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SkyF1 vs Channel 4 coverage of F1
- Thread starter Bald-Eagle22
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Deleted member 651465
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Deleted member 651465
Yeah, I paid in the F1 TV app using iOS subscription (Face ID). Works a treat.
Soldato
I've got my VPN set to USA and using the mobile network, but everything in the F1TV app is still in £. Before I attempt anything, I assume something isn't right?
Man of Honour
Download this; really makes a difference robvdpol/RaceControl: Race Control is a standalone, open source F1TV client for Windows, written in C# on the .NET 5 platform. (github.com)
Yep same here, £6.99 a month, 7 days free
It is there but they changed the web UI now, on the new UI its not so obvious, but move mouse to the right and is a popinmenu where can pick the feed.
Sadly though I think the web service has got much worse this year, last year I had no real niggles, here is a list of what I have had so far in 2021.
Stutters unless I keep the volume overlay present with pointer over it, very odd issue, but it stops the stuttering.
I have to use 2 different browsers now to have two feeds up, no longer working in just one browser with two windows.
Commentary on pitlane channel seems very glitchy, it wouldnt work right away in quali, and today in the race it only started working after 40 minute mark.
I have installed racecontrol app on my PC but I cant use it, I get a system exception error when trying to login, so will need to report my issue on its github.
Crofty gets a hard life on here and elsewhere on the internet.
Soldato
It's weird how people love the commentators when they have a small audience, yet the hate starts when they move to the bigger positions.
It's happened to Crofty - remember how people loved his commentary on 5live? - and now it's happening to Alex Jacques. He's been fantastic covering F2 and F3 IMO. I haven't heard his F1 commentary, but can't imagine it's wildly different in style.
It's happened to Crofty - remember how people loved his commentary on 5live? - and now it's happening to Alex Jacques. He's been fantastic covering F2 and F3 IMO. I haven't heard his F1 commentary, but can't imagine it's wildly different in style.
I imagine its more down to what crofty is been told to do rather than himself.
The annoyance I have is he starts shouting when is action, especially end of race, and also he dumbs everything down, if someone like martin or another ex f1 driver starts talking interesting technical stuff, crofty tends to shut them down and tries to just concentrate on whats happening on the screen. Finally he over plays stuff, like a small chance of overtake he acts like it will happen, to up the drama.
I expect this is under instruction from sky.
The annoyance I have is he starts shouting when is action, especially end of race, and also he dumbs everything down, if someone like martin or another ex f1 driver starts talking interesting technical stuff, crofty tends to shut them down and tries to just concentrate on whats happening on the screen. Finally he over plays stuff, like a small chance of overtake he acts like it will happen, to up the drama.
I expect this is under instruction from sky.
Soldato
Crofty is OK until he gets over excited and shouts for the entire lap. He also makes a lot of mistakes
So I have ask Murray Walker made mistake after mistake and was corrected by James Hunt and James Allen time and time again but everyone loved him for it. Commentating is a hard job, we have one screen to watch, they have 4-6 and need to be looking out for drivers catching others as well as keeping an eye on the pitlane etc. Out of their window. What seems obvious to us watching the world feed is sometimes missed by them because they're looking at something else.
Deleted member 651465
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Deleted member 651465
I don’t mind excitement in small doses but go watch any of the last 25 Grand Prix and you’ll find Crofty SCREAMING for the entire lap because T1 was a bit dramatic.
At least Murray and Allen knew when to pause for breath.
At least Murray and Allen knew when to pause for breath.
Associate
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I have Sky F1, and have done since 2013, because I want to watch every single race and qualifying session live. That passion for live coverage basically dictates what channel I watch F1 on.
I’ve always loved having the commentary from Martin Brundle, and although I understand Crofty gets some criticism I personally think he’s not bad - especially all the stats he comes out with, which can be pretty obscure and very interesting.
My biggest criticism of Sky, and has been for years, is that they don’t show enough classic races. I can only speak for myself, but as a huge fan of F1, I looooove watching classic races! Sky must have access to a monumental archive of classic race footage, but the amount they actually show is tiny by comparison. Occasionally they’ll seem to tease us by “releasing” a new one they haven’t shown before - for example, in the summer of 2015 just before that year’s British Grand Prix, a full recording of the 1995 British GP appeared - but it feels like being thrown crumbs.
Channel 4 does have some great pluses, including DC(My favourite year of F1 commentary was probably 2011, with Martin and DC doing the race commentary and Ted Kravitz in the pits... Brilliant), Ben Edwards up till this year, Mark Webber’s input and also Steve Jones as a presenter. I also find it can be fun to check out Channel 4’s highlights later in the day and watch the race again if it’s been a particularly good one, watching highlights later in the day can be fun analysis. But the lack of live race coverage generally takes the fizz out of it for me, in terms of prioritising C4’s coverage.
