American Football

[patsfangr]

"How about them Cowboys"?

Well I'll tell ya, that division should be called the "last man standing division" or the "cannibal division" because it's usually the team that can possibly stay healthy going into the playoffss that ends up in the NFC championship game.

They should switch the Bucs and the Cowboys anyway, Dallas seems more NFC South than East......

Hush your mouth! The tradition of the "NFL East" can not, and will not, be broken. The Cowboys, Redskins, Eagles, and Giants are rivalries that are part of the heart of the league. Same is true for the AFC East. The Dolphins, like the Cowboys, are a "geological misfit". But the Phins rivalries with the Jets, Patriots, and Bills are just too deep to wipe out.

The NFL always recognizes this when they do restructure for expansions. They do their very best to retain long standing rivalries. That's whey there are a few teams that are "geographically wrong" in their divisions - Cowboys, Dolphins, Rams. If you looked at all 32 teams, and just set them up by the map, you'd shake up the whole league.

[Old Man River]

"How about them Cowboys"?

Well I'll tell ya, that division should be called the "last man standing division" or the "cannibal division" because it's usually the team that can possibly stay healthy going into the playoffss that ends up in the NFC championship game.

They should switch the Bucs and the Cowboys anyway, Dallas seems more NFC South than East......

Hush your mouth! The tradition of the "NFL East" can not, and will not, be broken. The Cowboys, Redskins, Eagles, and Giants are rivalries that are part of the heart of the league. Same is true for the AFC East. The Dolphins, like the Cowboys, are a "geological misfit". But the Phins rivalries with the Jets, Patriots, and Bills are just too deep to wipe out.

The NFL always recognizes this when they do restructure for expansions. They do their very best to retain long standing rivalries. That's whey there are a few teams that are "geographically wrong" in their divisions - Cowboys, Dolphins, Rams. If you looked at all 32 teams, and just set them up by the map, you'd shake up the whole league.

Geological misfits? While I am pissed at your comments, I really don't know what a geological misfit is anyway.

I can't wait until TO makes the end zone in Foxboro his new home. I will supply the popcorn.

[huggybear]

I can't wait until TO makes the end zone in Foxboro his new home. I will supply the popcorn.

We won't have to wait long to see that, first MNF game........

[sendbaht]

HOW ABOUT THEM COWBOYS?!?!?!?!

Norte Dame and Michigan State had some good games. What surprises me is how does True Vision know that??? They must have a farang connection somewhere. If they show more classic games durring the off-season then I will be really impressed. Mizzou will win the Big 12 North again finally Beat Oklahoma to win the Big 12 title....well, maybe not.

Is Chase back for another year? Love to see my Sooners play in the Big 12 again this year.....

[patsfangr]

"How about them Cowboys"?

Well I'll tell ya, that division should be called the "last man standing division" or the "cannibal division" because it's usually the team that can possibly stay healthy going into the playoffss that ends up in the NFC championship game.

They should switch the Bucs and the Cowboys anyway, Dallas seems more NFC South than East......

Hush your mouth! The tradition of the "NFL East" can not, and will not, be broken. The Cowboys, Redskins, Eagles, and Giants are rivalries that are part of the heart of the league. Same is true for the AFC East. The Dolphins, like the Cowboys, are a "geological misfit". But the Phins rivalries with the Jets, Patriots, and Bills are just too deep to wipe out.

The NFL always recognizes this when they do restructure for expansions. They do their very best to retain long standing rivalries. That's whey there are a few teams that are "geographically wrong" in their divisions - Cowboys, Dolphins, Rams. If you looked at all 32 teams, and just set them up by the map, you'd shake up the whole league.

OOPS! Sorry for the "slip of the fingers". I meant to write "geographic misfit", as I noted in the next paragraph.

I thought you'd be happy to jump in and agree on this one, OMR. Aren't you committed to the tradition of the NFC East?

