Olympic Torch Relay Website
Post categories: 大象传媒 Sport,听mobile,听streaming
| 13:00 UK time, Friday, 8 June 2012
Even if you joined the torch relay live, you can now drag the scrub bar back and see what you missed
In my role as Product Lead in 大象传媒 Future Media, I鈥檓 responsible for the development of the 大象传媒鈥檚 Olympic torch relay website and 2012 Portal.
Couple of news flashes before I start 鈥 firstly, UK users can now watch live torch relay video, or as it鈥檚 known by many, on their iPhones. Secondly, we鈥檝e just enabled "live rewind" functionality on the live video stream for the standard website. So, if you鈥檝e just started watching the morning relay session on the site and missed the Olympic flame go past your house 10 minutes ago, then never fear, just drag the player scrub bar 10 minutes back听and hey presto, watch the moment.
Well, the Olympic flame began its 70-day journey across the UK on 19 May and I鈥檝e been delighted to see the generally positive reaction to the site from our online audiences. The site enjoyed 7.8 million page views for the second half of May and, as 2012 online editor Mark Coyle has already mentioned, "大象传媒 torchcam"听has become cult viewing.
While national and local TV/radio are dipping into this exciting event as appropriate and live coverage of some sessions has been added to , the online site has established itself as a "one-stop shop" for round-the-clock live coverage and torch relay information.
Covering and broadcasting the 8,000-mile whistle-stop tour has been no mean feat, but it doesn鈥檛 end there. Although the relay is well under way now, my team is still making enhancements to the site and aiming to make new features available. My main focus is video, both in terms of device availability and new functionality.
大象传媒 Torchcam is now available on iOS and Android devices
I鈥檝e worked for many years on video propositions for the 大象传媒 and am always keen to make sure our content is available on as many platforms as possible.
So I鈥檓 pleased to announce we鈥檙e finally offering live video coverage of the relay on iOS devices, such as iPhones and iPads, using HLS (). We already have 大象传媒 torchcam available on Android phones and tablets, so this means we should have a much fuller range of coverage on devices from desktop to tablets to mobile.
Also, the torch relay offers us an important opportunity to spearhead the video technology we鈥檙e developing for the Olympic Games themselves.
"Live rewind" is a major step forward for us, enabling users to navigate backwards through a live session and find what they want to watch.
The main challenge here has been to make the morning and afternoon video sessions available as HDS () video streams and create a customised player to play them on. Thus, the more eagle-eyed among you will have noticed the new video player on the desktop torch relay site, with session tabs at the top and a new play button, to exploit this functionality.
鈥淎nd鈥, as comedian likes to say, 鈥渢here鈥檚 more鈥.
Having enabled live rewind HDS streams, we next aim to implement live-to-VOD (Video-On-Demand) and 鈥榮hare the moment鈥 functionality.
With this functionality, live video sessions would automatically turn into video-on-demand assets and become available听for previous days. Providing the pictures were streamed live by 大象传媒 torchcam in the first place, you鈥檒l be able to watch them again on demand, going all the way back to day one.
This means you can watch the relay live and, when you see a moment you want to share, you can send that exact moment to your friend, whether it鈥檚 live or in the past. Even if your friend doesn鈥檛 pick up your email for a couple of days, they鈥檒l be taken to the exact moment you wanted to show them.
I look forward to your questions and comments.
To address one issue - our live online streaming is at the mercy of the 3G signal being used to beam back the images from the media truck. As we鈥檝e seen along the way, the picture sometimes drops out, usually in heavily populated areas where excited onlookers are crowding out the signal with their tweets and Facebook updates.
Basically, we鈥檙e recording "as live" so if your "moment" was during one of these "blackouts", then unfortunately for now, they鈥檒l remain blacked out, even as on-demand video. Not ideal I know, but we鈥檙e working on it, and hopefully there鈥檚 still enough of the 70-day/14-hour-a-day coverage for you to enjoy.
Mike Burnett is Olympic Torch Relay Product Lead, 大象传媒 Future Media
Comment number 1.
At 8th Jun 2012, Sean Kelly wrote:The addition of HLS for iOS devices is welcome. Since Android 3 & 4 also support HLS do you have any plans for Android devices to use this steam in place of Flash as HLS performs better than Flash?
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Comment number 2.
