YouBet is at it again

[Jeff P]

YouBet is at it again...

I was just viewing live track video of HAW at the CBS Sports site and noticed the following message beneath the Windows Media Player:
Video play is limited to 30 minutes per day. For more video options, visit youbet.com.Sure enough, after 30 minutes the video stopped and I was unable to view ANY track video using the CBS site.

I happen to be paying YouBet a monthly fee to watch their track video (I no longer use them for betting) so I called them up. I should explain that the reason I use the CBS Sports site instead of YouBet for track video is that the CBS Sports site provides a picture that is sharp and clear (viewable) while the YouBet video presentation is grainy, cloudy, out of focus (unviewable) and completely inadequate for observing how the horses are behaving in post parades and warm ups... let alone watching races.

I explained my situation to the YouBet tech person on the other end of the line. Understand that I framed my request in such a way that it was me and her (the customer service rep) against the world. I had her laughing about how lucky she was that she got to talk to old broke degenerate gamblers on the PHONE all day long... because if she had to do that in person she would have to see us and smell us too!!! I really believe that had my request not been against YouBet's rules the girl on the other end of the phone would have done everything in her power to help me out.

After she told me she could get into trouble for helping me find a work around for the 30 minute daily limit I asked if there was anything I could do to improve the picture quality of YouBet track video. The answer, of course, was no.

It appears YouBet has now directed CBS Sports to limit daily view of track video to 30 minutes - in an attempt to drive people to the YouBet site - Also understand that customers PAYING YouBet a monthly fee for their track video are expected to abide by the 30 minute DAILY limitation YouBet is having CBS Sports enforce.

IMHO, this stinks. It almost seems like a track exec somewhere gave YouBet the idea. <G>

I found a workaround myself. After using Windows Explorer to navigate to the folder where sites write cookies to my machine... on a Vista machine the name of the folder should be:
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Window s\Cookies\Low

I was able to find the file that YouBet uses to store the view start and end time to enforce the 30 minute daily limit. Hint: The file name has a .DAT extension and if you are viewing file details in Windows Explorer the date and time modified for this file will coincide with the time that you navigated to the CBS Sports site and began viewing track video. One more hint: If you close your Web Browser and delete this file you get to view track video for another 30 minutes before it shuts down.


-jp

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[MakinItHappen]

Thanks for taking the time to share the info! :ThmbUp:

[ranchwest]

I wonder if it would be possible to write a program to keep erasing the file.

[Jeff P]

Of course it would be easy... I suppose it's also possible to write a program that ALTERS the content of the file... so that the CBS site thinks your 30 minutes isn't up yet.

Easier though to have Windows Explorer open to the folder where the file sits... and just delete it.

But in either case you have to close your browser first. Otherwise you get a permission denied error from Windows when attempting to delete the file because it detects that the browser currently has the file open.

-jp

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[bigmack]

I wonder if it would be possible to write a program to keep erasing the file.
If using Vista, grab a program called Vista Manager and XP users grab XP Manager. A fine program for a variety of reasons, including this one.

[Zman179]

Just use twinspires.com
Their video quality is superb. Almost like watching the races on tv.

If you were to bet from noon until midnight, you'd have to clean out your cache 24 times. No thanx.

[JustRalph]

come on? some old timer stick a batch file up her that will do it.......come on, you know you are tempted??? :lol:

[westny]

Just use twinspires.com
Their video quality is superb. Almost like watching the races on tv.

.

Twin Spires adopted the former "Brisbet video platform" which ALWAYS was leading edge video...now, their video is almost like my TV.

I have Youbet account and their video is OK. Compared to 3 months ago, it is 200% better, but still inferior to TwinSpires.

What may be happening with the CBS video link is that without a 30 minute video timeout on Youbet, the equipment may not have the capacity to handle YOUBET customers plus the untold hundreds viewers from CBS.

If the Youbet "muxes" get overbooked, the video freezes, fades, gets blurry, voice gets out of sync with the picture, etc. Those are indications of degraded service.
For example, "I'm a wagering YOUBET customer and I can't see the video clearly" because the CBS video users gobble-up the video band width and overload the YOUBET video facilities...too many cars on the highway causes a traffic jam".

