So I upgrade my satellite feed to include VS in order to watch the tour... only to find that the scheduling kinda sucks. The early 'evening' coverage begins at 5:00 PM - an hour before I even get off work, let alone make it home and plop my arse down on the couch. Then the later coverage begins at 9:00 PM and goes until nearly midnight. A friend of mine gets up at 5:30 AM to watch before he gets ready for work... but he's a freak.

In my opinion; OLN's 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM slot was far superior. It was a bit shorter, but gave you everything you needed to know and was fare more accessible to us working stiffs. I've gotta wonder what they're thinkin'.

DanO

That's why you either get Tivo or a VCR, but yes the timing on it sucks. I wish they had online replays like they did during the Giro.

So far the Giro's online coverage destroys the TDF's.

So I upgrade my satellite feed to include VS in order to watch the tour... only to find that the scheduling kinda sucks. The early 'evening' coverage begins at 5:00 PM - an hour before I even get off work, let alone make it home and plop my arse down on the couch. Then the later coverage begins at 9:00 PM and goes until nearly midnight. A friend of mine gets up at 5:30 AM to watch before he gets ready for work... but he's a freak.

In my opinion; OLN's 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM slot was far superior. It was a bit shorter, but gave you everything you needed to know and was fare more accessible to us working stiffs. I've gotta wonder what they're thinkin'.

DanO

VR is OLN..Stop your whining

I agree. Tivo. You could've just used the money you spent on upgrading your satellite thingamajigger.

That's cuz all satellite channels are east coast unless the network has a dedicated west coast feed. Everything is on 3 hours earlier.

you upgraded and didnt get tivo? not much of an upgrade. later.

turn your computer into a Tivo...it's not that difficult. That's what I have setup to record the tour right now.

The only way to watch is to record the morning live broadcast and then watch comfortably at night after dinner. Fast forward through all of the Cervelo and Saab commercials and you can easily see all of the race and be in bed by 10:00p

I'm an early morning person myself, so I think it is a great way to start the day, and then I can catch it again after work, if I want. I say WooHoo VS, you are doing a great job!

There's roughly, what, 10 hrs a day of coverage (albeit repeat broadcast), and you're bi*ching about it? You apparently didn't follow Le Tour before the Lance era.

It actually works out for me... I get home about 6:30pm so I can catch the last half of the race and then at 9pm I catch the beginning before I go to bed. :)

I also catch a bit before I take off for work at 7am PST.

But yeah, 7:30 to 9 would be much better to get the nuts and bolts of the race.

VR is OLN..Stop your whining
Yea. I know VS and OLN are one in the same.
And just because I state their new schedule sucks doesn't make me a whiner.

DanO

Those of you who are Tivo-ing, do you skip the commercials? How long are the broadcasts for the prologue and stage 1, 2 without the commercials?

I'm interested in the computer-into-Tivo idea myself since the commercials are the biggest waste of time ever...

I haven't timed it, but I can FFWD at 4x (>>>>) through a block of commercials that's several minutes long in just a few seconds on my Time Warner DVR.

I hardly watch anything "live" anymore. I even record Headline News so I can watch the latest top of the hour news at any time (again, without commercials). And even if I am watching something "live", as soon as I hit a commercial I hit Record and flip to watching something else. Later I come back, ffwd through the commercials, and continue where I left off.

There is no going back. However, I do stop for the Apple commercials when I see them flash by.

The only way to watch is to record the morning live broadcast and then watch comfortably at night after dinner. Fast forward through all of the Cervelo and Saab commercials and you can easily see all of the race and be in bed by 10:00p

You just nailed by daily existence for the next 3 weeks!!!

Andy

The itv4 daily highlights is a great way to watch the action if you only have limited time...

they play it like 6 times a day . . . I cannot imagine someone not being able to catch it. On the other hand, I cannot even fathom not having a DVR.

http://img.shopping.com/cctool/PrdImg/images/pr/177X150/00/01/9e/36/b7/27145911.JPG

Philips_DVDR_3355_DVD_Recorder (http://www.epinions.com/Philips_DVDR_3355_DVD_Recorder)

I bought it at Target last year for $159.00

Mine is recording the live and prime time broadcasts - that's 12 hours a day. It did the same last year, no problems, the DVD's look great. Also good for converting those boxes of VHS tapes of OLN broadcasts to DVD.

(anyone want some OLN stuff on VHS??)

Those of you who are Tivo-ing, do you skip the commercials?...

yes, record the morning broadcasts (all Phil and Paul), skip commercials. and if needed, skip ahead 1/2 hour or so.

then in the winter, if i feel like it: watch it again. maybe skip different sections. definitely skip commercials again.

Id blame your time zone as much as the network. just tune in for the last hour to watch the finish. you arent going to miss a whole lot before then if you are short on time.

+1 on catching the Phil and Paul broadcasts if possible. the other guys make anyone who knows squat about cycling want to shoot them self.

Telecommute. From Europe.

My (Comcast) DVR just cut off the last 30K of today's stage and even though I have it set to record ALL the broadcasts it will only record the morning one.

How much am I spending on this again? Thanks, Comcast. This SUCKS!

Ok, It's marginally better than staying up way too late to watch crappy network tv highlights like I did many moons ago, but when you're counting on being able to fast forward through all the bull**** and watch the only coverage that's tolerable (Phil and Paul) it's seriously lame.