Kalamazoo Fan Network Reviews

[2CoolVK]

Bad Points

It wasn't FREE. Charging to watch a webcast ... what a way to promote growth within the activity...

There is plenty of free video product in DCI.org. Click on each corps page and watch a video. You can watch madison's encore performace from Lisle right there on the home page.

And if all webcats were free, a lot of people would stay home instead of travel to a show. That's not a great way to grow the activity.

[GmenBari78]

I lost the feed right before Memphis Sound. I could not get it back on my computer, no matter what I tried (clear cache, reboot, etc.). I then went to another computer (wireless) and watched on there all the way until the break. I went back to my original computer (after logging out of the wireless computer) and was able to get it to work until they killed the feed during the setup for the encore.

I suspect two possibilities with this new feed service from akamaistream.net -- either they did not have the correct capacity for all of us to be on, and additional connections caused some to get kicked out and stay out, or they had bad security (they thought we were still connected when we were not) and kept denying us access when we were not connected and should have been able to reconnect. They probably detect connections via some machine-specific info, which is why I could not get on with my original machine but had no trouble with a second machine. After I logged in to the second machine, I bet I could have gone straight over to my first machine got right on after logging off the second one.

DCI, GET THIS FIXED WITH YOUR STREAMING PROVIDER PLEASE!

[beavs]

Hooked up laptop through HDMI to HDTV and watched full screen. No connection problems at all. Smooth video, with few skips at all throughout the show.

Problems:

Early in the show the sunset would create a bad glare over the lense. This seemed to ruin whatever focus the camera had. Parts of the field even looked brown or dark red, and there were what looked to be dust specs visual all over the lense.

I could see the team working on it between corps, but nothing seemed to do the trick. After the sun went down and the lights came on it was a whole different story. Relatively great picture and focus, brightness was just fine.

I enjoyed my live broadcast.

Beavs

Edited July 1, 2007 by beavs

[GmenBari78]

Last year, they had regular updates on the website about the status of things, when it was down, if people were having trouble. They had a chat feed that appeared on the website with Mike Boo and news would immediately come if things were not right. The current chat feature is good for individual problems but not good for letting the crowd know about issues all at once.

I agree with the need for one person to be working on the feed, and another to be working on the camera and monitoring the actual view/sound that we see/hear. Its not enough to just have the feed correct.

I also agree that the quality of the camera and microphone is not the best -- but that is the way its been for several years now that they have done this. I would hope that one of the improvements they choose to make sooner rather than doing other fancier stuff (like Video Downloads that Ricky has talked about) is improve the quality of the product FIRST.

Edited July 1, 2007 by GmenBari78

[JustABandMom]

Great idea for a thread. I'm sure this is wonderful feedback for DCI and a great way for them to improve and perfect their product. It's also nice to hear that others had exactly the same issues, as it helps me (and DCI) decide whether or not an issue is mine in terms of hardware/software, or belongs to the product being proffered. Some folks here have had some very good suggestions for DCI to help them provide a better product.

A few comments on the product offering... I think it is great, and I am pleased that DCI is offering the opportunity to see the shows. I do think the price of $90 is a little on the high side, but I am willing to pay it, if that is how they feel the product needs to be priced in order for them to be able to offer it. Even though, as someone said earlier, MLB offers the same seasonal package price of $90 for so many more events and more professionally produced, I don't mind, nor do I expect the same quality and level of service. MLB has deep pockets and has been doing this a lot longer. They are in the business of providing professional television broadcasts. Let's face it, Drum Corps is never going to get to that level. So I'm pleased that they even offer this, and look forward to them continuing to refine and improve their product offering.

I do wish, however, that they would offer some kind of a family plan - or additional licenses for an extra $10 per. They could set a limit of something like 3 per subscription if they wanted. I don't have my computer hooked up to the TV, and don't plan to do so in the very near future, so in the meantime, my husband and I are content to each watch on our own computer. Or at least we were content to do so last year; this year we cannot. I don't like that because two or more to a computer doesn't really work. In between times, I like to check the chatter on DCP, and he likes to check in with his baseball games.