As a YOUBET customer, I agree with a 30 minute shut-off. I wager sufficient$ with YOUBET enough not to have to pay for video, and why should my video access and quality be compromised because of free, usage by non-YOUBET customers via CBS?

[ryesteve]

As a YOUBET customer, I agree with a 30 minute shut-off. I wager sufficient$ with YOUBET enough not to have to pay for video, and why should my video access and quality be compromised because of free, usage by non-YOUBET customers via CBS?
Are you sure this is what's going on? I wouldn't have thought the CBS feed is coming directly from YouBet, simply because the quality is better. That suggested to me that it's CBS' servers handling the video... with better capacity than YouBet, they're able to offer better quality video. If CBS viewers were sucking off bandwidth from YouBet via a direct feed, I don't understand why the video quality at YouBet wouldn't be the same as what you get at CBS.

[Tom]

I have always though Youbethad the best potetial of all, bar none, and the worst possible execution. You could not make YouBet a worse quality product is you tried. If you tried to make thier product more crappy, it would only improve it.

ARE YOU YOU BET DOLTS READING THIS?????????????

CAN YOU YOU BET DOLTS READ???????:lol::lol::lol::lol:

READ MY LIPS.....YOUR VIDEO SUCKS ALMOST AS BAD AS YOUR CUSTOMER DIS-SERVICE

[Zman179]

The quality of the Youbet video is absolutely dreadful. Once I had signed up with Brisbet/Twin Spires, and turned on their video link for the first time, I was in awe in regards to the blatant quality difference between Bris & YB.
I'm quite surprised that YB has done absolutely nothing to improve their video quality since I left them 2-3 years ago. They didn't improve the quality, but they sure did make it harder to get stuff for free. :bang:

[bigmack]

IYOUR VIDEO SUCKS ALMOST AS BAD AS YOUR CUSTOMER DIS-SERVICE
T - With your telly options, why bother with Youbet video? Set-up a TV within eye shot of your computer & have the real deal. The video they offer is for folk that ain't got telly coverage.

[Tom]

Mack, already got that, but I don't watch TVG whenever Matt is on - cannot take that kidergarden-level performace.
Even when they have adults on, they show very few races. They are not

HORSE racing, they are TALK racing. Pathetic channel. HRTV not tons better, but they do show a few more races. Puttingtogether all the races they show on both channles combined really shows you how lousy they both are.

If I wanted to hear endless dronnig and tacking about nothing all day long, I would get married!

My new years resolution this year is to play far less races than any previous year. Racing is just becoming a waste of time.

[Marshall Bennett]

I gave up trying to bet horses several years ago but still enjoy watching it . Always will !! Feel sorry for folks trying to keep pace with all the changes such as syntetic tracks , weaker animals , exotic wagers built around a ( shove it all in , lose it all at once ) demeanor . I truely do enjoy the game though so I sincerely hope they don't stop , otherwise owners won't have any reason to race horses will they .

[Zman179]

I gave up trying to bet horses several years ago but still enjoy watching it . Always will !! Feel sorry for folks trying to keep pace with all the changes such as syntetic tracks , weaker animals , exotic wagers built around a ( shove it all in , lose it all at once ) demeanor . I truely do enjoy the game though so I sincerely hope they don't stop , otherwise owners won't have any reason to race horses will they .

Put up a $1 million purse and horsemen would race their horses on glass.

[Dave Schwartz]

This will cause all the YouBet video-only customers (I am one) to drop their subscriptions immediately.

Gotta go. I have a subscription to cancel.

[RXB]

Americans, just be thankful that you aren't stuck with the incompetence of Woodbine. Honest to God, you don't know how good you have it in comparison. If you had to bet using HPI, you would quickly learn how incompetent the Woodbine clowns are.

[Tom]

This 30 minutes is not on the Youbet site itself, is it?
Only for CBS viewing?

[Jeff P]

Tom,

30 minute daily limit is only on the CBS site... but appears to have been put there at the request of YouBet.

Clueless mgmt at HPI notwithstanding I think this is an assinine move.

Tracks should be figuring out ways to make their signals more widely available... as in EVERY TRACK having their signal freely available right on their website. KEE does it. So do others... Hell, even TUP and DED do it. And believe it or not WO did it when I played their 2006 meet.