I understand Liberty Media are keen to renegotiate the TV rights to allow more free-to-air live coverage when the current contract expires in 2024, and that can only be good.
I’ve recently checked the F1 TV app mentioned above, and I am tempted by it, especially by the promise of footage of classic races, but don’t have immediate plans to subscribe just yet.
I’ve always loved having the commentary from Martin Brundle, and although I understand Crofty gets some criticism I personally think he’s not bad - especially all the stats he comes out with, which can be pretty obscure and very interesting.
My biggest criticism of Sky, and has been for years, is that they don’t show enough classic races. I can only speak for myself, but as a huge fan of F1, I looooove watching classic races! Sky must have access to a monumental archive of classic race footage, but the amount they actually show is tiny by comparison. Occasionally they’ll seem to tease us by “releasing” a new one they haven’t shown before - for example, in the summer of 2015 just before that year’s British Grand Prix, a full recording of the 1995 British GP appeared - but it feels like being thrown crumbs.
Channel 4 does have some great pluses, including DC(My favourite year of F1 commentary was probably 2011, with Martin and DC doing the race commentary and Ted Kravitz in the pits... Brilliant), Ben Edwards up till this year, Mark Webber’s input and also Steve Jones as a presenter. I also find it can be fun to check out Channel 4’s highlights later in the day and watch the race again if it’s been a particularly good one, watching highlights later in the day can be fun analysis. But the lack of live race coverage generally takes the fizz out of it for me, in terms of prioritising C4’s coverage.
I understand Liberty Media are keen to renegotiate the TV rights to allow more free-to-air live coverage when the current contract expires in 2024, and that can only be good.
I’ve recently checked the F1 TV app mentioned above, and I am tempted by it, especially by the promise of footage of classic races, but don’t have immediate plans to subscribe just yet.
I wouldn't be so sure. When Liberty signed their exclusive deal with Sky in Germany you can no longer subscribe to F1TV as a new customer.
Soldato
All of his stats are fed from the likes of virtualstatman (Sean Kelly), who also does stats for Channel 4, and tweets them before they air anyway.
At least Murray came in with armfuls of stats which he carefully compiled himself (and famously refused to share with James Hunt).
It's such a waste of a channel. I must have said the best part of a decade ago that they should be using the channel to train up next generation engineers, designers, commentators and reporters and showing a multitude of categories and formats and showcasing the vast archive they have access to. At least now they're showing Indycar live and the odd GT race, but they could and should be showing so much more. Last weekend the same features were repeated day after day and it's been that way since the start. Most of it isn't new of unique either, it's just the same regurgitated stuff every year.
The Brundle and DC partnership is easily the best duo since Murray and Brundle. It did mean Brundle as the lead commentator had to be less edgy (which it still shows now), but overall it was brilliant. Chandok has been brilliant in free practice sessions, and surprisingly Natalie Pinkham was brilliant taking Croft's place in FP1 in Bahrain (not playing the role of a lead commentator as such, but more as a vocal director in nudging the experts - it was a pretty flawless and fresh approach and I hope it spreads further into the weekend in the future).
Sadly I too think Sky (or BT or Amazon) will just throw a sack of money at them and it will carry on, but with ever worsening value to customers. It would be a massive shame though, as for F1 fans F1TV massively outweighs Sky's archaic approach of just trying to appeal to old men.
Did you miss it this time least year when it was free? I rewatched most of the 1997 and 1999 seasons (some of which were only available as highlights at the time admittedly) over two months, which I mixed with select other classics.
Associate
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First off, this is OT I know, but hi Gav! Nice to see that you’re still posting on forums after the slow painful death of the one we used to both frequent. (And I know it’s not actually dead yet, but I’m guessing it must be only a matter of time now.)
Nice to see you here and hope you’ve always been safe during the pandemic!
RE Your reply:
Nope, I only actually discovered the F1 TV app about a month ago, so didn’t know it was free at one point; that’s unfortunate!
Sounds like there’s definitely some good race footage available on it though, from what you’re saying!
Yeah, I agree that the channel has never been used constructively like Sky could’ve done(Not yet anyway!) and although my focus has always tended to be on the classic races side of things, the relative lack of technical features and other quality input applies equally. It does come across as a largely wasted opportunity to showcase the whole sport.
RE Crofty and the stats, that makes sense actually, and it does contrast with Murray compiling his own ones!
(I actually remember seeing in a documentary how Murray created a kind of custom spreadsheet for each Grand Prix, which was full of annotations in different colours; it looked like a work of art. And that was just for one race! Awesome! Think it was during the ITV years.)
