Ducati Sporting Club UK > Sport > Race > Did anyone else buy the MotoGP pay content?

[Felix]

Based on a recommendation, I decided to splurge and bought the complete season package from the MotoGP website. It was only about 30 Euros, IIRC. Considering that's only about a month's worth of Sky fees, it seemed reasonable.

Having just watched the entire race via their "on-board camera channel", I'd be inclined to agree it was worth it. What a fantastic view of the race! You get various rider's cameras and sound only, just as it should be.

[khushy]

I have had it for 2 seasons - excellent - especially during qualifying and a race with live timing etc etc!!!!

Khushy

[ziggi]

I've been considering it - as I've now stopped my Sky package as I was just not watching enough TV. The only thing I would watch is the bike sport - Now WSBK races are live on WorldSBK.TV site, BSB is on ITV and MotoGP on BBC2 I only need the free channels. I did buy a few single race sessions last season and was impressed with the content.

[phillc]

Yes I have it this season and have written a couple of reviews:

Initial Thoughts - http://kapitalmoto.co.uk/node/11

Small Update - http://kapitalmoto.co.uk/node/17

My reasons for getting it are that I'm not going to get Sky connected and I also want to watch Free Practice during my Friday lunch hours at work.

So far I've been a bit dissapointed. I think the quality of the video content could be a lot better - higher bit rate (450kbps for the "high" version is a bit low in my opinion) and greater resolution (480x360 is too low, I'd much rather full screen 720x576).

I've also found it difficult getting connecting during peak times - qualifying practice and race. Although this improved with the recent round in Turkey. Perhaps the early season excitement has worn off.

The MotoGP website in general doesn't work so well in Firefox, so I need to switch to Explorer every time I want to go there. I think this is down to the fact that the whole thing is done using Flash.

The biggest upside of the subscription so far is the convenience of watching replays when I want to. But then I think I could have had this service with a cheaper subscription package.

Overall, I think the offering from World Superbikes (http://www.worldsbk.tv) has the potential to be a lot better. They've only started streaming races live since the most recent round, but it looks to me like the bit rate is a little higher, although the resolution is still 480x360. However, crucially, the WSBK offering is thus far FREE!

[Edited on 2-5-2006 by phillc]