2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

We can discuss all here. Are you coming, what is good and bad, FIRST's only Super Regional.

2 fields, largest event outside of Championships, great competition, lots of teams and a great place to tune up just before Championships.

We are hoping that 2007 tops all of the past years. Those that have been to GTR can speak for themselves but even though it is my home event, I believe that it is one of the most exciting. With 2 fields there is not stop competition. This does cause a little problem for the scouts but hey, let them work for a change.

Hope to see you all there. Here is a link to the new FIRST Robotics Canada web page where you can link to either GTR or Waterloo:

http://www.firstroboticscanada.org/site/index.php

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Better watch out, I hear a certain WI team is venturing north of the border to join the fun.

Yes we are coming, can't wait.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

You'd wonder when 48 would ever tire of going, but we'll be back at GTR again for the sixth consecutive year.

One suggestion - give the crowd a little extra time to completely fill up the stands around the finals field right after semis are over - the energy and sound coming from the packed stands around 2005's single field seemed greater than that from last year, where the crowd seemed a bit spread out.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

610 will be there again for our 6th year in a row as well. It is a great event every year, and you get a much different experience at GTR then at some of the smaller regionals. The experience is as close to that of the championship as you can get. Competing and winning at GTR is almost as difficult as winning a division at the championship. I like to think of it as our 'local' championship. I wonder if we will get more than 70 teams again this year?

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Any American team that wants to see what it is like better go this year, because soon the Canada-America passport law will take effect.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

if im not mistaken, it will be put into effect starting this December. well at least thats what they lady told me when I got my passport months ago for last year's GTR.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

It has been postponed for 17 months (passport stuff). It's not that difficult to get and lasts 5 years. I am not sure about US but Canadian are cheaper for younger students (16 or 18 not sure)

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

- For air and sea travel across the Canada-US border, a passport will be mandatory as of January 8th, 2007
- For land travel across the Canada-US border, a passport will be mandatory as of January 1st, 2008

This law is currently under review, and there is a lot of talk that it will not be instituted. Time will tell.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html

Either way, both the Greater Toronto and Waterloo Regionals are hoping to have many visitors from our neighbours to the south. If you come up, I can promise you'll be shown some good old Canadian Hospitality, and one amazing time Eh? ;)

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

I'm hoping to make the trip across the border for the third year in a row. (and the 4th time since 2002) Only time will tell whether or not 229 will also be making the trip.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

This year will mark our fourth straight year of winging it out to T.O. from the west coast. GTR (then the Canadian) was our first regional, and it is still an amazing experience.... well worth the 6700km round trip. With any luck (and a bit of generous sponsorship from local firms) we'll bring a rookie team or two along this year as well.

It was particularly enjoyable at GTR last year as it was the first year that we attended where we did not get snowed upon! I think it is always good for my students to learn why people make jokes about Canadian winters... here in Vancouver the snow stays on the mountains where it belongs. :-)

Jason

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

This is as close to the championship as you can get folks ;) in terms of organization, preparation, number of teams and the general atmosphere. One of the things that I think that particularly sets the GTAR apart is a very diverse collection of very very experienced teams and other very new and very raw teams. What is particularly interesting is that this formula has repeated itself since the original inception and with that, some of the original new teams are starting to take over the reins. This is what FIRST lives and breathes in competition mode. Don't miss out!

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

From what I've heard this is the only regional 772 has made a decision on going to so far. The team is finishing up some reorganisation (as of tonight, actually) and should know what other ones they will be attending soon.

GTR last year was incredible, I really hope to make it to this one, but it depends on where my co-op job is. I can't wait!!!!

It can't be said enough times... if your team has never crossed the border for this event, there's no reason why you shouldn't give GTR some strong consideration!!! You won't regret it :).

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Does anyone remember the team from England last year?

What team number were they and are they coming back again this year?

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Well, our team picked Boston for our second regional this year... but we do have a bunch of us that want to come up and volunteer anyway :)

My only comment as to the super regional, is while it is definitely WAY cool... I didnt see the excitement there last year that I did the year before... less cheering, no dancing, etc :-/ It didnt quite have the same vibe.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

I don't recall which UK team was at GTR last year. 759 from Cambridge and 1884 from London are both registered for the 2007 New York City regional.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Well, this Toronto "super regional" should indeed be a model for other regions of the world....wow!

