Sky outbid for EPL rights (Premier League Pass discussion)

Forums › Online streaming services › Sky outbid for EPL rights (Premier League Pass discussion)

1 | ... | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | ... | 210

996 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#868879 30-Jul-2013 20:56

I canceled Sky Sports service recently when I found out there was no EPL (sorry - have to admit being a hard nut fan) and I also canceled the HD $10 subscription at the same time. The sky representative tried to talk me out of this saying that I'd notice a lower quality for all the other HD channels, and she rattled off a few including Channel 1. Truth is I can't say now looking at them that I notice any difference. So now I'm starting to wonder whether (as someone else in the thread mentioned), there's something that needed to be calibrated in my TV too perhaps to reap the benefit of a HD stream, and that maybe all that time I was paying for a service that I never got any benefit out of???

When you cancel the HD ticket FTA channels (1,2,3) still remain in HD through your sky box hence the reason you probably didn't notice the difference on those channels.

I did some comparing of the NFL at 4.5Mb vs the premier league pass sample and the NFL does look HEAPS better but maybe that's just the EPL sample that's rubbish and the actual games will be better quality?

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#868899 30-Jul-2013 21:12

Dororke: "A friendof mine had a similar situation - complaining that his 'HD' picture looked no better than before.

Turns out he had sky installed, and they provide an HDMI cable for that. Then he bought a home theatre in a box, which came with no HDMI. then he used his HDMI to connect the HTIB to his TV, and reverted back to component cables (or maybe even composite!) to connect his sky box! "

And did this convoluted array end up with an improved picture?

I did a recheck of the wiring behind the TV to ensure everything is as it should be and all would seem well a glance. (So much for the wireless world we live in when I take a look behind the back of my TV). There's nothing obvious in the TV settings of my early model Full HD Panasonic 2009 Sierra panel that needs to be altered to accept a higher resolution. All seems to suggest it is auto defaulted.

I had a cunning plan to persuade my better half that the advent of EPL streaming would require us to upgrade our TV to a smart version and reap the reward of an internet panel. But sadly I can't argue that position now that Samsung won't be able to decode the feed as yet.

Oh well. I'm $10 a month better off (plus whatever Sky Sports used to cost per year) and don't notice the difference. When I fork out the $150 for EPL I have reluctantly accepted that the quality will be initially inferior to what I had become accustomed too, but not quite back as far as the diplodocus era that some paint. I have every hope that with enough subscriptions the funding will become available to improve the quality and expand the capture zone.

No, his setup, using composite cables, was what made it worse. H should have plugged his hdmi from sky box direct to tv, then run optical from skybox to home theatre, and bought another hdmi for his home theatre.

Basically, if you don't use hdmi for your sky box, you cannot get proper hd.

Lust

85 posts

Master Geek

#868936 30-Jul-2013 21:48

I was 100% committed to signing up despite my disappointment in sky losing the rights. My only concern is that I get to watch my club every game but over the last two days I'm now unlikely to sign up. There is no excuse for sub par quality delivery to a paid product like this in 2013. If the tech is not ready then offer it on TV or don't bid for it. These coliseum cowboys are messing with my emotions.

I am more than happy to pay for it, hell, I'd pay double or triple to get the quality we should be getting. I'd pay for poor quality too if it was the only option but a bit of googling over the past 24 hrs has shown me that I can DL EVERY game, EPl, FA Cup, League Cup and UCL (or Europaleague if you're a spurs fan) in far superior quality that can be viewed stably as its downloaded. Most are 1.5 gb files, but I found some up to 3.5gb The only disadvantage is it won't be live but I watch 95% of the games on Sunday afternoon with a couple of pints or after work midweek so that won't matter. The only question that remains is how long do games take to appear on the sites I've found. If its within a few hours then I just wasted $160 on an Apple TV in prep for PLP but so what, it's all about quantity AND quality. I won't settle for less if I don't have to.

dwl

371 posts

Ultimate Geek

#869017 31-Jul-2013 07:53

Article on today's stuff "Web provides whole new ball game" and slightly longer version in the DomPost (business section) which includes:
>>>
Coliseum chief executive Tim Martin said EPL matches would be streamed online at a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels at just under 30 frames-a-second and at 3000 kilobits-per-second, while the audio was stereo. In his view, the video should look great, even on a 55-inch television.
‘‘I know some people are going to complain it’s not in HD but the quality is still extremely high,’’ he said. ‘‘The trade-off with it not being HD is you get every game. Some people are disappointed about the fact it is not Dolby 5.1 sound, but eventually the technology will allow us to get there.’’
PremierLeaguePass marks the first serious attempt by rival entrepreneurs to chip away at Sky Television’s monopoly of paid sports broadcasting and Martin said he expected to ‘‘cop a lot of flak’’.
‘‘We are the guys doing the inevitable ‘first’. People are going to have to embrace their greatest fear and deal with the internet.’’
<<<
It may be due to the test clip large amount of movement but I would not agree that it looks great. That fear of reduced quality seems very real to me with the rates being used (which as I said before are probably realistic for getting best population penetration).

