2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China (1 Viewer)

[Jay Taylor]

Actually they might even make a profit:

Cost-Sharing
Despite a jump in the Olympic spending, many believed the Beijing Games would not incur financial deficit.

A source close to the Olympic operation told the EO that market development earnings for the Games had exceeded expectations. He said the Beijing Games could have the potential of becoming "profitable".

It was learned that the Chinese government once thought of providing direct subsidies for the Games, but as market exploration and development gained momentum, the plan was dropped.

The EO learned that major sources of funding for the Games came from IOC appropriation, mainly drawn from telecast copyrights and the Olympic partner programme, which included sponsors like Coca-cola, General Electric Company, Johnson & Johnson, Kodak, McDonald's, and Lenovo China.

The above is from an Aug 4, 2008 report here:

Taking Stock of Beijing Olympic Finances

From the same link they also mention this:

However, one scholar who studies the economics of Olympics, said China was less concerned about profits or losses, he added best returns from the Games was to enhance China's international image.

 

[Ray Chuang]

I just saw that on tape and the combination of MASSIVE scale and extreme precision totally blew me away. How about that totally amazing sequence with the "movable typefaces"? All done under human control?

 

[Lew Crippen]

Of course the opening was impressive. Every four years there is an effort to be better than before.

But for me, it is the competition—and a time to remenisce about games and competitors of times past. Today’s technology allows me to record multiple sessions and watch them, speeding by commentary that I dislike. As I watch and write, I have a glass full of vino in hand:

“23 September 2000, Olympic Games” in a circle around the logo of the Sydney games. I have a similar glass for every day I attended. Fun to watch either in person or on TV.
Of course the opening was impressive. Every four years there is an effort to be better than before.

 

[Carlo_M]

Yeah I didn't know it was Zhang Yimou either. When that woman was dancing while being carried by a horde of people, I said to my girlfriend, hey she looks like she's dressed like Zhang Ziyi in House of Flying Daggers and she's about to play the "Bean/Drum game"

An absolutely stunning opening ceremony!

 

[Marianne]

The things is that we all paid for the Beijing Olympics - every time we bought something at WalMart (or almost anywhere else!).

The 2012 Olympics will be held in London - I don't expect it will be quite as spectacular but, on the other hand, not so many people will have their houses bulldozed and there will still be plenty of stray cats and dogs around!

2012 Summer Olympics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Holadem]

Will the opening ceremony be broadcast again any time soon?

Although I have no HD display at the moment, I still have an HD cable box for some reason (keep forgetting to return it) and the HD channels still look much better than their SD conterparts, and more importantly, are widescreen.

But I mistakenly recorded the stuff in SD full screen .

Will they show it again?

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H

 

[Walter C]

Not that I'm aware of.

Other news: The US Men's basketball team getting off to a good start, blowing the home team away.

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

Is it just more or does anyone else think the camera work for water polo isn't up to snuff? It just doesn't seem as sharp and crisp as in past Olympics. Plus, I'm disappointed that they apparently don't have any cameras mounted underwater. I always though those underwater shots that showed all the clutching and grabbing and kicking that went on really went a long way in demonstrating just how difficult a sport it is.

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

Don't feel entirely awful. At this point I'd take it anyway I could see it. I had to work the evening shift Friday and the power went out at home, so my TiVo went dead. Even though it kicked back on, I only got to see about the last 45 minutes. Worse, I didn't even check my programming guide or I would have seen that it was re-broadcast at 2:00 am. :frowning:

 

[Holadem]

Sorry man. My cable was out as well on Friday evening but I got it back on time for the 2am re-broadcast.

I will forever be grateful to NBC for setting up an Olympic soccer channel. I've just been lining up game after game -- I dunno how I am gonna sleep these next couple of weeks . Watching Nigeria vs Japan right now while recording Ivory Coast vs Serbia. Yay.

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H

 

[Holadem]

Michael, have you checked the NBC site? I am pretty sure you can catch it there. While the scale of the thing requires a screen as big as possible (I badly miss my projector for this), it's better than nothing...

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H

 

[Lew Crippen]

A disappointing result in the US/Netherlands match, but not of course, for the Dutch.

 

[CameronJ]

Anyone else a bit perplexed by the HD picture quality on both NBC and Universal?

Best way I can describe what I'm seeing is "choppy" - doesn't seem like 30 fps. Add a decent amount of pixelization and its a bit hard to watch.

Switching back and forth to SD NBC and I'm not seeing the issue with the choppy frame rates.

I'm noticing this on a couple of TVs in the house - so not a problem with an individual set.

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

The super slo-mo that I just saw NBC use in the gymnastics competition is stunning in its clarity.

 

[Citizen87645]

The HD quality is better than it was four years ago. I remember the picture constantly pixelating with the swimming events - any time a swimmer would break through the water.

I haven't noticed any frame rate chop.

 

[CameronJ]

It definitely isn't constant - so maybe I'm just seeing things. You're right the gymnastics looks great - and the last half of the synchronized diving looked fine. I noticed it tonight during the first half of synchronized diving (along with this morning).

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Could it be your source? I'm watching the HD feed OTA downscaled to SD with a DTA converter box and the framerate is smooth as silk. Can't comment on the pixelation, since it all looks great on a 27" CRT.

I do notice that certain events have a different "look" than others; do the different broadcasters share footage? (Ie. BBC shoots the soccer matches and shares their HD feed with everybody, NBC shoots swimming and shares with everybody, CBC shoots field hockey and shares with everybody, etc)

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

That 4X100 relay tonight has to go down as one of the all-time great moments...man, what a race.

 

[CameronJ]

It could definitely be Comcast here in Denver.

I was wondering about the event as well - going under the theory that NBC might have better bandwidth/equipment at some venues over others. However I noticed that diving started fairly choppy and then got better - so there goes that theory.

Everything has been fine the rest of the night tonight - haven't seen any problems from swimming or gymnastics.

Back on the real topic - unbelievable to see the 33 year old female gymnast on the German team. The "16" year-old chinese gymnasts could be her kids.

 

[Jay Taylor]

That was an incredible race! When they showed the green World Record marker it was almost in last place. Five teams broke the old world record in that race.

Lezak saved the day for the Americans by swimming his split in 46.0 seconds, the fastest split in history.

It was especially sweet after the comments prior to the race from the favored to win French team.