I've been meaning to write this for some weeks now, but i have been putting it off until the the NFL season launches, so i can see the improvements they made to their service since last year. I will compare technological, financial, service and convenience aspects of both. For those unaware, i am refering to http://gamepass.nfl.com/ and they paid HQ Stream/VODs on http://www.gomtv.net/.
tl;dr - comparing many aspects of both services, no bashing
Technology:
Resolution The stream is offered in a flash application running inside the browser that is fixed to 960 x 540 (968 x 668 with interface) square pixels in window and is resized to your monitor's resolution in fullscreen. I expect them to deliver 720p in full quality settings (3mbit), but of course there is no way to confirm that as i have no access to the source.
Framerate The flash application runs at 60 fps if your pc can handle it and gameplay looks very fluid in fullscreen. Framrerate seems to suffer in window mode (tested both in WinXP 32bit and Win7 64bit) though. Of course i can't verify that they are actually broadcasting in 60fps.
Bandwidth/Codec To accomodate a wider range of internet connections, they offer stream qualities from ~400 to ~3000 kbit/sec (0.4-3 mbit/sec) with an option for the program to automatically adapt to your connection speed (if it's unstable). Since it's a closed plattform, i can't be sure what codec they are using, but from CPU and bandwidth requirements, it seems like they are using some sort of MPEG-4.
Screenshots Low Quality first
Click for full size. Click for full size.
Audio Audio mixing and leveling is flawless, but the stream suffers from very slight de-sync sometimes. The majority of the content is casted off-screen so i think this is a minor issue.
Conclusion Aside from the audio de-sync, the technology is alright. Of course more bandwidth and resolution is always better.
Resolution VODs HQ - 1280x720 (mapthesoul says they are 720p, confimed by gogatorsfoster) VODs SQ - 640x360 Stream HQ - 960 x 540 (confimed by gogatorsfoster) Stream SQ - 640 x 360 (confimed by gogatorsfoster) The VODs run in a flash application and will be resized to fit your screen in fullscreen. The Stream runs in the Gom video player which can be resized almost arbitrarily within the aspect ratio. It may very well be that the HQ VODs are 720p, but they look a little blurry for that. I may be wrong though.
Framerate Both the VODs and the Stream run in 30fps throughout both quality settings. Framerate doesn't drop when viewing in window or in browser.
Bandwidth/Codec For VODs HQ delivers ~1000 kbit/sec, while SQ goes for ~500 kbit/sec. The Strean offers ~950 kbit/sec in HQ and ~450 kbit/sec in SQ (thanks mrRoflpwn for pointing that out). Again, i can't comment on the codec for sure, but they too seem to use some MPEG-4 version/derivative as thier quality per bitrate seems similar to the NFL stream.
Screenshots Screenshots of the Stream will follow during the coming week. Low Quality first. VODs:
Click for full size. Click for full size.
Audio Sometimes player introductions don't play on the international stream and the English casters are insufficiently shielded against the korean casters and the audience. Eventhough they are technically minor to the delay on the NFL stream, they are percieved more serious because they are not remedied by the off-screen casting.
Conclusion Bitrates for the live streams are quite low but for viewing on up to 22" monitors, it should not matter that much. They could improve on some of the audio issues i think (maybe a closed booth for the casters with a big window?).
Financial:
A season subscription (purchase date to end of January) costs 250 US$ and the playoffs (in February, including Superbowl) cost 80 US$ or 50 US$ if you buy them early in combination with the . You can also only chose to follow a specific team through the season for 200 US$ by puchasing a team pass. The full package costs 300 US$, lasts from August or purchase date to end of February and includes ~235 games (each ~3 hrs) plus 24/7 NFL Network coverage.
A subscription for a GSL costs 10 US$ and lasts a month. A subscription for a GSTL costs 25 US$ and lasts 3 1/2 months. The full package including ~10 GSL and ~3 GSTL a year cost 175 US$ and get you 2.5 hrs entertainment 5 days a week.
Service:
Any subscription offers access access to the following during the time of the subscription:
VOD access to NFL Gameday and Playbook shows of the previous 2 seasons
* all games only include the games of a single team if you buy a team pass
A subscription to either the GSL or GSTL offers:
HQ stream
HQ VODs
Convenience other various things:
There are a couple of neat things Gamepass offers that you can't get on TV. Multiview let's you view any live broadcast or VOD simultaneously.