So, even though my team (1511) won't be participating, Kim O'Toole is right, in that gracious people will want to treck to Toronto to volunteer....I'll try to be there to see the sights anyways.

Now, I've also taken the liberty to send a notice to the U.S. Customs & Border patrol to give free access to all thr wild & crazy teams that will be coming to Toronto.

I've also taken the liberty at starting this convenient translation guide:

a) "What do 'yall mean?" as well as "whatz up dude?" BOTH translate into "eh?"
b) The words "approximate" and "nearby" BOTH translate into "abooot"

I'm sure that Steve W and others would be happy to furnish other translations. The only word that doesn't translate is "gracious"......BE THERE.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

I so0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o!!! did i say so? well i so0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0.........a while later......o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o wanna go! but it is during school, and i wont have a ride, and i dont have money, and yeah more stuff, which really stink cause it sounds awesome an i wish i was going!!! have fun....when it comes around....

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

HAHAHAHAHA i've never heard anyone start a conversation with the word eh before. And i definetly think the pronounciation of aboot is scottish. :D

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

It turns out 229 will not be making the trip to GTR, and neither will I. We'll be at SBPLI that weekend. I'm not going to lie, I'm going to miss being at GTR this year.

JT
229

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

I'm going to guess, probably incorrectly, 1963. Just because.

*EDIT* Dang, I'm good. Check out Judges' Award, Day 2.

http://www.firstroboticscanada.org/t...awards2006.php

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Turns out at our meeting this past Wednesday, Aces High is deciding to sing up for Toronto this year! We're all excited to be heading up north. we'll see you all up there. :D

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Sadly, Team 865 will not participate in FRC this year due to lack of teacher's support :( I'll miss you guys. However, we're looking forward too see everyone again in 2008. Until then we'll play around with some new "toys" that our school got this year. I'll post up some pictures when the construction of the new facility is finished, in three or four weeks.
(Hint: robotics related stuff. Maybe a industrial robotic welder? or a Plasma CAM plasma cutter?)

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Since the new website came up the pending teams for this event seem to have disappeared - are there really only going to be 54 teams going this year? If I remember right there were 52 teams registered with ~15 pending before the site changed.

Anyone know what's going on here? Thanks.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

To the best of my knowledge there will be 60 - 65 teams and 1 field.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Will we still get at least 8 qualification rounds? We are really looking forward to the trip.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

It depends on the game but that is our goal even if we have to stay late on Friday.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Who Won Toronto Regionals last year? Was it Simbotics team 1114. If so, DO you think team 1114 simbotics will Do great again thi year. In first vex inToronto their robot could pick up 6 balls at a time and they won that. We 1281 had a fair match against ismbotics which was awesome!!! Simbotics is a good team to face!

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Last year 1114, 1503, and 865 won the Greater Toronto Regional. 1114 has won it the past two years, so yes, they will probably do fairly well again this year! It's great to have competitive teams like theirs coming from Canada. It just makes our team (and others) try harder to do the best we can.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Allright why is 114 simbotics are so good?? WHat do they tdo?

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

You could try searching CD for 1114 or NiagaraFIRST.

Or you could go to the Waterloo or Greater Toronto regional, walk up to anyone in their pit, and ask. You may end up feeling like you asked for a sip of water and ended up soaked by a fire hose, but you won't walk away disappointed.

1114 is one of the great FRC teams, an odds-on bet to make the Hall of Fame some year.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

LOL. Yeah i was just wondering what they do and who they get to sponsor them!:yikes:

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Thanks

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

I don't think it has that much to do with sponsors. Sponsors help, especially on the money side, but most of Simbotics sponsors appear local with the exception of GM. They are also a regular public school, not unlike 173, 47, 49, and others to note. I think their big advantage is that they knew the right people and asked the right questions and did the right stuff.

Sometimes the difference between an awesome bot and an average bot is just in one or two small details that they were able to manipulate (and that detail soon goes into everyone's KOP).

They happened to have one really successful year last year and have been successful for a number of years (maintained success).

