[WEC] How on Earth do I watch a WEC race?

[Adam43]

Cock.

[deggis]

This is the first time Eurosport comms team (the one with Diffey, Brundle et al) has been adequate, and actually good. This time I haven't opened the YT RLM studio feed once and not missing some of the non-regulars from the world feed either who are unable to talk about the current race (Dumbreck).

The Eurosport pit reporters are horrible though. Ability to speak decent English would be nice in an English broadcast.

[chasing cars]

Not sure why we get the usual uk commentary team throughout practice and qualy yet for the race we've had what I'm guessing is the ISMA commentators (sky eurosport). With the exception of Jaques and Brundle I don't like them at all especially CF and has made it feel like a US race as thats where their knowledge and heart is.

Not a great fan of Haven but would have been nice to have had more than a couple of mins during the night and very much missed Davidson and Goodwin and the usual guests they have during the night.

[v8supes]

Have to say the Eurosport coverage is much improved this year. Great commentary team, not too many "magazine" pieces and the hourly roundup is quick and precise. Yes the ads are annoying but i can accept this, its my choice to watch on TV and not the ad free stream.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by chasing cars

Not sure why we get the usual uk commentary team throughout practice and qualy yet for the race we've had what I'm guessing is the ISMA commentators (sky eurosport). With the exception of Jaques and Brundle I don't like them at all especially CF and has made it feel like a US race as thats where their knowledge and heart is.

Not a great fan of Haven but would have been nice to have had more than a couple of mins during the night and very much missed Davidson and Goodwin and the usual guests they have during the night.

Because Eurosport didn't do any production for prac/qual sessions and just used the plain world feed with its comms team (so called WEC comms team).

I guess the main reason to use a separate comms team is because the world feed comms would get muted awkwardly during ad and other breaks + cross-promotion (quite a few times they've mentioned the French Open...).

[J Jay]

WEC feed starting to break down now, every couple of minutes it loses connection.

[joeb]

Motortrend stream has been faultless all the way through.

[J Jay]

French WEC stream seems fine (suggests that bandwidth is the issue) - RLM on for audio. Hopefully it holds,-

Edit - It did not hold. Time to look for less-than-legal means to get what I paid for.

[seanyb505]

Originally Posted by joeb

I'm watching on Motortrend+ here in the US but am having some issues making my experience everything I want it to be.

first, I can directly play on tv from MT+ app on Chromecast, and that works great. But i wanted to play video while streaming RLM audio. So tried to cast from the Motortrend website and the cast button doesn't seem to work. then from my phone i can cast from the MT app, but there is no volume control so I can' t mute it and play RLM. Frustrating

Somehow, I was able to use the android app to cast to Chromecast, and use android chrome browser to access the rlm player and Bluetooth that to a separate speaker bar.

Of particular note, the replays are already available on motortrend on demand in 4 parts. Official wec comms.

[Coach Ep]

Thoroughly enjoyed the uninterrupted MT+ coverage + commentary.

Would it be an added bonus to have a native French speaking commentator among the English broadcasting team? A former driver or manager preferably?

[NaBUru38]

DirecTV Latin America launched a new DSports Motor channel, and it showed the full race live.

I have cable TV instead, so I had to find alternative feeds.

[joeb]

Don't have time to watch 24 hours? here is the race in a 10 minute recap:

https://youtu.be/uNlgq65gCGA

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by joeb

Don't have time to watch 24 hours? here is the race in a 10 minute recap:

https://youtu.be/uNlgq65gCGA

That would have saved a lot of bother.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Adam43

That would have saved a lot of bother.

Yes, I don't see what the big fuss is about the safety car procedure, they seemed to be dealt with quickly here.