Plays lists the plays of each VOD grouped by quarters. It also includes occasioal coaches films.
Stats lists the stats of each VOD grouped by team on demand.
The application also includes a chat that I have yet to use so i can't comment on it.
Translated interviews with players and some behind the scenes footage. Also has a autoplay feature to play the VODs of a gameday/game in succession. There is no convenient season table for the GSTL and a tournament tree for the GSL or at least they hide them good.
Conclusion:
It's expensive, but you get decent video quality, awesome production and a shitload of content. If you can split the cost between 2-3 friends, it's a steal. Unfortunally, it's not availible in the US and Candada and has some restrictions in the UK.
Quality entertainment for cheap. They could improve on bandwith for the live streams and maybe restream the games for CEST and CT to draw more people to the live broadcasts. Also i dislike the mute commercial breaks .. they really should fill them. But these are minor issues imho.
Of course almost all of it is open for discussion and i would love it if someone could confirm the resolutions for the gom stream.
Interesting. Why would you want lowres 60fps streams for nfl though? seems kind of silly cos I am sure people would prefer 30fps and HD resolutions instead.
On August 06 2011 19:53 T0fuuu wrote: Interesting. Why would you want lowres 60fps streams for nfl though? seems kind of silly cos I am sure people would prefer 30fps and HD resolutions instead.
There are reasons. For sports it's always better to have more fps because you can better see the ball and distinguish the players. Also they are filming it in 60fps, if they would just leave out every other frame, it would stutter. They could resample it to 30fps, but that costs processing power to the point where it's hard to do it in real time. Also you can't just double the resolution even if you half the framerate and get the same picture quality.
I don't like american football so for me it's GOMTV is obviously a better product, on the other hand i feel that 250$ for someone that trully loves NFL is not that expensive giving the content!
GOMTV is so cheap tho, for instance i paid the 10$ for code s/a august and it's like 7€ for 1 month of toplevel games, so many games for 7€.. i know it's a excellent deal
On August 06 2011 20:10 shockaslim wrote: Its so sad that Americans don't even have the ability to watch the NFL online through their computers, but foreigners can. Damn TV partnerships.
However, I agree with what you said. GOM could beef up their vid quality, but thank god its cheap.
On August 06 2011 20:10 shockaslim wrote: Its so sad that Americans don't even have the ability to watch the NFL online through their computers, but foreigners can. Damn TV partnerships.
However, I agree with what you said. GOM could beef up their vid quality, but thank god its cheap.
I was confused for a second and thought to myself "Holy crap, I didn't know I can buy the Direct TV package as an online streaming service!" Then more logical thinking prevailed and sadness ensued.
I'm glad I'm a college football fan so I can get much of my gridiron fix for free(ish) on ESPN3.com.
I think both packages are a good deal. Each is about $200-300 for a full year of the respective competition's highest level play. Obviously the NFL is going to be far more refined on every level, but it's also going to benefit from a massive economy of scale being (I think?) the wealthiest league in the world. I think both your examples and ESPN3 are examples of what the future holds as the choice entertainment media of my generation instead of traditional television.
Interesting write-up. The price of NFL season ticket sickens me as a European, but hey i can always just check the results/highlights!
So if i would have to choose, GOM offers much better deal here. Good price for a huge amount of content, decent broadcasting times and so on while NFL is basically opposite for me, except they offer huge amount of content also.
I must say I hate GomPlayer, never had it working without problems... stops playing, reloads the stream if I alt+tab to it (really irritating when Artosis and Tasteless are going "OOOO SHIIIIIIII-" and you alt+tab and miss the moment anyway...)
Does the football thing come in-browser or some stand-alone player? That is one of my biggest complaints with Gom is the lack of live in-browser streaming tech.
As a customer to both services, I noticed one basic thing that GomTV lacks: DVR control for the live stream. It happens quite frequently that I watch the GSL, go out for lunch, come back an hour later and have to wait a few hours for the VODs. Even if the stream is still live, you cant really tune in again if you dont want to be spoiled on the games you missed ...
On August 06 2011 20:05 mapthesoul wrote: Pretty sure GOM vods are 720p.
Edited in the the OP.
On August 06 2011 20:14 Soap wrote: Don't really understand the thread, GOM production is amateurish compared even to OGN/MBC, let alone NFL.
