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So far, the NASL has done an amazing job of taking in the criticisms from the community and fixing them - each day has seen significant improvements from the day before in both audio and presentation; thank you guys so much for that.
With that being the more important thing to say, I have to throw in that the ads that run are completely messed up. Nothing's worse than running an ad in the middle of an interview, or a post-game analysis (except for running them mid-game). Simply put, it's really strange that you guys haven't set aside a break between games/matches solely for ads (reference: GSL)- it'd be a great time for us to run to the bathroom or grab some more snacks, and production wise, it would allow for a nice segue from match to match. It just doesn't seem smooth, currently.
Additionally, and I don't know if this is a JTV thing, or a chrome thing, or how/why this is happening, but when an ad ends for me, it somehow auto-mutes my stream, and the only way to fix it is to hit the mute button to "mute" it, and then again to bring the sound back. It's really obnoxious. This doesn't happen for me on anyone else's streams, so I assume its something with the coding of your ads? As a non-subscriber (waiting to see how things flesh out), I don't mind having the ads at all, as I know they help a little..but if they remain an issue, I'll have to put on adblock.. 
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The lack of a break for ads is probably because the paying viewers don't see ads. It'd be kinda silly if no ads just meant you got to stare at a blank screen for 30 seconds.
Maybe it'd be better some other way, but I can see why its like it is.
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Release the Vods ! Some people have to work on that time.
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On April 16 2011 00:08 Logo wrote:
The lack of a break for ads is probably because the paying viewers don't see ads. It'd be kinda silly if no ads just meant you got to stare at a blank screen for 30 seconds.
Maybe it'd be better some other way, but I can see why its like it is.
That's a good point. A workaround would be to run a hype/prematch clip with or about the upcoming players while the nonsubscribers get the ads..it'd be cool to see or hear a clip of Idra (for example, *insert your favorite player here) talk about how he's gonna wreck whatever "scrub" of an opponent he's playing this week.. That would be a cool way to implement the story line aspect of the league, to hear what the players have to say about each other - and it would be more incentive to pay for the sub, so you could watch the smack talk..just a thought.
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On April 15 2011 23:54 Ocedic wrote:+ Show Spoiler [condensed for brevity] +On April 15 2011 23:38 TimeSpiral wrote:Show nested quote +On April 15 2011 23:34 weaknurse wrote:On April 15 2011 23:31 TimeSpiral wrote:
tl;dr - Develop your own stream and VOD delivery system. Ditch JTV, ASAP. It is bad. It's not that easy, that kind of thing is only possible after NASL really begins to grow in popularity/subscribers. Did you just read the TL;DR? Isn't the point of a TLDR to provide the gist of your argument? If you didn't convey it properly in the TLDR, why include one? On April 15 2011 18:00 FunkQue wrote:Show nested quote +On April 15 2011 14:25 Barca wrote:
You guys are too hard on local Starcraft.
This isn't the GSL, who borrowed a lot from the presentation of BW.
This isn't Korea, the entire country does not know that the NASL exists.
This is a homegrown, American-made Starcraft league. The more people who pay money and subscribe, the better it will get.
Positive encouragement is great, but there is some serious hate going on in this thread. So keep throwing money at something until it gets better? I also don't see why people are treating NASL like a grassroots league. It has a lot of money behind it, and it's clear the intention is to make money. Not saying these are bad things, just facts. The 'grassroots campaign' and 'growing esports' notions are nothing more than marketing tools. Having said that, the production values of NASL are fairly decent. Are they worth $25? Probably not. Pretty much everyone that argues it is has to say something along the lines of "do it to support esports." However as a free stream, I don't see much to complain about. It's finally a time zone that's friendly for a north american audience.
Lol. For emphasis ...
tl;dr - Develop your own stream and VOD delivery system. Ditch JTV, ASAP. It is bad.
It's not that easy, that kind of thing is only possible after NASL really begins to grow in popularity/subscribers.
I also don't see why people are treating NASL like a grassroots league. It has a lot of money behind it, and it's clear the intention is to make money.
