RTN down?

[thespaah]

Originally Posted by edmond1

Thanks for the info. This extra step has added an extra 2-3 second delay in final product and as was witnessed on Friday more chances for something to go wrong. Now that they have the hardware major betting locations should consider receiving fiber feeds directly from racetracks reducing the real-time delay to 1 second instead of 5. TVG is on the ball when it comes to this .... Woodbine receives a direct feed from Mohawk....

Fiber feeds are expensive. Fiber optic transmissions are also subject to outages.
Those outages happen all the time. I have a neighbor who works on fiber optic transmission systems. He is constantly running out on calls for various types of outages, reroutes and actual cable damages..

[edmond1]

Originally Posted by thespaah

Fiber feeds are expensive. Fiber optic transmissions are also subject to outages.
Those outages happen all the time. I have a neighbor who works on fiber optic transmission systems. He is constantly running out on calls for various types of outages, reroutes and actual cable damages..

First of all TVG uses fiber for their source feeds - they can afford it. Also if fiber feeds are so expensive and prone to problems as you claim and as experienced recently WHY CHANGE FROM C-BAND WHICH WAS MORE RELIABLE AND RESULTED IN LESS REAL-TIME DELAY. I have already argued this point several times on here.

[thespaah]

Originally Posted by edmond1

First of all TVG uses fiber for their source feeds - they can afford it. Also if fiber feeds are so expensive and prone to problems as you claim and as experienced recently WHY CHANGE FROM C-BAND WHICH WAS MORE RELIABLE AND RESULTED IN LESS REAL-TIME DELAY. I have already argued this point several times on here.

C-band is older technology. I would imagine your have observed the gradual disappearance of C-band satellite antennas.
The reasons are many. One, C-band satellites were low powered birds which had to be that way because the C-band frequency spectrum is very close to microwave voice communications. This was to avoid the effect of 'crosstalk'. Or interference into another frequency range. Low power sats require very large movable ( across the sky) antennas with a lost of expensive moving parts.
Enter digital or Direct Satellite Service and FSS Fixed Satellite Service.
These types require much smaller antennas because the power output is much higher.
Eventually all of the existing C-band birds out on the Clark Belt will expire. They are all being replaced with sats using the Ku Band.

[edmond1]

Your knowledge of this subject is much appreciated. But the 5 second delay is just not acceptable for many of us. Maybe OK for residential purposes but definitely not for large scale operations. Until delay is decreased to approx.2 seconds or less we will just bet primarily on live racing (either thoroughbred or harness).

[thespaah]

Originally Posted by edmond1

Your knowledge of this subject is much appreciated. But the 5 second delay is just not acceptable for many of us. Maybe OK for residential purposes but definitely not for large scale operations. Until delay is decreased to approx.2 seconds or less we will just bet primarily on live racing (either thoroughbred or harness).

Not to be curt with you in any way, but this is the technology we have, so get used to it.
Until our nation is completely involved with fiber optic connectivity, satellite communication is the accepted platform.
Now, I am not sure as to why there exists a problem with a satellite delay.
Unless one is 'betting the bell' it should make no difference.

[edmond1]

Originally Posted by thespaah

Not to be curt with you in any way, but this is the technology we have, so get used to it.
Until our nation is completely involved with fiber optic connectivity, satellite communication is the accepted platform.
Now, I am not sure as to why there exists a problem with a satellite delay.
Unless one is 'betting the bell' it should make no difference.

Unfortunately all this confirms exactly what was told to me by a RTN technical person that I communicated with a couple of years ago with regards to this topic:

"Horse racing days are numbered and that most of the people still betting on horses are just a bunch of degenerates that could not care less about the increased delay".

He has since passed away. Personally I blame track management for many of the problems including this one. In the mean time betting entities (ie TVG) that understand that time means money will pay for fiber feeds to benefit their customers. And whenever we bet on a simulcast track we will only bet on an offshore site that gives us a rebate.

WE WILL NOT CONTRIBUTE ONE DIME TO SIMULCAST POOLS TILL PROBLEM IS FIXED !!

[thespaah]

Originally Posted by edmond1

Unfortunately all this confirms exactly what was told to me by a RTN technical person that I communicated with a couple of years ago with regards to this topic:

"Horse racing days are numbered and that most of the people still betting on horses are just a bunch of degenerates that could not care less about the increased delay".

He has since passed away. Personally I blame track management for many of the problems including this one. In the mean time betting entities (ie TVG) that understand that time means money will pay for fiber feeds to benefit their customers. And whenever we bet on a simulcast track we will only bet on an offshore site that gives us a rebate.

WE WILL NOT CONTRIBUTE ONE DIME TO SIMULCAST POOLS TILL PROBLEM IS FIXED !!

I do not know who "We" is....And I certainly do not know what the problem is.
So, I will ask. What IS the problem? And don't just reply with 'the delay"..That means nothing to me.
Explain in depth why the delay is so detrimental to your wagering activities that you will use an offshore book.

[angeleyes55]

Originally Posted by edmond1

Unfortunately all this confirms exactly what was told to me by a RTN technical person that I communicated with a couple of years ago with regards to this topic:

"Horse racing days are numbered and that most of the people still betting on horses are just a bunch of degenerates that could not care less about the increased delay".

He has since passed away. Personally I blame track management for many of the problems including this one. In the mean time betting entities (ie TVG) that understand that time means money will pay for fiber feeds to benefit their customers. And whenever we bet on a simulcast track we will only bet on an offshore site that gives us a rebate.

WE WILL NOT CONTRIBUTE ONE DIME TO SIMULCAST POOLS TILL PROBLEM IS FIXED !!

Right on. Good to see someone else understands this issue besides myself and others I know. Slow feeds can be a detriment for harness players and for
thoroughbred players that rely on gate behavior. Also disadvantaged are players that use late money as an aid. Not to mention handle lost since changeover - witnessed many frustrated last second bettors getting shut out. May not be that great a deal for pick 3->6 players.

[edmond1]

DN is not available to Canadian residents (legally) and therefore RTN is not available. In order to view races on TV at home you need to subscribe to HPI Interactive through Roger's Cable. This is a rotating channel that is produced at Woodbine and then transmitted to Bell Expressvu and Rogers Cable. The delay on cable is 5 seconds more than what the delay would be if you were watching the corresponding RTN feed shown at Woodbine. That means the real time delay on cable is now a full 10 seconds. The delay on their internet feed is approximately 8 seconds - 2 seconds better. With the recent RTN disruptions they decided to use the internet feeds as their source. Not only was the TV picture very poor the delay was now increased to 13 seconds. A JOKE !!!!!!
HPI belongs to Woodbine and is a monopoly in Canada. No other competition exists with the exception of offshore sites. Thousands of people rely on them for their betting and video needs. Their website is very good and they continue to improve it. They are loaded with cash(remember they have a casino). They have the technology and know how to retrieve direct fiber feeds (Mohawk->Woodbine). Why not get them for all the tracks or at least the major ones ? Are they too cheap or too lazy or is the RTN techy(see above) right ?