At 8th Jun 2012, glittergirlvick wrote:just back from what should have been an historic moment in lochwinnochs history with the olympic torch as we patiently waited a guy jumped off an olympic bus bounced towards my wee 4 yr old grandson with a frisbee, as he wee face lit up the guy ignored him and gave it to a baby in a pram leaving the wee soul looking crushed. then a woman driving a yellow olympic bus blocked the cross proceeded to drag someone whose flag caught on the bus, then totally blocked the torches view by decided to drive along side the torch jerkily scaring the bejeezers out of everyone and ruining the day for those of us who waited patiently to see the torch, perhaps once she passes her driving test she can try and kill someone else in the next village, not so much historical as shambolical, and why when the torch was coming to our village was dr paul waterston not asked to carry the torch a man whose family has done so much for this village why a wee girl from johnstone no one knew, definately not impressed and saddenned
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Comment number 3.
At 8th Jun 2012, Ian McDonald wrote:@GlitterGirlVick
Thanks for your comment, but this isn't about the Torch Relay itself, and it's not as if Michael (or anyone else in 大象传媒 Sport or 大象传媒 Online) can speak for the relay.
If you believe someone's driving was dangerous, you should take your allegation to the police.
And if you are suggesting this as a story that should be reported, I suggest you contact your local 大象传媒 News team.
I'll remove more off-topic posts to keep this discussion relevant to the blog post.
Thanks,
Ian
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Comment number 4.
At 8th Jun 2012, Harry Hayfield wrote:Does the "live rewind" feature apply to sessions that have finished? Also, I asked one of your colleagues after day one if the torch would be carried on the red button and was given a definitive "NO" which scuppered my plans to record the torch coming through my village in Wales whilst I was at a main handover point, today you say it is now carried on the red button. Could I ask if you intend to replay past sessions on the red button so that people who missed it (like I did) have a chance to see it (and record it for future generations)?
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Comment number 5.
At 9th Jun 2012, ACorkster wrote:I have had a technical issue with the torch relay feed that worsened with the enhanced service that was introduced yesterday.
With the old feed, if I made it full-screen, the video that was streaming to my computer would improve with quality until about 10 seconds in, when it would turn into a load of pink and green pixels.
On the new feed, this happens with the embedded video, so 10 seconds after loading the page and starting the feed, the embed turns into a sea of pink and green pixels after apparently "improving" in picture quality as, I guess, the system works out I'm viewing the feed over a fairly fast broadband connection (similar to those HD streaming trials from last year).
Hope that makes sense! I'm using a MacBook Pro with the latest version of OSX and encounter this problem in both Safari and Firefox.
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Comment number 6.
At 9th Jun 2012, R Taylor wrote:Since your changes to add catch up viewing to the web player, the option of viewing full screen has stopped working. I'm using Firefox, running on Ubuntu 12.04. When I tried the site on Windows, it does expand, to about 3/4 screen size ,surrounded by a grey frame.
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Comment number 7.
At 11th Jun 2012, jeff wrote:My 81 year old father wants to watch his grandson carry the torch on 21st June in Keswick. He has a Dell Studio Lap top.Can you confirm technical requirements to watch the Torch Cam? Wil most newish lap tops be able to receive it? Do you need to down load anything?
Thanks,
Jeff
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Comment number 8.
At 11th Jun 2012, Mike Burnett wrote:Hi there, sorry for the delay getting back to your questions, but lovely to hear from you. Here are some answers that will hopefully help:
@Sean Kelly: We are working on a replacement for Flash mobile for use on Androids - but it is not likely to be ready for us to use on the Torch Relay.
@Harry Hayfield: I don't think there's any plans to show past sessions of the relay on red button, only live sessions - you can find red button coverage details here: . However, as I mention in the blog, we are aiming to introduce past sessions on the website soon (video on demand). This means video for past sessions on past days will appear, and you should be able to rewind through those sessions, like any clip or on-demand video. Once implemented, these past sessions should appear from day 1, where pictures are available. That's, of course, the caveat - we can only process what's beamed back to our Salford encoders. If there was a blackout on the live stream (i.e. the 3G signal was lost), then that blackout will appear on the on-demand stream when implemented on the site.
@ACorkster: Thank you very much for your feedback. There is a bug with our video which manifests itself on Macs. We are working to fix it. In the meantime if you turn off hardware acceleration on your Flash player it should fix it. To do this right-click on the video playback window and uncheck "Hardware acceleration".
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Comment number 9.
At 11th Jun 2012, Jonathan wrote:Having read the blog post about how all this works, I understand the complications of your set up and find it very impressive. But why is it that you are recording the video/audio "as live"? Is there a technical reason why you cannot capture everything picked up by the cameras in high quality for archive purposes and possibly for uploading to bbc.co.uk once connected to faster networks?