When the core of the service is streaming content and high quality VODs don't you think some of that money should be invested into the delivery system? This is especially true when video hosting and streaming is more sophisticated and accessible than ever before.
Justin.tv, Ustream, 3D, even Blit.tv are content farms. They are not professional grade content delivery systems. We're playing into their hands by continuously pumping so much content through them.
Sure, it's "not that easy," but it is certainly within the realm of possibility for a professional organization. You get a dedicated server, you purchase a software suite that can handle your content production and delivery needs, and you make sure you have the talent to produce the and deliver the content.
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Just a bit of input on Khaldor's casting- overall he does well, the only thing that has sort of been weird for me as a listener is how he will draw out the first letter of a word for like half a second, and it just really breaks up the flow of his delivery. I've noticed it largely with 'r' words, so just wanted to put that out there.
Keep up the good work, gang!
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get more people working there, get some dedicated casters, instead of players casting. get some people producing more content, hype videos, humor, songs, whatever.
as has been mentioned, mic sound quality is awful.
even tho it's had a good start, it still looks like an amateur production. it's even kind of boring. re-think the whole broadcast format and make it more entertaining. a lot of things can be added. there's a whole lot of room to improve. right now it looks like it'd produced by a couple of people, for a prize pool that high one would expect it to be a big production crew.
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On April 16 2011 00:15 TimeSpiral wrote:
Justin.tv, Ustream, 3D, even Blit.tv are content farms. They are not professional grade content delivery systems. We're playing into their hands by continuously pumping so much content through them.
Sure, it's "not that easy," but it is certainly within the realm of possibility for a professional organization. You get a dedicated server, you purchase a software suite that can handle your content production and delivery needs, and you make sure you have the talent to produce the and deliver the content.
It has nothing to do with being easy, it is extremely expensive. I don't know how many viewers NASL is getting but if it's 5000-10000 they would need more than one server and an huge amount of bandwidth. There are so many other things that would be a better way to spend that money, if they had the money to begin with - much better production, a live studio with soundproof booths, etc. Based on this past week, streaming the content themselves would probably more than double what they are paying, easily. Maybe tipple it, quadruple it, it's a ton of money. Then you also need an IT staff to run it, another huge cost. Then to think they would be able to run a better quality stream than justin.tv? No way in hell, not without a massive increase in budget.
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United States131 Posts
On April 15 2011 19:32 Mr Mauve wrote:
At the start of each game, there's the "two-base" view with the player photos and arrows pointing to the base camera.
This is such a small point... but when the player's at the top right and his camera is at the bottom left, it's confusing when you say "At the top right..." Could you arrange things so that the base view is in the same position as the player is on the map? That is... if the player spawns at the top left, you put the base view at the top left? And that you do this even if they spawn next to each other (you might, for example, have base views at top left and bottom left, and player pictures at top right and bottom right)?
Indeed a small point that irks me too. Once again, boredom + Photoshop brings me to
http://imgur.com/qlYYA
(No starry background but nonetheless a layout i'd like to see)
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On April 16 2011 00:42 TheWahbinator wrote:Show nested quote +On April 15 2011 19:32 Mr Mauve wrote:
At the start of each game, there's the "two-base" view with the player photos and arrows pointing to the base camera.
This is such a small point... but when the player's at the top right and his camera is at the bottom left, it's confusing when you say "At the top right..." Could you arrange things so that the base view is in the same position as the player is on the map? That is... if the player spawns at the top left, you put the base view at the top left? And that you do this even if they spawn next to each other (you might, for example, have base views at top left and bottom left, and player pictures at top right and bottom right)? Indeed a small point that irks me too. Once again, boredom + Photoshop brings me to http://imgur.com/qlYYA(No starry background but nonetheless a layout i'd like to see)
Cool idea, but the skewed perspective is bad, imo.
I like that layout WAY MORE, just no artificial perspective 
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VOD Specific: please make it so when I double click the VOD player on the website by accident it doesn't open justin tv and reset my buffer. Super annoying.