Geological misfits? While I am pissed at your comments, I really don't know what a geological misfit is anyway.

I can't wait until TO makes the end zone in Foxboro his new home. I will supply the popcorn.

[Old Man River]

I can't wait for this season. No pressure. There have been no coaching changes in Dallas other than the poor guy who was hit by the falling roof. We have little hope of sustaining a drive and other teams will pick our defensive backs apart. Nothing anyone says about the Cowboys will offend me, because I will agree.

This season, I will sit back and root for any team playing the New England Geriatrics or the Philadelphia Beagles.

[huggybear]

Is Chase back for another year? Love to see my Sooners play in the Big 12 again this year.....

You sound confused, or else you are confusing me..............

1. Chase played for the Missouri Tigers

2. He now is a rook for the Redskins

3. Your Sooner's QB is named Bradford

[patsfangr]

I have been very far removed from NCAA football since moving here. I am extremely happy that we'll apparently be getting at least a couple of games a week on ASN. I won't be staying up, or getting up, past midnight to watch the (USA) afternoon games 'live'. I'll watch replays of those games later. But I may very well get up early on Saturday or Sunday mornings to watch (USA) night games, if they carry those.

I am a hopelessly addicted NFL fan. I WILL be up in the middle of the night to watch those games 'live'. Back home, I NEVER missed an NFL game broadcast. My wife knew that Sundays were off limits all day for any 'honey do's' during the season; as were Monday nights.

I usually watched at least one NCAA game every Saturday; but it wasn't a "must" for me, as was the NFL. Still, I love college football. The enthusiasm of the crowds and players; and, of course, the 'preview' of future NFL stars, was great. It will be great to get back into it.

Favorite teams? Strange, but, since I was a kid, I've always been a fan of a bunch of "red" teams - #1 USC; #2 Oklahoma; #3 Alabama; #4 Ohio State. I also respect what Papa Joe has brought to the game; so I do root for Penn State, and I'd probably say they're #5. I always hated Michigan; and hated Notre Dame until Charlie Weiss became Head Coach there. Now, I guess Notre Dame is #6. Other teams I constantly root against are the Florida schools - Miami, Florida State, and Florida.

Sadly, I can't get excited about my alma mater. Northeastern University is a bottom of the barrel school in football.

Who are the favorites (and most hated) for you guys?

[huggybear]

I have been very far removed from NCAA football since moving here. I am extremely happy that we'll apparently be getting at least a couple of games a week on ASN. I won't be staying up, or getting up, past midnight to watch the (USA) afternoon games 'live'. I'll watch replays of those games later. But I may very well get up early on Saturday or Sunday mornings to watch (USA) night games, if they carry those.

I am a hopelessly addicted NFL fan. I WILL be up in the middle of the night to watch those games 'live'. Back home, I NEVER missed an NFL game broadcast. My wife knew that Sundays were off limits all day for any 'honey do's' during the season; as were Monday nights.

I usually watched at least one NCAA game every Saturday; but it wasn't a "must" for me, as was the NFL. Still, I love college football. The enthusiasm of the crowds and players; and, of course, the 'preview' of future NFL stars, was great. It will be great to get back into it.

Favorite teams? Strange, but, since I was a kid, I've always been a fan of a bunch of "red" teams - #1 USC; #2 Oklahoma; #3 Alabama; #4 Ohio State. I also respect what Papa Joe has brought to the game; so I do root for Penn State, and I'd probably say they're #5. I always hated Michigan; and hated Notre Dame until Charlie Weiss became Head Coach there. Now, I guess Notre Dame is #6. Other teams I constantly root against are the Florida schools - Miami, Florida State, and Florida.

Sadly, I can't get excited about my alma mater. Northeastern University is a bottom of the barrel school in football.

Who are the favorites (and most hated) for you guys?

As a kid, my best friend's parents were USC Alums, and we used to do the picnic outside the Coliseum with all the other families, throw the Nerf football around. Pretty fond memories.

Old coach McKay always knew what the spread was, thats why the Alums loved him. SC would be up by 24, but had to cover 30, the starters were still in come the fourth quarter.

But I went to a UC school of which did not have football, so feel a bit affiliated with UCLA.

So as a Southern Californian, I'll put USC #1 and UCLA #2 after that I like Texas, and a relatively recent team I have come to like (in the past 8 years) is Boise State, they typically have this wide open offense that's entertaining as hel_l to watch.

[Old Man River]

Sooner's QB is named Bradford

Bradford is the best college QB prospect I have seen since Jamarcus. If Oklahoma is on ASN, watch the game just to see this guy. He is wonderful.

[patsfangr]

As a kid, my best friend's parents were USC Alums, and we used to do the picnic outside the Coliseum with all the other families, throw the Nerf football around. Pretty fond memories.

Old coach McKay always knew what the spread was, thats why the Alums loved him. SC would be up by 24, but had to cover 30, the starters were still in come the fourth quarter.

But I went to a UC school of which did not have football, so feel a bit affiliated with UCLA.

So as a Southern Californian, I'll put USC #1 and UCLA #2 after that I like Texas, and a relatively recent team I have come to like (in the past 8 years) is Boise State, they typically have this wide open offense that's entertaining as hel_l to watch.

Although born and raised in Boston, I lived in So Cal from 1971 to 1996 (with some 'gap time' in Indiana, Illinois, and Shanghai). So my early love for USC really intensified during those years. But I did also like UCLA, when they played everybody except USC. Texas was always a bit of a favorite, too ... except when they played Oklahoma.

[patsfangr]

If any of you guys are interested in joining a FREE Fantasy Football game with real cash payouts, send me a PM or an email. It's a fun site, that's a little different from other FF sites. As I said, if you have any interest at all, let me know, and I'll send you the URL for you to check it out yourself. ... Did I mention that it's FREE?

[jfchandler]

Have some REALLY interesting news to pass along....

This morning, I woke up early to watch the Pro Bowl on ASN -- the schedule said starting at 4 am, but apparently it started 3:30 am.... (I wish they could straighten out the scheduling accuracy problems....) And during the game, I saw a promo for something called NFL GAME REWIND and its web site -- something I'd never seen before.

So I went online to check and WOW....what a surprise. Last December (though it's news to me), the NFL launched a new on-demand video streaming service for its games called GAME REWIND. It will make available all their games every week in online HD with NO commercials, and you can buy their season pass to all games/the entire season for $39.99 now, or $49.99 after Sept. 8.

There are only two catches: 1) the games will not be shown "live" (because of the league's broadcast rights contracts with the networks and DirectTV. Instead, supposedly, every game will be available online, on-demand within 24 hours after it is played. And 2) the service is ONLY available to folks residing in the U.S. (meaning, using an Internet IP address that belongs to the U.S. domain).

That is GREAT pricing, compared to what the NFL web site shows as their $239.99 price this year for their GAME PASS Season Pass, which shows all the games live but only for folks living outside the U.S. Frankly, the live vs. delayed doesn't much matter to us in Thailand, because the hours of the live games are when most of us are (normally) sleeping anyway.

The web address for GAME REWIND is www.nfl.com/gamerewind. And, you cannot access it via a Thailand IP address... You'll get an NFL page that says the service is only available to those within the U.S. You can, of course, access it if your computer is showing an U.S. IP address.

So why mention this then? Because, many people, I suspect, for business or other reasons, manage to make available to ourselves some form of Internet access that gives us a U.S. IP address, when we need it. And if you don't do that already, it's very easy to obtain through normal commercial means... nothing shady... usually for a small monthly fee to the service that provides the IP address. (If anyone doesn't know how to accomplish this, feel free to PM me).

