Samsung Board Of Directors Seeks YOUR Input On Technology

I’m surprised I could find a retailer that carried such technology in tiny portland, oregon.

But I like having League Pass — a few years ago I couldn’t see the Blazers from here and now I can.

Also, I would dig being able to choose a different camera angle if they would invent that already.

But I wouldn’t use any device while watching sports on TV. It messes up my concentration. I try to monotask whenever possible.

Definitely for me it’s all the available ways to watch the game. If I’m at work I can watch sports on a computer, if I’m shopping with my wife I can watch the game on my phone, and at home I don’t have to have some ridiculous cable package to catch most of the games, I can watch them on my PC. So because of the new ways to watch the game I don’t own a TV anymore, instead I bought a 26 inch computer monitor and a TV tuner card and I get HD over the broadcast stations on my PC.

I like things that are clean, simple, and functional. Too often websites/tech seem to fall in love with the glitz of “i can do this so I’ll do it” as opposed to the simple essence of just functioning. Flash tends to be a great example. There is nothing I hate more than going to a website with some glitzy flash that my computer has an issue with, or slows me down from getting tot he content I want.

So what information do I like?

I love watching the game and will do so if I can stream.
I like having the box score available and UP TO DATE (NBA website is horrible about this)
I like access to the play by play and/or audio if video isn’t available.
I love all commentary on the game I’m watching or have watched in one source so I can click links.

sportacular on my iphone is pretty nice. All scores for all games and it auto updates. I’ll be glancing at that constantly if i’m about town.

NBA.com streaming video is not that great. The product is fine but the black out of almost every game I really want to see and the lack of an alternative link isn’t. If my games weren’t blacked out I’d likely rave about it. After a season I dumped it as it didn’t provide the content I wanted.

I enjoyed the ability to watch games that had already taken place although the ability to rewind and rewatch leaves a lot to be desired from the NBA.com site.

I appreciate ease of navigation as some sites will have obscure links or an inability to return to a previous page.

I appreciate the lack of heavy obnoxious ads. If ads weren’t so obnoxious I wouldn’t be d/ling adblock to prevent all ads.

I don’t own a TV so I look to sources online to provide me with what I want.

HD, first down lines, online viewing,

This is not productive feedback — just wanted to note that your business lunch venue idea was hilarious. Especially with those gentlemen pictured like so at the top of the page.

so the you will never have to watch another blazer play in the baseline angle

Oh, wait, I shouldn’t have said that in front of the mods…poop!

I love being able to record games. I can watch them if I am tied up during the actual game time. It also allows me to immediately replay a part if I missed something and then catch up with realtime. I can also skip ads. Lastly, I can watch them again if desired.

I abandoned cable several years ago because of the vast amount of junk that I paid for and didn’t use. Since then, I’ve purchased League Pass Broadband for the last three years (the mobile version for one of those years as well). Furthermore, ESPN comes to Xbox Live sometime in the next couple of weeks. My laptop has replaced my TV in importance and my internet has completely replaced my cable. Also, I live in MN, and this arrangement allows me to follow the Blazers as closely as if I lived in PDX.

The development of the internet, and, to a lesser extent cable TV, has made a huge impact on my life. I’m not sure it is for the better, but I love control and choice, and information.

The fantastic pace of IT and entertainment innovation over the last 20 years has had a few sources (Intel + competition = Moore’s law, ability to manufacture well for little in China), but much of it has been driven by open systems and standards. The Internet is the best example of this, with not just the government-university open influence, but also the related rise of open source and standards. From that, you had things like MP3’s, driven by open (but illegal) exchange of media, resulting in a much better music experience for users and some great devices.

Cable TV, while very closed in some ways, certainly opened up opportunities for content innovation that is still accelerating. Combine that media proliferation with the Internet and you have massive potential.

I can’t imagine living without a DVR now, and Tivo came about because the signals hadn’t been closed off yet with copy protection and encryption. We need to ensure that we don’t prevent the next Tivo by bowing to the media industry.

