TrojanHorse

Maybe this belongs in a different forum so please move if so but...

I cut the cable in Feb but there are a few things I look forward to watching each year, such as the TdF.

NBC SPORTS GOLD LAUNCHES 2018-19 ?CYCLING PASS? INCLUDING START TO FINISH COVERAGE OF EVERY STAGE OF THE 2018 TOUR DE FRANCE | NBC Sports Pressbox

NBC offers a paid subscription (see link). If any of you have this, can you watch an event after it's aired or is it live TV only? Obviously there are some time zone challenges.

TIA

TassR700

From the below, it looks like there will be ability to replay:

NBC Sports Gold’s live stream of the 2018 Tour de France also includes access to a live GPS tracking map to follow the riders’ progress, an enhanced interactive map for each stage, the ability to pause the video, full stage video replay, highlights, and short*‐form video clips, and more.

TrojanHorse

AHA! Missed that, thank you.

pesty

I have it, on-demand replay is usually available within a couple hours of the original broadcast. That being said, depending on if you're watching the Gold coverage (full stage from pre-start to finish with [I think] Matthew Keenan and Robbie McEwen) or the NBCSN coverage (only the Paul and Phil bit at the end and what you'd get on cable/satelite), they sometimes re-run the NBCSN coverage right after the finish of the stage presentations. With Gold you can watch either feed, but they completely black out streaming of the TdF on NBCSN if you don't have gold.

I will say that the last few years their streaming has been buggy and spotty for about the first week. Hopefully they fix that, they got tons of complaints on FB and Twitter about it.

Marcus_Ti

Had it last year. Letting my account expire effective next week. Several issues to know:

A) The subscription runs July->July. No prorating. No extension byond the next July if you subscribe in August. If you register in the middle of that period you don't get your money's worth.

B) Some events are covered (several CX events too)....LOTS are not. Namely Giro. Several of the Classics IIRC.

C) NBC is VERY anti-privacy. Their page will not even load properly behind a privacy VPN. Their player pages break if you run Ghostery or other tracker/script blockers.

D) Hit or miss compatibility with browsers...due to their goofball script-happy spyware site, some browsers work some don't...I frequently had to hit F5 again and again because it wouldn't load the damn player right.


My Eurosport subscription is back working, they're getting my money and my business. NBC can go and shove it.

TrojanHorse

Well, I no longer have NBCSN, so it's either gold or nothing. Might as well give it a whirl.

Paying $49 once a year for stuff I WANT to watch is more palatable than paying $145 each month for most of the stuff I never watch.

Iride01 

You'll find more discussion of NBC Gold and other options in the Professional Cycling For the Fans sub-forum. I got NBC Gold just before the 2017 Vuelta a Espana. I can go back an see the 2017 TDF or any other event that is within that subscription cycle. I'm renewing for the next cycle which does start just before the 2018 TDF. It is still my understanding that I'll be able to go back and replay the events covered by the previous subscription period as well as replay any event for the current subscription that has aired. You don't have to watch live.

undertheradar

If I renew this year, this will be my third year. It works perfectly with my Apple TV. I don't remember ever running into any issues.

I will say I'm a little bummed on the price jump, I think it was $19 the first year, $29 last year and now $49.

Athens80

2018-2019 Gold events listed today:

TrojanHorse

Perfect, thanks.

superdex

might be my last year renewing it. $20 was great. $30 was ok. Now, $50? Considering Le Tour is really the only one that seems to be exclusively NBC (in the States anyway), for other races you can find other options like flobikes.com and fubo.tv (though fubo is an astronomical $50/MONTH, but you get like everything, including regular channels, movies, etc. It's a serious cord-cutter's option). Fubo's support is great (quick response and quick resolution) and they seem willing to hear feature ideas.

steephill.tv bike travelogue and procycling live coverage is good for listing the coverage, if you're willing to sometimes accidentally see results.

Oh, and it's worth hunting for another option than Phil and Paul. And the decision to groom VdV is just more of the same. He's not a plus-one in that booth (as much as I want to like him). Heck, I got used to watching CX last year in Dutch via youtube. Seemed appropriate.

with NBC Sports Gold, you do get to replay, and they hang onto the events for a long time. Until the subscription renews, then the whole system resets -- last year I was a few days behind watching the Tour de Suisse and when Le Tour started, all the previous videos went poof.

So, might barely be worth $50 for the year, if you're willing to find some other options for the Giro and some of the spring classics....