The mobile access and ability to rewind are certainly welcome additions.
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Comment number 10.
At 11th Jun 2012, Mike Burnett wrote:Hi again, just a couple more answers:
@jeff: Delighted to hear your father's grandson is a torchbearer (by logical deduction, I guess that means it's your son running?). I really hope your father gets a good view from the stream. There's not much technical detail in your post, but a fairly standard Windows laptop should cope fine - our site should automatically ask you to download the latest version of Flash to play the video. We do try to test against as many computer set-ups as possible. I think the best advice would be for him to try accessing our website /torchrelay a few times before the 21st June. If he's able to watch the live stream (make sure he looks when there's a session under way), then he shouldn't have any problem on the day. As a precaution, he may want to have the option of another internet browser on his laptop. So, if he usually uses Internet Explorer or AOL (like my Dad), he may want to install Firefox or Chrome and view the site from there if he has any video playing issues with his regular browser. Hope that helps.
Also, I've checked the red button schedule - can't see anything for 21st June at the moment, but it's worth checking again from time to time in case of updates .
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Comment number 11.
At 11th Jun 2012, _Ewan_ wrote:"We are working on a replacement for Flash mobile for use on Androids"
What's to work on? As Sean pointed out, they already support HTTP streaming. What's the problem with just giving them access to the same feed as the iOS devices get?
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Comment number 12.
At 11th Jun 2012, Mittymoss wrote:Can anyone tell me how I can record a section of the torch relay onto a DVD? I am a primary teacher (and somewhat of a technophobe!) but I would to let the school see a section which will be streamed early on Wed 13th from Milnathort. I'd like to add this as a DVD as the hall where this will be shown does not have internet access.
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Comment number 13.
At 12th Jun 2012, Mike Burnett wrote:@Jonathan: Good point, and that's what we're doing. Our Salford encoders are streaming/recording images as they're beamed back - dropouts and all. We're aiming to make these available as VOD on the site as soon as possible. But the media truck is also storing all the images with no blackouts. The question my journalist colleagues are pondering is how to process and make all that content available to our audiences when the truck is back at base after the relay. As soon as I, or any of my colleagues know more, we'll let you know. Sorry I can't tell you anymore than that at this stage.
@_Ewan_: "What's to work on?" How hard can it be, eh? Well, after years of working with video products for News and Sport at the Beeb, I can tell you nothing is ever that easy in such a large organisation with so many products and services. Any changes like this mean significant changes to our streaming infrastructure and making sure it doesn't have any knock on effects to existing services. Right now, as you may realise, everything is focused on the Olympics and making sure we give online audiences the best experience we can, especially around video /sport/0/olympics/18071080. And while preparing for the Games, we're still supporting great video experiences for Euro 2012, Queen's Jubilee and of course the torch relay, as well as a host of regular live events. So yes, my original answer still stands, we're working on it, along with lots of other things for a very busy summer.
@Mittymoss Not sure I can really help you with DVD recording, but I'd suggest borrowing a laptop and finding someone with a 3G dongle or a smartphone with wifi tethering, so you can link up the laptop to the internet and show the site /torchrelay. If that sounds too complicated to you, I'm sure you have a colleague that'll understand what I mean. Also, if you haven't already, you might want to have a look at the 大象传媒 School Report site /schoolreport/. They're covering every day of the relay, along with Blue Peter, and will have info, tips and reports of every leg of the 70-day fandango. Hope that helps
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Comment number 14.
At 12th Jun 2012, wyvern54 wrote:I have loving the torch relay on my macbook until today....I went to the usual page, it then informed me that I needed an updated version of adobe to view the page. Downloaded version 11.3...I then attempted to view the live feed, would get approx 15seconds of video then just the audio, picture freezes! Noticing another comment have disabled hardware acceleration, problem still not resolved...
Just noticed another comment, which is mac related, I am running an up to date software, this problem surfaced after the enhancement begun at the weekend. I am now feeling a bit bereft, missing your great coverage....can anybody help?
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Comment number 15.
At 12th Jun 2012, MrsB_74 wrote:Live video is a great idea and seems to be working pretty well. Well done :-) Really pleased to read that you are planning to put past sessions on site. Any idea when? My kids are excited to see it again and to show their Dad when he gets home at the weekend. (No pressure!)
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Comment number 16.
