Madness feeds, including 5-10 minute delayed entry into certain broadcasts, several in-game hiccups and being completey booted off the website without explanation.
Perhaps my West Coast internet providers are basketball haters and vice versa in Louisville.
by UL is my hot hot sex on Oct 12, 2010 7:02 PM EDT up reply actions
Nope their feeds aren’t that great either. The only problems I had on ESPN3 involved the commercials screwing up. Which i didn’t want to see anyway so that didn’t bother me.
They gone have to stop sleeping on me one day.. I gotta be one of the best
About 3 hours ago by Eric Wright Cleveland Browns – Cornerback
I understand, as a big daddy come and take my spot type of demeanor?
by mooncamping on May 14, 2010 7:24 AM EDT
Don't get me wrong,
I enjoyed your post (although, admittedly, I have no idea what ‘Roomba’ is.) However let me tell you why ESPN3 sucks. I live in Wisconsin. I have Time-Warner Cable’s Roadrunner internet which is supposedly the best (I would argue against that), but it doesn’t carry ESPN3. So I can’t watch my Cardinals kick some Memphis ass. But for me what is worse is the fact that I specifically have DirecTV so that I can get the most sports possible. I buy Sportspack for $12.99 a month. I buy GamePlan for $120.00 a year. I buy FullCourt for $104.00 a year. I buy all of them to ensure that I get to see the Louisville Cardinals ON MY TELEVISION. The only thing standing in my way is the purpose of your post. I hate ESPN.
Agree 100%
Forcing ISPs to subscribe, and not providing the user an option to pay is the greatest of the evils I referred to in the first line. I think that this is a reverse net-neutrality issue and should be illegal. If ESPN makes an ISP pay for content, then why can’t every other media distributor? The next step would be content plans for the internet that mirror current cable at satellite packages. It would be a disaster for the free spread of information, and while some governments have stepped up to prohibit this type of thing, ours has not.
ESPN is one of the few companies powerful enough to demand something this ridiculous. Something similar occurred during the Winter Olympics where you could watch live coverage online only if you could prove you had a television subscription to the various NBCs covering the event. It is a dangerous precedent that I hope isn’t repeated.
Other media distributors do this as well.
Most notably, Hulu. They specifically block out Hulu on mobile and TV-connected devices (phones, iPad, PS3, etc) unless you have the pay-for Hulu Plus.
If there is a way to make another buck (even on the internet)...
you can bet the big corporations will do it. But at the same time, since the internet isn’t policed well yet…you can find someone who’s hacked it and fed it elsewhere.
by Remote Cardinal on Oct 13, 2010 4:22 PM EDT up reply actions
Why I hate ESPNU...
I can’t get ESPNU content in my area. Comcast, my provider, has negotiated ESPNU for all its customers and promised service in my area back in May of 2009; yet I still don’t have service. The bitch part about it all is that ESPN3 will let you stream ESPNU if your provider doesn’t offer ESPNU as part of a package. But since Comcast at large does provide ESPNU (just not in my area yet), ESPN3 blocks my access to ESPNU streams. To top it off, Comcast doesn’t even offer a PPV option for content on ESPNU, because yet again it’s only my area that doesn’t get it yet. So my only options for ESPNU games are crappy justin.tv streams or a sports bar on a small TV and competing with some horrible knockoff MMA event (since that stuff is outrageously popular in Albuquerque). I am annoyed greatly when we play on ESPNU and have been for the past 18 months.
I guess I’m not sure whether I should hate ESPNU, Comcast, or just Albuquerque in general…
by Remote Cardinal on Oct 13, 2010 4:28 PM EDT reply actions
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