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I think what people need to realize is that the GSL started out similar to NASL. They increased their production and their VODs and all that as time went on and they got more experience. NASL will be the same. More time = better quality.
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To promote you HD and VOD service you should try to have the players give commentary on their own VODs to explain their thought process and everything.
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On April 16 2011 01:10 d(-_-)b wrote:
I think what people need to realize is that the GSL started out similar to NASL. They increased their production and their VODs and all that as time went on and they got more experience. NASL will be the same. More time = better quality.
Except for streaming problems GSL was much much better at start.
And at the moment they look like a Champions League compared to some 2nd division of a 2nd rated European National Football league.
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Control - W the big battles, I love this.
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Another thing that I noticed on day 1 (didn't watch day 2 and day 3 is starting in 20 minutes for euro) is that there wasn't a referee... all that yelling that the players should pause the game for rainbow's lag to go away without being able to do anything about it. You need an ingame referee or you should just shut up about it and let the players deal with it.
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On April 16 2011 01:26 -Archangel- wrote:Show nested quote +On April 16 2011 01:10 d(-_-)b wrote:
I think what people need to realize is that the GSL started out similar to NASL. They increased their production and their VODs and all that as time went on and they got more experience. NASL will be the same. More time = better quality. Except for streaming problems GSL was much much better at start. And at the moment they look like a Champions League compared to some 2nd division of a 2nd rated European National Football league.
Do you realize that GSL is made by Gretech who already had experience with Brood War?
About the NASL, some minor fails like no music, volue, caster experience etc. and some inevitable ones like lack of interest in games (by now, suppose it will get better when giants clash), no emotion due to not being live etc.
The interview after the match is a HUGE, I love it.
I only wanted to say something to the NASL admins. I like the speed with which you take the feedback but have clear the line between making the fans and players happy and showing who rules the dice, if you don't do it, it could become a fail fest.
Example: This is a regular professional league, if you tell us in advance about a tourney we can reschedule, if you don't you take a loss. No discussion, no "let's wait a bit more", clear rules.
Although so far I find excellent the changes made due to feedback, but I said it just in case.
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United States22883 Posts
On April 16 2011 00:15 TimeSpiral wrote:
When the core of the service is streaming content and high quality VODs don't you think some of that money should be invested into the delivery system? This is especially true when video hosting and streaming is more sophisticated and accessible than ever before.
Justin.tv, Ustream, 3D, even Blit.tv are content farms. They are not professional grade content delivery systems. We're playing into their hands by continuously pumping so much content through them.
Sure, it's "not that easy," but it is certainly within the realm of possibility for a professional organization. You get a dedicated server, you purchase a software suite that can handle your content production and delivery needs, and you make sure you have the talent to produce the and deliver the content.
Perhaps you don't understand the scope of Justin.tv/Ustream/Livestream. Let me try and illustrate it for you.
This is a tournament such as the TSL or FXOpen.
+ Show Spoiler +
This is the NASL.
+ Show Spoiler +
This is Justin.tv
+ Show Spoiler +
This is Ustream.
+ Show Spoiler +
They cannot create their own content delivery system, unless they cast the game on napkins.
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Gretorp needs to learn how to control his level of volume. On that note diggity was good and khaldor is a pro!
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First 3 days of NASL have been quite poor. They need 2 new casters. Gretorp and Incontrol are both awkward, corny, and they mess up a lot (miss important game events, mis-predict rather than follow action, use incorrect terms for things). The lag yesterday (day 3) was much better than the first two days, but I have to watch on 240p. The most important thing that NASL has completely botched is that when they announce a game will take place between two players at a specific time, this needs to happen. To have a multiple hour delay follow by the first, and most important, match-up being cancelled was horrendous. Then, to have the first match-up cancelled again yesterday, followed quickly behind by a disconnect, was worse. Between the disconnects/forfeits and the poor casting, it comes across as painfully amateur. I do NOT find myself looking at today's schedule in anticipation.
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