Last season, the TNT gang offered a new slice of technology to complement the TV coverage of the Sprint Cup Series. It was called RaceBuddy and was an online companion to the standard one-channel one-network TV coverage. It was an instant hit.
RaceBuddy offered the user an opportunity to view the TNT broadcast on TV and play on the Internet at the same time. That is music to the ears of many tech-savvy NASCAR fans. RaceBuddy contained live video from multiple TV camera angles and the audio from several team radios. Users got to choose what to see and hear.
Saturday night, NASCAR.com will be offering a mini-version of RaceBuddy for fans to use during the All-Star race. As one might imagine, the creative minds all got together and called it All-Star Buddy.
One click on the right side of the NASCAR.com website opens a pop-up page that contains the template for the All-Star offering. There will be four additional in-car cameras offered and perhaps some other goodies. This one-night special is a good reminder of just how badly NASCAR needs this for every race all season long.
The drivers who will be featured with in-car angles are Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. It is not quite clear right now if the audio that goes along with the pictures will be the natural sound from the car or the team radio conversations.
In the politically correct climate in which we live, the team radios may well be censored because tempers tend to get a little hot and the All-Star race is a winner take almost all format.
NASCAR fans should certainly be aware that a free offering awaits them at NASCAR.com on Saturday night. All that is needed is a computer with broadband access and the experience of watching the All-Star race can be turned into a true multimedia experience.
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18 comments:
I really like Race Buddy but that darned counter drove me nuts last year. I think the voice was identifying drivers who were talking. I hope this is not part of the All-Star Buddy. Maybe with four scanner/drivers, it won't be so difficult to listen to.
@Karen
oh, no! I'd almost forgotten the monotonous "Bingo counter" voice. ugh :-)
Also for my fellow Firefox w/Adblocker PLUS users, to "SEE" the Racebuddy for All stars on my XP computer, I had to turn "OFF Adblocker" or I saw black space where the race buddy was (after all it is an add)
I would not use In Explorer without a court order, but if you use FF with Adblocker Plus, many sites will look differently.
Just FYI. :-)
and, based on experience with racebuddy, i can suggest that we get logged on early -- certainly before the green flag -- so that we can avoid the inevitable delay in loading and refreshing the site.
@karen: yeah, i'm leaning that way this morning. i hate all the hype and just want to see cars on the track but i'm enough of a nascar fiend that i'll probably tune in to the race itself!
We can't believe all the hype for this race again. I guess it was this much last year but I didn't remember. It's just too much.
Vicky D said...
We can't believe all the hype for this race again. I guess it was this much last year but I didn't remember. It's just too much.
May 16, 2009 9:54 AM
No win for NASCAR and it's partners!! Articles and comments here on lack of promotion for NASCAR shows and Trucks, but yet when network does promote to the hilt for an event, people get upset!!!
On top of that.....a free service which I thought was great last year, gets taken to task by some for the way a "voice" sounds on the coverage!!! This is just crazy, sometimes you just have to stop..relax..and enjoy things!
A few of us poor people are still on dial-up, and cannot enjoy the free buddy. I tried several times last year when on TNT to no avail.
Also, if I had a dollar for the times they have advertised the all star race, and the nascar day pins, I could have stayed retired, and lived a good life. I guess I will have to go back to work.
I messed around with RaceBuddy last year but didn't really need it with HotPass. Alas, poor HotPass. I knew it... :)
It will certainly be one of my tabs come TNT time.
bryan,
As a NASCAR fan, getting DSL or a cable modem is a must. The amount of video content being missed by those with dial-up is huge.
Even a 3G phone card can provide a platform that can support video for your laptop.
JD
J.D.,
As you describe it, it looks as if Race Buddy will be using the same content as Hot Pass.
By the way, Bevo, I had to give up my Hot Pass because my new apt. won't let me have my DirecTV. I wish NASCAR Media would sell something like it. I may end up getting Trackpass, but I'd rather see the actual video instead of animation.
WCK
Thanks for the info JD, but I don't have a laptop either. just a PC. Road Runner is still a little too expensive right now, but hope to get it in the future.
Thanks to you again for the great work you do here.
@WCK- While I appreciate that DirecTV continued a form of HotPass (for no charge at that) it just isn't the same. I know that the reason given was that there weren't enough subscribers but I still have a sneaking suspicion that the broadcast partners put pressure on NASCAR to kill it. I really miss hearing Pemberton, Allen and the rest call a race.
So all I have to do is open the Buddy link and sit back a listen or is here video too?
This will be my 1st attempt at this!
Kevin,
It does not start until 9PM, which is the start of the All-Star race.
It should be fun.
JD
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