They only really are "in business" for about a year. A streaming only channel with no big mother-company backing you up has to grow gradually. I was in the studio during the first open season and the production has improved massively since then. If they improve at the same rate until next year, they might be on OGN/MBC level.
On August 06 2011 20:23 TheAmazombie wrote: Does the football thing come in-browser or some stand-alone player? That is one of my biggest complaints with Gom is the lack of live in-browser streaming tech.
On August 06 2011 20:27 GadZ wrote: As a customer to both services, I noticed one basic thing that GomTV lacks: DVR control for the live stream.
I actually forgot to list that. Edited the OP to include it in the gamepass features.
On August 06 2011 20:23 TheAmazombie wrote: Does the football thing come in-browser or some stand-alone player?
It's in browser. Last year you still needed to install a special plugin (only for IE and FF). But this year they switched to flash so it runs in any browser supporting flash on windows. It might even run on Macs and Linux. Haven't checked that yet.
On August 06 2011 20:21 Krehlmar wrote: I must say I hate GomPlayer, never had it working without problems... stops playing, reloads the stream if I alt+tab to it (really irritating when Artosis and Tasteless are going "OOOO SHIIIIIIII-" and you alt+tab and miss the moment anyway...)
Only happens with the free stream. To me anyways, when I have a season pass it works smooth as a baby ass.
On August 06 2011 20:28 jacen wrote: They only really are "in business" for about a year. A streaming only channel with no big mother-company backing you up has to grow gradually. I was in the studio during the first open season and the production has improved massively since then. If they improve at the same rate until next year, they might be on OGN/MBC level.
They did three seasons of a BW league, are owned by CJ (the same as OGN) and when I say amauterish I don't mean it just looks low budget, but besides the issues raised in the OP, it forces a media player that fails half of the time, and we have a team manager (FXOBoSs) report he had several close calls with the flames and the team benches are dangerous to sit on.
It's a shame korean SC2 wasn't picked up by someone with more willingness to invest. Imagine GSL distributed in the west through MLG setup, for instance.
My only complain on GSL is the low quality stream which is almost unwatchable. I don't want to pay EACH SEASON (I bought the HQ for some) but I'd like to be able to watch the matchs without killing my eyes :s
The system streamworks provided MLG shows great potential. The live-rewind feature was sick good for rewinding the last moments of the game as was the fact the as-live VOD was available immediately after the broadcast finished. Obv the VODs and authentication need work but that will come.
The decision to go for high bitrate over high resolution meant unmatched clarity in battles compared to most streams.
If GOM is able to afford improvements to it's international stream, the PVR rewind feature and higher bitrates for live viewing have got to be up there.
It is too late in the season for me to do it now, but i was wondering if the MLG's full year package is worth getting? If anyone has it from this year i'd love to get your feedback and help me to decide whether or not to purchase it for next year. Thanks in advance :D
wow the picture quality in the NFL pass is WAY better then the Gom player and MLG for that matter. man the MLG high quality feature is pretty much none existent, you pretty much pay for other features and vods but the "high quality" in the MLG pass is a joke
On August 06 2011 21:00 Oblivion753 wrote: It is too late in the season for me to do it now, but i was wondering if the MLG's full year package is worth getting? If anyone has it from this year i'd love to get your feedback and help me to decide whether or not to purchase it for next year. Thanks in advance :D
It's 12 months rolling, not a season pass, so you can buy any time.
On August 06 2011 20:59 andytb wrote: If GOM is able to afford improvements to it's international stream, the PVR rewind feature and higher bitrates for live viewing have got to be up there.
I doubt it's a matter of affording. NASL's first season, with the worst production I've seen since grade school, regularly drew 15-20k viewers for its interminable group play and 80k for the finals and apparently was a success, I wonder why Justin.tv isn't knocking on Mr. Chae's doors with a contract for full 1080p broadcast. With MLG if they see value on flying their players over, it shouldn't be hard to strike a deal for a video signal.
On August 06 2011 20:59 DusTerr wrote: I'd love to get the gamepass, but it's just WAY out of my price range Really wish they had some cheap (legal) alternative.
My advice is just buying a monthly pass for the playoffs. It's 12x3 hours live games and the whole season archive of 3 years for 56€. Much cheaper than cinema for instance.
On August 06 2011 20:59 DusTerr wrote: I'd love to get the gamepass, but it's just WAY out of my price range Really wish they had some cheap (legal) alternative.