Why I think they succeed time and time again? Mentors with good machining/wiring/coding abilities (not necessarily engineers) that teach the students on the team so they really know how to do it (and optimize upon that), and good engineering decision making. (In other words, comprimising between elements and optimizing everything so things work well and are laid out/set up in a way that's easy to repair and set up while still being safe.)

But most of all, they went out into the community and really helped from the start. It helps the community get involved in the program and help make it better.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Coming from the perspective of someone who saw too much of 1114 in competition last year this is why I believe 1114 is so successful. No one one 1114 posses any mystical powers, nor are they doing anything that any other team could not. But its a combination of collecting the smartest and most motivated mentors and students to challenge the limits of the FIRST Robotics competition. One thing that I believe has separates 1114 is their teams competitive spirit. Very few teams spend the time constantly tweaking and discovering how their robot truly works, tweaking and changing things to make their robot perform even better. Thats not to say they are perfect, or build unbeatable robots. If you talk to them they know exactly what the faults of their robots are, and I believe they learned many hard lessons that most FIRST teams have. But the scary thing about 1114 is that they learn their lessons quickly, and their robots have been getting better and better every year.

Anyone who says "It's because they are GM sponsored!" are plainly ignorant of how their team works. As I discovered this year the mentors and students who run 1114 love robotics, these guys know their stuff. They truly understand robot design, game strategy, and FIRST history.

I have heard too many Canadian teams complain about 1114 and the triplets far too many times, its time for us to learn from what 1114 and the triplets do right and work to be as or more competitive then them. Thats not to say there aren't Canadian teams who are not doing this take 296, 1305, and 188 as prime examples. But there are far to many teams that take the stance that "its 1114 we can't beat them...", thats the attitude that need to be changed.

Now getting back on topic: I hope to see more Canadian teams out there challenging 1114 and the triples next year to take the GTR crown away from them. You better know 610 will be coming for ya :cool:

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Thanks for the kind words, Jon. One of our biggest goals as a team is to imspire others to strive to be the best. The development of Team 610 is a testament to this. We look forward to playing with/against you this year. :)

BTW, There will be no triplets in 2007.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Very true. 1114 has followers in 1111. Sounds strange for being so far apart but true. And last year, we "sort of" implemented what they knew about doing. We had people constantly trying to figure out the robot and figure out how to improve it. We also finally had their luck in the mentor category, we had parents who really knew how to work with tools and machines and enough spare parts around for prototyping. Plus, we pretty much ended up claiming the Tech Ed dept. at the school because one of the new mentors was a tech-ed teacher at the school for a long time there. This year, now that the students had a chance to learn from those mentors at least once, I'm pretty sure that they will do well and (now) pretty much function like 1114.

And back to another 1114-esque antidote: There were a number of robots that everyone was fearing and did not want to step up to beat, and then there was that one robot nobody talked about that was completely dominating. Everyone knew what 888 and 237 could do. The announcers wanted everyone to fear those teams. As it turned out, nobody listened and people stepped up to the challenge. However, it was 1629 that beating anyone and I did not hear one word about it. It just was really tough to beat. It wasn't GM sponsored. It wasn't even a Baltimore-area team, let alone a Baltimore-Washington-corridor team (where most of the wealthier teams are). These guys (though they did have NASA sponsorship) were pretty much run by smaller sponsors and just worked their butts off on that robot. It was absolutely amazing. And then they bring in the GM team (1184) for defense and there was no way we or any of the other teams could stop it. And nobody took notice. They all focused on 888. There were other teams of note--341 and 122--that seeded midpack, had pretty good robots, but had much better luck in championships for probably the same reason: nobody expects them to succeed (when Kitties and Chickens and Raiders and Poofs and Beachbots rule the field).

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Yeah

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Triplets or not 1114, 1503, and 1680, along with the new additions of 2056 and 2116 are going to be forces to be reckoned with.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Yeah maybe. From what I've Heard you guys are great teams. :yikes:

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Quintuplets? WTF??

How's the alliance thing gonna work out to get everyone together??

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Nooooooooooooooooo.

All these teams will have their own robot.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Fraternal quintuplets? Obviously it would be violating the code of honour to have identical quintuplets. :D

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

What is the triplets thing?

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

You are new to these boards and you've chosen an important team role (scout), so this time you can be spared the usual "search before you post" scolding.

