SkyGo, SkySport Now, and SkyPod stream quality

Forums › Sky, Neon, Lightbox › SkyGo, SkySport Now, and SkyPod stream quality

updawahs

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#316143 19-Sep-2024 21:44

Hey all, has anyone else noticed that SkyGo, SkySport Now and SkyPod's stream quality has been really poor recently. Lots of pixelation and low bandwidth for the stream - especially sport. The NPC and NRL look really bad like it is 720p at best. The SRL vs NZ test looks absolutely garbage.

This seems to have happened over the past 6 months or so as last year the stream quality looked pretty good and you could not distinguish it from the satellite feed. I recently went from the Skybox to SkyPod and regretting it. I have friends who have SkySport Now and say it is the same. Sky just doesn't seem to be worth the money anymore where you are expected to pay more for inferior quality.

1 | 2

2388 posts

Uber Geek

#3284287 20-Sep-2024 01:52

If it makes any difference, I noticed on the NZ vs Sri Lanka cricket this evening , it was very blocky and blurry quality on the Sky satellite box, so garbage in garbage out, the same feed will be going to the stream devices. In particular the grass had no definition and artifacting around most of the image was quite bad.

I have access to the World Feed on Asiasat, On Friday Ill do some tests of the bitrate to see how much Sky is reducing it when they rebroadcast it.

JPNZ

1545 posts

Uber Geek

#3284322 20-Sep-2024 08:31

I watched about 90 mins on my HDi box last night and the last hour of the final session on my work PC this morning (SkyGo, Chrome browser, win11) and it was perfect. Not as good definition as NZ coverage but I put that down to the broadcaster.

No blockiness or issues.

Panasonic 65GZ1000, Onkyo RZ730, Atmos 5.1.2, AppleTV 4K, Nest Mini's, PS5, PS3, MacbookPro, iPad Pro, Apple watch SE2, iPhone 15+

updawahs

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3284556 20-Sep-2024 16:11

It maybe not as obvious on a smaller screen, or with cricket as much. When you watch rugby for example, the SkySport logo on the top right always pixelates with movement which means that the bandwidth is too low for the 1080p stream.

Apsattv

2388 posts

Uber Geek

#3284590 20-Sep-2024 17:48

Here is the data for the world feed, 4 Audio tracks, and the main feed is 12.69mbits

JPNZ

1545 posts

Uber Geek

#3284691 21-Sep-2024 00:11

updawahs:
It maybe not as obvious on a smaller screen, or with cricket as much. When you watch rugby for example, the SkySport logo on the top right always pixelates with movement which means that the bandwidth is too low for the 1080p stream.

What service are you using? SSN or SkyGo? They are independent and I’ve always found SkyGo superior to SSN

Panasonic 65GZ1000, Onkyo RZ730, Atmos 5.1.2, AppleTV 4K, Nest Mini's, PS5, PS3, MacbookPro, iPad Pro, Apple watch SE2, iPhone 15+

ARIKIP

233 posts

Master Geek

#3285380 23-Sep-2024 10:03

I was a Skybox user for many years and was very happy with their MySky HDi box. i got rid of sky in Jan....but decided to watch some rugby via the sky sport now app. Looks great on still close ups.....but once they start running around, a lot of the background like grass turns into a blocky mess. This is on Various OLED TVs. Makes me wish i still had the skybox. I used to use the sky go app before when i had the HDi box and that was much superior. I assume they do that on purpose to get you to pay the extra $20 for the SkyBox.

Sony 77" A80J OLED, Integra 60.7, Panasonic UB820, Toshiba HD-XE1, Apple TV 4K, JBL L100T,JBL 18Ti, JBL L20T, Velodyne HGS15

Stu1

1769 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Subscriber

#3285409 23-Sep-2024 12:25

ARIKIP:
I was a Skybox user for many years and was very happy with their MySky HDi box. i got rid of sky in Jan....but decided to watch some rugby via the sky sport now app. Looks great on still close ups.....but once they start running around, a lot of the background like grass turns into a blocky mess. This is on Various OLED TVs. Makes me wish i still had the skybox. I used to use the sky go app before when i had the HDi box and that was much superior. I assume they do that on purpose to get you to pay the extra $20 for the SkyBox.

I find football even worse it’s not a cheap product anymore at $500 a year should be better quality

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

updawahs

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3285411 23-Sep-2024 12:38

ARIKIP:

I was a Skybox user for many years and was very happy with their MySky HDi box. i got rid of sky in Jan....but decided to watch some rugby via the sky sport now app. Looks great on still close ups.....but once they start running around, a lot of the background like grass turns into a blocky mess. This is on Various OLED TVs. Makes me wish i still had the skybox. I used to use the sky go app before when i had the HDi box and that was much superior. I assume they do that on purpose to get you to pay the extra $20 for the SkyBox.

