CueSport TV - The Blog

Ever since we launched Cuesport TV back in 2008 we have been talking about a suitable way to make videos available for download in a cost-effective way.

That time has now arrived! From today selected content from Cuesport TV will be available to download on a paid service.

At the moment we are looking at around £2.49 ($3.99 approx) to download an entire match to your hard drive.

Longer videos like money matches will command a higher fee as storage and delivery costs are increased.

As fans of the site you are going to have to tell us what videos you want to download. Only selected content will be available at any one time and certain videos may only be available for limited periods.

The downloaded file comes as a ZIP file, within the compressed zip the actual WMV videos files will be contained that you can play back on your PC or Laptop.  MAC users will need to download VLC media player or Windows Media PLayer 9 for MAC. VLC is a great player and plays almost any video file thrown at it!

With your purchase you get 48 hours access to download the video files. Once on your computer they last for as long as you want them to.

Payment can be made with credit or debit card but you will need to login in order to purchase.

Currently available in the download store:

Craig Marsh v Kristie Caulfield - EBA Masters Final 2010

Tony Drago V Jayson Shaw - GB9 British Grand Prix 2009 - HD

Chris Melling v James Kay - GB9 British Grand Prix 2009 - HD

We need your help to make this a success, please download the videos this will help towards keeping live and on-demand video free. If you want to see a certain match/video available then please drop us an email or comment on this blog.

General 8-ball, 9-ball, billiards, cuesport tv, downloads, pool, snooker, video

I am posting this mainly as a trial. I have recently got a new phone that has a Wordpress app, this is my first blog post from my phone!

The editing and uploading has started and over the last few days I have uploaded 8 videos from the gb9 event in Blackpool. By the end of this week I hope all of the videos from this event will be available.

You can find them in the 9-ball pool category.

Videos from Bridlington will follow so keep checking back.

9-ball Pool, General 9-ball, blackpool, gb9, videos

I only found out about this offer when being contacted by a Titan Bet representative about advertising with us.

The long and short of it is that Titan Bet are offering a $100 million prize to anyone that can predict the result of all 64 World Cup games at the Fifa World Cup starting in June.

I thought I would look into it in more detail and have actually made my predictions, in the interest of national pride I have England beating Argentina in the final!

As with any betting promotion you will need to register for an account as do you need to place a bet, but there is no stipulation as to how much or on what sport or event that has to be. This offers flexibility and is surely worth a go?

Click on the following: $100 Million Mania, to find the actual details and what you need to do in order to qualify. Remember it is result only and only takes a few minutes to complete.

Obviously the odds of someone guessing all 64 matches correctly is very long, so what Titan Bet have done is offer a guaranteed $1million prize to the person that guesses the most correct results. I am assuming that if there is a tie the prize will be split.

Anyway, I am rarely a betting man but this is definitely worth a go.

General betting, fifa world cup, football, million mania, titan bet

Great weekend!

What an awesome job the GB 9-ball Tour have done in putting together this years tour. The hotel was very nice, the tables are fantastic and everything went very well indeed.

Speaking with Jonathan Mathers the tour Chairperson he indicated there were a few teething problems, but I think with any new projects that is always going to be the case, we didn’t actually see any.

I did not hear one single complaint from any of the players at this event, usually there are massive rumblings about the quality of this or that. On this occasion I think everyone involved in the tour can be very proud of what they have achieved.

From my point of view it was also an historic weekend. Buxton was the first time that Cuesport TV have been able to broadcast live from the GB 9-ball Tour, and on first reflextion it seems that the viewers liked it as well.

We had one problem during the final when the stream dropped out, this was partly due to only being able to use a wireless connection and also because the processor in the computer got seriously hot.

In this regard we need to find a solution to the PC issues we have had recently, it is no longer powerful enough to do what we ask of it without problems.

I was also disappointed that we were unable to provide live commentary, this was for very practical reasons though. Our cameras and technical desk were very close to the action, couple this with a very quiet room and commentary would have put the players right off. We will be looking into this for the next event in Blackpool.

Videos from the event will be available later this week, as well as our ‘Diary-Cam’ video that we shot throughout the weekend. So please look out for them.

9-ball Pool, General buxton, cuesport tv, gb 9 ball tour, live stream

After months of me talking about it on this blog, Facebook and Twitter, In the Frame, our magazine show, finally launched with the pilot episode today.

This first episode features Ben Davies and Mel Harley and was filmed at Snook’s in Weymouth last month.

The 2nd year Media degree students at Weymouth College were reposnsible for the filming, directing and editing and have done quite a nice job.

The only thing that lets it down is my good self in the presenters role!

We need two presenters for this show in future preferably one male and one female quite young and interested in either sport as a whole or with a specific interest in pool and snooker. If you are interested in this then drop us an email to intheframe@cuesport.tv

You can watch the first 18 minute trial episode by following this link:

Cuesport TV Launch In The Frame - You can still enter the on screen competition!

