Nice way to not be capable of paying attention.
I've been on Jeanette's side for a long time. Even an idiot could tell that.
Fred
TAR and The DCC
- Thread starter EZMoney
- Start date
I've been on Jeanette's side for a long time. Even an idiot could tell that.
Fred
Tar
I think TAR did a good job with the hand they were dealt. The different announcers and different perspectives all add to the broadcast.
They are not Accu-Stats and I don't think they want to be. I want to here about the action and what is going on in the room, not just informed commentary of how the player is going to get shape on the next ball.
The stories of past experiences and good times are more to my liking. This isn't TV it's PPV and as far as I am concerned they can say or show anything they want. As far as the chat goes I hardly ever look at it as it's mostly one or two guys trying to find someone to diss the whole time.
I personally can't wait for the next great TAR PPV! I would like to see a rested Larry Price take on Justin Bergman.
I think TAR did a good job with the hand they were dealt. The different announcers and different perspectives all add to the broadcast.
They are not Accu-Stats and I don't think they want to be. I want to here about the action and what is going on in the room, not just informed commentary of how the player is going to get shape on the next ball.
The stories of past experiences and good times are more to my liking. This isn't TV it's PPV and as far as I am concerned they can say or show anything they want. As far as the chat goes I hardly ever look at it as it's mostly one or two guys trying to find someone to diss the whole time.
I personally can't wait for the next great TAR PPV! I would like to see a rested Larry Price take on Justin Bergman.
In appreciating what TAR does, you have to keep some things in perspective.
First. TAR flys their crew up to a event and all of their equipment. So you got Hotel and Airfare plus they're going to ring up alot in the food, drink and other expenses. They take this kind of hit right out of the box and have no clue whether they're going to reap any of their expense back by PPV.
2nd. Pool and action are not 2 words that go with reliablity. Action matches just kind of happen. They almost cannot be scheduled with any certainty. You got people that say they are going to play and don't. You got people that say they are going to play this race, for this much at this time and don't show up at all or they show up hours or days later. You also have big matches that happen with no warning, they just happen, so no way to advertise them.
3rd. They are always at the mercy of the event location's internet feed. It could be great, it could be half-ass, it could work great and then crap out intermittantly. They can do their best to adjust their encoding of the bitrate going outbound. If the feed is excellent, they can bring a clearer picture to the world, if it isn't they might have adjust down their video encoding to use less bandwidth, which means that the quality suffers.
4th. The 800's and thousands of viewers you see, are when the free feed is going on. When it goes to PPV, you see it drop 15 fold.
5th. They try their best to line up some action to be able to broadcast. This requires the players to agree to play on a TV table, it also requires them to agree to a match and actually show up. See no 1 above.
6th. TAR appeals mostly to hard core pool action junkies. Those people are aware of how matches happen, they are aware that it's not non-stop high dollar action between top name pros, they are watching to see excellent players play meaningful money matches and realize everything that goes with it.
TAR broadcast many action matches with top players for high dollar action over many days. Much of it free. The least a person can do is to keep it in perspective and say I could contribute 50.00 for 9 days of pool, 24 hours a day. Most people would say that is one helluva deal. Along with you getting all of that for 50.00, you also put 50.00 in their pocket to go to their expenses and allow them to continue bringing this kind of action to you in the future.
Both TAR and Accu-stats realized that their Internet feed sucked this year. They had no problems last year, but this year it sucked. Both businesses value their customers and they tried to make it right for them. If you ever have a problem with logging in, or not being able to get the video, Justin will refund your money. No questions asked.
I'm sure TAR is very disappointed in what happened this year, the Hotel's Internet feed sucked which really hurt them. They had some problems with the gaming commission out of the blue and that changed everything for them. I'm sure they wish they could have been able to advertise and show some more Action Matches and that everything worked out with that. They are at the mercy of so many variables and a large part of their potential customer base, is so impatient and are not realistic about how pool action matches work. For some reason, they expect 24 hour a day big money matches lined up for them on several tables at the same time and expect them to contantly switch between matches back and forth.
A few years ago, if you weren't at the Derby, you would have never seen any action. NONE. ZERO. Now you got to see probably close to 50 high dollar matches between some top pros in all games... Bar table, 9 ft'ers, One Pocket, 9 ball, 10 ball LIVE AS IT HAPPENS.
In streaming in this day and age, it is rarely going to come all together and your going to get a stable, fast internet feed out to the world with no problems.
Do we all wish it was like that , sure... Does TAR learn something from each time it goes on the road and it's at the mercy of the event's Internet feed.. I'm sure they do. I know they have many things in the works for the future. Maybe you'll see some archived video footage that you can watch anytime you want. Remember, they have most all the footage archived, that can be gone thru at a later time and edited to have individual matches.
It's all good, just be patient, grow with them. This is a new way of showing pool, one that we never had before. It allows us that can't be there, to be there in a way and to witness some of the best pool in the world, that we would have never got to see, if it wasn't for people like TAR.