The addition of ASN here on True is great, promising to give us 4 live games every week. But those games certainly may not be for YOUR team or teams. Whereas with Game Pass or Game Rewind, you can pick any games you want to watch.

For $240 a season, I'd have to think hard about subscribing for Game Pass (the live games, outside the U.S. service). But for $40 or $50 per season, plus a small monthly fee to a third-party IP provider, the Game Rewind service for me is a no brainer....

Here's a blog entry on the Game Rewind service:

Thursday, December 11, 2008

NFL Launches "Game Rewind", Every Game On-Demand In HD With No Commercials

Nfl1 Today, the NFL launched a new video on-demand service called Game Rewind that lets you watch every NFL game in HD quality, with no commercials. The service, which costs $19.99 [2008 end of season price, different now] for the season or $4.99 for a week pass, also provides DVR functionality and lets you watch up to four games at once. While it is not known exactly how quickly games are made available after they end, for now the NFL is saying within 24 hours, but it is expected times will be much shorter.

The NFL is using Move Networks for the service, which is the same technology partner used for the NFL's live video service called GamePass HD, available to those outside the U.S. As expected, the quality of video for Game Rewind is amazing and the NFL kept the interface clean and simple. While you can see a demo of the service at NFL.com/gamerewind, the interface I got through an actual account looks a little different. You have the option of just watching the game with no additional content, or including things like stats and chatting with others during the game or watch up to four games at once. Initial buffering times took about a second for me on my Mac, in Safari and I experienced no stuttering at all getting the 2.4MB stream.

While it's not ideal that the NFL would charge for games on-demand, at twenty bucks a year, it's very affordable and by providing HD quality and no commercials of any kind, I'd throw down twenty dollars for it. I'd prefer to see the NFL offer this kind of on-demand video with this kind of quality, for free, but with online video monetization models being what they are today, you can't fault them for charging viewers. With the NFL now providing this kind of video quality for two out of their three online video services, I hope the games they broadcast on Sunday night in conjunction with NBC start getting the HD treatment, or least encoded into a much higher video quality.

PS - In doing some Google searching on the Game Rewind service, I did find some user comments saying that it didn't work well with the latest Firefox 3.5 browser, but that it worked fine with earlier versions. Since I don't have the service yet, I can't vouch for that.

But of course, you can access it thru Internet Explorer, which works fine. Or, the users who had tried it also reported that using Firefox with the FF plug-in "IE Tab" also worked. Some people also said they simply rolled back to an earlier version of FF to solve the compatibility problem.

[patsfangr]

For $240 a season, I'd have to think hard about subscribing for Game Pass (the live games, outside the U.S. service). But for $40 or $50 per season, plus a small monthly fee to a third-party IP provider, the Game Rewind service for me is a no brainer....

As I've posted here before, I'm a happy subscriber to Game Pass. For me - an insane NFL (Patriots) addict - the $14 per week ($240 divided by 17 weeks) is a very reasonable fee. The NFL is, literally, my primary source of entertainment. For me, the idea of waiting to watch a game after it's been played would drive me nuts. But, as the saying goes, that's just me.

My sleep schedule is totally screwed up during the season. I sometimes, though not always, watch all 3 games, from midnight through the end of the Sunday night game at about 10:00 AM. Usually, I look at the schedule, and decide how strong my interest is in watching the broadcast games. But, even if those games don't appeal to me, there may be games on Game Pass that I want to see, so I'll stay up for them. Of course, the one "given" is that I WILL be watching EVERY Patriots' game 'live', via either ASN or Game Pass, whatever time they're on.

For those who are wondering about download problems, I'll tell you that you'll be OK as long as you get at least 450 kbps consistently. My CAT connection usually keeps me well above that (anywhere from 700 - 1700). Last year, I didn't have any significant problems with games. There were occasional lapses in quality; and even less frequent, short interuptions of the signal. But, as I said, nothing that was really significant.

