[edshakey]

Same as you, Eurosport already on my TV.

Pretty terrible coverage considering people pay for that. Hours later than live, and not the full comp - people getting zones that determine placing and we don't see the entire round! Ogata got a zone which helped him get a podium place, and we just completely missed it. And then Fujii had the chance to come out and top the final boulder and win, and they didn't show that either, which is normally one of the best moments. Commentator was also poor - do Americans love him or something? Cos I can't imagine he got favourable reviews after the Olympics, not from what I heard anyway, albeit that was almost exclusively Brits.

You know it's bad when people with free access to Eurosport are considering the VPN + YouTube option 

[Bradders]

the commentator as disscussed is totally excrable. I'm sure he is a very nice man but skilled climbing commentator he is not. In the intro behind his rhetorical bellowing you could hear Matt Groom and another bloke having an interesting conversation about the problems, just to rub it in.

I never thought I would be yearning for Matt bloody Groom to come back, but here we are!

I get the impression that he's employed as a general commentator by Eurosport, I.e. he ends up commentating on a variety of different sports and therefore knows very little about the actual sport in question. It genuinely sounds like he's never climbed in his life, and is basically reading from an information sheet which states:

a) the name of the athlete
b) their age
c) whether they've won anything before
d) their nationality and place of birth; and,
e) what the routesetters had in mind for the problem

Repeat ad infinitum. No insight, no analysis, nothing. I don't think he even knows the rules. When Duffy had to re-do problem 3 he said something like "the judges must have spotted something", clearly with no clue what it was that they'd seen.

If I have to listen to him say something along the lines of "great start for the xx year old from xxxxxxx" again I could scream.

Same as you, Eurosport already on my TV.

Pretty terrible coverage considering people pay for that. Hours later than live, and not the full comp - people getting zones that determine placing and we don't see the entire round! Ogata got a zone on M4, which secured him a podium place, and we just completely missed it. And then Fujii had the chance to come out and top the final boulder and win, and they didn't show that either, which is normally one of the best moments.

Not sure about this; the version I watched on Prime / Eurosport was the full thing, unedited. There are two versions on there for some reason, highlights and full replay.

[edshakey]

I recorded the program through Sky Q when it was broadcast, and then watched it later. So I got to see the end of the darts, ad breaks, etc. Which makes me think I got to see it exactly how it was broadcast.

They then maybe uploaded the unedited version to the online streams for people to watch later?

[webbo]

I have the Eurosport Iplayer for the cycling. On various cycling forums there is a lot of angst about certain commentators Carlton Kirby and Rob Hatch both don’t have cycling background. Yet they are usually paired with an ex professional rider for major races.
This issue has been running for several years so don’t expect any changes soon.
Also races often don’t appear when they are scheduled or are missing commentary. Plus they also disappear from the on demand list.
So it’s not perfect but I feel it worth it for the cycling but there no way I’d pay just for the climbing comps.

[Duma]

Seems really odd that they don't use Groom given he's still doing it for the youtube stream.

So the ONLY way to watch the men's finals live was via VPN, and the broadcast version was edited such as to remove crucial action? IE if you live in Europe and give any sort of fuck about the WCs the ONLY option is now via VPN? The IFSC need to bin this pronto, and if they don't I'd say the competitors should be protesting similar tor 2017

[roddersm]

the commentator as disscussed is totally excrable. I'm sure he is a very nice man but skilled climbing commentator he is not. In the intro behind his rhetorical bellowing you could hear Matt Groom and another bloke having an interesting conversation about the problems, just to rub it in.

I never thought I would be yearning for Matt bloody Groom to come back, but here we are!

I get the impression that he's employed as a general commentator by Eurosport, I.e. he ends up commentating on a variety of different sports and therefore knows very little about the actual sport in question. It genuinely sounds like he's never climbed in his life, and is basically reading from an information sheet which states:

a) the name of the athlete
b) their age
c) whether they've won anything before
d) their nationality and place of birth; and,
e) what the routesetters had in mind for the problem

Repeat ad infinitum. No insight, no analysis, nothing. I don't think he even knows the rules. When Duffy had to re-do problem 3 he said something like "the judges must have spotted something", clearly with no clue what it was that they'd seen.

If I have to listen to him say something along the lines of "great start for the xx year old from xxxxxxx" again I could scream.

Same as you, Eurosport already on my TV.