At least that's my take on it, my opinion only, I speak for no one else but myself and I'm in a hurry to write this so I can go practice. Hope it made some sense.
WOW, very well said, THANKS TAR.
1. Ustream.
2. No big deal, just at that very moment some really degrading things were being said about a couple of people and it was ignored. I don't know what the TAR policy is about that kind of thing or even if there is one.
Mind you, I really respect what they are trying to provide and applaud them for doing so.
I wish TAR had a membership similiar to the online poker training sites. Pay a monthly fee or yearly and get access to their hosted videos and live streams. I would love to be able to watch the action matches at my time vs the all night action time.
As frustrating as the issues are on the end user end, they were def as bad for TAR to present and make everyone happy. I just wish that once people were unhappy they would just leave the chat, send your email, and go do something, rather than sit there and *****. I have yet to hear from anyone that TAR has never refunded when asked.
As frustrating as the issues are on the end user end, they were def as bad for TAR to present and make everyone happy. I just wish that once people were unhappy they would just leave the chat, send your email, and go do something, rather than sit there and *****. I have yet to hear from anyone that TAR has never refunded when asked.
Actually, those comments were not ignored -- not noticed would be the proper definition. I agree totally with you in regards to the condensations.
Unfortunately, us mods spent a great deal of time in PM mode which took us out of the chat. I can't count the times that Murphy's Law reared it's ugly head. I would have so many peeps PMing me at once that it maxed out my system on several occasions. Most of the questions could have/already had been answered in the chat or were already posted on the vid (players/score!). I got a myriad of "Is so-in-so there (at DCC)", "What's scheduled for tonight", "Are there any brackets", "What's the action here", What happened in the JL match yesterday", "How do I get PPV", "Has the tech problems been solved", "How's the pic", and on and on. I'd answer five PMs and six more would pop up, all the while taking me out of the chat.
I asked folks to help mod but they wanted to watch and not get involved. We had 5 mods at one point and all of us were stretched to the max. I can't speak for all the mods but the the tech issues created by the casino took up most of my time. Walking people through took me out of the chat several minutes at a time. People texting me constantly with the same type requests didn't help either.
It's just unfortunate that supposedly grown people can't behave themselves and act so disrespectful. What I found interesting was, once things were changed to the PPV only (where there is no mod mode) most of the name calling stopped as did my PMs. Could it be that nits were the biggest issue -- who knows for sure!?!?
I have modded hundreds and hundreds of streams and can truthfully say this has been the absolute worse in terms of viewer cooperation. It was a nightmare. Would I do it again to support our sport? In a heartbeat!
BTW: All mods are geographically separated volunteers and usually have no time to actually watch the action and don't always know if "so-in-so" is there....and yes, we too have to pay for PPV!
I paid 20.00 for Friday and Saturday night. I waited six hours to watch Richie play JL with the screen freezing up. I completely understand that TAR cannot control the action on the TV table(s) but it was still frustrating waiting 6 hours not knowing if a match would start or not.
Saturday evening was a complete disaster. I couldn't watch 30 seconds without the feed freezing up. I would bet alot that I had to hit the "Stop" & "Start" button no less than a hundred times.
I understand that TAR can't control the internet "site" where they were at and it was indeed terrible. HOWEVER they could of check to see how things would work BEFORE THEY PUT ON A PPV EVENT.
I support TAR completely and want to see them succeed. I have watched a couple of Challenge matches and absolutley loved them. I think TAR needs to find out prior to a PPV event that the site they are at can accomidate their internet needs. I fear that lost alot of customers after Friday & Saturdays disaster. I wish TAR the best but I will probably only pay for Challenge matches where they can control the feed. No I don't want a refund I want to support TAR and see them succeed.
Saturday evening was a complete disaster. I couldn't watch 30 seconds without the feed freezing up. I would bet alot that I had to hit the "Stop" & "Start" button no less than a hundred times.
I understand that TAR can't control the internet "site" where they were at and it was indeed terrible. HOWEVER they could of check to see how things would work BEFORE THEY PUT ON A PPV EVENT.
I support TAR completely and want to see them succeed. I have watched a couple of Challenge matches and absolutley loved them. I think TAR needs to find out prior to a PPV event that the site they are at can accomidate their internet needs. I fear that lost alot of customers after Friday & Saturdays disaster. I wish TAR the best but I will probably only pay for Challenge matches where they can control the feed. No I don't want a refund I want to support TAR and see them succeed.
I'm thinking that based on the fact that it was at the same place last year and there were no issues .......!!! Perhaps with both them and Accu-Stats streaming at the same time it was just too much for the bandwidth. That being said, I hear yea!
One more thing if I may! During the six hours of waiting for a match to start on Friday night NOT ONE TIME DID I HEAR any match scores going on. They could of kept some interest by telling their audience what was going on elsewhere at the DCC.
