Best online english language streaming coverage

[_yngve_]

I'm thinking about cancelling my DirecTV subscription, but want to see if anyone has ideas on what my options would be for race coverage.

Ideally, I want to connect a PC to my TV and get a full screen HD feed (which rules out some of the euro coverage I've tried in the past due to spotty bandwidth). Roubaix, Flanders, Giro, TdF are my primary goals, but I'm fine with picking and choosing. Since I'm eliminating $78/month from the budget, nominal fees are fine by me.

Thanks

 

[Barrus]

I'm thinking about cancelling my DirecTV subscription, but want to see if anyone has ideas on what my options would be for race coverage.

Ideally, I want to connect a PC to my TV and get a full screen HD feed (which rules out some of the euro coverage I've tried in the past due to spotty bandwidth). Roubaix, Flanders, Giro, TdF are my primary goals, but I'm fine with picking and choosing. Since I'm eliminating $78/month from the budget, nominal fees are fine by me.

Thanks

I would say the eurosport player, you have the most races and it is great quality

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

I think you only get english-language Eurosport Player if you live in the UK. Don't know where the OP lives.

Susan

 

[Mellow Velo]

That is so.

Access to the local versions of Eurosport

Eurosport Player gives users access to the Eurosport channels broadcasting in the country they are logging in from. In the UK and Ireland this is British Eurosport and British Eurosport 2. Local versions of Eurosport are available only if you are connecting from the same country. For example, there is no access to British Eurosport if you are connecting from France and vice versa.

Which leaves just one option, I'm afraid:
https://cyclingtv.neulion.com/cycling/secure/registerform
$60 for the year, but they are sketchy on this year's schedule details.

 

[Anonymous]

Eurosport player is not in HD as far as I know, in fact im not sure any of the races are streamed online in "true" hd.

As for cyclingtv. Ive yet to hear a good thing about them.

All down to what you want I guess, im perfectly content with "free" feeds for the races not shown on eurosport. Look just fine on my non-hd tv.

 

[palmerq]

is eurosport player any good? it looks cheap, although mybae i can find everything thats on there for free, but is it better just to pay a few quid to have eurosport on the computer? I have no tv signal where i live

 

[Barrus]

is eurosport player any good? it looks cheap, although mybae i can find everything thats on there for free, but is it better just to pay a few quid to have eurosport on the computer? I have no tv signal where i live

What I've heard is that it is quite good, it also shows other sports. It at least is quite better than a lot of the streams you get online (with the strange exception of the Japanese stream, I still can't understand how they can get such a nice stream out, almost looks HD in certain moments)

 

[palmerq]

thanks, it sounds good, I will probably try it out for a month if i can, seems it is only a few quid so it is worth the risk. Do you know how the coverage is like for cycling on eurosport these days, I havent had it for a couple of years now :S

 

[skidmark]

.
As for cyclingtv. Ive yet to hear a good thing about them.

Well, they do have several good things about them, such as the 'on-demand' option for every race they cover, which is easily my favourite thing as I can't always get up at 6am (central Canadian time) or watch for 4 hours live. Also, their commentary is much better than Phil/Paul and Harmon/Kelly.

But, those positives are massively outweighed by the horribly frustrating negatives, most of which are administrative/customer service. I have never, ever seen a more incompetent organization when it comes to communicating things quickly, transparently, satisfactorily. Ugh.

 

[Barrus]

thanks, it sounds good, I will probably try it out for a month if i can, seems it is only a few quid so it is worth the risk. Do you know how the coverage is like for cycling on eurosport these days, I havent had it for a couple of years now :S

It depends on what country you are. But last year they had the tour, giro and vuelta. All the spring classics, some minor stage races such as Qatar and Turkey and I believe several of the bigger week long stage races, combined with certain semi classics. The last few years they really had quite good coverage, over here only surpassed by Sporza. Also they quite often use Backstedt for commentary and he really is quite a good commentator

 

[_yngve_]

Thanks. I'm in the States, so it looks like cyclingtv is my only option. I'll wait and see what their schedule looks like before I pull the trigger.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Eurosport International regularly joins the British Eurosport team in progress for the last hour or so of races.

