Under Review: NBC's "SNF" Media Player Adds Something Extra
By Preston Bounds, Staff Writer
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NBCSports.com's "Sunday Night Football Extra"
Provides Unique Game-Viewing Experience |
NBCSports.com/NFL.com's “Sunday Night Football Extra,” which streams each week’s “Sunday Night Football” game, is one of the more engaging and well-functioning destinations on the Web for live sports video. Using my laptop PC with a wireless cable connection, I entered the site at 8:11pm ET for Sunday’s 8:15 Cowboys-Packers game. The first thing I noticed is that I didn’t have to jump through hoops to see the feed. Not only is it free, but I didn’t have to enter any personal information such as my e-mail address or zip code. After a 30 second ad, the video loaded promptly just before the intro theme music. The bottom left of the player features links to game stats, live commentary and a place for viewers to submit questions to any of the NBC Sports personalities who are online during the game. Again, access to these functions was easy, with only a full name and hometown needed in order to send in a question. At the bottom center of the player, there are links to highlights, which are updated throughout the game.
PURSUIT ANGLE: What really sets “SNF Extra” apart is the camera control. There are five camera angles, including the broadcast feed, and viewers can switch between them at will. The selected feed plays in the center, while the other four remain in smaller mini-viewers, all smoothly streaming the game feed. You can even watch the alternate cameras instead of watching the ads during commercial breaks, though you’ll still hear the sound of the ads. During the game, changing camera angles prompted 30-second spots, but only for the first time I accessed each camera angle. After that, I had free reign. The spots themselves are limited to a few sponsors; I only saw ads for Toyota Tundra and Gillette Shampoo.
SOUNDS OF THE GAME: There are a few problems with the player. First, the sound for the online ads is considerably louder than the game volume. Second, the game audio and video can get out of whack. When I selected one of the four alternate camera angles on the online feed, the online audio lagged behind by 15-25 seconds. That was not an issue with the online version of the broadcast video feed; the audio here was in sync with the video player and with the actual TV feed. Overall, I found this to be a minor inconvenience considering the novelty of having so much control over my view of the action. Given the choice, I would still opt for watching the game on TV. But if that’s not possible, “SNF Extra” is more than a passable substitute. Rather, it is a unique game-viewing experience.
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