Sky Fanpass - System Setup and Experiences

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Jaxson

8041 posts

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#177873 17-Aug-2015 14:34

Hi all,

Following on from the Fan Pass threads, users can report their experiences (good or bad) here, listing the following setup information points:

- Internet Provider and Internet Connection Type (eg Vodafone VDSL)
- Computer Hardware (eg MacBook Pro version xx)
- Computer Browser (eg ie 11 standard - with no VPN etc)
- Computer Network Connection Type (eg wifi with two other phones connected)
- TV Hardware (eg Panasonic Plasma model xx)
- Display Connection Type (eg stupid Apple displayport thingy to hdmi cable into TV Hdmi input)
- TV Display Mode (Normal, not sports or Dynamic etc and no 120hZ mode)

Hopefully we can all build a good picture of configs that work well, and look for potential weaknesses in our systems etc.

It's been noted that Fan Pass runs on flash and seems to be a bit more temperamental than other streaming services that appear to run very well on multiple platforms.

Post away...

stocksp

708 posts

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#1367999 17-Aug-2015 15:20

- Internet Provider and Internet Connection Type Vodafone Cable 130
Computer Hardware Mac Mini 2015
- Computer Browser safari (think it is going through unotelly, cant quite remember)
- Computer Network Connection Type 802.11 ac with 20 plus other devices attached (but not all on the same router radio)
- TV Hardware Sony 55' NX720
- Display Connection Type (HMDI passthrough Denon 3312ci amp
- TV Display Mode normal

Generally a very good experience, a couple of stutters (maybe 3-5 all game), and some evidence of micropauses. Good 720p quality

Killerkiwi2005

374 posts

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#1368009 17-Aug-2015 15:36

- Internet Provider and Internet Connection Type - ORCON / ADSL
- Computer Hardware - ASUS i7 / NVIDIA 740m / 8GB RAM
- Computer Browser - Firefox 39
- Computer Network Connection Type - ADSL
- TV Hardware - LG
- Display Connection Type - LAN
- TV Display Mode - NORMAL

- DNS - Google

Worked very very well till 53rd min of AB's game then, skipping frams and very low bitrate and became unwatachable

Jaxson

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#1368012 17-Aug-2015 15:42

I'll firm up my response also when I get home, but the example response used is indicative of my setup.

I want to confirm the older MacBook display port to hdmi conversion is seemless before I go blaming anything else and will try an older, but now windows 10, laptop to the TV via VGA.

Viewing on the MacBook screen itself was very good, with none of the micro pauses I seemed to see on the big screen TV, and just the more obvious buffering issues instead.

KrazyKid

1238 posts

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#1368032 17-Aug-2015 15:45

- Internet Provider and Internet Connection Type Snap UFB 1000/500

- Computer Hardware W7, SS HD, 8G Ram, i5, R9 4G graphics card

- Computer Browser IE 10 and chrome

- Computer Network Connection Type Wired . 2 phones off router (not used during AB game)

- TV Hardware Panasonic Plasma - not sure of model but 7 years old. Was higher end model so has good upscaler built in. (Will update with model number tonight) First model to have built in freeview

- Display Connection Type HDMI from graphics card direct into PC

- TV Display Mode Normal, not sports or Dynamic etc and no 120hZ mode

- DNS SNAP NZ settings

All went smoothly - watched 1st half in IE and second in Chrome. Minor video freeze a couple of times (no more than 3 whole game) but audio kept on. Large (5-10 second) freeze at around the 64 min mark like others on snap got (refer main thread).

Ran at 720p forced rate all the time and was impressed with quality of images

fizzychicken

313 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1368034 17-Aug-2015 15:46

- Internet Provider and Internet Connection Type - ORCON / ADSL
- Computer Hardware - i7 5820k / NVIDIA 970 / 16GB ddr4 RAM / 256 samsung PRO SSD / Win10
- Computer Browser - chrome
- Computer Network Connection Type - ADSL
- TV Hardware - N/A - played back on 24" monitor.
- Display Connection Type - LAN
- TV Display Mode - N/A - DNS - Google

just played back full screen on PC as I was doing other stuff in the room at the time.
watched @ 540 as max quality was stuttering, from a distance this was fine. Great quality and sound was great, stayed smooth until around 55 mins then became stuttery video no matter what I did, sound stayed fine. It settled down for the post game stuff.

Only annoyance is that on chrome the play progression bar would stay on screen for the entire game, I never found a way to get rid of it.

https://keybase.io/fizzychicken

grant_k

3539 posts

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#1368036 17-Aug-2015 15:50

- Internet Provider and Internet Connection Type - Ultimate Broadband / 3G RBI
- Computer Hardware - Intel i5 / NVidia GTX650 with 1GB / 8GB RAM
- Computer Browser - Firefox 40 on Windows 7
- Computer Network Connection Type - 100Base-T Wired Ethernet
- TV Hardware - Panasonic 42" ST Plasma
- Display Connection Type - HDMI
- TV Display Mode - True Cinema
- DNS - UnoTelly

Worked very very well @ 540p for the entire AB's game and also the two Netball World Cup games. I tried @ 720p for brief periods and it was fine but didn't want to use so much data.

apdv1

19 posts

Geek

#1368081 17-Aug-2015 16:41

-  Internet Provider and Internet Connection Type Telecom/VDSL
-  Computer Hardware Mac Mini, late 2009
-  Computer Browser Safari or Chrome
-  Computer Network Connection Type Wired with 1x Apple TV, 2x Macbook pros, 2x Mac Minis, WiFi, 1x Macbook pro 3x iPhones 1x iPad
-  TV Hardware Samsung Series 6
-  Display Connection Type Kannex Apple display to HDMI
-  TV Display Mode Normal
- DNS UnBlockUs

I have had pretty good results with watching f1, better than I expected.

