Watching Spark Sport (including launch and pricing)

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71 posts

Master Geek

#2199410 16-Mar-2019 11:15

tdgeek:

I think they will, and yes I do work there and yes I was a tester. The commentary here was quite harsh as things fell behind the expected timelines. Thst fair enough. Day one it was very good. The real test yesterday threw up some issues, that the experts will resolve. But most of us saw what it can be like. My old iPad Air 1 was giving me Sky like viewing. I was working, so not casted yet to TV it I know that already sweet. For me, I did see it "hitting out of the park" for my one single set of usage yesterday afternoon. Unlike yesterday as I am in ChCh I intend to be here thru FP3 and quali to see how we go, and off course to take in my fortnightly passion.

Extremely promising start.

Quality is fantastic. Just a few things to iron out with the occasional judder/frame skip.

Ease of use/convenience needs to be nailed. The experience needs to at least replicate and over time exceed the Sky Sport satellite model.

Based on what I've seen so far, I'm confident they can.

tdgeek

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#2199417 16-Mar-2019 11:20

Benoire: A point of clarification, the feedback has been harsh because all the media releases until last week told us it was all going to be ready in time for f1 fp1 including the vod system. The reality is the product was late to meet that and as such your dealing with frustated sports fans who must use spark sport now when it's ultimately not finished.

Fully understand that, yep. And fair comment. That's my personal view, I'm sure the official people share that.

tdgeek

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#2199419 16-Mar-2019 11:30

KDee:

tdgeek:

I think they will, and yes I do work there and yes I was a tester. The commentary here was quite harsh as things fell behind the expected timelines. Thst fair enough. Day one it was very good. The real test yesterday threw up some issues, that the experts will resolve. But most of us saw what it can be like. My old iPad Air 1 was giving me Sky like viewing. I was working, so not casted yet to TV it I know that already sweet. For me, I did see it "hitting out of the park" for my one single set of usage yesterday afternoon. Unlike yesterday as I am in ChCh I intend to be here thru FP3 and quali to see how we go, and off course to take in my fortnightly passion.

Extremely promising start.

Quality is fantastic. Just a few things to iron out with the occasional judder/frame skip.

Ease of use/convenience needs to be nailed. The experience needs to at least replicate and over time exceed the Sky Sport satellite model.

Based on what I've seen so far, I'm confident they can.

I was just going to post on this. The VOD is great, just has a quick peek before I head out for a bit.

There are a few bits to help ease of use. The Motorsport doesnt have the motorsport Whats On is what I notice. Its beta so there are I assume, other factors that will be in play before long.

Comparisons to Sky Sport is key. I have Sky and I enjoy it. What I see with Spark Sport, is what Sky has lacked and is still not here. I can now watch F1 on my laptop, TV, any of my iPads, any TV. Sky I can watch on the one TV, and Sky Go (which I enjoy), is still linear. So, I see a lot of flexibility with SS.

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#2199421 16-Mar-2019 11:35

All feedback here is certainly appreciated.
Geekzone while very much weighted to the technical aspect always does provide quite comperhensive feedback.
Sometimes the frustration just needs to be pealed back.

Both Neil and I don't work directly on spark sports, but we do want to see it massively succeeded.

We also have a few spark sport folk around here. On top of that a fair few silent readers. Spark is Always keen to hear your views.

We can't always answer your questions straight away, might even ask probing questions that seem rather dumb. But it's all to ensure when we go back to the spark sport team we can detail out your experiences.

As with anything it can only improve :)

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

wratterus

1687 posts

Uber Geek

#2199422 16-Mar-2019 11:36

Just wanted to say a massive thanks to @Talkiet and @hio77

Have obviously been flat out and are doing everything possible to keep people updated and troubleshoot issues - damn good work.

Talkiet:

.....

In firefox at least, you can choose settings/web developer/web console (or browser console) and play a video... You should see a line like this:

"go video quality changed 0 6160 bitmovinplayer-analytics-conviva.js:1:4109"

in the window - that 6160 (or 6000 depending on particular stream) is reserved for 1080P streams (25 and 50FPS) so if you see 6000/6160 you're at 1080P. I don't know a way to check 25/50 sorry.

One quick question in regards to this - bringing up the console window does give that information as you've said - is there any way to actually check the frame rate? Or is it a case of 'if the stream is in 1080p, you are getting whatever frame rate the footage is being supplied to Spark at'?

