Went with a friend from uni this afternoon. And more then impressed.

Saw two games played. First Canada v Colombia which was a 1 all draw. The second NZ vs Denmark.

The two games were a complete contrast to each other. The first was very graceful and skillful. The second was intense with lots of running from one end of the field to the other.

And so were the crowds. The first game had around 4000 people watching (which is a massive crowd for the typically empty North Harbour Stadium) the majority of who were backing Colombia so lots of colours, drums, and chanting, it really felt like you were in Europe.

The second game had a massive 11,170 people at it, which is rare for soccer in NZ, the last All Whites game only had 7000 people at it. This crowd was much quieter, no drums, no drums, just claps and people on their feet only when NZ scored a goal. And disgusting boos when Denmark did anything good.

That was the most disapointing thing about the NZ game. New Zealanders are bad sports. A women in the row behind us kept on yelling abuse at the ref and the other team. Really disgusting stuff. Then me and my friend were told to sit down when we kept on jumping up when NZ did something good.

Look at the atmosphere of a soccer match in Europe. And then look at NZ. Little wonder we get small crowds. We have to many sore losers who try and ruin it for others.

Overall I really enjoyed it and may go again on Wednesday and possibly the final later on in the month.

Tickets are $10 per day and the final $20 which is dirt cheap for a world class sport event.

http://tvnz.co.nz/content/1580637

The link above is to the TVNZ Olympics Message Board.

But unless you want to be disgusted at the attitude of the majority of posters I wouldn’t recommend clicking on the link.

TVNZ is doing an amazing job covering the Olympics. They have four channels of coverage (TV One, Freeview Ch20 and two online channels).

But despite all this people are still complaining. I personally enjoyed the NZ vs Brazil soccer game which was aired on TV One (the main NZ channel).

New Zealanders need to get a grip and be thankful for how much coverage they are getting for free.

TVNZ surely paid top dollar to get the coverage, Sky TV would have been surely trying hard to out bid them.

Imagine the Olympics on Sky. a) Not everyone could get it - Sky costs, TVNZ is free. b) Unless you paid more it would not be in High Def. c) You would not have four channels of coverage - three channels at the absolute max. d) You would still have ads - like the live Formula 1. e) People would still complain.

http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/lewis-games/2008/8/10/communication-breakdown/?c_id=502

All I can do is laugh… I am glad I’m not the only one who gets into these sort of stupid situations.

The following two images have are screen shots from Mediaportal.

The first image is Freeview DVB-T TVNZ Sports Extra which is broadcast in standard def.

The second image is Freeview DVB-T Tv One which is broadcast in HD Ready def.

The difference in the colours and the depth/quality of the picture is quite amazing.

No need for all the marketing hype this is the real user test showing the very clear difference.

Close Up/Side by Side view of score display in standard def and high def.

I have to wonder what would of happened if they had done the turn further away from the line.