My advice is just buying a monthly pass for the playoffs. It's 12x3 hours live games and the whole season archive of 3 years for 56€. Much cheaper than cinema for instance.
Thats right, but correct me if im wrong, but dont you need to buy a pass for Super Bowl also? So this pass won't cover that?
On August 06 2011 20:59 DusTerr wrote: I'd love to get the gamepass, but it's just WAY out of my price range Really wish they had some cheap (legal) alternative.
My advice is just buying a monthly pass for the playoffs. It's 12x3 hours live games and the whole season archive of 3 years for 56€. Much cheaper than cinema for instance.
Thats right, but correct me if im wrong, but dont you need to buy a pass for Super Bowl also? So this pass won't cover that?
According to the NFL website the season pass costs $129.96 or 4x $32.49, and the postseason $49.99 for a total of $179.95, don't know where the op got the $300 figure.
That is if you don't already have postseason games on cable in your country, or like me you can't stand the local commentators
On August 07 2011 06:54 forgotten0ne wrote: Wait... Gamepass isn't available in the US... TEH FUX?!
It's to make it easier for us outside "nfl on tv" countries to follow it. like here in Norway, there is a pay channel that plays 1 random match/week
NFL gamepass is a really great service. But Gom isnt that far behind. They both got dedicated (VOD) site that has Vods and is Spoiler free (actually gom isn't 100% spoiler free cause you can see ro4 on the same page as ro8) -Other tournaments like nasl needs to learn from this
The auto adjust is great on gamepass as 4hours sessions very rarely gets interrupted due to lag and stuff, while this happens more often with gom.
I think if you going to have a stream with a tournament, you can probably get a lot of good ideas from gamepass, which is the best stream site I've experienced.
Also you get to watch coach cam with Gamepass, which would be equivalent of having first person views in sc2(imo).
On August 06 2011 20:59 DusTerr wrote: I'd love to get the gamepass, but it's just WAY out of my price range Really wish they had some cheap (legal) alternative.
My advice is just buying a monthly pass for the playoffs. It's 12x3 hours live games and the whole season archive of 3 years for 56€. Much cheaper than cinema for instance.
Thats right, but correct me if im wrong, but dont you need to buy a pass for Super Bowl also? So this pass won't cover that?
According to the NFL website the season pass costs $129.96 or 4x $32.49, and the postseason $49.99 for a total of $179.95, don't know where the op got the $300 figure.
That is if you don't already have postseason games on cable in your country, or like me you can't stand the local commentators
Prices are different from region to region. And since he is from Finland (IIRC) my Austrian rates might apply more accurately.
On August 06 2011 20:59 DusTerr wrote: I'd love to get the gamepass, but it's just WAY out of my price range Really wish they had some cheap (legal) alternative.
My advice is just buying a monthly pass for the playoffs. It's 12x3 hours live games and the whole season archive of 3 years for 56€. Much cheaper than cinema for instance.
Thats right, but correct me if im wrong, but dont you need to buy a pass for Super Bowl also? So this pass won't cover that?
There is no seperate pass needed for the superbowl. But i just remembered that the postseason games span more than 4 weeks, so with the monthly subscription you either miss the wildcard (and possibly the divisional) round or the superbowl. You can still watch these games from the archive though, aswell as all season games.
What is GameRewind then? Seeing that GamePass is only availiable outside the US+Canada /UK restrictions. Is GameRewind the VOD-only version of GamePass?
The single team only subscription intrigues me. I wonder if there is financial interest in selling the VODs of a single player through a single season of GSL? They would have to readjust cost based on how many games that player actually played, but I could see people buying the player pass to study their games.
On August 06 2011 20:10 shockaslim wrote: Its so sad that Americans don't even have the ability to watch the NFL online through their computers, but foreigners can. Damn TV partnerships.
However, I agree with what you said. GOM could beef up their vid quality, but thank god its cheap.
I was confused for a second and thought to myself "Holy crap, I didn't know I can buy the Direct TV package as an online streaming service!" Then more logical thinking prevailed and sadness ensued.
Can someone explain to me what exactly the point of this post is? Not hating, I just don't really get it. I guess maybe I'd get more out of it if I were interested in that sort of stuff?
On August 07 2011 15:23 Emporio wrote: The single team only subscription intrigues me. I wonder if there is financial interest in selling the VODs of a single player through a single season of GSL? They would have to readjust cost based on how many games that player actually played, but I could see people buying the player pass to study their games.