I arrived at Horseshoe on Tuesday before the event started, met with the hotel IT staff rep on Wednesday morning and did a speed test on the network. It was 1.4 megs up and down. More than enough. Add in the fact that we streamed from the same hotel, in the same room from the same Cat5 jack last year with no problems whatsoever. I have no idea what else could have been done before hand.
The hotel network would drop out completely or go from 1.4 megs up to 200K out of nowhere. I realize that a paying customer does not care who's fault it is that the product does not deliver all they know is they are not satisfied. In the end it is on us, so we just wont do it again unless we can be as sure as possible that we have the connection we need.
I want to thank everyone who patiently supported us through this. Speaking for myself I will never go through this again. I will just refund all the money and stop the stream if something like this occurs again. That way people will only be pissed once instead of every time the network decides to go to hell.
After reading through this thread and the emails I have received over the last 9 days or so I want to thank the people who get what we are trying to do. Your kind words, help and support mean more than you know.
I will write a detailed account of things from my perspective later. We just finished packing up things a little while ago and have a plane to catch in a few hours. Plus I am still probably a little too wound up to write objectively. Thanks again to those who showed patience and kindness to us.
One thing I have to say and it is about a very small minority of people I dealt with this past 9 days. I will never understand why someone will stay online complaining for DAYS about something when it becomes clear that for whatever reason it will not work for them. Wouldn't a normal person just turn it off and go do something else? Some of the emails I received made me feel like I had heisted their retirement fund or cleaned out their checking account. Crazy.
I will write a detailed account of things from my perspective later. We just finished packing up things a little while ago and have a plane to catch in a few hours. Plus I am still probably a little too wound up to write objectively. Thanks again to those who showed patience and kindness to us.
One thing I have to say and it is about a very small minority of people I dealt with this past 9 days. I will never understand why someone will stay online complaining for DAYS about something when it becomes clear that for whatever reason it will not work for them. Wouldn't a normal person just turn it off and go do something else? Some of the emails I received made me feel like I had heisted their retirement fund or cleaned out their checking account. Crazy.
There is one way to never have a problem with the TAR feed. COME TO THE EVENT and visit the TAR PIT in person. All the major woofing and game making was happening in and around the TAR Pit. They had a very nice set-up with four tables and seating for about 40 people. Ain't nothing better than seeing it live! You can even meet Fred and the Beav and get your picture taken with them. They don't bite!
Last edited:
Wow, I knew there were some issues while I was there (on site). I could sense the frustration, but didn't know what all was happening since I wasn't at home watching.
I want to tell those who don't know or have met the TAR guys. They bust their asses to bring you the best possible pool streams. They have outrageously expensive equpiment to make the experience better for us, but there are things that are completely out of their control. They are UBER-fans just like most of us are....I really can't say enough about their efforts.
Justin, I will continue to support TAR as much as I can (thanks again for the wardrobe update, and OB Break cue)!! And I sincerely hope that anyone who had a bad experience will give TAR the benefit of the doubt, and tune in in the future.
I still think what you guys do is amazing, and very appreciated by many. People are always going to complain and not be happy. You can't please everyone, you have to accept that. Looking forward to the next show !
Between 6 hrs waiting for action (no fault of yours at all) and the poor feed it was just hard to fade to watch this event. You may need to re-think you decision to have an "Action Room" in the future.
The several Challenge matchs that I have seen that TAR has put out have been absolutley outstanding and I would pay twice as much as you charged to watch them. I have also bought the SVB vs Alex match race to 100 and it is an absolute steal to buy. You watch these DVDs and you will learn alot on how to play the right way. TAR overall is doing a great service to the pool world and I can't wait for the next Challenge Match.
Last edited:
Beav may bite if you even kid about OSU - lol. I was just glad he finally excepted some drinks, sheesh! No such problems talking Fred into them though
All good people, and I agree - LIVE and in person is THE way to experience it!!
I thought I had it figured out. I'll just mount my own satellite feed on a van and have 2mb up from everywhere. Then I got the quote. $20,000.00 a month! :shocked:
Basically it's our government we should all be pissed at. The Feds are the ones keeping a cap on our upload speeds allowing the internet companies to reel it out for the big $$$$$.
We'd have HD streaming without it.
I would pay $50 for someone to just text me updates from the action at an event like the DCC. To be able to peek into it from Texas is mind boggling.
Ray
Were you watching the same TAR feed I did? None of the commentators dissed Jeanette. Just because commentators don't totally suck up to the mainstream pool establishment does not mean they are necessarily dissing anyone. There was only some petty dissing in the chat (which is normal) along with some very informed and realistic analysis. I think a lot of us who never cared much for Jeanette's marketing side came away respecting her action side. In fact, I think by participating in the TAR pit she's become a role model to up and coming female players everywhere.
And Sunny did great. It's nice to hear a female voice now and then in pool and Sunny filled in the late night hours doing her best to entertain us. She would do things like drag Scooter in the booth and interview him and she even stepped up and gambled on camera with a lay down artist so as to keep us entertained when there was an early morning lull. She went above and beyond the call of duty.
Last edited: