planetf1.com

Meaning the so called Kangaroo portable tv is out too?

James Allen ‏@Jamesallenonf1

#f1 Fanvision has pulled out of F1, that's a blow to fans in the stands as it gave a great rounded picture of what's going on
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Ouch...thats going to suck if you're there to watch a race!

Full details:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/105060
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2013/01/10/f ... s-f1-exit/

Why am I not surprised that its down to FOM?

Something tells me theres a small, money hungry gentleman behind this...

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Definitely this fella i guess?

Was too expensive anyway. There are big screens all over the track and loudspeakers that (roughly) tell you what's going on.

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I also have one of these.

Awww man, I thought he meant this guy...

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"You are the universe expressing itself as a Human for a little while..."

I don't go to races to look down at a tiny screen.. Just link onto sky go and have the headphone in one ear while the races is on

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Multi 21 or Catch 22?!

It ain't hating just 'cause it's not love

I agree with Silverstone regular. Too expensive and having been going to F1 around the world for the last 20 years I hvae never seen the need for one. There are ample big screens located around the circuits and why not use a good old FM radio should you wish to keep up to date. How did we manage before......??

Who else?

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1) Prost/ Schumacher
3) Fangio
4) Lauda
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if you don't like it, too bad! There's a reason why it says "My Top 5"

That's a shame. I enjoyed listening to the five live commentary at Spa. Didn't really watch the screen much but the audio (especially getting more driver radio than you normally do) was good. As was the live sector times and the driver cam. Oh well! Back to the old ways!

This is pretty annoying.

Whilst I agree that it's weird for someone to go to a race to just look at the cars on a mini TV screen instead of on the track - which I never fail to see at F1 races - these devices have become an essential part of my live F1 experience, for both live timing and BBC (and, as of last year, Sky) commentary.

When you factor in that this service is available not just for F1 but also all GP2 and GP3 sessions, and over three full days, I don't think the £50/£60 rental fee is at all unreasonable. In the 90s I used to get a cheap radio and listen to the commentary provided by Silverstone Radio, as many others did, but in my opinion this is incomparable to the quality of the BBC or Sky's commentary. And no live timing, which I'm sure for a lot of us has become an essential tool in reading a race.

Additionally, I've seen 6 live F1 races at Silverstone since owning a smartphone and, such is the density of people in attendance, that accessing even basic news pages becomes a long drawn out affair. I very much doubt that Sky Go would be even the slightest bit functional with a potential 100,000 people also trying the same thing in an airfield in rural Northamptonshire. I'm also yet to find a smartphone that would have sufficient battery life to provide streamed video or commentary over a full day of motorsport events.

What a shame, I hope they find some kind of solution to this.

Why on earth would you want to go to a race to watch it on a tiny screen at premium prices anyway? Just watch the cars with your own eyes and enjoy the atmosphere. If you want to get updates get a small radio.

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1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Hopefully my post just before yours might explain why someone would want to do this.

Additionally, as someone with over 2000 posts on an internet forum dedicated to Formula 1, I imagine you'd be able to appreciate how commentary provided by a local radio station might, far from enhancing one's live F1/GP2/GP3 experience, in fact have a negative effect on this. If you're from the UK, casting your mind back to the commentary style of Jonathan Legard might give you an idea.

The posters in this thread seem to assume that people going to a race are only going to Silverstone.

It's not possible to access Sky Go, or BBC 5 Live etc if you are at a race abroad due to broadcasting restrictions.

Having access to the timing, the ability to watch your fave driver's onboard, and English commentary has been invaluable to us in the past in Germany and Monaco. It's not like you sit there glued to the thing, but it's a great complement to what's going on. The radio feed in particular. I remember when the towards the end of the Monaco race in 2011 it was red flagged, it was access to the feed that let us have any clue what was going on - those in the stand around us waited an eternity in ignorance and some just left, thinking the race was declared over.

The live timing at least will be possible to run via the SoftPauer app.

I agree entirely. I was making my points referring only to Silverstone as I was replying in the most part to someone with the username "SilverstoneRegular".

Yeah I never got them either for that reason and the price. And I just take pocket radio for the commentary

That is really bad we were at Silverstone in 2012 and we got a fanvision and it was great just to keep upto date and not wait for announcements you cannot hear and the extras on it kept out daughter quite happy as we watched.

When watching a race in Korea, I found that loudspeakers and screens abroad are fine so long as you understand the local language, and that you can hear the commentary over the cars. Once the field spreads out after a few laps, it's difficult to hear the commentary from the speakers and you will be relying solely on the screen. I would have put my hand on a bee if somebody had given me a radio with access to an English F1 FM station that day!

Perfect compliment to watching the action live, a real shame.

