Commentating pool matches

Dimeball

Dimeball

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Watched the Texas Open, and, have no complaints. Great event.

So, not sure if this has been discussed, but, here goes... Majority of the audience for pool matches are likely pool players. Generally from what I can decern is that commentators watch the table and players from some vantage point and make good effort to call the match, angles, shots, etc.. as they can. Most try to help the watcher understand and perhaps learn the game as far as I can tell. All good so far...

My comment or question: would it make sense for commentators to watch the stream, same as the viewer sees, as opposed to the actual players table etc... it's difficult to see as the player sees and watching the stream itself doesn't make it easier, but, could it make it easier to call the action the same as the viewer sees so that the viewer has better understanding..? My guess if probably not, but, thought it would be a decent discussion....

cheers friends!
 
Dimeball said:
Watched the Texas Open, and, have no complaints. Great event.

So, not sure if this has been discussed, but, here goes... Majority of the audience for pool matches are likely pool players. Generally from what I can decern is that commentators watch the table and players from some vantage point and make good effort to call the match, angles, shots, etc.. as they can. Most try to help the watcher understand and perhaps learn the game as far as I can tell. All good so far...

My comment or question: would it make sense for commentators to watch the stream, same as the viewer sees, as opposed to the actual players table etc... it's difficult to see as the player sees and watching the stream itself doesn't make it easier, but, could it make it easier to call the action the same as the viewer sees so that the viewer has better understanding..? My guess if probably not, but, thought it would be a decent discussion....

cheers friends!
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A good percentage of the time the commentators don't have a view of the table and are watching the same screen that you are. They may have more viewpoints (multiple screens) that you may not see unless they switch it.
IMO that's not the main problem with most commentary but I understand what you're getting at. Many times I'm wondering if they're watching the same screen I am because what they are saying isn't making a whole lot of sense.
 
sparkle84 said:
A good percentage of the time the commentators don't have a view of the table and are watching the same screen that you are. They may have more viewpoints (multiple screens) that you may not see unless they switch it.
IMO that's not the main problem with most commentary but I understand what you're getting at. Many times I'm wondering if they're watching the same screen I am because what they are saying isn't making a whole lot of sense.
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Most of the pool commentary I've seen the commentators devolve into talking about themselves and this one time at band camp.
 
I could see the argument of commentating from the stream, but if you had multiple cameras, you would still need someone to switch views when appropriate.

For the Texas Open at least, I thought they did a great job. They had a pretty good vantage point. They did talk about not seeing the table like the players did during the stream. I can't remember exactly what they said, but the angle they had made some of the shots difficult to see. In this case, I'd say they should have multiple monitors so they can see all 3 cameras at once. If nothing else, a second monitor to watch the overhead view.

I can ask the commentator I know what he thinks about commenting directly from the stream.


commentators.jpeg
 
Over the years on the Accu-Stats DVDs from the US Open Grady and Bill and others would talk about how they are 50 feet or so from the table itself. Which, as they said, would lend itself to not seeing things accurately. Including the difference between the 2B and the 4B.

r/DCP
 
I’ve watched a couple of matches where the commentators lagged behind the play on the table. For example they’re still talking about how the player should execute the shot after the shot is over
 
one must-do thing for me when doing commentary is that to focus on the screen, even when I have views of the table, I would take a look only when I need to see difficult angles... we do social commentary so reading comments are also necessary to communicate with viewers, but still the main screen is utmost important

when doing commentary, the flow of you speaking, and viewers' live chat can take you away from the match, so easily that you would not notice it and when you realize it, you have lost the vibe of the match... which is brutal
 
Dimeball said:
Watched the Texas Open, and, have no complaints. Great event.

So, not sure if this has been discussed, but, here goes... Majority of the audience for pool matches are likely pool players. Generally from what I can decern is that commentators watch the table and players from some vantage point and make good effort to call the match, angles, shots, etc.. as they can. Most try to help the watcher understand and perhaps learn the game as far as I can tell. All good so far...

My comment or question: would it make sense for commentators to watch the stream, same as the viewer sees, as opposed to the actual players table etc... it's difficult to see as the player sees and watching the stream itself doesn't make it easier, but, could it make it easier to call the action the same as the viewer sees so that the viewer has better understanding..? My guess if probably not, but, thought it would be a decent discussion....

cheers friends!
Click to expand...
Ultimate Pool does this. The commentary team is in a different room watching the live stream same as the audience.
 
Dimeball said:
Watched the Texas Open, and, have no complaints. Great event.

So, not sure if this has been discussed, but, here goes... Majority of the audience for pool matches are likely pool players. Generally from what I can decern is that commentators watch the table and players from some vantage point and make good effort to call the match, angles, shots, etc.. as they can. Most try to help the watcher understand and perhaps learn the game as far as I can tell. All good so far...

My comment or question: would it make sense for commentators to watch the stream, same as the viewer sees, as opposed to the actual players table etc... it's difficult to see as the player sees and watching the stream itself doesn't make it easier, but, could it make it easier to call the action the same as the viewer sees so that the viewer has better understanding..? My guess if probably not, but, thought it would be a decent discussion....

cheers friends!
Click to expand...

Most streams you have one camera and camera angle, so relying only on what they see on the screen would make it harder to make informed commentary (for example, the camera might make it appear a ball doesn’t go when it does). If you had professional production, then sure, relying on monitors makes sense.
 
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