By Graham K. Rogers

Over the last few years, one of the main reasons I have subscribed to the cable TV service here was the coverage of Formula One and Motorcycle Grand Prix racing from the respective services: Formula One Management; and Dorna S. L.

Background

While I have apps for the iOS devices that provide a data feed for all of the races, this is no real substitute for visual input, despite the live commentary now available for the Dorna app (there is none from the Formula 1 app).

Formula One has a take it or leave it attitude to the data that is available, only providing TV feeds to the end user via TV companies, with a data feed provided by a Soft Pauer app. Dorna S. L. take a three-pronged approach. There are the iOS apps with data feeds that were put out by Soft Pauer in previous years, but now are developed by Dorna; and the TV feed with commentary that is sent to the TV companies. Dorna also allow users direct access to live coverage of the races (and much other content) via the Internet for a fee. This works on the computer (Mac or PC), iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

Subscription

I was allowed access to

• the motogp.com Video Library
• Hi-Res and HD-720p (when available) videos
• live MotoGP action
• live MotoGP timing

I already had the timing as I had bought the Dorna app a while back and use this for every meeting.

The weekend package lasted from the Wednesday (31 May) until 5 June. Although the information told me this was "the Monday following it". Monday is 4 June.

I had to create an account first but was a bit peeved to find that more secure characters (* _ / # and the like) were not recognised. When the required information was finally entered I arrived at a weekend-specific panel with payment methods: credit card or PayPal were available. This was done in seconds and I immediately received a validation email.

Access to Dorna Feeds

These videos were perhaps not as good as the large screen displays of a modern TV, but close up on my MacBook Pro were acceptable. All browser access on the computer requires Adobe Flash use and there is that annoying panel that asks for storage space on my computer. I usually click on Deny, but for this special purpose used Allow. There is none of this on iOS devices of course.

On the iPhone I accessed the site, again using the email link, but needed to login on the browser page. This was not easy because of the screen size. I caught the end of a live session but then there was a display of a video introducing the Catalunya GP practice and qualifying. I also ran this on the Mac at the same time as a comparison.

The iPhone images were sharp and clear (if small). On the full screen of the Mac, the video was clear and sharp in the browser, while full screen the images were clear enough, especially when I pushed the computer back a meter or so. Audio was clear on the Mac speakers, although I had headphones handy for the race (just in case).

Unlike a lot of users, I do read the Terms and Conditions which seemed fairly reasonable with rules concerning my use of their data and their use of my data. There was nothing about the sort of "fair use" that is protected under normal copyright laws with regard to acts such as writing reviews.

There was also in the Terms & Conditions, a section that was specific to the iOS devices I use and again seemed fair, particularly if users were trying to view with a 3G connection:

If the user is experiencing problems viewing certain features on motogp.com on iPhone, iPad or other mobile devices we suggest using a computer/laptop. Please note some of the archive material published prior to 2009 might not be available for iOS devices.

There were also terms regarding the live language commentary (English) and commentary in other languages for pre-recorded highlights.

Moto 3

I ran the pre-race live feeds on the iPad, iPhone and the Mac finding that the iOS devices had a lengthy delay of around a minute while the iPad and iPhone were not synchronised exactly (about 3 seconds difference). When the TV feed started, I was disappointed to find that the Mac was some 10 seconds behind the TV pictures. [The Dorna timing app is 5 seconds ahead of the TV.]

For the Moto3 race I ran the Dorna feed on the Mac, although I concentrated on the TV. As usual, I also had the timing display on the iPad. The TV picture was better, even on the old CRT set I use (see below). Leaving aside the slight delay, the first real difference came at the end of the race when I did not have to suffer the advertisements nor the studio commentary. There was also the rich content that was available to the subscriber.

Moto 2 and Moto GP

• HD 720p 1280 x 720
• Hi Res 960 x 540
• Standard 640 x 360 and
• Low Res 640 x 360

A useful feature of the video display (browser or full screen) was a circular arrow that allowed me to go back 10 seconds for any action I wanted to see again. There were a number of other controls available for sound levels and video quality.

Comments

I was slightly disappointed in a couple of ways. The picture quality, when viewed full screen (although acceptable), was not quite as good as on the TV although the HD 720P video almost does it. I found, however, that I had lost nothing by watching two races in the HD 720p quality instead of turning on the TV and was certainly able to avoid inane studio comments and the usual advertisements.

The smaller screens of the iPhone and iPad were fairly good. I did try the iPhone with 3G (DTAC) and the feed was broken. Turning wifi back on was better, although there was still that lengthy transmission delay compared with the feed on the Mac.

My main criticism about the feeds were the delays: seconds on the Mac, but longer for iOS devices, particularly when the data feeds from Dorna arrive before television images. Perhaps there is a contractual difficulty here.

As counterbalance, the access to additional content is far superior. With the commentary, the user is far better-informed than those who use television. Those who subscribe also have access to many videos and other multimedia content, so as a whole package there is much value here.

The use of the service (even allowing for the minimal delay) on the Mac is a viable alternative to the TV. For those with cable access, this might be less attractive, despite additional content, but for anyone who is not able to view such motor racing, and who has a reasonable internet connection (7MB here), this is a solution. There is also that question of maintaining domestic peace.

Dorna has shown the way here. If there were a similar Formula One service for ordinary users, I would seriously consider scrapping the TV subscription and using the Internet.

I may anyway: MotoGP is far more exciting than F1 and I have a good collection of videos.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.