Keep the drone out of...

It doesn't really bother me, but they could establish a designated drone flight path that gets good footage and stays just out of view of the main cameras to really give it a "polished" feel.

It will probably get better as they refine it but right now, I hate it.

I love the drone and it will only get better. I especially like it when they do split screens.

Personally I like the drone to see the different lines riders take .

The drone didn’t bother me as much as the missing leaderboard

The drone is good BUT when a major network is using the same drone that My 12 year old cousin has… come on.

I liked it at first,. but not so much anymore.

“Grrr, we hate changes!! How dare AMA and NBC try to do something different, keep it how it is. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it!”

Btw, idk who’s idea it was behind the drone, it just makes me laugh how people hate changes. Like the chest protector cam they had earlier this year. Good idea, but people hated on it so much after one try.

Thankful that they started at the end of the season. Otherwise we’d have 11 more weeks of drone threads.

Because both are stupid ideas that aren’t refined. It isn’t difficult for them to test these things outside of a race day.

I like the view but its becoming way overused.

I appreciate the drone Bro.

I kinda liked it, really like it actually

This.

I like the drone. Just wish the pilot would stop trying to show off swinging from one side of the track to the other. Slow down in a corner and just pan as the riders come back around.

How much does it save? Less camera platforms, less cameras and less people needed to set up everything.
Evolution is great huh? My opinion is it sucks.

That speaks more to the fact that we can buy some incredible technology these days more than anything else.

Also, the drone itself may be similar to your 12 yo cousin’s, but the gimbals and cameras that the pros have upgraded with are pretty far out of reach for the average 12 yo, unless your parents give you an allowance the size of the average adult salary.

Even for still shots, there are a couple of local guys who shoot for real estate agents that have over $10K in upgrades to their original under $2K drones….

I’m wondering if they are bringing them down for battery changes midway through motos, or using one/some for the first half then launching fresh drones with full batteries for the last half. Could be that they may be running 6 or so drones during the day, or maybe they are actually only using the one.

Even for my 5 yo DJI, to do what they are doing well would likely take 2 people to fly it. One for the actual flight and another for the camera. Overall I think they’ve done fairly decent.

Hopefully they can eventually figure out that 3-4 drones positioned statically around and above the course can be used to generate replays of things that are missed by the ground level stationary cameras. They should be used for their strengths, which is increasing the field of view to show more track action, not fancy flying skills.

I think the drone is great. Maybe used slightly too much though.

Evolution Sucks? Lol…at least you believe it exists. Here we go!……

The drone shots need a lot of polish and do not need to dominate the broadcast. What I would really like is to be able to hear the bikes. When I watch the raw vids the thing that strikes me is how much more dramatic it feels at track level and hearing the bikes banging off the rev limiters. I'll put up with the drones if they would find a way to also incorporate some of the raw vid style into the broadcasts.

The point of view is a unique add. And I gotta say. for someone who uses an FPV drone for work, the pilot is damn good.

The main issue as I see it is the need to test a higher bit rate data link between the broadcast tower and drone (maybe set up a mesh system?). There's clearly some significant compression happening there, and the drop in frame rate/resolution is terribly noticeable, especially when you cut back and forth between the traditional pass-by cams and the drone. This is largely what's giving some viewers the nauseous, disorienting feeling while watching the footage. To be clear, this isn't an issue with the drone: top of the line FPV drones, including the new off-the-shelf model from DJI, feature incredible picture quality.

IMO, use the drone sparingly until the data link issue can be sorted. But if/when those compression issues can be resolved, I really think most viewers will enjoy the view.

I'm a cynic but I think we are being softened up by NBC cost cutting for an almost entirely drone shot broadcast.
They've already determined that MX fans will accept a very average product.

Not all drones are created equal. With the proper equipment it could be great.

For the price of a three hour helicopter rental they could be right on track

I like the drone footage and really don't care about the shadows and in the camera view stuff, but I think they are using it a little too much. Maybe just a little less would be great.

You can always use more cowbell but sometimes a little bit less drone footage...... but just a little.

All overhead footage makes the sport look easy and unimpressive. Use the scissor lift and drone shots 10 seconds per lap tops. Film the rest from ground level like the racer x raw footage.

Not a fan of the, Herky jerky drone motion 🤷‍♀️

It was better this time..I like it..You MF'ers will cry about anything...

This. It’s good, but don’t abuse it.

Show me an example of when the drone was herky jerky.....ill wait.