This is a 180 degree move in the opposite direction.

It's as if somebody somewhere could care less whether or not we actually BET their product.


-jp

.

[westny]

Are you sure this is what's going on? I wouldn't have thought the CBS feed is coming directly from YouBet, simply because the quality is better. That suggested to me that it's CBS' servers handling the video... with better capacity than YouBet, they're able to offer better quality video. If CBS viewers were sucking off bandwidth from YouBet via a direct feed, I don't understand why the video quality at YouBet wouldn't be the same as what you get at CBS.

I don't believe any ol' outlet can show horse racing video from tracks LIVE.
If that were the case, then TwinSpires and Youbet would not have had a freeze on transmitting video from NY(because the nys wagering board is holding up approval for video signal transmissions.

Also, as aforementioned poster said, "the 30 minute limit is at the request of Youbet". IF CBS had their own link,(they don't) then why would Youbet request a time limit?

As for the quality discrepency you see between CBS's link to YOUBET and YOUBET's direct video link, I can't comment ...never tried CBS link...makes no sense the video feeds would be different since the ONLY site allowed to carry NY video is Youbet in this scenerio...

Maybe CBS has filtering equipment for the Youbet feed that improves the NYRA video quality from the YOUBET feed...

[ryesteve]

I don't believe any ol' outlet can show horse racing video from tracks LIVE.
Also, as aforementioned poster said, "the 30 minute limit is at the request of Youbet". IF CBS had their own link,(they don't) then why would Youbet request a time limit?
You're missing the point. No one is saying that CBS has "their own link". We all understand their rights to the video are coming via YouBet. We're talking about whose servers and bandwidth are handling the load when you view at CBS.


Maybe CBS has filtering equipment for the Youbet feed that improves the NYRA video quality from the YOUBET feed...
No, that's not how it works. YouBet compresses the hell out of the feed in order to save bandwidth. The assumption is that CBS is not.

[NJ Stinks]

Tom,

30 minute daily limit is only on the CBS site... but appears to have been put there at the request of YouBet.

Clueless mgmt at HPI notwithstanding I think this is an assinine move.

Tracks should be figuring out ways to make their signals more widely available... as in EVERY TRACK having their signal freely available right on their website. KEE does it. So do others... Hell, even TUP and DED do it. And believe it or not WO did it when I played their 2006 meet.

This is a 180 degree move in the opposite direction.

It's as if somebody somewhere could care less whether or not we actually BET their product.


-jp

.

I agree totally, Jeff. In fact, I can't understand why the tracks themselves don't offer free PP's of their races either at the track or at least on their websites.

Are tracks trying to encourage handle or not? Securing PP's is inconvenient and costly. Plus who wants to play if you can't watch the races?

Do casinos charge a fee to play blackjack, craps, or slots? No. They give you free drinks, etc. to encourage you to play.

I don't get it.

[the little guy]

I agree totally, Jeff. In fact, I can't understand why the tracks themselves don't offer free PP's of their races either at the track or at least on their websites.

Are tracks trying to encourage handle or not? Securing PP's is inconvenient and costly. Plus who wants to play if you can't watch the races?

Do casinos charge a fee to play blackjack, craps, or slots? No. They give you free drinks, etc. to encourage you to play.

I don't get it.


I doubt that any tracks own their pps and are thus not in a position to give them away for free. Perhaps they could purchase them from DRF or Equibase in a manner that is fair to those information gatherers, who bear the cost of producing the pps, and do so, but otherwise they would have to create their own.

[bigmack]

My new years resolution this year is to play far less races than any previous year. Racing is just becoming a waste of time.
Potent statement & I feel the same level of irritation. As the blunders within the industry flourish it becomes easier to turn a back on the whole mess.

Wish me luck in my next endeavor. Ladder salesman on the Mexican side of the fence. Focus group testing shows they'll go like hotcakes.

[dutchboy]

There have been several articles recently about Comcast secretly interferring with heavy users of broadband video. Watching hours of horseracing per day might qualify you as a heavy user. I assume other IP companies are doing the same thing to conserve bandwidth.

This may explain the reason some people have trouble watching races over the internet. I doubt if any company would ever make public the reasons behind what they do.