I am overjoyed with what we're getting from ASN. But, for me, that $14 per week for Game Pass is still worth it.

[jfchandler]

Pats...I certainly understand your approach. I used to stay up all night on Sundays/Monday mornings last season to watch the two "live" games that True had on...and it screwed up my sleep...not to mention that sometimes I'd fall asleep while the games were on. This season, I'll probably start with ASN and then catch everything else I want via Game Rewind.

I actually like the idea of being able to have a normal night sleeping on Sunday nights, then wake up Monday and watch whatever Sunday U.S. time games I want... For me, that's perfect. Based on the Game Rewind description, they'll probably start making the early Sunday games available online here in LOS sometime between our noon and Monday evening time...

I believe the technical requirements for accessing Game Pass and Game Rewind are/will be the same. One of the articles I read said the NFL is using the same back office system to deliver both services. The NFL web site I was reading suggested having a 750 Kbps download stream available as a minimum, and 2 Mbps download stream as optimal (I think if you wanted to see more than one game onscreen simultaneously).

[patsfangr]

Pats...I certainly understand your approach. I used to stay up all night on Sundays/Monday mornings last season to watch the two "live" games that True had on...and it screwed up my sleep...not to mention that sometimes I'd fall asleep while the games were on. This season, I'll probably start with ASN and then catch everything else I want via Game Rewind.

I actually like the idea of being able to have a normal night sleeping on Sunday nights, then wake up Monday and watch whatever Sunday U.S. time games I want... For me, that's perfect. Based on the Game Rewind description, they'll probably start making the early Sunday games available online here in LOS sometime between our noon and Monday evening time...

I believe the technical requirements for accessing Game Pass and Game Rewind are/will be the same. One of the articles I read said the NFL is using the same back office system to deliver both services. The NFL web site I was reading suggested having a 750 Kbps download stream available as a minimum, and 2 Mbps download stream as optimal (I think if you wanted to see more than one game onscreen simultaneously).

I completely agree with you JF. The plan you have is definitely great for "normal" people. As I said, when it comes to the NFL, I don't qualify for that description. :-)

As for the quality issue, their recommendations are right. The picture quality that get is not usually "top broadcast quality"; although it does come through that strong sometimes. It's a little "wavy" or slightly blurred. But no where near to a degree that would make it hard on the eyes to watch (and mine are very old eyes). :-) I've never tried watching 2 games at once. I'm going to try that, just out of curiosity, next time I use Game Pass.

[jfchandler]

Since we're in the pre-season period now, I was curious to know how the NFL's different subscription services will deal with pre-season games. The following is the info from their legal terms document re this... with my added comments...

(a) Field Pass (access to live and archived audio of every NFL preseason, regular season and post-season game); AVAILABLE TO ALL LOCATIONS

( Game Pass (access to live and archived video of every NFL [no preseason??] regular season and post-season game); ONLY AVAILABLE TO IP ADDRESSES OUTSIDE THE U.S.

[c] Game Rewind (access to a video archive of every NFL [no preseason??] regular season and post-season game beginning with the 2008 season); and ONLY AVAILABLE TO IP ADDRESSES INSIDE THE U.S.

(d) Red Zone (access to a live stream of the Red Zone channel from NFL Network, which provides live "look-ins" to Sunday afternoon NFL regular season games) (collectively, the "Subscription Products", and together with the Site, the "Services").

Edited August 14, 2009 by jfchandler

[patsfangr]

I know that everybody in this thread who is a TrueVisions subscriber LOVES ASN. Right? So, I hope that you'll begin every email that you send them with a "Thank you for your great NFL coverage!"

That said, I also hope that you will join me in respectfully requesting that they get their sound engineers to BALANCE the dam_n sound BETWEEN commercials/promos, AND games. With the sound adjusted to the "right level" for games, the sound level on the promos will MAKE YOUR WALLS SHAKE, AND THREATEN TO BLOW OUT YOUR EARDRUMS!!

