Last night, actually about an hour ago, I went to http://www.internetfootball.co.uk/ and downloaded about 15 minutes of highlights of our Ibrox victory for £2.00.
The process was simple enough. After you’ve chosen which match you want to see, you'll see two buttons, ‘buy’ and ‘view’. First you 'buy' your ticket, which arrives by email in the form of a password, and then you download the file by clicking the other button ‘view’. You enter the password in media player and off you go. Quite clever, but it works and it’s simple to use.
The movie is kind of 'internet quality' – not quite as good as watching it on TV, but good enough. For this game there'd been some mix up earlier in the week, which they’ve fixed now, but they’d lost the first few minutes and the goal! A problem they'd rectified with a clip with commentary - though the rest of the footage post-goal is uncommented upon. The screen is slightly smaller (though you can go full screen if you sit back a bit I suppose), but definitely watchable none the less. The file plays ‘live’ i.e. no replays etc, though in Windows Media Player (I used Windows media player, I think you have to) you can just drag the slider around and skip around in the clip. It’s a different user experience watching football highlights this way, but it has it advantages, and I like being able to drag the slider around and instantly play any part of the clip. Usually there’s just crowd noise and no commentary, so it sounds like sitting in the main stand at, in this case, Castle Greyskull. Also, anyone with broadband could download the complete file (15 mins of highlights) in about five or ten minutes which isn’t bad. I could also save the file as well for future viewing, though the licence still restricts it from being passed around or edited by me.
Of the game - Rangers missed a host of very strong chances, some of which it has to be said were well defended, some well saved, and just some just plain missed. The goal was well taken, and I’d say we look a lot more threatening going forward than we do solid at the back, though we are getting stuck in, as we have to, and I like seeing that. We’re getting a few breaks, and we are improving even if we are far from strong or fast enough at the back. We've deserved a bit of luck though - those moments where it all comes together up front, and the back heroically holds out, and the three points were very gratefully taken.
On the whole it was hardly any more complicated than downloading a video from your email - though filling in one's credit card details is always a chore no matter what it's for in my opinion. One day hopefully, we can put our cards in a slot on the PC. It didn't take too long though, and I was watching the clip within five minutes of visiting the site.
Was it worth £2 to see a winning goal at Ibrox? I enjoyed every minute, of the fifteen I saw, so I’d have to say yes. Commentary might be an advantage but crowd noise is no bad thing. If you live outside the
It’s cheap enough, it worked, it’s fairly straightforward to operate, I can watch it again and again, and rewind/fast forward to any point as many times as I like. On the down side I can’t share the file or edit it – which is understandable of course, there’s not always commentary, you only get to see things from one angle – the halfway line camera, and living in the UK I can’t see a live game. On the whole I’d give the service 8/10.
Lastly, and this is important – if you would like to give the service a go – don’t forget to do the DRM test on the site before you start – which checks to see if the licensing system works on your computer.