I think a more applicable one would be to buy a team pass to follow one team through the GSTL. I don't think they'd want to let you follow a player.
gomplayer has copyright infringement of other's intellectual property even if they changed some parts of the source code and they didn't submit the completed source. It's still in violation of some LGPL things. but the NFL one seems fine without such things
On August 06 2011 20:23 TheAmazombie wrote: Does the football thing come in-browser or some stand-alone player? That is one of my biggest complaints with Gom is the lack of live in-browser streaming tech.
Exactly. While Gom's starcraft league is world class, their media player is not. (It's also apparently being distributed in violation of ffmpeg's copyright).
Edit: BTW, it's still possible to watch GSL using VLC, for those who dislike the GOM player, or don't want to use it for ethical reasons.
you dont address the over all production quality of the NFL being higher, so the content your actually getting is arguable better. Other than that i agree
On August 07 2011 16:14 Ruthless wrote: you dont address the over all production quality of the NFL being higher, so the content your actually getting is arguable better. Other than that i agree
Yeah he did. He mentioned it quite a few times, just didn't really highlight it a lot.
On August 06 2011 20:10 shell wrote: I don't like american football so for me it's GOMTV is obviously a better product, on the other hand i feel that 250$ for someone that trully loves NFL is not that expensive giving the content!
GOMTV is so cheap tho, for instance i paid the 10$ for code s/a august and it's like 7€ for 1 month of toplevel games, so many games for 7€.. i know it's a excellent deal
I don't watch any sports other than esports (well... even then I'm limited to SC2...and maybe HoN/DotA2/whatever...) >_>'
and yes I buy GOMTV too. and NASL sometimes (not this season as my....account is low), ...
If Gom were to stop forcing people to use their horrible software and actually provide a high quality stream that was high quality they would be golden.
I thought the gom vods were 720p as well, they look it at least. Im a pretty big videophile but i could be wrong im not very well versed in what 540p looks like aside from watching a few vods with that resolution on Gamespot before they upped it to 720p
I think it's actually amazing that GomTV has managed to provide such high quality service with relatively limited resources. I've only bought a few tickets for teamleague and when i think particular season is interesting, but I've *never* been disappointed. Good work GOM!
Well, regardless of service, it should be pretty apparant which sport is the more manly and handsom, right? ;-)
Nevertheless, I really like the gomplayer, you can pause a stream and when you unpause it, it continues right where you paused. Furthermore, you can decide to let it play at twice the speed to catch up with the live stream.
On August 06 2011 18:54 jacen wrote: Sometimes player introductions don't play on the international stream and the English casters are insufficiently shielded against the korean casters and the audience. They could improve on some of the audio issues i think (maybe a closed booth for the casters with a big window?).
NO! there is a reason there are microphones in front of the audience. not being able to hear them would make it worse, in my opinion. it's like watching mlg and hearing the crowd after a baneling mine just killed a ton of marines (or booing tasteless after a corny joke, hahaha that was great :p ).
There is no convenient season table for the GSTL and a tournament tree for the GSL or at least they hide them good.
the schedule is right there on the gom website. main banner has both the gsl and gstl; click the one you're watching then click on schedule at the top. you can view the upcoming brackets, and watch the vods if you missed a set (need hq pass).
oh...i'd definitely like to see a season pass for the gsl / gstl.
On August 06 2011 20:10 shockaslim wrote: Its so sad that Americans don't even have the ability to watch the NFL online through their computers, but foreigners can. Damn TV partnerships.
However, I agree with what you said. GOM could beef up their vid quality, but thank god its cheap.
Americans get more soccer than the UK on TV... In UK it's illegal to show any 3pm Kick Offs. It's dumb as shit but it's basically the sport being scared of low attendances due to the ability to watch it on TV.
On August 06 2011 20:10 shockaslim wrote: Its so sad that Americans don't even have the ability to watch the NFL online through their computers, but foreigners can. Damn TV partnerships.
However, I agree with what you said. GOM could beef up their vid quality, but thank god its cheap.
It's not true that Americans can't watch NFL games online, you just can't watch live streams. Americans can get Game Rewind. This is essentially the same VOD service as Game Pass, but you get no access during games and it's much cheaper. It's only $40 right now and completely worth it if you can't watch the games on Sunday or don't root for the local team.