So, I’d beg Samsung to work for open standards and projects. Throw things open and let innovation come from a wide range of places. And don’t fudge it and try to keep control or derive profits from areas that aren’t where you really ad value; that might work in the short term, but not the long.

And, could they figure out a way to make the internet actually available (by cell or wifi) while at the RG. Maybe have all phones/mobile devices be repeaters, rather than just fighting each other for bandwidth. I can’t watch sports any more without having full player histories and stats available.

web 2.0 has been about building online social communities like sbnation blogs. Sports has been enhanced via twitter feeds, facebook posts, and sports blogs…all during the broadcast. Better integration with these social aspects into the viewing experience will be key in the next few years…

With League Pass on my laptop I can take it anywhere in my house really conveniently. It’s never a problem if my wife is watching something on our TV.

and blazersedege.
that´s it.

but having the first-down line shown on TV is a huge improvement in watching football.

not necessarily new, but still probably the best technology in sports. More angles, or user selectable angles and replay control would be awesome

I love the see-through shot clocks.
I like pausing live tv.
I can watch a cowboys game on their big screen from my back yard in beaverton.
I like the flags on the bottom of the pools in olympic swimming.
I love the first down lines and line of scrimmage displayed on the field.
I love the telestrator so madden can yell, ‘BOOM!’
I love replay cameras on race cars when they crash.
I love ‘no tape delay’.
I like the microphones on the players, coaches and refs so I can hear the chatter.
I love super slo-mo replays from multiple angles.
I bet the 3-d all star game was fun. Wanted to see that but couldn’t. :(
I love my ‘samsung phone’. It takes great pictures of the cheerleaders. (Shameless plug, I know)
I like the automatic toilets, sinks, and hand dryers so I don’t have to touch anything at the arena.
I would love to see a bionic referee that gets ALL the calls correctly.
I love the radar gun used on pitchers, not on my driving.
I love the ghost pacers on the bobsled races, ski jumps and slalom.
High def video equipment.
I love the ‘hustle board’.
I love up to the minute updates.
…..
…..
Hmmmm, I know there’s more…

Question: Would I sacrifice TV screen space to see fantasy sports scores or message board while I’m watching sports?
Probably not, unless it had some way of knowing what was happening on the screen – I might just assume have a laptop or other in hand while I’m watching.

What if…. I could somehow tag players on the screen that I wanted to follow or that were on my Yahoo fantasy team. For instance in last night’s exhilarating WAS-ORL game I want to know who the #20 swingman is lighting it up from outside. I see him on the screen click on him and a semi-transparent label shows me that it’s Cartier Martin and he’s available in my league if I want to pick him up as a free agent. Click again and his projections from fbball Basketball Monster pick up. As he piles up stats his # update on the same label.

Do I want 10 labels running around next to each and every player on the court? No thanks – but if I can easily set my preferences to track my rivals players vs. my own vs. available free agents etc….maybe 2-3 roaming stat boards might not be too bad. Or perhaps they only appear for 4 second after they record a stat…

Do I qualify as a geek for asking for this?

Huge manufacturing plant. I’m looking at a Samsung screen right now. Keep doin’ what you are doin’ Samsung, bring prices down, down, down – while not sacrificing quality. One of the great marvels of our information revolution is that it is affordable for the masses – that’s a requirement for true revolution. And, of course, nice to listen to your customers, and treat them well.

Just kidding. I have to excuse myself from this discussion, but I like the idea of them sponsoring targeted audiences to elicit ideas.

offer alternate announcers

Think of ways to involve TV viewers to interact with the game the same way as people in the stands…I dunno virtual chanting, booing and whatnot.

more 3D

The cameras above the field in football (the ones on wires that can be relocated in real time), cameras above the basket in basketball, cameras in home plate in baseball, cameras that move along with track & field or gymnastic competitors, cameras on/in vehicles for racing.

What will be really cool is when the viewer can select among these rather than just the producer at the game.