At 13th Jun 2012, _Ewan_ wrote:"How hard can it be, eh? Well, after years of working with video products for News and Sport at the Beeb, I can tell you nothing is ever that easy in such a large organisation with so many products and services."
That's a tadge vague. What, specifically, doesn't work if you point an Android device at the streams that you already have for iOS devices?
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Comment number 17.
At 13th Jun 2012, CHRISTINE G wrote:Watched the torch proceeding through Bridge of Allan, Dunblane and Stirling. We now live in Florida and were delighted to see such great support for the torch, lovely weather too. We would have liked to be able to rewind the live video but don't seem to be able to do so, is this because we are not in the UK. Keep up the good work with all the coverage!
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Comment number 18.
At 14th Jun 2012, Mike Burnett wrote:Hi all, a few more answers/replies:
@wyvern54: Thanks for raising the issue with your macbook. We'll look into it. If for any reason they problem resolves itself at your end in the next week or so, let me know.
@MrsB_74: Appreciate your request but don't want to put a date out there until we're completely certain. Thanks for your comments though. We will keep you posted.
@_Ewan_: Yes, ok a tad vague. Think I ended up venting general video frustrations, but as the 大象传媒 we have to observe certain rules with streaming broadcasts. The challenge here is that we're bound by the rules of DRM (Digital Rights Management). We have to ensure that our live video streams cannot be easily played on other websites or captured without permission. This is often the rule of the content provider rather than the 大象传媒.
For iOS, we can use security measures built into the device to do this check - our video player (a combination of a native HTML 5 player and some JavaScript) handles this. Unfortunately no equivalent security feature exists with Android web browsers. So for Android devices, as with PCs, we currently use a Flash player to control the stream. Hence, it's not just a case of simply pointing an Android device at the streams we already have for iOS devices. Hope that answers your question more fully.
@CHRISTINE G: Glad to hear you've been enjoying the torch from the sunny climes of Florida. Yes, you're right live rewind is a feature in the UK only. Hope you're still able to enjoy our live coverage though. Just to note, there is a watch/listen strip of content below the map on each relay page. This contains highlights of the torch so far and should be fully available outside the UK.
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Comment number 19.
At 14th Jun 2012, MB wrote:The Torch Relay live coverage on the 大象传媒 website stopped working on my laptop at the beginning of the week - FF, IE anc Chrome. OK on my desktop and OK on the LONDON2012 website.
I have been checking everything has the latest version, tried turning Norton off but I just get a still picture (with slight shimmering) and the sound.
MB
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Comment number 20.
At 15th Jun 2012, StewartyNo1 wrote:Can anyone please tell me if / where you can access previous days video's of the Torch Relay, and are they available to download and save ?
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Comment number 21.
At 15th Jun 2012, farmerbaji wrote:Why no torchcam on red button in Scotland one in a life time torch rely was on all last week but from satday no torchcam why not all tv licence payers have Internet my gran is 82 and has mist the torchcam this week why what are the bbc going to do about this av called the bbc but no joy it's a shame the bbc have spent so much money on this to get it so wrong please give me an answer to this ps will I get money back as bbc dropped thebest thing on the bbc this year
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Comment number 22.
At 15th Jun 2012, _Ewan_ wrote:"This is often the rule of the content provider rather than the 大象传媒."
For a lot of content (including the Olympic Torch Relay) the 大象传媒 is the content provider. In another category the 大象传媒 is commissioning the content and can surely specify the distribution rights that it needs. I can certainly see that DRM requirement might be imposed on shows bought in from outside (e.g. US imports), but you really should be able to do better for locally grown stuff.
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Comment number 23.
At 16th Jun 2012, may wrote:a friend sent an image from the live webcam via Australia to Loanhead. How do you save/send an individual still?
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Comment number 24.
At 17th Jun 2012, Mike B wrote:Is there a problem today? Every time I click the live link it takes me to yesterday's video starting in Gateshead!
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Comment number 25.
At 18th Jun 2012, Mike Burnett wrote:More replies:
@MB: Thanks for letting us know. We'll take a look and see whether we can replicate your issue (which then helps us diagnose it). So far though, we haven't seen that problem and the player has been thoroughly tested.
@farmerbaji: Really sorry you feel that way but glad to hear you think it's the best thing on the 大象传媒 all year - hopefully you'll feel the Olympics coverage is even better. Regarding red button, I know they're trying to schedule as many sessions as possible but I can't really speak for the red button team, so I'd suggest you leave a comment for them /blogs/bbcinternet/2012/06/whats_on_bbc_red_button_16th_-_1.html. As for the internet, highlights should be visible just below the map under the 'Watch/Listen heading, for example /news/uk-scotland-18394959, and we are aiming to get full sessions from the across the UK available as soon as possible. Hope that helps in some way.