Seriously, I mentioned it to them a month ago; and, after watching the Arizona-Pittsburgh game today, I'm going to send them a little stronger "constructive criticism" about it. It is very irritating.

[kuma]

I join you all in feeling that the addition of ASN is great and this will be a much more enjoyable year for football.

c

For sure I am jealous of those of you that get enopugh bandwidth to be able to buy streaming games from the nfl or cfl. I have a TOT account (2mbps) that at times is a s slow as 0.08 mbps ( i took a screen shot of that one) It is alomost never over 300 mbps, so i cannot get streaming. My building also just recently added wireless internet and I thought maybe that would help but it is just as pathetic so game pass for me - but I would buy in in a second if I had the bandwidth available.

Now watching the repeat of the cardinal - steelrs game (it is Sat afternoon @ 17:30 - and it was on the on screen schedule) So heres hoping we can get at least get a few games a week for this season.

the bears - that is my nfl team (but any cold weather, outdoor team gets a vote from me - even the steelers now that cowher is gone)

Since we're in the pre-season period now, I was curious to know how the NFL's different subscription services will deal with pre-season games. The following is the info from their legal terms document re this... with my added comments...

(a) Field Pass (access to live and archived audio of every NFL preseason, regular season and post-season game); AVAILABLE TO ALL LOCATIONS

( Game Pass (access to live and archived video of every NFL [no preseason??] regular season and post-season game); ONLY AVAILABLE TO IP ADDRESSES OUTSIDE THE U.S.

[c] Game Rewind (access to a video archive of every NFL [no preseason??] regular season and post-season game beginning with the 2008 season); and ONLY AVAILABLE TO IP ADDRESSES INSIDE THE U.S.

(d) Red Zone (access to a live stream of the Red Zone channel from NFL Network, which provides live "look-ins" to Sunday afternoon NFL regular season games) (collectively, the "Subscription Products", and together with the Site, the "Services").

[Old Man River]

I join you all in feeling that the addition of ASN is great and this will be a much more enjoyable year for football.

For sure I am jealous of those of you that get enopugh bandwidth to be able to buy streaming games from the nfl or cfl. I have a TOT account (2mbps) that at times is a s slow as 0.08 mbps ( i took a screen shot of that one) It is alomost never over 300 mbps, so i cannot get streaming. My building also just recently added wireless internet and I thought maybe that would help but it is just as pathetic so game pass for me - but I would buy in in a second if I had the bandwidth available.

Now watching the repeat of the cardinal - steelrs game (it is Sat afternoon @ 17:30 - and it was on the on screen schedule) So heres hoping we can get at least get a few games a week for this season.

the bears - that is my nfl team (but any cold weather, outdoor team gets a vote from me - even the steelers now that cowher is gone)

I also have TOT 2 mbps and I cannot get games on the computer either. ASN will televise 4 live NFL games per week and with the PVR to record the two in the middle of the night here, that satisfies my needs. If the Cowboys had a chance at a decent year this year, then getting games on the computer would be more meaningful, but this year is a rebuilding year and they are rebuilding without first and second round draft choices and a coaching staff that is clueless.

It is going to be a long season.

[patsfangr]

I also have TOT 2 mbps and I cannot get games on the computer either. ASN will televise 4 live NFL games per week and with the PVR to record the two in the middle of the night here, that satisfies my needs. If the Cowboys had a chance at a decent year this year, then getting games on the computer would be more meaningful, but this year is a rebuilding year and they are rebuilding without first and second round draft choices and a coaching staff that is clueless.

It is going to be a long season.

I am sincerely sorry for you NFL fans that can't get a strong enough signal to stream games. As I've said, my signal is nowhere near US or Euro standards; but at least a get a stream that is watchable, with few significant breaks. The picture quality tends to move in and out of some blurring, but it doesn't usually screw up the flow of the game. The NFL Game Pass has been consistently very near broadcast quality.