langers1972

1039 posts

Uber Geek

#869046 31-Jul-2013 08:48

dwl: Article on today's stuff "Web provides whole new ball game" and slightly longer version in the DomPost (business section) which includes:
>>>
Coliseum chief executive Tim Martin said EPL matches would be streamed online at a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels at just under 30 frames-a-second and at 3000 kilobits-per-second, while the audio was stereo. In his view, the video should look great, even on a 55-inch television.
‘‘I know some people are going to complain it’s not in HD but the quality is still extremely high,’’ he said. ‘‘The trade-off with it not being HD is you get every game. Some people are disappointed about the fact it is not Dolby 5.1 sound, but eventually the technology will allow us to get there.’’
PremierLeaguePass marks the first serious attempt by rival entrepreneurs to chip away at Sky Television’s monopoly of paid sports broadcasting and Martin said he expected to ‘‘cop a lot of flak’’.
‘‘We are the guys doing the inevitable ‘first’. People are going to have to embrace their greatest fear and deal with the internet.’’
<<<
It may be due to the test clip large amount of movement but I would not agree that it looks great. That fear of reduced quality seems very real to me with the rates being used (which as I said before are probably realistic for getting best population penetration).

Links would have been useful http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/business/8984377/Web-provides-whole-new-ball-game

langers1972

1039 posts

Uber Geek

#869065 31-Jul-2013 09:14

"I know some people are going to complain it’s not in HD but the quality is still extremely high"

You've got to be joking surely?

Jas777

838 posts

Ultimate Geek

#869066 31-Jul-2013 09:15

Does this make sense? Is the trade off for all games versus quality a good one?

I would have thought that most purchasers of the package would support a small subset of the 20 teams and viewing the other teams would be a low priority to the quality of the games they want to watch.

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

Benoire

2798 posts

Uber Geek

#869077 31-Jul-2013 09:32

I'd rather have a smaller number of available games but at HD quality than crappy quality and lots. It might be that my club is one of the bigger ones in the EPL so the smaller ones don't worry me.

langers1972

1039 posts

Uber Geek

#869111 31-Jul-2013 10:12

My main issue is having to connect a PC to the TV, I have a Smart TV that's got to cope with a dumb solution.

I'm not giving a cent to these muppets and will watch the TVOne game and highlights

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#869120 31-Jul-2013 10:23

Jas777: Does this make sense? Is the trade off for all games versus quality a good one?

I would have thought that most purchasers of the package would support a small subset of the 20 teams and viewing the other teams would be a low priority to the quality of the games they want to watch.

I would have thought most people would have wanted to watch all of the games their own team plays. With Sky, you could only do that if you supported one of the top 4-5 teams, maybe.

With this, you can watch all the games regardless of which team you support.

djrm

191 posts

Master Geek

#869121 31-Jul-2013 10:24

langers1972: My main issue is having to connect a PC to the TV, I have a Smart TV that's got to cope with a dumb solution.

I'm not giving a cent to these muppets and will watch the TVOne game and highlights

I am a tad confused. I have a CRT that is maybe 5 years old. I am using this as an excuse to get a Samsung Smart TV but now am thinking, from some of the comments, that it may not work!?! I thought that using the browser on the Samsung would enable me to watch the matches but am I wrong?

langers1972

1039 posts

Uber Geek

#869123 31-Jul-2013 10:30

djrm:
langers1972: My main issue is having to connect a PC to the TV, I have a Smart TV that's got to cope with a dumb solution.

I'm not giving a cent to these muppets and will watch the TVOne game and highlights

I am a tad confused. I have a CRT that is maybe 5 years old. I am using this as an excuse to get a Samsung Smart TV but now am thinking, from some of the comments, that it may not work!?! I thought that using the browser on the Samsung would enable me to watch the matches but am I wrong?

Me too, I can watch the demo video via the native browser on the TV but when I emailed support to ask about the poor quality I got this reply:

Thank you for contacting Premier League Pass support.

Unfortunately at this time access via Smart tvs is not support. Access at this time is only available via computer/laptop. Mobile apps are being developed for mobile devices and tablets and will be available in the near future.

Sincerely,

Premier League Pass Support

So I'm not sure if the actual streams are going to be watchable via the Smart browser or not, I can't see why not to be honest but even if I could I wouldn't as the picture was awful and thats on a 40"

Handsomedan

7281 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#869126 31-Jul-2013 10:33

I am thinking about just signing up to my own club's online service.

this is just looking like an over-priced load of crap.

Handsome Dan Has Spoken.
Handsome Dan needs to stop adding three dots to every sentence...

Handsome Dan does not currently have a side hustle as the mascot for Yale

*Gladly accepting donations...

langers1972

1039 posts

Uber Geek

#869130 31-Jul-2013 10:39

Handsomedan: I am thinking about just signing up to my own club's online service.

this is just looking like an over-priced load of crap.

Saints have an online service??????? ;)

Jas777

838 posts

Ultimate Geek

#869131 31-Jul-2013 10:39

NonprayingMantis,

SKY showed all the games it was just that on a average week 4-5 were live and 5-6 delayed.

But I still think that if you had 500 viewers watching 1 team and 10 watching another that providing those 500 with the best quality would be better than getting it so the 10 can view their team live

1 | ... | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | ... | 210