Watching the Super Bowl on the Internet

This year, for the first time, the Super Bowl was legally available for viewing on the Internet. "Just in time," I say, because I cut the cord last spring, and have been without cable, network and satellite TV ever since. I'm not a big sports fan, but I do watch the Super Bowl every year, and I had been hoping that I'd be able to see it on the Internet.

In addition to watching the game, I usually throw a small Super Bowl party. I didn't do that this year, because I realized that there could be a technical glitch. If this glitch caused ME to be unable to see a big play, that would have been one thing. But if there had been a problem causing a major fan to miss a play, that would be another matter entirely. So, I decided to just watch and evaluate.

I've got to start by saying I was impressed with the outcome. The video stuttered and froze a bit during pregame, and the frame rate was occasionally a little low during the game, but overall, things were good. The only real problems occurred during short passes, when the low frame rate would cause the football to "disappear," but this really wasn't a big thing.

I was also impressed with the PIP (picture-in-picture) options offered on the stream, though I didn't really take advantage of it. There were four or five different camera views, and viewers were able to swap on the fly. That was a neat feature. Another cool feature was the live Twitter-style commentary in the right hand area of the screen, which automatically disappeared during gameplay, and automatically re-appeared during the commercials.

Commercials and halftime were a bit of a letdown. The internet didn't show most of the much-hyped commercials. Instead, they primarily scrolled through four of the less-entertaining spots... the Samsung commercial, the commercial for the upcoming Navy Seals movie, the GE generator and cancer patient spots, and the Bud Platinum one. The halftime show was unavailable too, but not being a big Madonna fan, I didn't care too much about that one.

The bottom of the screen said that I'd be able to watch commercials after they aired, but they didn't pop up on my TV. (My computer feeds into my TV, so that I don't have to watch on an itty-bitty computer monitor.) I ended up going to other sites, after the game, to see the commercials.

In relation to this, though, NBC DID have the option to watch NBC-based commercials and interviews during pregame. I loved the 30 Rock skit, and the Jimmy Fallon Head Swap! Great entertainment to break up the incessant droning of the talking heads.

So... overall, I thought it was great. My recommendations for next year... make sure that the frame rate is a bit higher during the game... include the commercials and halftime show... keep the PIP feature... keep the twitter-style comments section... keep the "extras" bar on the bottom during pregame/postgame. Keep the feature that automatically hides the twitter/extras bars during the games. Good job, NBC. You did an admirable job of setting expectation for next year's game.