One thing I always find with Crofty is how he(IMO anyway) can get away with making ridiculous amounts of bad puns and jokes. It reminds me of the things James Allen used to say during commentaries; I couldn’t stand him anyway, and when he made those silly/weird comments it really annoyed me. Crofty says things now aren’t dissimilar IMO, and while I do think “That was bad!!”, somehow I can turn a blind eye to it! Makes me contemplate the psychology of why a different person can inspire such different feelings by doing the same kind of things; maybe that’s what charisma is, I dunno. But I always find it thought-provoking.
RE The TV deal: Yeah, Gav and MissChief, you’re probably right; Money talks, sadly, and the reality is that things are more likely to continue down the slippery slope than turn around, despite any positive noises which might’ve been made in the past.
Nice to see you here and hope you’ve always been safe during the pandemic!
RE Your reply:
Nope, I only actually discovered the F1 TV app about a month ago, so didn’t know it was free at one point; that’s unfortunate!
Sounds like there’s definitely some good race footage available on it though, from what you’re saying!
Yeah, I agree that the channel has never been used constructively like Sky could’ve done(Not yet anyway!) and although my focus has always tended to be on the classic races side of things, the relative lack of technical features and other quality input applies equally. It does come across as a largely wasted opportunity to showcase the whole sport.
RE Crofty and the stats, that makes sense actually, and it does contrast with Murray compiling his own ones!
(I actually remember seeing in a documentary how Murray created a kind of custom spreadsheet for each Grand Prix, which was full of annotations in different colours; it looked like a work of art. And that was just for one race! Awesome! Think it was during the ITV years.)
One thing I always find with Crofty is how he(IMO anyway) can get away with making ridiculous amounts of bad puns and jokes. It reminds me of the things James Allen used to say during commentaries; I couldn’t stand him anyway, and when he made those silly/weird comments it really annoyed me. Crofty says things now aren’t dissimilar IMO, and while I do think “That was bad!!”, somehow I can turn a blind eye to it! Makes me contemplate the psychology of why a different person can inspire such different feelings by doing the same kind of things; maybe that’s what charisma is, I dunno. But I always find it thought-provoking.
RE The TV deal: Yeah, Gav and MissChief, you’re probably right; Money talks, sadly, and the reality is that things are more likely to continue down the slippery slope than turn around, despite any positive noises which might’ve been made in the past.
Deleted member 651465
D
Deleted member 651465
@TrueCrazyLion I’ve just checked and the F1TV app lets you watch any race as far back as 1981.
The archive is really quite impressive.
The archive is really quite impressive.
Associate
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That is pretty cool! Sounds like a really good archive.
I’ve watched races from earlier than that on YouTube, after some helpful users have uploaded them(I remember watching a full recording of the 1980 British GP about 10 years ago, and much more recently, a recording of the 1979 British GP) to try and find the point at which the BBC’s “Grand Prix” coverage started with Murray commentating. (And I’ve been aware for a long time that it supposedly started in 1978 - Murray himself had said in one documentary that the BBC “had been doing the odd one(Race)” before that year, but 1978 was the year they started covering all races - but I always love to check these things out in the flesh as well.)
I’ve found it very interesting to try and find the earliest examples of the kind of F1 coverage that I was familiar with when I first started watching the races in 1989. It seems that Murray did commentate on TV coverage of races before the late 70s - I know he’d actually been commentating since the late 1940s, but I understand that was mainly on radio till the 70s - but the video footage of races which he commentated on before the late 70s seems to be sporadic. I’m well aware of his commentary on the 1969 Italian GP, and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watched the footage of the photo finish in that race, with Murray going bonkers as the cars exited Parabolica and crossed the line, but I don’t know if that was the earliest video footage with him commentating or not.
I’ve watched races from earlier than that on YouTube, after some helpful users have uploaded them(I remember watching a full recording of the 1980 British GP about 10 years ago, and much more recently, a recording of the 1979 British GP) to try and find the point at which the BBC’s “Grand Prix” coverage started with Murray commentating. (And I’ve been aware for a long time that it supposedly started in 1978 - Murray himself had said in one documentary that the BBC “had been doing the odd one(Race)” before that year, but 1978 was the year they started covering all races - but I always love to check these things out in the flesh as well.)
I’ve found it very interesting to try and find the earliest examples of the kind of F1 coverage that I was familiar with when I first started watching the races in 1989. It seems that Murray did commentate on TV coverage of races before the late 70s - I know he’d actually been commentating since the late 1940s, but I understand that was mainly on radio till the 70s - but the video footage of races which he commentated on before the late 70s seems to be sporadic. I’m well aware of his commentary on the 1969 Italian GP, and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watched the footage of the photo finish in that race, with Murray going bonkers as the cars exited Parabolica and crossed the line, but I don’t know if that was the earliest video footage with him commentating or not.