Even when I grew up there in the 60s and 70s, it wasn’t tiny. Now it seems way, way too big when I go home to visit my family — and Vermont, where I now live, has less people in the entire state than the Portland metro area.

When did this begin? I understand needing to make some $$ with ads and stuff, but a sponsored Front Page post? What next? How about the Taco Bell Junk Drawer or the the Chevrolet Game Recap?

One I haven’t seen it the ability to change the camera you are watching from like TNT did.

By that I mean, how did they pick you of all people? That is so awesome, yet so random that I’m having a hard time putting it together. Congratulations (and you really should take them to Mary’s)

DVR and internet on my phone are my two fav tech things. DVR helps control your schedule and internet on the phone helps settle debates while at a bar. Two essentials.

But assuming the optimum experience is actually being at the game, watching it live from the front row, I find that much of the technology actually gets in the way of that.

Now, living in Fresno, I am not logistically capable of having that experience. And so the NBALPBB is currently as close as I can get to that optimum experience. But it’s flawed. I want to be able to see like I was there. Not the flashy presentation that I get from the broadcast. Broadcasters get in the way. Replays get in the way. Graphics get in the way. I want to experience being there, even when I’m not. And this has not been replicated.

I want it simple. I want to see what the crowd sees. I want to hear what the crowd hears. And the technology is there to do that. There are enough cameras. We have surround sound systems in our homes. And warm beer is cheaper from my own fridge.

Keep statistics and replays and broadcasters as options, because a lot of people like them. But let me turn it off if I want to. Because I think replicating the experience of being there is the next big thing. And I’d be willing to pay money for that experience. Which is what the Samsung people want to hear.

and repackage it at a more reasonable price.

That way, I can see him the whole game, not just the minutes Nate chooses to play him!

Mostly it has ruined my life.

But it has allowed me to follow Blazers games on my laptop. Which is nice, especially outside of the TV broadcast area. The combination of game watching on streaming video, following box scores and reading (if usually not participating in) Blazersedge gameday threads, all can combine to add to a Technology-Enhanced Experience™.

Options are good. Free or relatively cheap is good (sorry, Samsung). Market-wise, I’d rather have enhanced services or broadcast options come as standard enticements, and then be expected to buy an expensive new TV or computer to make it all happen, rather than pay for a new service or an overpriced subscription. People will always shell out for hardware. Because basically when it comes down to it, I just want to watch the game. I’ll even listen on the radio if I have to. I’m cheap that way. But if technology-enhanced crack has at least the appearance of seeming free, then I just might get hooked.

That, said, and kind of to follow up on some of what TDarkstar and others have mentioned, here’s my wishlist for the bright new Samsung Future:

- TV with options for multiple audio tracks. Let me switch between radio and TV announcers, home or away. Let me have a “you are there” option with just arena sounds. Heck, let me have an exciting action soundtrack that responds to swings in the game action. Let me get a direct audio feed from Dave’s house, or possibly Kevin Pritchard’s house while a game is in progress (okay, not really). I just want options. Also, just let me mute Mark Jackson at any given time.

- Multi-camera angle. Other folks have touched on this. But let me instantly switch between full court, following the ball, following the bench, or following a player. Remember that kind of insidious documentary Kobe Doin’ Work? It was kind of fascinating just how it followed one player. While not my team of choice, the basketball junkie in me found it totally addicting to watch the off-the ball action up close, which you never get to do in regular TV viewing. If I am in the mood for over-stimulation, and this happens to be a giant television: split screen option. Perhaps controllable in gestures like this:

http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html
 
- The TV should always allow the Blazers to win.

- Mostly, while a game is on, I want to watch the game. Not do social networking, or get caught up in technology. Statistical overlays, or in-game telestration happening in real-time would seem appealing at first, but I’d probably get annoyed quickly and turn it off. But during commercials, or halftime, I’d love to be able to have stats, replays, analysis, etc available in any technological delivery systems the world wants to provide.

- Every time Brandon Roy makes a three pointer, I would like my Smart Television™ to dispense one cold beer. Possibly from a spring-loaded launcher.