[PhilipR]

The Fuji race is now up on youtube and the quality is awful!! Even on 1080P it looks awful
I saw the race live on Discovery + and do not remember the quality of the video being this bad

I noticed that with WEC the youtube uploads seem to be of lower quality! Is it same on the APP?(I stopped paying for it as it is a frustrating experience and for similar money you get better quality on discovery +)

[deggis]

Originally Posted by PhilipR

The Fuji race is now up on youtube and the quality is awful!! Even on 1080P it looks awful
I saw the race live on Discovery + and do not remember the quality of the video being this bad

I noticed that with WEC the youtube uploads seem to be of lower quality! Is it same on the APP?(I stopped paying for it as it is a frustrating experience and for similar money you get better quality on discovery +)

Youtube one is lower bitrate and half the framerate compared Discovery+ (and Eurosport.com). So it is just standard Youtube quality.

I'm not sure about the WEC app quality since its relaunch earlier this year.

[Adam43]

Yes, Eurosport is super good. Remember the old days? It used to be terrible quality on satellite and often not on when it said it was.

I remember the app being good, but I get Eurosport now.

Doesn’t sound like this happened here, but if you catch a youtube just after it was uploaded sometimes the best qualities are available yet. They come later.

[Ferrari333SP]

HUGE news!

FIA WEC extends its coverage on Max in USA

https://www.fiawec.com/en/news/fia-w...ax-in-usa/7883

"The FIA World Endurance Championship has extended its broadcast coverage with Max, which will show every round of the 2024 season including the 24 Hours of Le Mans for U.S. subscribers."

"Live and on-demand coverage of the WEC will benefit from extensive production 30 minutes before and after races including a dedicated pit reporter to bring viewers closer to the action as well as every lap from qualifying."

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by Ferrari333SP

HUGE news!

FIA WEC extends its coverage on Max in USA

https://www.fiawec.com/en/news/fia-w...ax-in-usa/7883

"The FIA World Endurance Championship has extended its broadcast coverage with Max, which will show every round of the 2024 season including the 24 Hours of Le Mans for U.S. subscribers."

"Live and on-demand coverage of the WEC will benefit from extensive production 30 minutes before and after races including a dedicated pit reporter to bring viewers closer to the action as well as every lap from qualifying."

It's on Max itself but rather Bleacher Report add-on and 10 bucks/month. Feels like everything is another 10 bucks a month to get to where I was 20 years ago but I need 25 services

[Adam43]

So is this the nice no ads coverage?

I don’t get this comment about exclusivity

Alongside Max, WBD’s channels and platforms will retain exclusivity of the WEC in the U.S. with its continued broadcast on the no.1 network for automotive superfans, MotorTrend TV and via the MotorTrend app.

So not exclusive? Or exclusively two ways to get it?

Is the coverage the same on both? Commercials, quality, commentary, etc… are the costs the same. I’d be wanting to do the 4k and sport package so that’s be $30 a month.

And what does exclusive March Madness mean? Surely that is still on all the usual too.

#confusedUSconsumer.

I’ll probably fly to Europe to watch it anyway.

[seanyb505]

Mtod coverage never had ads. Martin haven, someone to keep the booth grounded and Louise Beckett in the pits.

I'd be surprised if the hbo option had anything different during the race. Sounds like there now would just be additional pre and post show coverage.

[Adam43]

Sounds like the app and the Eurosport coverage. Does it have our Graham on it and Ant?

I might be confusing our version having commercials with the IMSA ‘cock coverage.

[Ferrari333SP]

I'm guessing no ads coverage

[GT3_Fan]

I wonder how long after the event will the youtube replay (if there is one) gets posted this year. It was better in 2023. I think it was about a week or so after the event. IMSA always posts the Thursday after the race.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Adam43

So is this the nice no ads coverage?

I don’t get this comment about exclusivity

So not exclusive? Or exclusively two ways to get it?

Is the coverage the same on both? Commercials, quality, commentary, etc… are the costs the same. I’d be wanting to do the 4k and sport package so that’s be $30 a month.

And what does exclusive March Madness mean? Surely that is still on all the usual too.

#confusedUSconsumer.

I’ll probably fly to Europe to watch it anyway.

Exclusive US coverage will be on Max, with coverage also on Motortrend.

Really this is easy to understand, like I have an exclusive relationship with my wife and also a relationship with another woman. See same thing as WEC coverage.