OMR, speaking of coaches, do you think the Cowboys will try to make a change next season. Shanahan and Gruden are both out there, and both are, IMO, fine coaches. Although, I think both gave Jerry Jones a "Thanks, but no thanks" last year, didn't they?

[jfchandler]

Kuma, with that kind of connection, you might well have problems with the video... But it certainly would support streaming audio (the NFL radio feed) if that held any appeal for you.

Last year, I was listening to the online public radio broadcasts of my California teams via their respective hometown radio stations.... but I had to arrange a U.S. IP address in order to be able to access them from here in BKK.

[jfchandler]

Just an update, this week, I bought a one month, $9.99 subscription to the NFL Field Pass Service - the live and archived audio games feed -- because it seemed the only sure way to get access to all the pre-season games....

So far, I'm not entirely pleased....but it's still good to have. Overall, I'd say, it's not nearly as well managed as either the comparable audio services from the NBA or MLB, both of which I tried earlier this year for the first time. For reasons that perplex me, it's now been about 36 hours since the Raiders game aired live, and I caught part but not all of that...

Now 36 hours later, they still have not posted the audio archive of the Raiders game....but they have posted the archived audio of several others games that were completed well after the Raiders game....

My Internet connection is a 4 mb True connection in BKK, which most of the time works fine, and handled the audio feeds of the MLB and NBA without any problems....even back when I had only a slower 2 mb connection. But this weekend when I used the NFL feed, I noticed that it would suddenly stop and appear to have a broken connection at different times... So I'd have to restart the player...

One good thing (I guess...) I noticed is... once you buy into some package via the NFL web site, they automatically start trying to upsell you to longer packages at discounted prices... For example, after I bought the month audio package... suddenly, even time I log on... the resulting web page is offering me to buy the full season audio package for $20, 50% off price of list price of $40, and still less than the discounted pre-season price offered now for the next month of $30.

If the NFL is promising to have the video broadcasts available via Game Rewind less than 24 hours after the games complete, I'm wondering why they can't have the audio broadcast of the Raiders game online 36 or so hours later and counting...... I want to finish listening to the game!!!!!!

[jfchandler]

Just three added items...

1. The Raiders game finally showed up online in archives on NFL Field Pass by this morning...almost 48 hours after the game... Listening to it now...

2. At least under Field Pass, the audio feed, they don't seem to air the broadcast commercials from the original game. But they don't excise those segment times either, meaning you get canned orchestral music for the duration of each commercial break... A bit annoying...

For an archived feed, I'd rather hear the actual commercial or just have them fully cut out those segments, similar to what ASN does with their replay game broadcasts.... all the extraneous stuff... halftime, commercial breaks, etc.... is just cut out.

3. Here's a screen capture of what the Field Pass player interface looks like...

[Old Man River]

I also have TOT 2 mbps and I cannot get games on the computer either. ASN will televise 4 live NFL games per week and with the PVR to record the two in the middle of the night here, that satisfies my needs. If the Cowboys had a chance at a decent year this year, then getting games on the computer would be more meaningful, but this year is a rebuilding year and they are rebuilding without first and second round draft choices and a coaching staff that is clueless.

It is going to be a long season.

I am sincerely sorry for you NFL fans that can't get a strong enough signal to stream games. As I've said, my signal is nowhere near US or Euro standards; but at least a get a stream that is watchable, with few significant breaks. The picture quality tends to move in and out of some blurring, but it doesn't usually screw up the flow of the game. The NFL Game Pass has been consistently very near broadcast quality.

OMR, speaking of coaches, do you think the Cowboys will try to make a change next season. Shanahan and Gruden are both out there, and both are, IMO, fine coaches. Although, I think both gave Jerry Jones a "Thanks, but no thanks" last year, didn't they?

