Live Webcast - 2006 Masters

[NautiqueJeff]

I'll be working with Correct Craft to do another live webcast from the 2006 47th Masters Water Ski and Wakeboard Tournament. I have already started on a killer website, and I am looking for ideas from you guys as to what features you'd like to see on the 2006 MastersLive website. We will have a live chat, adjustable size video, scrolling auto-updating scoreboard and current standings, and an archive of the 2005 Masters videos, broken down by event. Of course, viewing the webcast will again be FREE. What else would you like to see?

[surroundsound64]

That all sounds great!
What's the date this all starts?

[NautiqueJeff]

It'll run May 26 - 28. I am still trying to get PlanetNautique members discounted tickets to the event. I was able to do it last year, but I don't know for sure whether or not I will be able to in 2006. We shall see.

By the way, the 2005 Masters webcast archive is currently available on the old 2005 www.masterslive.net website.

[M3Fan]

If you could create a version which looks like legitimate office work (maybe an MS Outlook or Lotus Notes facade), that would be great so we could watch it at work!!! No, really- whatever you did last time was truly amazing.

[surroundsound64]

Lookin' good, Jeff!

[NautiqueJeff]

Lookin' good, Jeff!

That's the '05 site. Wait 'til you see the new 2006 site.

[AbunDiga909]

High Definition... lol

or maybe at least something where we can view it in full-screen mode, or maybe even on a TV, and not look that blurry...

[NautiqueJeff]

High Definition... lol

or maybe at least something where we can view it in full-screen mode, or maybe even on a TV, and not look that blurry...

We have to strike a balance between hi-def and making it so that people who don't have super high-speed connections are able to watch.

[Eggie]

guest appearance by Monster Tower girls ???

[NautiqueJeff]

guest appearance by Monster Tower girls ???

Might be able to have a guest pro skier or boarder in the live chat... Not quite the same, but at least it is something.

[peteSki]

Perhaps consider offering 2 different download files for each post, one for the broadband user who is happy to wait the extra time to download a high def version and another for lower bandwidth users. Being in Australia with not much chance of attending the Masters, I would be happy putting up with longer download times if the quality was near TV.

Pete

[NautiqueJeff]

To do TV-quality webcasting reqires an EXTREME amount of upstream bandwidth, which just is not available at Callaway. We do plan to multicast this year, meaning that people with non-high-speed connections will be able to view the webcast at a lower quality, and people with high-speed connections will be able to view it in higher quality.

I'll see what I can do about making very high quality archive files available for download in 2006. That way at least people would be able to download TV-quality video after the event is over.

[peteSki]

That would be sweet. Personally I'd prefer the higher quality files available for download after the live event... those are the ones I plan to watch over and over to see how the pros accomplish the tricks they do!

Cheers,

Pete

[Adrian]

These are good news!!!! Thank you so much Jeff.

Maybe it's included in the "scrolling auto-updating scoreboard and current standings" but this year it was almost impossible to know the length of the rope of a skier at a given moment. It would be very nice if I can go to the page anytime and see the name of the skier and the rope length he's skiing.

[NautiqueJeff]

Okay, I think I can add a feature that would display the current line length. That shouldn't be too hard.