Sky Sport Now - 2019 changes

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2798 posts

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#3109667 29-Jul-2023 20:43

If you access the sky feed via an HTPC approach and decode the card outside of the Sky Box then those are the sorts of bitrates; I used to use TVHeadend and a decoder system and feed sky around the house... only have problems on pincoded programmes due to the software not being setup for Sky NZ... I think the app has bitrates in it or you can grab it from your router as its actively bringing down data.

Senecio

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#3109668 29-Jul-2023 20:57

sdavisnz:

Senecio:

The picture of SSN will never match that of Sky satellite. They are both delivered in 1080P 50fps but the satellite feed would typically be ~16-18Mb/s where SSN is typically 7-8Mb/s. There's just no getting around the loss of detail when your data rate is half that of satellite.

How it appears is that still and close images appear to be of similar quality but as soon the camera pans out or moves quickly to cover the action you will get blocking and artefacts that will degrade picture quality. Those of us that have been using sports streaming service (eg. Kayo) have just come to accept it as a trade off.

hi there, just out of curiosity, where are you getting these numbers from? do you work for sky? or can you share the sources?

As per Benoire. The satellite bit rates are fairly well known from anyone who has decoded Sky satellite using a 3rd party box. As for SSN, if you use the Kodi add-on from Matt H that will give you the bit rate. I think Spark Sport was closer to 11-12Mb/s which is why everyone regarded it as superior picture quality to SSN.

Senecio

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#3109669 29-Jul-2023 20:59

Brunzy: Has anyone found a successful way of navigating / scrolling the guide on an Apple TV?
I find it very hit and miss ,clunky, doesn’t respond, skips, delay in moving up and down channels, etc.
Sometimes the back button just seems to do nothing, press a few other times nothing ,then all of a sudden do you want to exit, absolutely drives me insane.
Also, when it skips as you are about to select a channel, the back button takes you back to SS1at the current time .
Scrolling through the app on a phone is an absolute doddle, not so on the ATV .
I could cast, AirPlay, from there, what sort of defeats the purpose?

Which Apple TV remote are you using? The early one with the click pad or the later one with the click wheel? I replace our original remote with the later version and find that better. However, regardless of which remote you are using I find the SSN UI is just laggy so you have to patient. It works, but you just have to allow it time to think and don't confuse it with too many actions.

dougierydal

327 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3109723 30-Jul-2023 12:01

Changeover:

TVNZ+ better than SSN. Streaming via Apple TV 4K. I’m very happy with SSN, it’s a lot better than it used to be but TVNZ+ seems to as good as Spark Sport was. Also my Duke over the air quality with the Cricket is inferior to streaming. TVNZ themselves actually said that was the case.

Actually I haven't check the live feed lately on TVNZ+ but there's no way their highlights package is in 1080p/50FPS, I watched it this morning

JonoNZ

274 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3109724 30-Jul-2023 12:06

Yes, the highlights packages are down-converted lower res and lower frame rate for sure. The full replay and live stream are fantastic on TVNZ+ though, and vastly superior to SSN.

Brunzy

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#3109725 30-Jul-2023 12:08

I’d say you’ve hit the nail on the head there.

I’m using the newer remote, it’s an ATV 4 and I also use the remote on my phone, as when I had Kayo the edges of the remote, didn’t always respond to do my constant fast forwarding 15 minutes ;-)

dougierydal

327 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3109974 31-Jul-2023 10:08

JonoNZ:

Yes, the highlights packages are down-converted lower res and lower frame rate for sure. The full replay and live stream are fantastic on TVNZ+ though, and vastly superior to SSN.

Watched live on TVNZ+ last night for the first time, stream is excellent, a vast improvement over what I saw on Day 1 of the First Test.

In my opinion though the pic etc is on par with SSN, have you tried SSN recently? It had a major upgrade about 2-3 months ago and has been excellent ever since in terms of image quality. Before that it was only mediocre.

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JonoNZ

274 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3109976 31-Jul-2023 10:18

dougierydal:

JonoNZ:

Yes, the highlights packages are down-converted lower res and lower frame rate for sure. The full replay and live stream are fantastic on TVNZ+ though, and vastly superior to SSN.

Watched live on TVNZ+ last night for the first time, stream is excellent, a vast improvement over what I saw on Day 1 of the First Test.

In my opinion though the pic etc is on par with SSN, have you tried SSN recently? It had a major upgrade about 2-3 months ago and has been excellent ever since in terms of image quality. Before that it was only mediocre.

Yeah I watch SSN regularly on my Apple TV 4K and have an active subscription. It has come a long way, and the frame rate issues that plagued it for years have been resolved. I suspect the bitrate is fairly low as you can see a lot of smudgy blockiness (compression artefacts) on the grass when there is any kind of motion, it's far worse than TVNZ+

Benoire

2798 posts

Uber Geek

#3110009 31-Jul-2023 11:55

Yeah the encoding is the trouble. I wonder what they're using as when they stream F1 live the quality is good so its likely either their outside broadcasting company is not paying for the right encoding service or Sky are throttling the bitrate of the actual stream... I'm more inclined for the second option if TVNZ+ is better as I'd imainge they're using the same broadcast as Sky.

dougierydal

327 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3110326 1-Aug-2023 11:05

JonoNZ:

Yeah I watch SSN regularly on my Apple TV 4K and have an active subscription. It has come a long way, and the frame rate issues that plagued it for years have been resolved. I suspect the bitrate is fairly low as you can see a lot of smudgy blockiness (compression artefacts) on the grass when there is any kind of motion, it's far worse than TVNZ+

Interesting, I just don't find that now, in my experience the displays are much the same (SSN and TVNZ+)...

DjShadow

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#3115192 12-Aug-2023 22:05

Is Sky Sport now meant to be very lagged behind real-time?

Think Twitter/X just spoiled the football as the Penalties were about to begin.

Senecio

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#3115207 13-Aug-2023 06:18

Yes all streamed live content has a delay, not just SSN. It's just the physics of capturing, transcoding, storing and distributing the content. Typically it would be 20-30s but it could be as much as 40-60s.

dougierydal

327 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3116182 15-Aug-2023 13:52

One thing that continues to bug me with SSN is their limitation to one streaming session at any one time. With a couple of teens in the house it's bloody frustrating when we want to watch different things.

Most streaming devices offer at least 2 concurrent streams.

Benoire

2798 posts

Uber Geek

#3116185 15-Aug-2023 14:02

I've noticed recently that grass in sports games has got worse. I was watching the epl this morning and the grass isn't sharp any more. Its never been as clear as Sky over satellite or Spark Sport but it seems like they've gone backwards in terms of bitrate or quality in to the encoder... TVs are nVidia shield (Android TV) and TCL c845 MiniLED (google TV)... just me or is it worse?

quickymart

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#3116335 15-Aug-2023 17:06

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/winners-and-losers-why-the-new-sky-tv-box-is-full-of-problems/P442CY7MWBHBHMEJIW4MMULXNA/ a paywalled review of why the new box is so bad.

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