On a brighter note, if you haven't done so already, I urge those that can to order the Giro d'Italia live stream on oln.com. It's an amazing thing to watch the actual race live on your computer. No commentary, just the raw sounds of the race itself. You can follow the commentary on velonews.com together with the live stream. And if you're not able to watch it live, you can download it at any time after the stage is finished. You can even watch complete privious stages. All for only $5.99, that's a bargin and a great way to show your support of cycling.
Giro d'Italia on OLN.com
Thu, 05/12/2005 - 8:27am
Fri, 05/13/2005 - 7:45am
#1
url, mac notes
"Please note that the url is olntv.com. oln.com is the ""online now network,"" yet another dumb directory.
Mac notes:
The streaming service does not support Macs. That said, I found a way to get it to work. You'll need a Mac running a current version of OS X, Safari, Internet Explorer 5.x, and Windows Media Player. This description assumes that Safari is your normal browser.
Turn off any popup blockers (Safari's, PithHelmet, etc.). Go ahead and register for the service. When you click the button to watch the stream in Safari, it will give you a long error to the effect that it's unable to load the digital rights management plugin. (Ths is the virtual dongle that lets only registered users watch the stream.) From the Safari menu, choose Preferences. Under the General tab, change your default web browser to Internet Explorer. Open Windows Media Player. Open Internet Explorer. In Explorer, return to the page where you click the button to watch the live video stream:
http://www.mediazone.com/channel/cycling/jsp/index.jsp
Hit the link to watch the live feed. Sign in with your username and password again if necessary. Internet Explorer will tell you, ""A license has been delivered to your player. Press the 'Play' button below to play the media."" There will be no play button. Do not despair. Windows Media Player now knows that you're authorized to watch the video.
Go back into Safari preferences, and set your default web browser back to Safari. In Safari, return once more to the page with the link to the live video feed. Click it again. Sign in again, if necessary. Windows Media Player will now buffer and play the live stream.
Tested with Safari 1.2.4, MSIE 5.2.3, and WMP 9.0 on Mac OS X 10.3.7. YMMV. I take no responsibility for the loss of your $5.95 if it doesn't work for you. There may be extra steps in these directions. I'd clean them up, but must watch Giro now.
Links:
Internet Explorer 5 for Mac OS X: http://tinyurl.com/xj3y
Windows Media Player 9 for OS X: http://tinyurl.com/26pxg
Live feed page: http://www.mediazone.com/channel/cycling/jsp/index.jsp
Buon' giro,
Adam"
Fri, 05/13/2005 - 7:54am
#2
Quality?
How big is the picture? And is the quality good?
RAI is free online (though in the past couple of days it has been hard to get on as the server is always full), but the video is really tiny
R
Fri, 05/13/2005 - 8:13am
#3
Giro on OLN
"I have a 20"" LCD monitor at work and the picture quality is fine -- the standard display in Windows Media Player is 4.5"" x 6.5"". At home on my 17"" LCD it's a little smaller. You can blow it up to full screen and it's still watchable but it's a little blurry at the larger resolution."
Thu, 05/12/2005 - 9:00am
#4
Audio Commentary
Get the OLN feed, turn the volume down and then go to eurosport.com and play the live audio feed. Generally the two are in sync and you can listen to live commentary along with the web cast.
Thu, 05/12/2005 - 10:22am
#5
Mac
Sonny, I see you sent the message via a mac. Were you able to get it to work on your mac? I have to unbury the door stop when I want to watch the stream.
Thu, 05/19/2005 - 7:37am
#6
The Eurosport audio makes the live streaming audio complete but I must say Sean Kelly is painfully boring.