Thanks for the reply. This is exactly what I am talking abot the "blocky mess". It is hard to describe until you see it. I watch alot of NRL and the grass is pixelated and blocky most of the time during movements. Still shots look really crisp and good. The problem is when there is movement. It isn't good enough for a product in 2024 where we all have fibre. They are promoting moving away from their satellite services with SkyPod and SkySport Now so why can't they up the bandwidth.

JPNZ

1545 posts

Uber Geek

#3285437 23-Sep-2024 13:10

The exact reason I got rid of Sky sport now and went back to Satellite HDi sky box

Panasonic 65GZ1000, Onkyo RZ730, Atmos 5.1.2, AppleTV 4K, Nest Mini's, PS5, PS3, MacbookPro, iPad Pro, Apple watch SE2, iPhone 15+

Spanners163

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3285947 25-Sep-2024 00:27

updawahs:
ARIKIP:

I was a Skybox user for many years and was very happy with their MySky HDi box. i got rid of sky in Jan....but decided to watch some rugby via the sky sport now app. Looks great on still close ups.....but once they start running around, a lot of the background like grass turns into a blocky mess. This is on Various OLED TVs. Makes me wish i still had the skybox. I used to use the sky go app before when i had the HDi box and that was much superior. I assume they do that on purpose to get you to pay the extra $20 for the SkyBox.

Thanks for the reply. This is exactly what I am talking abot the "blocky mess". It is hard to describe until you see it. I watch alot of NRL and the grass is pixelated and blocky most of the time during movements. Still shots look really crisp and good. The problem is when there is movement. It isn't good enough for a product in 2024 where we all have fibre. They are promoting moving away from their satellite services with SkyPod and SkySport Now so why can't they up the bandwidth.

Yeah I find SSN unbearable for NRL. The pitch goes blocky and blurry whenever the play is moving, comes back into focus for the play the ball and then back to blocky and blurry. SkyGo is far from flawless but it isn't noticeable.

I've tried asking Sky customer support if there is any plan to improve things and they just go through the motions of telling me to log out, reset modem, reset device etc. They literally couldn't care less about the quality of the product they are selling.

evnafets

537 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#3286056 25-Sep-2024 10:07

There are plans to improve things.

Previously Sky had several digital offerings - Sky Go, Neon, Sky Sport Now, all with their own seperate infrastructure - with duplication of resources across different systems and different features implemented for each platform. Hence the disparity in quality between them.

Over the last few years, the products are (slowly) being consolidated into one single digital platform.

Sky Go was first.
The new Sky Box / Pod apps were built on it.
Neon joined it last year.
Sky Sport Now is in the works / on the roadmap.

Once that happens then the Sky Sport Now quality should be on par with Sky Go Performance.

And any improvements made to that platform are then available over all of the consuming services.

ARIKIP

233 posts

Master Geek

#3286062 25-Sep-2024 10:31

tempted to go back to a set top box and decent images. The addition of 4K sport broadcasts also adds to the temptation(wondering what its gonna be like for this saturday. ill def be reading thoughts about it on here). When i filled out their survey when i left, having 4K sports was one of the answers i added that would bring me back. Its just that i dont really want to spend the $70ish a month just for League(and no super league)/Rugby. Thats the reason i cancelled after many years of subscribing. I wonder if accessing 4K would be introduced as a higher tier...like the $10 HD ticket when it becomes widely available beyond the "testing" phase?. Ill probably stick with the under performing Sky Sport Now app until the ABs northern tour is finished then cancel and think about it over the summer break. Gotta love the ease of cancelling with streaming services.

Sony 77" A80J OLED, Integra 60.7, Panasonic UB820, Toshiba HD-XE1, Apple TV 4K, JBL L100T,JBL 18Ti, JBL L20T, Velodyne HGS15

Stu1

1769 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Subscriber

#3299197 20-Oct-2024 17:23

Is it just me or sky sport now twice now I’m watching a game and the commentary is correct but the picture is wrong . I am watching the Nix live and then a reply comes on the screen but the commentary doesn’t match what’s on the screen. I have to exit the game then restart from live again. It’s the second time it’s done it lately.

Breezzee

38 posts

Geek

#3299253 20-Oct-2024 21:09

I have to also agree that it seems to be a degraded picture via SSN again.

Regret paying another $500 pre Bathurst.

Watched the NASCAR on 3Now Sunday morning and what a nice clear crisp picture and then flicked over to watch Bathurst for the rest of the day.

And was disappointed in the blocky stream.

Just finished watching the Netball and wasn’t much better…..

Stu1

1769 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Subscriber

#3299259 20-Oct-2024 21:25

Breezzee:
I have to also agree that it seems to be a degraded picture via SSN again.

Regret paying another $500 pre Bathurst.

Watched the NASCAR on 3Now Sunday morning and what a nice clear crisp picture and then flicked over to watch Bathurst for the rest of the day.

And was disappointed in the blocky stream.

Just finished watching the Netball and wasn’t much better…..

I felt the nix was quite blocky in some parts as well, even though on Apple TV and really good fibre

1 | 2