Equinox IT

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littleheaven

2130 posts

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#1368090 17-Aug-2015 16:56

- Internet Provider and Internet Connection Type Spark VDSL (speedtest conducted at the time reported 38Mbps down)
- Computer Hardware iPad 3
- Computer Browser Used the Fanpass app via Airplay to AppleTV (latest model)
- Computer Network Connection Type WiFi with a couple of other iPads connected
- TV Hardware Sony Bravia 40" - can't remember the model but it was bought in 2008 - was one of the first true HD ones
- Display Connection Type AppleTV connected by HDMI to Sony TV
- TV Display Mode Normal

We watched the second half. Most of it was good quality - I assume 720p. After around 9pm it began to drop in quality - either a really low-res picture or stopped all together for a few seconds, before recovering back to full quality. That happened enough to be annoying.

I realised afterwards that the iPad I was using was our "multimedia" one which has Unotelly's DNS settings in it. I've read on other threads that it might have contributed to the issues we experienced.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

Apsattv

2388 posts

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#1368310 18-Aug-2015 02:36

Has anyone snooped the stream urls?

Killerkiwi2005

374 posts

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#1368393 18-Aug-2015 09:37

Apsattv: Has anyone snooped the stream urls?

I tweaked the kodi NFL addon and managed to get playback, works great but I got same buffering issues although I'm starting to think thats an orcon issue

xontech

268 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1368473 18-Aug-2015 10:51

Killerkiwi2005:
Apsattv: Has anyone snooped the stream urls?

I tweaked the kodi NFL addon and managed to get playback, works great but I got same buffering issues although I'm starting to think thats an orcon issue

Any quick tips on how to do these "tweaks"? I haven't looked in to doing this yet but would be keen to do so. Thanks.

noroad

949 posts

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#1368480 18-Aug-2015 11:04

- Internet Provider and Internet Connection Type : Flip ADSL2+ annex M, 12M/2M
- Computer Hardware : Windows 8.1, AMD quad core, 16G ram, Hybrid HDD, 4k Video card
- Computer Browser : Firefox
- Computer Network Connection Type : Gig-E
- TV Hardware : Samsung UHD 65
- Display Connection Type : HDMI
- TV Display Mode : default

One pause for 30 or so seconds at the very start of the AB's game, after that about 90% in maximum resolution, 10% lower resolution. Overall similar, but slightly lower quality to Hulu via Global Mode. Not even close to Netflix quality. Overall good, but room for quality improvement. Had to stop anyone else using Netflix in the house as Netflix seems to kill the fanpass quality (dual Netflix streams are no issue).

Also tried - App on Samsung s4 (5.0.1) with screen mirroring to the TV (11ac wireless), but unwatchable due to artifacts/buffering.

Makoura

49 posts

Geek

#1368542 18-Aug-2015 12:28

- Internet Provider and Internet Connection Type : Trustpower Fibre 50/20
- Computer Hardware : Macbook Pro 2.4 i5
- Computer Browser : Safari
- Computer Network Connection Type : Gig-E
- TV Hardware : Panasonic ST-50
- Display Connection Type : HDMI
- TV Display Mode : default
- DNS: ISP

Most of game on 720p same big stutter in second half that others have mentioned. Overall watching big game was a 7/10 experience and I'll probably get again. But so disappointed when NFL gamepass works so well.

Jaxson

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#1399580 4-Oct-2015 09:27

Am having a better experience using a chromecast, with the fanpass app on iPhone.

Am not experiencing any of the 'micro pausing' issues I got when running an earlier MacBook Pro to the same TV via a display port to hdmi converter cable.
I didn't ever investigate this too far, but I suspect there was a framerate issue going on there.

The Chromecast approach works really well, just don't seem to have an option to define the quality settings via the app, but it may be there somewhere...

E3xtc

773 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1404085 12-Oct-2015 07:36

- Internet Provider and Internet Connection Type - VDSL 2D
- Computer Hardware HP Elitebook with only VGA output (left the damn video connector at work - argh)
- Computer Browser Chrome
- Computer Network Connection Type AC wifi
- TV Hardware Panasonic VT50 Plasma
- Display Connection Type VGA port :(
- TV Display Mode Normal

Was really good - streaming for 7 hours at 720 res (because I couldn't set the output to work with higher due to limitations on the laptop) and was brilliant. Good quality, and never buffered. Solid!