Pretty terrible coverage considering people pay for that. Hours later than live, and not the full comp - people getting zones that determine placing and we don't see the entire round! Ogata got a zone on M4, which secured him a podium place, and we just completely missed it. And then Fujii had the chance to come out and top the final boulder and win, and they didn't show that either, which is normally one of the best moments.

Not sure about this; the version I watched on Prime / Eurosport was the full thing, unedited. There are two versions on there for some reason, highlights and full replay.

The best bit was when he relayed the route setters beta to finish Female final problem 1 (I think it was) as to "drop to the knees"....

[edshakey]

So the ONLY way to watch the men's finals live was via VPN, and the broadcast version was edited such as to remove crucial action? IE if you live in Europe and give any sort of fuck about the WCs the ONLY option is now via VPN? The IFSC need to bin this pronto, and if they don't I'd say the competitors should be protesting similar tor 2017

Seems that way - which is absolutely ridiculous. Seems pretty indefensible really, to suggest that people should start paying as well as losing the ability to watch live. Curious if the IFSC will attempt to respond to any criticism - not got huge expectations, although if more athletes keep speaking up, it maybe happen.

[Wellsy]

That does seem fucking stupid yeah

[SA Chris]

Wonder if Eurosport actually monitor the number of people watching the streams? Maybe if they find it's below a certain number they might be able to pull out of the deal?

[jwi]

It has been more than 24 hours since the comp, and still no replay on youtube as far as I can tell? The only bit of footage I have found is on Beta Routesetting's channel.

I guess I will not view any comps this year.

[SA Chris]

Can you not watch here?

https://olympics.com/en/video/sport-climbing-men-s-boulder-semi-final-world-cup-meiringen

[Duma]

Think the replays aren't on youtube, they're on the Olympic channels site (which is shit, and apparently you can't cast to your TV from it). I mean, picking "sports climbing" (shudder) from the list of sports doesn't bring it up, searching for "bouldering" doesn't work, I had to search for Meiringen to find the vids. Not watched them tbh, but here you go:

https://olympics.com/en/search/videos/?q=Meiringen

Edit, Chris beat me to it

[SA Chris]

Yeah, i had to look up Meiringen too.

[Dexter]

Think the replays aren't on youtube, they're on the Olympic channels site (which is shit, and apparently you can't cast to your TV from it). I mean, picking "sports climbing" (shudder) from the list of sports doesn't bring it up, searching for "bouldering" doesn't work, I had to search for Meiringen to find the vids. Not watched them tbh, but here you go:

https://olympics.com/en/search/videos/?q=Meiringen

Edit, Chris beat me to it

It's also shite how you can't do any easy skipping forwards or backwards on their video like you can for youtube.

[jwi]

thanks people!

[Ali]

I've watched some of it via Olympic channel and was able to cast to TV (using a chromecast) although could only get it to full screen using their app rather than website.
You can skip backwards and forwards but you have to press pause and then play after moving along the time for it to work.

[SA Chris]

was going to say the same regarding skipping forward and back, not as easy as the double tap on youtube app.

[webbo]

The semi’s and the finals, mens and womens are on the Eurosport Iplayer. They are being repeated on the scheduled programmes as well as being available on demand.

[fatneck]

Just watching the "highlights" of the Men's final and it's a complete shambles. Missed out two of the competitors on the first problem because of adverts even though IT'S THE FUCKING HIGHLIGHTS!!!!

What a shit show...

[fatneck]

Total noob about VPN stuff but finally decided I can't bear it any longer. Can someone signpost me to a decent provider? Best value etc? Is there only one?

[jwi]

PrivadoVPN has 10 gb free per month, so they almost surely mine your traffic and sell it on. If you are fine with that it allows you to watch the world cup for free.

Otherwise more reputable providers like NordVPN or ExpressVPN might give you a three month trial?

[Stu Littlefair]

This has been said a few times above already but many people still seem to be missing it:

THE FULL FEEDS ARE AVAILABLE FREE OF CHARGE ON THE OLYMPIC CHANNEL.

The only difference to last year is that the feeds aren’t uploaded until a day after the event. So unless you want to watch the comps live you don’t need to piss about with VPNs etc.

[Duma]

Theres plenty, but lots of people use NordVPN.
Free ones will be selling data on your traffic.

https://nordvpn.com/

Stu:

true, but once I know the results I find myself completely uninterested, and IG makes it almost impossible to avoid finding out

[jwi]

Sports should be watched live, otherwise we would just re-watch this over and over (especially the marathon bit towards the end)

[Stu Littlefair]

Well quite, but given that fat neck is talking about watching the highlights…