General cuesport tv, in the frame, magazine show, pool, snooker

Back last year we trialled some HD streaming using our platform and the results were very nice. The response to the videos was also excellent. It always was the plan to complete full length matches in high definition.

Due to the nature of the web and the fact that people are generally watching on a smaller screen to their TV we have opted to rollout out the full length videos in 720p high definition.

The data rates of streaming a HD video mean a download speed of around 4meg is required to watch the videos without buffering.

The first of these full length matches is now available and is the first round match (Chris Melling v James Kay) at the GB9 British Grand Prix Pro Cup event last year. Please do tell us if we are wrong but we also think that this is a web first. Cuesport TV has become the first streaming channel to provide a full length 9-ball pool match in high definition.

The rest of this tournamnt, a further four matches, will also be HD encoded.

For those viewers that struggle to watch the HD versions due to low bandwidth then a standard version is also available for viewing.

Please let us know your thoughts on the videos and if you experience any problems. The best way to find out if you can view them without buffering is to run a speedtest.

9-ball Pool, General 9-ball Pool, cuesport tv, hd streaming, high definition, streaming, video

I have already released some details over the proposed Tri-nations tournament. At this time it has already been extended to a Four-Nations with France confirming a team. There is also the possibility of Spain wanting to enter as well.

Although that is great news that teams want to play the events, it also poses somewhat of a dilemma.

Finding a definitive calendar is not at all easy as each promoter, tour, governing and nation seem to have their own with nobody compiling an overall calendar.

What I thought I might do is set one up that everyone can edit and add events to. Hopefully this would eliminate date clashes and would actually mean it is easier for players to know what is going on.

On the plus side the contact I have had from other nations encourages me as it shows that high quality Blackball events are required.

English/UK Pool, General blackball, calendar, dates, four-nations, tournaments

Back in late December I set the challenge of trying to get 1000 fans to the Cuesport TV Facebook Fanpage by January 31st.

I can announce that even with another 4-odd hours remaining we have passed the target.

What this means is, that as promised, we will make a £100 donation to the Paul Hunter Foundation. In addition we will be awarding a £50 voucher to one fan to be used at Billiards Boutique.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that supported the challenge and have either discovered or continued enjoying Cuesport TV. I now have to think up another challenge and fundraiser to push us over the 2000 fan target and beyond.

Later this year (probably March) we will have an exclusive Guinness Record attempt that will be shown live online throughout the duration. For this we will be asking for donations from our viewers and fans to raise some good cash for an excellent cause.

So once again, Big Thanks!

General billiards boutique, cuesport tv, facebook, fundraising, paul hunter foundation

It has been a testing time over the last couple of weeks, the last two events we had scheduled had to be cancelled (event still happened we were not there) due to two problems with our vehicle.

This led to us purchasing a new car, nice, but financially not so!

It’s actually quite laughable in hindsight as en route to Bristol we lost the radiator, had that fixed and then on the way to Barnsley we made the end of our road before the exhaust fell off!

Oh, and when we broke down on the way to Bristol we didn’t have our breakdown cover or insurance details, couldn’t remember them between us and ended up having to fork out for RAC cover, live is good!

No such problems anymore though.

I am just sorry we did not make it to the events, sounds like we missed a couple of great tournaments.

There is a lot that goes on behind-the-scenes as with every business I for one am someone that just does not like letting people down, especially when we have made a commitment.

General breakdown, car, events, gb9, live events, live pool

It has been a while coming but I thought I would post some early news about a brand new show that Cuesport TV are producing called ‘In the Frame’.

The show will have a magazine feel with fresh, young presenters, initially the show will be live for 30 minutes once per month with the possibility of extending this to 1 hour twice monthly based on the results of the trial period.

Each show will feature two guests, interviews, ‘Rackrunner Challenge’, news, events calendar and competitions. A date and guests for the first show are not yet confirmed but it is likely that snooker professional Ricky Walden and Managing Director of Global Snooker, Neil Tomkins will take part.

The live show (and video-on-demand) will be completely free and there is the possibility of website owners taking an embedded version of the show to place on their own websites.

Each month will take a different feel with guests from the world of pool and american pool lined up for future editions. It is not only about the playing side of the game however as cuemakers, manufacturers, coaching and media pundits are also lined up for 2009/10 onwards.

When the date is confirmed I will post again but please look out for this one it will be a celebration of cue sports every month!

I forgot to mention that it is being produced in conjunction with Weymouth College Media Dept. Students on the degree course will be given the opportunity to take part in all aspects of the production as part of the work experience element required on the course.

More information later.

General cuesport tv, in the frame, pool, ricky walden, snooker, weymouth college