 

[skidmark]

Thanks. I'm in the States, so it looks like cyclingtv is my only option. I'll wait and see what their schedule looks like before I pull the trigger.

the last few years it's been touch and go, to the point where you don't know if they're going to cover something until the week it's on. It's pretty annoying. I figure you've gotta save yourself some grief by either just signing up or deciding not to at all.

 

[jaylew]

I was a big cycling.tv fan some years ago. Then they didn't get the Vuelta or Giro one year (I don't remember which) and I figured out you can find streams of most races for free.

Best part was being able to watch entire races at your leisure.

 

[The Gnome]

Cyclingtv has become a complete joke...no kidding...do not give them your money...and this from someone who signed up with them for years...the thing is now dead...

 

[The Gnome]

cyclingtv still advertizes both the giro and the vuelta...they have neither...sign up with universal sports and they have both...you will pay I think 15 bucks per race with live and demand as well...versus has the tour of which you can get online for something like 30 bucks I think...but do not go near cyclingtv...it is a total ripoff...stories abound and I can testify to them of them dinging your credit card again and again and you cant even get a response from them...as for one day classics go to cyclingtorrents nederlands...they usually have a torrent up the day of the race a few hours later if you cant watch it live via links on cyclingfans.com...

 

[SC1990]

Seriously, find an Italian commentry and watch that. No idea what they're saying but they still make it exciting!

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

I'll just take whatever live feed I can find. Had one in Japanese once!

Susan

 

[Anonymous]

I'll just take whatever live feed I can find. Had one in Japanese once!

Susan

Japanese and Chinese feeds are amazing. Their level of excitement for even the smallest thing is unprecendented. Until youve listened to one you have no idea just how exciting a rider drinking from a bottle can be.

 

[GoGarmin]

I like what Universal Sports has done with cycling coverage in the United States. It's not widely available on satellite, but you can subscribe online. I just signed up for the Giro, Vuelta and Worlds for $30 or $35 (can't recall). They have video on demand and if you link directly to the player you can get to the races spoiler free.

The commentary is not quite as good as cycling.tv -- it's not bad though -- and from a reliability, customer service and video quality standpoint Universal Sports blows cycling.tv away utterly.

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

Japanese and Chinese feeds are amazing. Their level of excitement for even the smallest thing is unprecendented. Until youve listened to one you have no idea just how exciting a rider drinking from a bottle can be.

many years ago on vacation in Venezuela my mother and I watched a baseball game on tv. We loved listening to the announcer -- his enthusiasm was overwhelming.

Susan

 

[Barrus]

Japanese and Chinese feeds are amazing. Their level of excitement for even the smallest thing is unprecendented. Until youve listened to one you have no idea just how exciting a rider drinking from a bottle can be.

And as I said, quite often their quality is among the best you can find

 

[flyor64]

The belgian link provided for last week´s Cyclocross WC race was pretty good. Some skipping...

I wouldn´t mind an english speaking feed myself although I´m comfortable with the Norwegian sportscasters now (and their excitement when a fellow nordmann wins rivals that of the Japanese dudes guaranteed )

 

[skidmark]

I like what Universal Sports has done with cycling coverage in the United States. It's not widely available on satellite, but you can subscribe online. I just signed up for the Giro, Vuelta and Worlds for $30 or $35 (can't recall). They have video on demand and if you link directly to the player you can get to the races spoiler free.

The commentary is not quite as good as cycling.tv -- it's not bad though -- and from a reliability, customer service and video quality standpoint Universal Sports blows cycling.tv away utterly.

Yeah, Universal was great, and the player was great too (it irked me a bit that I'd have to load the race on cyclingtv for like an hour and a half before I could forward it to the last part of the race if it was just a sprint and I didn't have much time). Unfortunately, after getting the Giro off them, I signed up for the Vuelta, and discovered that they had somehow signed me up for the Giro package again. When I emailed to clarify, they told me that since my IP address was from Canada, they could give me my money back but I couldn't subscribe. Dammit, I could've just kept quiet.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Eurosport International regularly joins the British Eurosport team in progress for the last hour or so of races.

on pay tv here in australia, eurosport showed plenty of races last season (almost all pt races, along with some others).

@op
cyclingfans generally provides plenty of links on thier website for most races.