Iride01 

For some of the small and less important races, sound quality has been an issue for NBC Gold. It is often just one announcer and sometimes I think he just forgot to turn on his mic. It's also been more apparent that the production department and resources he has is much more scaled back.

Video coverage itself is not under their direct control. They are just commenting on the feeds they are given, though perhaps they have some control of what feed you see. Sometimes, maybe many times you only get the last hour or two of the race. You also don't see the same commentators as you do on NBCSN. Though for the bigger or more favorite races you might see some of them. Some users are glad not to hear them and others might miss that at first. But for the price, it's still worth it to me. They seemed to have gotten slightly better the last few months. But they don't carry the Giro. So you have to look elsewhere for that. Supposedly FUBOtv can be cancelled for just the cost of the month you had it if you want to see the Giro.

It makes a difference in the controls and user interface whether you view it on something like an Amazon fire TV or through your computer browser. I find the computer browser gives you marginally better user controls. Fast forwarding being my big annoyance. Neither lets you see a video frame to know where you might be. You just have to go by time and how long you think it will take to get to the climb or mid-course sprint you want to see. I typically use the app on the Fire TV box though since it's always hooked to the TV.

sevenmag

I've had NBC Sports Gold for the last 2 years. I do still have Directv and NBCSN is in my package. After the TdF is over they generally lower the price 10 bucks for the remainder of the year so I take advantage of that. All the races are available for replay for rest of the year. I do wish they could find a way to get the Giro added though.

f4rrest

Not sure I understand the July to July part.

If I subscribe now in June, will it end this July?

If so, does it end before or after the TDF?

Marcus_Ti

Good catch, I done goofed. It is June(7th 2018) -June (10th 2019)now.

Last year was end of June to end of June I think...least I got my auto-renew warning that next week I'd be billed again.

TrojanHorse

I assume you're in the US and you have some sort of VPN to spoof your country for Eurosport to work?

I didn't mention it but part of *MY* issue is that whatever solution I come up with has to be user friendly so my wife can use it. (C'mon, turn on the TV, turn on the receiver, pick the source and then grab the fireTV remote... I did that but it's still not working..... oh, that's because you managed to change the input on the TV from receiver to amazon)

It's job security.

Marcus_Ti

Bingo.

Problem with streaming...it never is KISS friendly in practice. Not with a sport that gets basically zero air-time on KISS TV in the USA. NBCGold has an app for Android/iOS at least. Of course, the more KISS friendly you try to make a system--the more tech-adaptability atrophies in users. Have people in the family who don't know the difference between "SMS" and "email" or "files" and "folders" and so on. It is maddening.

Eurosport has a streaming app too...but on location-aware hardware (like a GPS-enabled phone/tablet) a VPN spoof isn't enough to fool it.

TrojanHorse

THE STRUGGLE IS REAL!

Oddly enough, kids are theoretically so tech savvy but IMO they're app-savvy. Different. Can't even program a toaster.

DiabloScott

I'm glad they sent me that message - I cancelled my auto-renew. Since I had to use other methods to see De Ronde, I decided I could use those same methods to see Le Tour. The APP and the Roku channel were just not nice enough.

MattyMurdah

The NBC Sports Gold package definitely misses coverage (eg: Tour de Suisse) which I supplement using Tiz Cycling. Anybody on here ever stream from Tiz?

GeneO 

Particularly the Giro d'Italia

GeneO 

The audio quality is often horrendous.with cycle noise, motorbike, helicopter overwhelming the announcer narration. Sometimes there is foreign language coverage over the top of the coverage which makes a jumbled mess. You think they could dole out a little money for some professional sound mixing.

The coverage of cycling on the outdoor network was superb - the announcers, the races covered, the sound quality and the amount of coverage.. And it was free on my cable! Then NBC bought the network, wrecked it in all ways, and charge $50/yr for the privilege.

TrojanHorse

True but you can still get NBCSN on your cable provider for... ostensibly free or at least included. I don't recall if I had to upgrade to some package or other with DTV to get NBCSN, I suspect not.

Homebrew01

My son wants to watch the World Cup. Called my cable company, and can restart cable for an extra $40 per month. I just have Internet currently.

AND.....I can cancel within 30 days w/ "money back guarantee"....So I may get it for free.

Perhaps a similar option is available for TdF coverage ?

Marcus_Ti

Very true. Least it used to be. Been a long while since I relied on NBCGold for streaming. OTOH at least with the CX coverage that wasn't the case....because for CX you don't need to have helicopter relays in the air.