Look here for the 2006 NiagaraFIRST Triplets.

Also here. And here.

Please learn to use the search features of CD. The benefit will be worth your trouble.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Thank you

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Hey, Nice to See that we actually have new 1281 members this Year!

astephen68, As team alumni I would recommend asking some of the people who were on the team last year regarding 1114 (as well as their brother's/sister's 1503 and 1680). Though it is quite possible at the time of reading this that your questions have already been answered lol

In either case, congrats on your success at VEX this year.
Hopefully we see the same results out of the FRC team as well.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

I posted this BEFORE:

We had the wettest November in Vancouver's history,
Storms caused landslides in the mountain reservoirs, causing a week-long "Boil Water advisory" for over one million people
Snow shut down most schools for a day, and was on the ground for two weeks.
Storms ripped up or broke over 2,000 trees in Stanley Park and left thousands without power... for days in some places.
Wind ripped the top on BC Place Stadium, forcing it to deflate.
We got snow for the fourth time so far this winter this evening...
and BEFORE I knew Torontonians would be golfing at Christmas.

Eating my words about the weather, but still looking forward to GTR,

Jason

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Will anymore pending teams be allowed to register for GTR?

I was glad to see Northern Knights 296 added :)

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

So since this has been the quietest regional thread (no one has posted since January)...

Less than a week away!!! Whose excited??

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...........

Just kidding! :)

I can't wait to turn right around after arriving home for Buckeye and head out to Canada this year. There are lots of great offensive teams, many with excellent drivetrains, that will pose quite the challenge for us. I also look forward to seeing the alternative defensive stylings of teams like 854.

48 will be in Niagara Falls on Wednesday from about 11:30 - 3:00. Area teams are welcome to come find us and say hi, unless it means skipping school and doing all kinds of truant things your mentors will not be happy about. :D Typically the kids are either at the Falls or up in the Clifton Hill area (you will find me further down the block away from the Falls at another establishment ;) ). I believe we're also going to go downtown to the Eaton Centre around 7:30 - 8:00 Wednesday night.

By the way, in talking with our local state representative, he mentioned the possibility of obtaining some kind of financial passport assistance for our team next season, so continuing our journey to GTR in future seasons is not quite out of the question yet. American teams, I suggest you bug your local state representatives and see if there are any similar programs available to help share the cost of passports for everyone.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

i can't wait 3 more days, I took thrusday and friday off from work :)

team 48 will be at eaton centre? maybe i'll hunt you guys down

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

i think waterloo is just a preview to what wonders GTR will bring, remember the regional last year with the triplets taking on division by chicken. SM1-1

how great was that.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

GTR is an amazing regional, that SM1-1 match is still in good memory to me! On another note, i wish i could be there again this year! (Why does California have to be so far? :p )


Good Luck to all teams! I'll be watching the webcast ! (There will be one right??! )

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Aces High is excited! Its our first trip out of the country.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

I think it's going to be a good one. Great matches i have seen so far and keep a look on the rack and scoreboard so you might be able to turn a match around if the referees make a mistake! No offese the semi finals at waterloo was a crazy one. going 4 mathes!!!!!!!! LOL

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

CooneyTech is also excited to be venturing north! Its been a tough 3 weeks off but we are ready to go again....

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

we are trying to sneak into this one too. Not sure how it will play out, but we are trying. Our robot broke more often than not at waterloo, but its all fixed and we hope to show everyone what we can do! Good Luck everyone

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

May the FIRST Gods of Randomizing smile down upon us and have a match of 48 and 772 anmd (Insert third partner here) vs. 1114 and 1503 and (insert third partner here) (with Powerman5000's When Worlds Collide in the background) so we can truly see the battle of the unstoppable vs. the immovable.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

It's going to be a crazy gtr tournament i tell you. I think 1114 might lose becuase in the finals at waterloo they lost the first match and if the other team didn't die 1114 could have lost. LOL

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

hahaha that would be a very cool match to watch as I did not get to see 1114 and 1503 together at waterloo. and I hear 48 and 772 are pretty good too :p

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Yeah they are and I think it could happen seriously. The only thing they have got on teams is speed. LOL. I like how their body is a ramp. That is very creative.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

i wish all teams good luck at what looks like a great regional. If any teams need any last minute help you can find me in either 1281 or 849 pit

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

In the first match, 771 lost a chain and therefore was unable to climb 1114's ramp.