@_Ewan_: All I can say is that we put a high value on the security of streams. Some broadcasting rights, like the Olympics and Euro 2012, are UK only, so we have to make sure that content isn't viewable outside the UK. But also with globally available content, such as the torch relay, we have strict agreements and guidelines to ensure our streams aren't misused e.g. plonked on a third-party website next to inappropriate content or advertisments. These are just some of the issues/challenges we face when making any upgrades or changing to the video streaming infrastructure.
@may: Crikey, I feel like IT support here lol. Erm, off the top of my head, if you've got a Windows PC, I'd just hold down ctrl + print screen to save the screengrab, and then tidy it up by opening up in Word, photoshop, or just copy & pasting straight into an email. That usually works. If you have a Mac, I know the process is even more straightforward. If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can take screengrabs by pressing the Hold button and Home button at the same time. And on Android, there are various apps which can enable you to take screengrabs. Good luck!
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Comment number 26.
At 18th Jun 2012, dwall wrote:Great idea to have this live footage, I tried and failed yesterday to view the days event (day 30) the live rewind didn't seem to work. I'd been to the event in Peterlee to see my father-in-law run with the torch and was hoping to get some stills from the run. Do you know if you will be able to upload the previous days footage? It would make the service even better to be able to view the previous days' right from the beginning. Otherwise hat off to you and your team for a job well done!
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Comment number 27.
At 18th Jun 2012, may wrote:re reply from 18 June, thanks. And just out of interest, I encountered the same thing yesterday as Mike B but it was on the London2012 site, not 大象传媒. I was hoping it would be the same today as I wanted to see yesterday's footage in total but it is working normally today!!
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Comment number 28.
At 18th Jun 2012, Sean Barry wrote:Hi Michael, Our Family has been addicted to the #torchcam it's simple*, engrossing and emotional too, well done to all. How is the VOD service coming along? I can't see any links yet so I'm presuming it's not yet available? Our daughter Holly was a torchbearer Sunday 17 June (Day 30) those who couldn't attend we're able to still see her live, how amazing is that! That really is technology bringing people closer, thanks! As you'd expect, as parents it would be great to re-live her run, it was over so quick on the day. So, no pressure but we have our fingers crossed for that Video On Demand button.
*complicated behind the scenes I know.
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Comment number 29.
At 19th Jun 2012, MB wrote:Like others I was interested in the 3G connection so took quite a few pictures of the roof of the Media Vehicle when it passed through here, so I could have a look at the various antenna. Sad, I know!
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Comment number 30.
At 20th Jun 2012, Paulah wrote:Hi. I am one of the very lucky torch bearers and want to know if there is any way to download copies of the coverage?
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Comment number 31.
At 21st Jun 2012, perplexed wrote:Any news on when video-on-demand & 'share the moment' might become available? I don't particularly mind when, as long it is does become available eventually - so I can see & share the footage of me running tomorrow... probably in gale force winds and torrential rain! (which might cause problems with the stream - so any news on when the high-quality recorded footage might become available too? Ta)
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Comment number 32.
At 21st Jun 2012, perplexed wrote:Hey 大象传媒, top marks for responsiveness - I see video-on-demand is now available... well, sort of. All the days now have play buttons for the video, but unfortunately all I get is "This content doesn't seem to be working", no matter what day I try. I'm sure it's a small technical glitch that'll be ironed out soon. And I see on your updated Q&A that "The 大象传媒 is working on providing a complete video archive of the torch relay and we hope to make this available as soon as possible.". Glad to hear it :)
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Comment number 33.
At 21st Jun 2012, dwall wrote:Fantastic the videos are up and running! Thank you very much!
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Comment number 34.
At 22nd Jun 2012, Sean Barry wrote:Yep, VoD is working for me too! you did it, thank you very much.
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Comment number 35.
At 22nd Jun 2012, Torchrunner wrote:As a torchbearer who suffered a 3G transmission failure I hope you can get the VOD set up as soon as possible showing all of the relay. It was very disappointing to only be able to see half of my Moment to Shine. Carrying the torch was a brilliant experience for all of us lucky enough to be chosen. Is it possible to upgrade the picture quality as some is badly blurred? Is possible that the individual live video could be sent to each torchbearer. The torchbearers are the stars of the relay who have made it such a massive success and would cherish such a brilliant souvenir. Your efforts are much appreciated. Thanks.