I’d like to see them shorten the time it takes (4 or more days!) to put up the videos for rewatching. If you came late to the show, or had to miss it for whatever reason, I think the clips should be almost immediately available. Hopefully, time, experience and a little $$ will make that a possibility in the not-too-distant future.

I’m disappointed to learn that not all shows will be available for later review. I was not aware of this, and that is one of the reasons we went with the season’s subscription.

The FAQ and the live technical service was a definite improvement, and worked very well. Other suggestions for the public service/technical difficulties announcements are seconded. I’d also like to see them keep some kind of a live feed up ahead of time to enable us to get set up and allow time to work the kinks out of our home set up if needed.

All in all, ^OO^ DCI!

[JayM]

It didn't really work for me at all.

At best, I got about 20 five-second clips of each show. The audio and video were never in sync.

Including Annapolis, my experience with Platinum Membership has been awful.

Thanks DCI.

[From The Pressbox]

I got to see...none of it. I saw Annapolis fine. Last night nothing. I've watched other live feeds form other venues and had no problems. Even with the Live help, I still wasn't able to see anything. Hopefully, this will change for next time.

Go Still can't see the Devils win a show,

Gregg

[JustABandMom]

And also a few words on the technical issues…Technically, I had pretty much the same issues as everyone else -- ALL of the issues, that is. I think I probably got to watch maybe about two, good quality, uninterrupted 8 minute segments last night, but never a complete corps.

Some of it was my fault because I didn't get it set up and tested ahead of time. Well - it wasn't entirely my fault, as I had to work until 7:30 pm - a little matter of a new gadget that just hit the market, called the iPhone (what a sweet device!). But, I could have gotten everything checked out a week ahead of time, if I'd really have wanted to be prepared. Last year, I had very few problems, so I guess I wasn't expecting any this year.

Unfortunately, for me it was a horrible feed and a constant two-hour battle to get to see anything at all. First of all, the feed was so choppy, it was impossible to watch. The video was like watching a slide show, and I couldn't get more than 2 beats of a measure audio at a time. It was not even worth trying to watch it.

I tried both wired computers and my wireless laptop. The wireless was actually better than the wired, but I think that was coincidence. It's possible there is a problem with the wiring or an issue with the wired router as the wireless is different router, using the newer N technology. However, I did check the download speed and, via DSL and Bellsouth, I am downloading at over 2700 kbps, which more than meets their minimum requirements of, I believe it was 500 kbps. I dunno, service was great last year for both DCI and All-Access videos, and service is lousy this year for both, yet I have no problem with videos on youtube or cnn or anywhere else.

I don't think software is the issue. Had all flavors of browsers - Firefox and IE 6 Sp2, and Windows Media Player - both 9 & 10. Ricky, the friendly service tech, also suggested I upgrade to IE 7 and WMP 11. I may do that before next time. I still don't think that's the issue, but I'm willing to try.

I also had the issues of getting knocked off and not being able to get back in, despite being totally logged off on all computers. Finally, Ricky gave me the url of the feed and I was able to connect directly through WMP for the last few minutes until they dropped the encore. Feed wasn’t as good quality as it was last year, and still had some video/audio choppiness, but at least it was watchable. I agree that they need to investigate what is kicking off subscribers.

So, tecnically, I think there may still be some issues to work out... :( <_<

Edited July 1, 2007 by JustABandMom

[Huntington Mallets]

I had several disconnections during my stream, missing the entire 1st half of Kilties, the 1st half of Glassmen, and the 2nd half of Cavaliers

Bottom line........I shouldn't have to restart my computer TWICE to be able to get the stream back.......this is rediculous

.......thanks for having a tech guy on hand but that doesn't change the fact that the stream keeps dropping........You've had months to get this prepared, so get it so you can stream the show ONE DAY WITHOUT A SINGLE PROBLEM

[FishOn]

We had a few issues throughout the show...primarily lost connectivity. It was better than Annapolis (obviously) and is still a work in progress. I'm totally pleased with this year's service versus last year's. The quality of the stream is so much better this year and Dan Potter's Field Pass Live is a really neat addition. I wish they would do something in between corps performances though...I've seen this mentioned on here before a few times.