On August 06 2011 18:54 jacen wrote: Sometimes player introductions don't play on the international stream and the English casters are insufficiently shielded against the korean casters and the audience. They could improve on some of the audio issues i think (maybe a closed booth for the casters with a big window?).
NO! there is a reason there are microphones in front of the audience. not being able to hear them would make it worse, in my opinion. it's like watching mlg and hearing the crowd after a baneling mine just killed a ton of marines (or booing tasteless after a corny joke, hahaha that was great :p ).
I just want the caster microphones shielded against the crowd and the korean commentators (which are being played through speakers inside the studio). I know there are microphones in front of the crowd, but i also hear them through the casters mics which should not happen.
There is no convenient season table for the GSTL and a tournament tree for the GSL or at least they hide them good.
the schedule is right there on the gom website. main banner has both the gsl and gstl; click the one you're watching then click on schedule at the top. you can view the upcoming brackets, and watch the vods if you missed a set (need hq pass).
That's not what i meant. There is not table showing the current standing in the GSTL for instance. I can't find out on their site which team has how many points and how many games they are + or -.
If there is such a site on gomtv.net, i haven't found it even though i looked for it - hence it is not linked well enough.
There is no convenient season table for the GSTL and a tournament tree for the GSL or at least they hide them good.
the schedule is right there on the gom website. main banner has both the gsl and gstl; click the one you're watching then click on schedule at the top. you can view the upcoming brackets, and watch the vods if you missed a set (need hq pass).
That's not what i meant. There is not table showing the current standing in the GSTL for instance. I can't find out on their site which team has how many points and how many games they are + or -.
If there is such a site on gomtv.net, i haven't found it even though i looked for it - hence it is not linked well enough.
ah ok. yeah, for the team league there could be a better results page. as it stands now, you have to go through the records link at the top and click on team info, which is tedious if you just want a snap-shot of the entire league.
Very nice review I should compare this with the league pass broad band also,
One thing I kinda disagree with is the muted add breaks, I feel that if your gonna have break they should be muted then you can alt tab play some games and then when the show comes back you will hear it and not miss anything.
Compare this to NASL where they have music playing with nothing but words on the screen telling you when the game will be if you wanna look away and watch something else you gotta mute it then you could miss when it starts up again (I realize that NASL break are only a minute but I have noticed other tourneys putting music and advertisements during the breaks and I often mute it then miss the start of a game because I don't hear it start up again so I think the GOMtv has a pretty nice set up as it is
Up to a few weeks ago I was saddled with a 512kb broadband speed and Ive always been impressed by the quality of GOMs low quality stream; much better than anything else I was capable of streaming.
The high resolution however, while it may take 2-3 times the bandwidth there really isnt a 2-3 times bump in clarity.
But Im still pleased with the service, the only thing I was put back by was the price of a GSTL pass. I know it lasts for 3 monuths but is it worth 3 GSL tickets :/ The teams dont even seem to take it that seriously...... Im looking at you Startale random... vampire guy.
GomTV may advertise 1280x720 for their HQ vods, and the video may actually be output in 720, but many is it too blurry for that. They must have some terrible encoding because 720 on youtube looks far, far better.
The NFL makes so much money it's not even funny so it can support these type of things for lesser relative value. Buy GomTV passes to support ESPORTS! :D
GSL's HD quality is pretty bad, even 720P you can't even compare it to other streaming tourney. Why can't they edit the VODs to the true 720P, not 480p-stretch-out-pixel.
Maybe I'm missing something, but what is the point of comparing the quality of the webcast of the highest rated, most expensive American TV broadcasts with an sc2 startup?
The NFL has the infrastructure, revenue, and staff to broadcast more than a dozen games all from different stadiums across the country and put them them all on TV in 1080p, every Sunday. Nearly half of them will air to full national audiences numbering well more than 10 million. The production requirements for a traveling TV broadcast, especially from a stadium that seats 50-60,000 people, are vastly higher than for starcraft.
GOMtv has a little studio where a dozen or so spectators come to watch a few (semi-) progamers play and talk about starcraft 2. A few hundred thousand worldwide will see the matches. Only a portion will pay for it.
Starcraft 2 is a passionate, but relatively tiny, community. NFL is the dominant American sport. We here find great value in the GSL, but suggesting they're on similar terms is... kinda silly.