Not all seats at races are in view of a screen either and at the start of the race at least, the cars go past for 30 seconds, then the track is bare for a minute.

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http://www.racefan.co.uk

Shame we don't know why really. I suppose FOM has got some clause in place to make all negotiation confidential.

I remember at Silverstone 2 years ago the fanvision rep I got mine from said they were trying to make fanvision available over all race weekends everywhere via 3G and not just at the venue. Which would make buying one of their new models worthwhile, rather than renting the old ones. But a guess with FOM licences, the Sky TV deal (at least in the UK) it made it too expensive to do so. And also not as many people would buy the f1 app direct from FOM.

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Inappropriate post removed

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Maybe FOM is bringing it in-house. Or maybe they have a deal lined up with another company.

On the other hand, it could be something to do with Sky...some sort of backhand Bernie deal with Murdoch to make people get SkyGo. But then again thats still UK only.

Theres no way it would have been done for their mobile app though - the F1 tracker app is hugely unpopular.

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That's cause its £20 unlike the last few years when it was free and the only difference is some new graphics the driver tracker which you get from BBC or Sky anyway!

maybe you're right and FOM want to do it in house with a better app giving all the same feeds and info fanvision used to so if can be used on any tablet or smartphone.

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There is no theory of evolution, just a list of animals that Chuck Norris allows to live.

An eternity? You weren't at the Malaysian Grand Prix this year!

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I also have one of these.

Or the 2011 Canadian grand prix..

And there I was thinking he meant this guy:

It's uncanny!

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"You are the universe expressing itself as a Human for a little while..."

There's a fairly lengthy and alarmingly sensible chat going on about this on Joe Saward's blog. Joe appears to indicate in one of the comments that he doesn't think it's likely a replacement has been or is being arranged.

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2013/01/ ... ion-in-f1/

dont see the need.

if i needed a little tv to watch the race i could have saved about a grand and stayed at home and watched on the tv.

Just out of interest, have you ever been to a live F1 race?

I think the point could be made that no one goes to watch a race, they go to watch cars going past at high speed and see some more cars on a big screen occasionally. It devices like fanvision that allow spectators to actually watch a race whilst being at the venue.

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There is no theory of evolution, just a list of animals that Chuck Norris allows to live.

It is not just a little TV. I was at the Austin GP and I thought the FanVision was really helpful. You can see the cars' positions on the track , sector times , on boards, pit stops, gaps between cars. You can also "favorite" drivers whose statistics are highlighted for you via color and alerts.
Regarding the price it was $69 for the entire weekend. IMO that was an excellent value. It is nothing compared to what one would spend to just attend the race.

A pointless device especially as smart phones can give you live data to assist you if you want along with the already mentioned large number of giant screens at most circuits these days.

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Oh and Bernie, National flags should be raised not flipped. Sort it!

To be fair at most GP tracks the 3G service is non existent either due to the networks being overcrowded or the circuit being in the middle of nowhere.

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1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

I can't help feeling that those declaring these devices as "pointless" have probably never used one. Or tried to use a smartphone at an F1 race or music festival, etc...

Well I've used free live timing on my phone at different circuits and no others that have done similar. You don't need 3g for live timing.

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Going to Spa? Check out my site. http://visit-spa-francorchamps.page.tl/
My own Google Earth Motor Sport file. http://www.mediafire.com/?jzm1ieatytv
Follow me @asphalt_world
Oh and Bernie, National flags should be raised not flipped. Sort it!

That's amazing that you've got live timing on your phone - at which races did you manage to do this?

In my experience that has not been the case. For example, at Silverstone last year I was providing information via email/Twitter to a couple of the F1 journalists about my experiences getting in and out of the circuit. Although doing this was possible, accessing simple email pages took an age, and the signal was very inconsistent. All the sitting and waiting for pages to load in between on-track action also had the adverse effect of draining the battery pretty quickly.

I would expect, even if a requisite signal level was available, live timing for all on-track action over each day would hammer the battery on a regular smartphone.

This also doesn't take into account the availability of Sky and BBC commentary on FanVision, nor does it consider what those who are visiting a race in a different country from the one their mobile phone is registered in are supposed to do.

For me, when using FanVision/Kangaroo TV, live F1 races have become as rife-with-data and intelligible as they are when sat at home, only with the joys of seeing and hearing F1 cars in the flesh, and with the added atmospheric bonus of a live sporting event.

Big TV screens, poor phone signal, a phone with a drained battery and whatever local commentary is available is, from my experience, totally incomparable with using a FanVision. No, I don't have shares in FanVision

Making the best of a bad situation, does anybody know how good Freeview digital TV reception is at Silverstone as I'm considering getting a little portable telly if therre is no viable substitute for Fanvision this year.