Fan Network goo issues

[Grumpy]

shhh, doent use logic to ruin my sarcasm.

I believe if in the stands, DCI rules say 3 seats per judge. Ok, on a big show panel you have 7 judges upstairs. thats 21 seats, and probably some around them roped off. so you're looking at 40-50 seats.

at finals, in their area, that's $5k-$6250.

that's a lot to DCI right now, and I can hear their reply

FWIW, in '05 in Foxboro, I sat in club level seats two rows up from the bottom of club level on the 50. For Finals, they had two judges sitting in the front row of the club section-with four seats total blocked off. I have no idea how they accomodated the people that were there Thursday and Friday (and there WERE people there, the same people, both nights).

I apparently don't pay close enough attention to these types of threads, but what the h is thundering goo?

Personally, I think that the quality of the webcasts can improve from an audio AND video standpoint. However, I understand the difficulty in live sound mixing for this type of environment, and the amount of gear DCI would have to purchase (or rent) would probably be cost prohibitive.

I think a sub-question to your thread might be:

How much more would FN subscribers be willing to pay for a substantial increase in quality?

My personal use for FN is to get to see shows for corps that, in past years, I would have had to wait until Quarterfinals to see because they didn't hit my geographic area during tour. I also use it to watch shows that I saw that I particularly liked, or to see how a particular corps may have changed a part of their show. On extremely rare occasions, I will watch shows from previous years because I either don't have the DVD's from those particular years, or I'm just too darned lazy to dig them out and fire up the system when I'm already on the computer. In these instances, video quality isn't a prime concern. I've already come to accept that when I'm watching a corps on a 15" screen, there will be things that can't/won't be seen that can in person-especially since I have a pair of powerful binoculars with me at the shows. I like to think that I'm not the only one that uses FN in this manner. But I also understand that many subscribers to FN may not have the chance to see these corps in person at all during the season, and would therefore want the best video quality possible. So, to answer your question, I think you would see significant numbers of subscribers that would be willing to pay more for higher quality, and significant numbers who would NOT. The only solution not to alienate a large number of either group would be to offer both options-but recording/streaming shows in both formats would probably be cost prohibitive in itself. Maybe do some in high quality, and charge more for them, and some in "standard" and make it part of the basic FN subscription?

[Jeff Ream]

I apparently don't pay close enough attention to these types of threads, but what the h is thundering goo?

Personally, I think that the quality of the webcasts can improve from an audio AND video standpoint. However, I understand the difficulty in live sound mixing for this type of environment, and the amount of gear DCI would have to purchase (or rent) would probably be cost prohibitive.

I think a sub-question to your thread might be:

How much more would FN subscribers be willing to pay for a substantial increase in quality?

Thunderous goo is when the synth goes for the notes so low your ### vibrates,and then covers up significant portions of the corps sound coming from behind it, if not all

[Jeff Ream]

I don't follow you. Revenue would only be lost if the show was completely sold out....and you'd be the first to point out that finals in LOS would have seats available.

Revenue would be lost. these are the Prime seats. so say these people would have tickets elsewhere at the $75 range, thats still a minimum of $2k to $2500. Not a lot, but when you're hurting, every penny counts. Even worse if it's top dollar sponsors being bounced. friends of DCI don't like sitting outside the 40's

[Jeff Ream]

The low-end synth bass that overpowers everything else, especially indoors. Most corps use it during big brass impacts. The lower you sit the more you notice it. Listen to the final chord on, say, Crown 09 or Blue Stars 10 finals and you will hear it.

I haven't noticed much goo per se on the Fan Network webcasts, but definitely the amps in general are much more present in the sound on these streams than I've found them to be in person. Part of this is that the mikes are much closer to the sound sources than anyone in the stands and of course the amps are mixed for the judges in the box, anyway.

Different aspects of this bother different folks. Jeff's a crusader against the low-end goo, as are many others. That rarely bothers me (the two shows I pointed out as examples of it are my two favorite shows in the past two years, so...). But I am very bothered by sound effects, audio samples, cheap-sounding synth patches, synth that covers up or competes with any real instruments, miked brass, etc. And all of that is much much louder on the streams than what I've heard in person.

I actually crusade against poor balance. goo is the worst offender

[Jeff Ream]

I apparently don't pay close enough attention to these types of threads, but what the h is thundering goo?

Personally, I think that the quality of the webcasts can improve from an audio AND video standpoint. However, I understand the difficulty in live sound mixing for this type of environment, and the amount of gear DCI would have to purchase (or rent) would probably be cost prohibitive.

I think a sub-question to your thread might be:

How much more would FN subscribers be willing to pay for a substantial increase in quality?

P.S. We are payingmore this year. now we havedvr but no facebook chat ( thank God)