The streaming technology out there today for sports is laughable. There are Magic: The Gathering events that are streamed better than Blazer games.

I watch games on my Samsung HD 63" DLP TV and using a splitter also send a HD signal to my 2333HD Samsung monitor extended out from the wall in front of my chair on an arm. The monitor can switch between two computers and the HD cable signal. This allows me to watch on the monitor when alone and, during time-outs, effortlessly switch to a computer window to see box scores and play-by-play. I can even use both TV and monitor to real-time watch both or mix and match.

The availability of digital HD recorder set-top boxes has been the biggest change for me. It allows me to eat meals on time, take phone calls and not miss a minute of up to two games playing at once. My expectations for the future is for games to be available on subscription over the Internet in HD with the recording at the source end and the ability to pause and resume as needed. The hardware already exists to project such games from the computer to the TV but not in HD. Much as Apple has changed music distribution in the last decade, with lower costs to the consumer and ballooning demand, the sports distribution system is ripe for the next step.

HDTV, DVR to record and pause and replay the shot/game, awesome fan websites like Blazersedge, live box scores on the internet, high definition projection TV screen showing the game at the sports bar, not reading text messages during a game that i am DVRing to watch later (“Blazers WIN!!!”), that Jumbo-Tron at the Rose Garden has enhanced my experience watching sports and also the Hustle Board that keeps track of the players’ points and fouls and etc. One thing that has not enhanced my experience watching sports is the lag between the radio and television broadcasts.

How has technology Enhanced Your ExperienceTM watching sports?
1. DVR- best invention for folks like me who work long days and Sundays.
2. LapTops- looking at boxscores from the current game as well as other sports. Instantly being able to look up anything I am curious about during the game.
3. Social Networks/blogs.— obviously the game day threads and chatting on line during games is great.
4. At Buffalo Wild Wings you can watch the games as well as play trivia and other games at your table.

What’s your favorite sports-related technological advance during recent years?
1. Number one recently is having 24hr access to my fantasy sports teams through my phone. This has changed my Fantasy GM Life.
2. Number two is the online community. Connecting with fellow sports fans during the game is just fantastic.

Wish List:
I have many but the one I want mostly is having a second audio option.

What I want is for the sports leagues to have an audio broadcast where it is basically the players and coaches mic’ed up. I’d pay extra to hear courtside or sideline chatter, documentary style.

and that’s the “first and goal” line in football.

tracking the puck? lame. in basketball, maybe stats could show up on the floor, like heat zones for the player with the ball, or perhaps live box scoring in the corner (ie, who got the assist, bucket, distance, etc) would help for stat heads. I cant imagine anything really great for basketball other than holograms so its like your watching from the first row.

Until then, the technology in sports watching that matters to me:
- The first down line is huge. Football in general is almost perfect on TV…if Chris Collinsworth would go away it would be. I don’t even really like football but I’m watching it right now.
- PitchF/X in baseball.
- I had the MLB At Bat app on my phone that let me listen to any game all season…it was excellent.
- Even with that, I won’t go another year without mlb.tv — even if baseball’s media territory rules are absolutely awful. I am buying a computer this winter to hook up to my tv for this express purpose. The wife, of course, has her own plans for such a device.
- SB Nation, Twitter and mlb trade rumors. Fantasy sports are in there too.
- Someone needs to sync up all the audio feeds for live games make them options by hitting the audio channel button. I would prefer Wheeler to Mike and Mike most nights and I’d rather listen to the Spanish feed than FOX’s Buck/McCarver tandem for baseball.

has definitely made watching sports on TV better. When I watch football, I can tell if the dude got both feet in bounds because I see the blades of grass move. It’s also nice being able to tell the players apart even if you don’t have a big ol’ screen.

I’d like to see more interactive TV though. Let’s say I’m watching and Batum has just made his 12th three pointer. I’d like to click on him to bring up his stats on the side. I’d also like to see multiple angles at the same time.