[richrosa]

There have been several articles recently about Comcast secretly interferring with heavy users of broadband video. Watching hours of horseracing per day might qualify you as a heavy user. I assume other IP companies are doing the same thing to conserve bandwidth.

This may explain the reason some people have trouble watching races over the internet. I doubt if any company would ever make public the reasons behind what they do.


I doubt that. They have been throttling torrent and usenet traffic to slow down piracy downloads. The stream that ALL of the online providers give you is so tiny that it wouldn't even begin to get near their radar if it you even had 10 streams running 24 hours a day.

In every way, the YouTube streams give you more bandwidth than the cheapie stuff you get from the ADW's.

[Jeff P]

An update...

A few days ago I villified YouBet in this thread when I posted my displeasure about the 30 minute daily limit they were imposing on all viewers (including their paid subscribers - of which I am one) at the CBS site.

Believe it or not YouBet mgmt actually READS the pages here at PA. They figured out who I was and had an experienced tech support guy CALL me.

It took about 2 minutes on the phone for this tech support guy to figure out why my video quality had been so poor and CORRECT it. In addition, he gave me a FREE month of video subscription for my trouble.

It's only fair that I give credit where credit is due. Because they took the time to seek me out and fix my problem there is no reason for me personally to want to view track video at the CBS site any more. I can now get a larger (equally clear) screen directly through the YouBet site.

Amazed (and delighted) that they took the time to do this - I am once again a happy YouBet video subscriber.


-jp

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[ryesteve]

Wow... that's both amazing and a little bit scary.

What exactly was causing the poor video?

[Rook]

An update...
Believe it or not YouBet mgmt actually READS the pages here at PA.


I'm glad to hear that. Hey YouBet management: I once was a YouBet stockholder who spoke positively of your company on this board. Then came the day that some management pinhead(s) decided to save a few bucks by blocking video access to Canadians.

Not feeling entitled to anything for free in this world, I emailed asking if I could pay for video and I discovered an extremely rare company that would rather treat me like a third class individual than take my money.

Needless to say, I have long stopped being a stockholder and I think there is plenty of justice in seeing your stock at one fifth the value it was just 3 years ago.

You have a new CEO, so maybe things will get better. But so far I've seen no evidence of it. Stop blocking our access or at the minimum stop rejecting our business and I'll go back to respecting instead of bashing YouBet.

[JustRalph]

Come on Jeff,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Post the Video Fix!!! There are guys here who want to know!!!

[Jeff P]

I'm embarrassed because it was so simple...

On the tab at the top of the YouBet screen:

1. Click My YouBet
2. Select My Preferences
3. Click the Audio/Video Tab
4. Check the option labeled Hi-Speed (Cable/Broadband/DSL)
5. Click the Save Settings Button

So easy and yet I never thought to look for something like that. :bang:

But like I mentioned I DID call up their tech support asking if there was ANYTHING I could do to improve my picture quality... and was never once pointed in the right direction. :bang:

Sigh... All's well that ends well.

The act of them seeking me out after reading my post and taking care of my problem makes me a happy camper. I'll GLADLY pay YouBet their monthly subscription fee from now on.


-jp

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[Indulto]

I'm embarrassed because it was so simple...

On the tab at the top of the YouBet screen:

1. Click My YouBet
2. Select My Preferences
3. Click the Audio/Video Tab
4. Check the option labeled Hi-Speed (Cable/Broadband/DSL)
5. Click the Save Settings Button

So easy and yet I never thought to look for something like that. :bang:

But like I mentioned I DID call up their tech support asking if there was ANYTHING I could do to improve my picture quality... and was never once pointed in the right direction. :bang:...Why should you be embarassed? If software-savvy individuals like you and JR couldn't find it, what does that say about their user interface design? I assume there was no obvious reference to the video settings in their help facility.

Seems like an important aspect of application use to not receive appropriate attention. ;)

[smokinjoe@bp]

Dear Joe,

Due to contractual restrictions, Youbet.com is unable to offer wagering on Oaklawn Park until further notice.

We regret this inconvenience and hope to offer wagering on Oaklawn Park's races in the near future. We will notify you immediately when Youbet.com members are able to resume wagering on Oaklawn Park.

We appreciate your understanding and continued patronage.

Sincerely,

Player Services
Youbet.com