On August 08 2011 01:56 Gfire wrote: The Gom Player has DVR function, doesn't it?
Can you manually move the slider back during live broadcasts? I was not aware they display a slider at all during live sessions.
On August 08 2011 02:00 niteblaze wrote: The NFL makes so much money it's not even funny so it can support these type of things for lesser relative value. Buy GomTV passes to support ESPORTS! :D
On August 08 2011 02:07 Wren wrote: Maybe I'm missing something, but what is the point of comparing the quality of the webcast of the highest rated, most expensive American TV broadcasts with an sc2 startup?
Actually, it was to show that gom isn't that far behind in technical specs and their premium service does offer great value. I find it odd that you see this the other way around.
Umm, your completely ignoring NFL rewind which is $40 + $15 for playoffs and gets you commercial free VODs of every single game they day after they air so ~80 hours per week of entertainment.
Simply destroys GOM in value for people who mainly watch VODs. Personally I far prefer vods to watching live.
On August 06 2011 18:54 jacen wrote: Bandwidth/Codec For VODs HQ delivers ~2000 kbit/sec, while SQ goes for ~1000 kbit/sec. The Strean offers 500
No, the VOD bandwith is half. Look at this page. I can confirm you it's 1M on average (variable). I would really like more birate here, but well at least it loads ok. And yes it use MPEG-4 H264 for video and MPEG3 for audio.
On August 08 2011 02:07 Wren wrote: Maybe I'm missing something, but what is the point of comparing the quality of the webcast of the highest rated, most expensive American TV broadcasts with an sc2 startup?
Actually, it was to show that gom isn't that far behind in technical specs and their premium service does offer great value. I find it odd that you see this the other way around.
Great point. I've really enjoyed the GSL so far. I think I get a lot of value for every season's subscription. I would like to see GOM create something like a year-long pass at a discounted rate for us loyal fans like jacen. People who are not sure they want to buy an entire year can still buy every season on its own, but I think a bulk package will make some sense as well.
People- stop complaining about the GSL- the games are great- the prize pool is huge every month- and i think the production quality is perfectly fine. The live stream and the VODs, have never failed me. Sure its not full HD- but it is HQ and completely watchable. As for the NFL season pass- it is also great for teh footbal enthusiast- great value- and you see more than you want to with that =] buy both- GSL is like $120 a year ($10 x 12 months) so definitively worth it considering the amount of games.
I really like that the gom stream is viewed in an external player, it allows me to customize the audio output settings, I have 3 different audio devices and 2 screens so this allows me to output what i want where i want. In browser streams don't allow that kind of flexibility with audio setup, and some of them won't work fullscreen on one screen if you click anywhere on the other screen.
But this isn't updated throughout the tournament, right?
On August 08 2011 02:55 tarath wrote: Umm, your completely ignoring NFL rewind which is $40 + $15 for playoffs and gets you commercial free VODs of every single game they day after they air so ~80 hours per week of entertainment.
Because it's not for live games, which is one of the bigger reasons i and some others support gom. Also, Gamerewind is only availible in the US, so i can't test it's application and video quality, although i assume it's the same as for gamepass.
This is a very nice comparison. The NFL, however, has more money than God. GOM should look at that and say, "Hey, they have some nice ideas, let's shoot for that, or make it better." and they can do that as their business starts to grow over the next ten years or so.
It seems silly to compare them just because Starcraft casting has existed for only 15 years and NFL casting for over 40. I would think stuff like audio levels and things like that would be more refined for those chaps.
I love GOM and support GSL and hope that big time streamers like this learn from each other and really take what the whole community has to say. :D
For gomtv I can say that the international side (english side) is not a major concern to them and they are likely not willing to really invest as much money into as they do on the korean side Korean stream is infinitely better and even has full 720p streaming for free (if you live in korea)
The full package including ~10 GSL and ~3 GSTL a year cost 175 US$ and get you 2.5 hrs entertainment 5 days a week.
I dunno about that... I know in the initial stages its like 6 hours a day (dont forget about code a, which comes with code s). Code S has at least 8 games played and Code A has 4 Bo3 matches.
Looking at just the first day of Code S + Code A in GSL July, there was ~240 minutes of games played, and that doesnt include pregame commentary, postgame commentary or any other things... just pure gameplay. By the end of the season it might get to be shorter, but I still think it is over 2.5 hours/day even in the semi-finals.
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