In the second match, the score was 46-4. 1006 got 30 points in penalties for dying in red's end zone, so if they didn't die, red still would have won 46-36. 771's robot wasn't at full functionality, as explained here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...&postcount=156.

The third match red won 66-34, with 771 at even lower functionality.

1114 and 2056 were a very, very potent combonation. I would certainly be on the lookout for them all throughout GTR.

1114 was also bombarded with defence all through the eliminations, and still managed to win. Their ability to play through defence, or even play defence (see waterloo qf 1.1) is incredible to watch.

They have speed, strategy, a very fast, effective arm, a solid drivetrain and a great ramp on teams. Some teams struggle to have just one of those things - 1114 accomplished all of them. I am very glad that we had the chance to play with them, as opposed to against them.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

After the guys' performance at Waterloo, I am absolutely giddy to see how they do at the GTR. If our alliance partners hadn't had a drivetrain breakdown in our opponent's endzone in the finals at Waterloo, things could have been very different. Its the closest we have ever come to winning a regional (well I guess its the closest anyone could come lol) I can't wait to see what GTR has in store for everyone.

This is my first post on CD for a couple years- I was summoned back after a slew of PMs and emails asking if I had a video of our bot in action at the Waterloo Regional. http://youtube.com/watch?v=dMLWpPU_QTw

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

www.discoverychannel.ca/FIRST

It looks like something big is in the works for the webcast as it sounds like they are going to also be doing some hosted in-depth coverage as well as streaming the live video feed.

Just another reason why GTR rocks... especially in the Pontiac/Chevy dual playing field years!

Jason

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Good luck to all and pray for us. We have a whole robot to program lol.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

JL and I (AH) are coming down on thursday morning. Depending on traffic and how much I want to abuse my rental car, we should be there at 8:50am-9:00am. We can help with the programming issue, but we better see some matches. I don't want to waste a day of potential schoolwork and never see you guys play.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

I think we tried to use autonomous to smash 48 and 772's atoms together at Buckeye a few times to form a 4 @ 12/6WD/tank tread hybrid, but it didn't quite work out.

Since everyone is curious whether or not 1114 and 1503 can pair up together in qualifying, let's play Figure Out The First Round Of GTR Qualifying Matches, shall we? This assumes the same scheduling algorithm will be used at GTR that has been used up to this point in the season, including at Buckeye. If by some miracle, FIRST can inject a new algorithm into their sorting routine, then none of this will be accurate. Kudos to the people who originally figured all this prediction stuff out - I didn't come up with any of this.

First of all, it appears 1114 and 1503 CAN play together (just barely). Good to know 1114 is a "mid-level" team and 1503 is "inexperienced" LOL. This also means 48 can end up playing with both of them. I like.

Second, I like that first alliance pairing. :D

Third, hey 48 pit crew, better have that bot ready for Match #1 AGAIN. :rolleyes:

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

What program did you use to do this can you send me a copy of it please

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Also how do they do it at the regionals can you explain to me please

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

That's not a program. The first round of matches aren't random. They split the total number of teams at the regional into three groupings like Travis has above. Then they pair the first set of vet/mid/rook with the next set of vet/mid/rook, and so on. The next round of matches and for the rest of the regional, the matches are "randomized".

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Allright Thank you very much, I thought they used a program or something.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Everybody Ready for GTR. It's going to be a great regional!

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Where's everyone? Please update on those of us who couldn't make it.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

When I open the link you provided, I get the Discovery chanel page, but the link on that page does not work.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

I right clicked on link got it to open. It said we are not allowed to view it because we don't live in Canada. I will tried again tomorrow.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Today was quite boring. I didn't see no ramps used in practice matches. I can't wait until tommarow LOL

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

1901 climbed 48's ramp in one match, and 48 climbed 1114's ramp in another match when we were opposing each other - we just got finished beating each other up in the first session so we figured we'd cooperate during the 2nd :) .