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Comment number 36.
At 25th Jun 2012, Mike Burnett wrote:So yes, as some of you noticed, we have implemented 'live-to-VOD' on the torch relay site at the end of last week - which means on-demand video of most previous sessions should now be available to UK users on desktop computers and laptops.
I didn't want to make any formal announcement until we gave it a chance to bed in. I have to point out again that the on-demand video is our recording of what was beamed back from the media truck, so there will be on-demand sessions where the images dropped out because of 3G contention. Sorry, if the particular moment you're looking for, or are featured in, isn't currently available - more info can be found in our FAQs /news/uk-18027650
As for the Share the moment, that isn't in this release but we're hoping to add that in the next week or so.
Thanks for all your comments!
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Comment number 37.
At 26th Jun 2012, perplexed wrote:Keep up the good work Mike - the efforts of you and your team are all appreciated. Of course, if you would like to email a Blu-ray of my 3 minutes of glory in full HD to my door, then I'd be your friend for life lol.
Further to my previous comment, when I said VOD wasn't working - seems to be a work thing. Fine at home, so imagine you're using some protocol that is blocked at work? Doesn't matter; like I said, it's fine at home.
Like all the other torchbearers I imagine, I've pointed a camcorder at the screen and videoed my bit for posterity, just in case you don't post that Blu-ray to me...
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Comment number 38.
At 26th Jun 2012, JimG wrote:Mike - Great to see that VoD is available but unfortunately the ability to view previous days seems to have stopped working - or am I doing something wrong?
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Comment number 39.
At 26th Jun 2012, Richard wrote:Yes, the VoD for previous days which was working this morning has stopped for me too. Just get a still picture placeholder.
Well done for getting it working in the 1st place , hope you can fix it soon !
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Comment number 40.
At 26th Jun 2012, David Bradbrook wrote:Really impressed by the set up and pleased you are extending at least in part to red button. I feel you will extend your reach by so doing as not everyone is pc literate. Pleased to hear I am not the only one to find previous days video availability is not reliable. It seems to disappear quite frequently with default message saying it will appear in due course. Will this be an ongoing issue? No complaints - you are a victim of your own success. Keep up the good work!
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Comment number 41.
At 27th Jun 2012, Mike Burnett wrote:Hi everyone,
Sorry it's been a hectic few days at basecamp here and we've had some major video streaming issues across the Beeb. So, as many of you noticed, we had to temporarily take down the live-rewind video player and video-on-demand for previous days.
Anyway, the good news is that we've done, what we think is, the neccessary back-end work, and the player with live rewind and VOD is back up on the live site. Sorry again, for any inconvenience.
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Comment number 42.
At 27th Jun 2012, Richard wrote:Yeh, it's working again ! Well done Mike [ and team ? ].
And thank you for addressing another thing I commented on a while back which was the deafening loud wind roar whilst in convoy mode. It's now a more gentle swish with just a hint of diesel thrum. Lovely ! Well done to everyone in the horsebox - and keep up the good work.
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Comment number 43.
At 29th Jun 2012, wendy wil wrote:I'm struggling with the VOD bit of your page. I'm trying to watch, specifically, May 27. I get the end page but no option to re-play the day.
Am I doing something wrong? Should I be on a different page?
Please could someone guide me to watching 'old' days?
Thanks for the VERY addictive torch cam. It's great. Keep it up guys.
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Comment number 44.
At 30th Jun 2012, chrisc1234 wrote:Hi, I look after 400 laptops all running windows7 & IE8 with the latest flashplayer installed, currently it seems that when loading the 大象传媒 torchrelay site most of the time everything displays apart from the actual flash movie. Instead I get a blank white window. The movie does sometimes appear as it should but only perhaps 1 time in 20. If you right click on the blank space it says 'movie not loaded' I've tried uninstalling \ reinstalling Adobe Flashplayer, Air and Shockwave. I've also tried turning off the Hardware acceleration and adding the 大象传媒 site to 'trusted sites', However it's still its very random as to whether the actual flash content appears on the site. Please can you let me know if anyone else having similar issues with video only loading randomly on the site.. Many Thanks
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Comment number 45.
At 2nd Jul 2012, Ozmollymoo wrote:Hi, we have been enjoying watching the torch relay go around the UK on our computer but wondered if there is a way to watch via an ipad? When i go to the website the live stream does not appear. Is this because we are not in the UK?
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Comment number 46.
