Benoire: Dororke, how did you find the rapid panning on the new stream at full screen on your monitor? I've got a modest 21" here at work and it was terrible, I'm yet to see anything in the stream that would make it better when running in full screen. This is another reason why they need to make the preview the maximum avaible stream quality as that would allow peoople to test in full screen on their devices. I'll have a go later on my 51" plasma but I can bet that it will look pretty poor.

Dororke:
I find it acceptable, and I use the word guardedly as it's not perfect and not what I had become used to; but it was certainly better that the old stream for rapid panning. I'm guessing this feed was recorded at 3Mbps and the other at 1.6Mbps perhaps. Anyone know? Just played it on the 50" plasma and it's on a par with the 3Mbps NFL feeds. So I'm really keen for the Colleseum guys to up the feed to 4.5Mbps since they use all the same infrastructure, so it should be an option I'd have thought. Anyone know why they don't offer it at 4.5Mbps - is it technical or financial?

Dororke: I happened to have the old link still on my browser so I was able to compare the new sample feed with the old one side by side and can say that the new was much improved over the old. Increasing both to full screen on my 27" Dell monitor and hot keying between the 2 feeds, the new feed was again much improved. I was also glad to be able to see no glitches in the streaming indicating that I was able to download 2 feeds simultaneously without a problem. this augers well for the potential to watch 4 matches at once.

It's still short of what I had become used to with Sky HD but as an EPL fan I can say it's acceptable. Would love for the guys to consider pushing this out at 4.5Mbps. I would happily pay extra for an improved quality of feed. From my perspective I'm currently saving $500 per year having canceled my Sky sports subscription and the $10 per month HD thing. So switching to the $250 per annum subscription will save me $250 (should be more as I'm a Telecom customer and should be able to get the 15% discount through them tomorrow). I would be willing to part with some of that to up the feed to 4.5Mbps.

So how about Colosseum? Introduce an upgraded service for those that have the bandwidth capability and are able to afford it?

JarrodM: samsmith are you the same Sam from coliseum who answered the questions I emailed in?

voy1d: I think you'll find that preview uses their adaptive tech to stream the video, meaning that it will conservatively estimate your bandwidth and adjust the feed quality.  As such you will find that it is probably fluctuating 800 kbps and 1600 kbps (or looks like that when I compare it to the NHL platform which runs off the same platform.)

What the FAQ states is that you will also be able to force the quality.  So once you get a preview video where you can force the quality I'd recommend making an evaluation against that.

And stop jumping to conclusions, this is a new service in NZ so there will be teething issues (Sky TV had these back in the beginning)

JarrodM: If you want to check out the 3000kbps here is the direct link http://nlds119.cdnak.neulion.com/nlds_vod/coliseum/vod/prev_sun_v_man_city.mp4/prev_sun_v_man_city_1_3000.mp4

JarrodM: If you want to check out the 3000kbps here is the direct link http://nlds119.cdnak.neulion.com/nlds_vod/coliseum/vod/prev_sun_v_man_city.mp4/prev_sun_v_man_city_1_3000.mp4

Inphinity:

JarrodM: If you want to check out the 3000kbps here is the direct link http://nlds119.cdnak.neulion.com/nlds_vod/coliseum/vod/prev_sun_v_man_city.mp4/prev_sun_v_man_city_1_3000.mp4

Well, it's a step up from the original sample, imo, but still lacking for what should be a premium product. As others have said previously in this thread, it feels like stepping backwards in time for video quality.

Inphinity:

voy1d: I think you'll find that preview uses their adaptive tech to stream the video, meaning that it will conservatively estimate your bandwidth and adjust the feed quality.  As such you will find that it is probably fluctuating 800 kbps and 1600 kbps (or looks like that when I compare it to the NHL platform which runs off the same platform.)

What the FAQ states is that you will also be able to force the quality.  So once you get a preview video where you can force the quality I'd recommend making an evaluation against that.

And stop jumping to conclusions, this is a new service in NZ so there will be teething issues (Sky TV had these back in the beginning)

Why doesn't it hit 3Mbps? Is the sample intentionally reduced quality? If so, that seems a poor decision when it's going to be a key factor for many peoples decision.

Inphinity: If it doesn't think there's bandwidth to deliver 3Mbps, surely forcing it to do so is only likely to lead to buffering issues?

Inphinity: Yes, it's a new service in NZ, but it's (apparently) using a deployment platform that's been proven overseas (see the NFL streaming as an example), and also has the advantage now that the general infrastructure around the country is able to support this sort of thing for the most part. It seems to have been implemented in a rush and without significant forethought about the expectations of the customers, or the implementation of the platform. The lack of planned support for SmartTVs etc is another hurdle, for example. It comes across as a cash grab followed by an "Oh crap, now we have to actually do something with it" moment.