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Well thanks to Bongle up top our robot is in business. It drives, scores, and I'm pretty happy that we pulled it off...Our claw was a tad sketchy but we got it to work so it's all under control now. Time well spent (or wasted, if you consider the fact we missed all our practice matches, we got some time at the practice area though)

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

I guess we just missed you guys. Stopping on the way back?

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Like BobC I also tried the link and it wouldn't let us access it because we don't live in canada. does anyone know anything about where we may be able to obtain a webcast other than the one on the nasa site?

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Correct me if I'm wrong but yesterday before my interview with discovery I asked them if it was going to be shown on the webcast. They told me that they weren't feeding a webcast yesterday and they were just rehearsing for Friday/Saturday webcasts/interviews. I think the link should work for everyone today though since its and "official webcasting" day.

Let me know!

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

You go to here for the webcast from dicovery channel. http://discoverychannel.ca/
The link to watch it would be at the top alright

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

I have just spoken to my contact at Discovery Channel. Even if the site says that it is not available outside of Canada, it will be available. They will also be giving me a link if people are having problems. More to come

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

The link that I have been given is:

http://www.discoverychannel.ca/FIRST

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Those wanting to watch this - it doesn't seem to work in Firefox, so use IE to view the webcast.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

I just saw your interview on the webcast and i thought it was very good. Good luck for the rest of today and the rest of the weekend.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

I'm curious what do people think of the Discovery Coverage?? I think it could be a good model for future TV coverage. They seem to have the right balance between matches, interviews, and video packages. Also it is not nearly as bad as what I might have been bracing for from NON-FIRST FIRST coverage. Compared with the ESPN coverage (back in the 95,96,97 era) Discovery is much better suited for something like FIRST I think and so far the seem to be doing an OK job.

I'd love to hear the thoughts of the FIRST community on this one,

Justin

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Can someone at the event take a picture of the schedule and post it? I want to know when 'my' teams are on without having to intently watch the entire webcast.

edit: especially since discovery is running filler interviews when they are announcing teams.

edit2: Wow, 176 is unstoppable.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

I think the coverage is interesting... it's a good balance of matches and commentary. Sometimes it's exhausting to watch match after match, but it does get annoying when I want to see a score and they cut away to do interviews or something. Luckily they are staying on top of updating the match results here:

http://www2.usfirst.org/2007comp/eve...chresults.html

EDIT: wow, I just saw the match score on that site a good 30 seconds before they announced it on the field.

PS. you see that match with 2056 and 854 getting 276 points? I smell a new high score within the next couple days!

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Yeah I think for FIRSTers this is not the ideal webcast we want to see scores, and all the other stuff we have come to know. But from a newbie perspective I think it would probably be pretty good.

Justin

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Yeah, I just saw another up astonishingly fast. That's good, a few other webcasts I've seen have had scores delayed up to 30 minutes.

The webcast is good (if a bit interlaced) and the interviews are growing on me.

They've had a few odd cuts though. During a match once, they cut from the match video to a video of a computer screen SHOWING the match video :confused:

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

WOW... 1114 188 and 1680 just put up 308 points BEFORE ramps!!!

edit: 338-4! crazy!! It was 3 vs 1 though.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

338, is that a new high score?

Edit: the interview said that it is.

Edit2: Hahahaha, in a later match 1221 really settled a score with a ringer. I'm assuming something odd happened with their drivetrain, because they kept on running over a ringer that they got stuck on and popped.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

that is the new high score

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

Is it just me that is getting a webcast of the march 3 lunar eclipse when i click on the link for the webcast?
:ahh:

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

GTR definitly seems to be on a different level of competition then other regionals.. Just saw another score of 256, wow!

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

I've just tuned in, I'm really liking the discovery channel cut away coverage of interviewing the drivers and things like that. However, is it just me or is there like zero music playing during the matches through the webcast feed? Not to mention that the game announcer is lacking in enthusiasm, so the matches themselves seem to be pretty boring at the moment. Karthik of course kicks it up a notch but things seem a bit slow, maybe it's just me though.

Re: 2007 Greater Toronto Regional
 

My guess on the music:
Discovery doesn't have the rights to broadcast the music played at a FIRST event. This isn't an issue for the NASA webcasts since NASA is a government institution and isn't profiting from the webcasts, whereas discovery is profiting from the ads placed around the webcast box.