At 2nd Jul 2012, speedwayfan22 wrote:The mobile streaming in IOS devices seems to be down today since 10am everytime trying and play stream on Iphone it keeps saying Playback aborted- Corruption/encoding problems . This is also affecting other friends phones as well
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Comment number 47.
At 2nd Jul 2012, tiras wrote:Zipped through these blogs, video, Vod, streaming, torch cam all these technical terms, what does all this mean. I ventured onto this site expecting a grown up discussion on the futility of a torch being paraded around our shores like some undiscovered grecian artifact. I should have known better.
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Comment number 48.
At 2nd Jul 2012, Mike Burnett wrote:Hi there, a few more replies:
@wendy wil - just to reiterate, if you want to watch VOD, you'll have to be in the UK. Anyway assuming you're in the UK, when you navigate back to a past page, you should see a video player with two session tabs, marked Morning and Afternoon. For most past pages/days, you should be able to click on the player and start watching. However, to be fair, there's a few sessions which didn't record properly - so, for example, the morning session of May 27th is currently unavailable and you'll see an error message. I know it's far from perfect but you should be able to watch the afternoon session by clicking on the afternoon tab. So, if you load a page and can't play the video, try the other tab and see if you could play that. Hope that helps.
@chrisc1234 - urgh, doesn't sound good. We haven't encountered anything similar (yet), but the fact it loads 1/20 times suggests to me that one of the calls to the page is being blocked. I can only guess from the limited info in your comment that your computers are all on a corporate network? Could it be anything to do with that?
@Ozmollymoo - Sorry to say iPad live video is UK only
@speedwayfan22 - So you've only seen this problem today? We've checked iOS devices, and iphone, ipad and ipod seem to be working. Can you try again now? Also, are you able to do a 'hard' refresh (go to settings, and go to Safari etc), and see if that helps? We'll log the problem at our end and will see whether we can replicate the problem.
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Comment number 49.
At 3rd Jul 2012, lauras08 wrote:Hi
I am having trouble finding how to rewind the live feed. I do not have a scroll bar along the bottom of my live stream video picture. I have tried Firefox and Internet Explorer. Do I need to install something else?
My uncle is running with the torch tomorrow and I really would like to be able to rewatch the video after we've watched him run with the torch.
I look forward to hearing from you
Thanks
Laura
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Comment number 50.
At 3rd Jul 2012, slapthatbass wrote:Is is possibly to download a whole days event of the torch relay.
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Comment number 51.
At 4th Jul 2012, PW333 wrote:I'd enjoyed following the torch cam coverage every day until your coverage upgrade, at which point my computer failed to match system requirements for the latest Flash Player update. I've looked around for alternative routes to getting the coverage but have failed to get my MacBook OS X 10.5.8 to a state where it can receive the upgrade. My computer's only 3 years old and I'm a bit horrified it's already deemed a hopeless case.
Missing the torch-cam!
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Comment number 52.
At 4th Jul 2012, AlanCassidy wrote:My wife is carrying the torch next Tuesday. We'd like to record the stream of her bit for posterity. We''l have to do this later in the day. Will replay be available Tuesday evening? Will ClipGrab 3.2.0.6 www.clipgrab.de be able to do this? If not how can I record the replay to disk? Thanks
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Comment number 53.
At 5th Jul 2012, wendy wil wrote:Mr Burnett. You're a star; thank you for your reply. You were spot on. I'm in Australia.
Shield installed, day found, afternoon watched and enjoyed.
Ticked all the boxes.
Cheers mate!
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Comment number 54.
At 5th Jul 2012, nigelbay wrote:Very dissapointed with Torch relay along with many others, we waited on the A12 at Kessingland in the hope of seeing a runner with the torch ,it seems they cary the torch in a mini bus along with the bearers on rural routes its only when they get to a major village or town is there any running,the whole thing is a farce ,what happened to the long distance runners, the relay is a joke .
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Comment number 55.
At 16th Jul 2012, AlanCassidy wrote:Back in June you told us:
"This means you can watch the relay live and, when you see a moment you want to share, you can send that exact moment to your friend, whether it鈥檚 live or in the past. Even if your friend doesn鈥檛 pick up your email for a couple of days, they鈥檒l be taken to the exact moment you wanted to show them."
Can you explain exactly how to find the streaming video from days gone past. Say I wanted to look at an element of the relay on 10 July, how can I see it? Thanks. Alan
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Comment number 56.
At 16th Jul 2012, Chris Eaton wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 57.
