7hrs 16 mins TV documentary on Norwegian train trip

[steinjr]

Just a quick update on this thread. The 7hrs 16 mins non-stop TV documentary from the train trip from Bergen across the mountains to Oslo was shown this last Friday, from about 8 pm until 3 am.

According to ratings, about 150 000 people watched the entire 7+ hrs. Some of them might have fallen asleep in front of the TV. Max viewership was about 400 000, or roughly 8% or so of the population of Norway, for about one hour around 10 pm, when the train was passing the most beautiful area of the trip, in the highest part of the mountains.

They did a repeat performance on Sunday, their web servers almost collapsed under the load of people wanting to see the web broadcast, and they are planning to do a new TV repeat at Christmastime, showing the whole trip in the daytime - from about 10 am until 5 pm, instead of from 8 pm until 3 am.

How is that for a crazy TV program idea that really took off far more than even the people who had the initial idea had dared hope for ?

Part one of the TV show: http://www1.nrk.no/nett-tv/klipp/581376
Part two: http://www1.nrk.no/nett-tv/klipp/581377
Part three: http://www1.nrk.no/nett-tv/klipp/581378

Be warned that this is one long TV show, and downloads may be slow until interest dies down a bit. And of course that the narrative and comments are in Norwegian, which most people outside Norway doesn't speak. But the footage speaks for itself, if you get a chance to download when traffic is low in Norway (ie in the late evening in the US, when people in Norway are sleeping) :-)

Smile,
Stein

[ngauger]

Thanks for posting the links

now All i have to do is find the time to watch it all

[FiatFan]

Stein,

I downloaded the first part the other night. When I went back tonight to get another section the video would not load. My Norwegian is a little rusty and I hate to impose but could you follow up on this and see if the videos have been taken down?

Thanks.

Tom

[steinjr]

Stein,

I downloaded the first part the other night. When I went back tonight to get another section the video would not load. My Norwegian is a little rusty and I hate to impose but could you follow up on this and see if the videos have been taken down?

Thanks.

Tom

Hmmm - the message says "not available for the moment". No reason given.

Guess they might be doing backup or some such thing right now. Hopefully it is a temporary thing. Will check in the daytime and see if it is back up.

Smile,
Stein

[FiatFan]

Wow! Thanks for the quick reply. I will be checking it myself throughout the day and evening.

Thanks again.

Tom

[steinjr]

Stein,

I downloaded the first part the other night. When I went back tonight to get another section the video would not load. My Norwegian is a little rusty and I hate to impose but could you follow up on this and see if the videos have been taken down?

Thanks.

Tom

Hmmm - the message says "not available for the moment". No reason given.

Guess they might be doing backup or some such thing right now. Hopefully it is a temporary thing. Will check in the daytime and see if it is back up.

Smile,
Stein

Okay, NRK (Norwegian State Broadcasting) has now received so many requests for the 7 hrs cab ride across the mountains of Bergensbanen that they have made the trip (minus music) available in HD format.

More information (in English) here: http://nrkbeta.no/2009/12/18/bergensbanen-eng/

Smile,
Stein

[FiatFan]

Thank you for the update. I'm downloading it right now. According to BitTorrent it should be done in about 5 days. hock:

Gotta love technology. Thanks again for the information.

Tom

[FiatFan]

After 4 days, 2 minutes and 7 seconds, the download is complete. Thank you, Stein, for keeping me posted on this. I have sampled a little of the video and it's beautiful. I have a house full of people for the next few days but plan to watch it after the holidays.

Thanks again. I am definitely smiling.

Tom