Neither Shanahan nor Gruden were approached, but Shanahan will be approached in 2010 if the Cowboys don't win the NFC Championship, which they won't. Personally, I would rather see Gruden or Cowher, but it looks like Shanahan would be the guy.

[kuma]

JF

Thanks for the info on the audio option - unfortunately i have always been hooked on the visual experience.

And yes if you like audio you can go to sites like radiotime.com and get stations from all over the nation covering games, so you can find the local broadcast of any game or certain national broadcasters you may like - and it is all free.

Still hoping to get a video option. i saw you mention somewhere you would use a pvr to get the two games that would be played overnight -- yikes i am hoping all the 4 games will be on repeat during the week at prime time so i can catch them at a decent hour.

btw it is mon 1430 here in bkk, just finished watching the sd/indy wildcard from last year, then total access was on (whole show on vick - yawn) - the online schedule showed big 10 games for the whole time so i guess again we can nnot have any confidence in them being able to have an accurate schedule - have not looked at asn.com i hope maybe they have an accurate schedule.

i have seen commercials saying the next game is on the 18th, tomorrow, forget who but i think it is going to be on at about 1800 or so.

Kuma, with that kind of connection, you might well have problems with the video... But it certainly would support streaming audio (the NFL radio feed) if that held any appeal for you.

Last year, I was listening to the online public radio broadcasts of my California teams via their respective hometown radio stations.... but I had to arrange a U.S. IP address in order to be able to access them from here in BKK.

[jfchandler]

Kuma, yes, you're right... Audio/radio broadcasts are available from various individual (hometown team) radio stations for free. I've done that before as well, last season, in fact.

However, what that doesn't get you is the ability to listen to any more than one game at a time, or only one game in either of the two major game timeslots. Early or late on Sunday U.S. time. Which of course, in Thailand, isn't such a great time period for those who want to sleep sometimes.

So, what makes the audio pay option worthwhile for me is not having to worry about staying up from midnight to 6 am on Monday mornings to catch two games. Rather, I can have a regular night's sleep and then listen to ANY or ALL of the weekend's games the next day, days, week, month or whenever I want. Stop, pause, rewind, relisten, etc etc.

I'm just doing the audio during the pre-season because, as best as I can tell, the NFL isn't offering any online video option for all those games. But once the regular season starts, I'm planning to spend the $40-$50 to buy the season pass for Game Rewind... sleep normally Sunday nights, and then watch any or all of the games at my leisure during the ensuing week.

And yes if you like audio you can go to sites like radiotime.com and get stations from all over the nation covering games, so you can find the local broadcast of any game or certain national broadcasters you may like - and it is all free.

[lukeskywalker]

Is anyone besides me pissed that now the games are only being shown on ASN and ASN is only available through the Platinum package? Unlike before, the games were either on True or ESPN, ever ASN so Gold package was enough. Now I have to shell out an extra 500 to upgrade to Platinum. That's now 2,000 baht a month.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy to have the games but I wasn't even using my UBC (ie, I hadn't paid my bill in 3 months, don't watch much TV) until the pre-season started. Woke up this morning to watch a pre-season game, looked on ESPN and all the True channels and nothing. Finally found it on ASN which is, of course, scrambled because I only have gold.

I'm pissed. I'm 500 baht pissed. Why the move to only ASN?

Sorry if this has been covered before, I didn't want to read 81 pages of posts!!! G

Go Cowboys!

[jfchandler]

Luke, you're correct about the Gold package not including ASN... But if you had read a few pages earlier of posts in this thread, you would have discovered that ASN is also offered in the LESS EXPENSIVE Silver package from True...

Don't ask me why.... ASN is in Silver and Platinum... But it's not in Gold. Take your pick, go high or go low....

Take a look at the True web site as to the channel lineups in the various packages...

[padfoot]

I use to be a big Favre fan. He helped my fantasy team win a lot during Green Bay's hay day. Now he's lost his luster. The Vikings have made a mistake.