At 16th Jul 2012, davpott wrote:I can't view the video feed of the flame. I have no problems seeing iplayer material or any other video files I have come across, if I go to the Olympic 2012 site I can view the flame video feed but not on the 大象传媒 site.
When I first open the 大象传媒 page I get 'can't play media.....' with a link but the link is hidden behind a picture before I can click on the link. However I do have the latest Flash Players and active X installed. I'm running win 7 64bit and tried with both IE 9.0.8 and Firefox 13.01, I get sound but no video.
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Comment number 58.
At 17th Jul 2012, Mike Burnett wrote:Hi there, I'm back again to answer a few more of your posts:
First of all, @Chris Eaton - thanks for posting that! Looks very useful - will hopefully help a few of the other readers out. Ahh the power of the internet...
@Lauras08 - so the video-on-demand should be there for the day you're looking for /torchrelay/day47. Just checked now and both sessions are available. You shouldn't need to install anything else but bear in mind you need to be (or appear to be) in the UK, and on a computer (not ipad, tablet or smartphone) to access previous days' video and live rewind. If you've ticked that checklist, then I can only think you accessed the site when our HDS streams went down and we were forced to revert to RTMP streams, which have no live rewind or VOD. Unfortunately, it's happened a few times due to unforeseen infrastructure issues.
Have another go now and see if you can now access it.
@slapthatbass and @alancassidy - OK, we haven't enabled any functionality to download past relay video sessions from the 大象传媒 site but there seem to be some sensible suggestions from other readers on this blog post - ahem, you shouldn't need to look far...
And oh yes, @alancassidy - you can now share the moment for all the available past sessions. Again, you need to be in UK and using a computer, as opposed to a tablet or smartphone. Basically, you should be able to see a module under the player which says 'Link to this video' - so, when you're watching a segment of video you want to share, simply click on the module and select 'current position' and copy. After you've done this, you should be able to paste the link into an email or Facebook update etc. Here's one I prepared earlier: /torchrelay/day43#pid=p00sykmj&t=19h49m31s (*it's Cliff Richard!)
@Wendy wil - you're too kind. Glad to be of service!
@nigelbay - crikey, sorry to hear your tale of woe and that you feel that way. I have to point out I don't work for the torch relay organisers and I certainly didn't have a say in how they run it. All my team did was work out a way to capture the video beamed back from the media truck and stream it online. My suggestion would be to contact the London 2012 organisers themselves - this is the link I found
@PW333 and @davpot - really sorry to hear you're having issues with the video. We'll take a look at it, but have a read of our FAQs /news/uk-18027650 - there's a bit more info about the video and how to get in contact with issues.
That's all for now. All the best!
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Comment number 59.
At 22nd Jul 2012, David wrote:Hi My son carried the torch up to Dover castle and I want to download, or buy or copy the 2 mins he carried it, can I do this please?
David
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Comment number 60.
At 23rd Jul 2012, sparklemidnightblue wrote:@29. At 11:37 19th Jun 2012, MB
I'd like via this Blog to thank MB for his/her great photos of torch relay vehicles etc. I really enjoyed looking at them.
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Comment number 61.
At 24th Jul 2012, Leconnard wrote:Tried to download from 大象传媒 app on my iPad.Not available for people's living abroad?Residence Edinburgh,can not wait to have a vote on independence as 大象传媒 already. Cut us out.Good by from a broad.Leconnard
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Comment number 62.
At 25th Jul 2012, Ian McDonald wrote:@LeoConnard
Hi. Thanks for your comment. I don't see the link with the Torch relay, so it's not on-topic for this blog post; but if you're using the UK iTunes store and your network is being treated as non-UK (eg adverts on bbc.co.uk), then you can let the 大象传媒 engineers know using this form.
If not, then I suggest you comment on the blog post for the app, saying which iTunes store you downloaded it from, your hardware, and when and what the error message was.
Thanks,
Ian
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Comment number 63.
At 26th Jul 2012, snakewood wrote:am watching your programme which seems to be dumming down again. very little information on the various runners except a very few. surely your professionals can do their reseach???
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Comment number 64.
At 27th Jul 2012, Phil wrote:The torch relay coverage has been fantastic. But is there a way to download the footage of my wife running with the torch???
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Comment number 65.
At 27th Jul 2012, Michelle Summers wrote:I think the 大象传媒 News School report following the torch relay was such an excellent 大象传媒 initiative... keep it up! Looking forward to the coverage of the opening ceremony this evening... it is sure to be quite an event!
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