For example I've just checked a WRC VOD stream, and was seeing 6000, but VOD stream of the F1 Q2 is 6100 - to my eyes I can't really tell a difference, although possibly, just possibly the F1 does look a bit smoother. This is on a laptop connected to a TV over HDMI @ 1080p 60hz. Thanks!

KDee

71 posts

Master Geek

#2199428 16-Mar-2019 11:45

wratterus:

One quick question in regards to this - bringing up the console window does give that information as you've said - is there any way to actually check the frame rate? Or is it a case of 'if the stream is in 1080p, you are getting whatever frame rate the footage is being supplied to Spark at'?

For example I've just checked a WRC VOD stream, and was seeing 6000, but VOD stream of the F1 Q2 is 6100 - to my eyes I can't really tell a difference, although possibly, just possibly the F1 does look a bit smoother. This is on a laptop connected to a TV over HDMI @ 1080p 60hz. Thanks!

I can confirm this output is also available in Chrome dev tools in the console.

To check the FPS, I installed the FPS extension from the Chrome Web Store: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fps-extension/gdkkmimldhefhmmmlalioafomdlahcog

Install the extension, reload the Spark Sport stream, click the extension button and for me it output 60fps with a little graph showing the occasional frame drop.

ACompleteMuppet

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2199460 16-Mar-2019 12:32

Hi there, short term lurker, 1st time poster. I haven’t got any further feedback beyond what has already been said. But, I do have some things to add.

It’s not perfect, and the VOD being delayed is somewhat annoying, although I’m sure going forward will get resolved. But, the quality of the feed has been fantastic. I’ve watched native in app (iOS), and from app (iOS) via Chromecast on the TV and it’s far better than my previous experience using SkyGO.

I’ve read comments here comparing this service to Sky’s service and saying that SS has had plenty of time to get their ducks in a row. What these comments seem to forget is that Sky has years longer to get their ducks lined and STILL couldn’t get it right. I’m not talking about the quality of the service, but the ACCESSIBILITY of the service. My own situation I’m only really interested in F1 and WRC so I wouldn’t pay Sky’s exorbitant fees; so the only way I could watch F1 was by getting the login details of my in-laws and watching via SkyGO. There was no VOD, I could only watch it when Sky wanted me too. So with the new start times were announced at the start of last season that ruled out nearly all GP’s as I start work at 6am. Sky has had every opportunity to do Sports online properly, the fact Sky did a half arsed attempt at was enough to lock F1 Pro to a two week delay for replays here. But further, due having to watch SkyGO, in app it was ok, but as soon as soon as it was cast from Chrome to my TV the quality was appalling.

So sure, Spark Sport has some improvements needed, but I have every belief that they’ll get it right, and sooner rather than later.

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Kiwi2222

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2199461 16-Mar-2019 12:34

Hello

Disappointed to say the least so far.

No team radio
Commentary not in sync with footage and the slient gaps for sky uk branding used to be.

If we don't see as much of the behind the seens as sky uk F1 commentery team provided before its going backwards.

Will wait until after first race to see if it's going to be what I expect just live pictures and parts of sky uk commentery for weekend over played with gaps.

I will miss the first season of F1 in 20+ years if Spark end up showing less coverage less interviews anything less than what we expect for a multi million dollar sport.

Looks to me spent all there money on buying rights then went ohhhh

sleepy

334 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2199481 16-Mar-2019 12:57

Was hoping to watch the 2nd practice from yesterday but cant find it available, can they only be watched at the time

tdgeek

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#2199483 16-Mar-2019 13:01

Kiwi2222: Hello

Disappointed to say the least so far.

No team radio
Commentary not in sync with footage and the slient gaps for sky uk branding used to be.

If we don't see as much of the behind the seens as sky uk F1 commentery team provided before its going backwards.

Will wait until after first race to see if it's going to be what I expect just live pictures and parts of sky uk commentery for weekend over played with gaps.

I will miss the first season of F1 in 20+ years if Spark end up showing less coverage less interviews anything less than what we expect for a multi million dollar sport.

Looks to me spent all there money on buying rights then went ohhhh

While I was called away most of yesterday, there were issues that were noticed, resolved or more or less resolved with sound and with feeds.I noted that the world feed was in use for a period and not the Sky feed. With all that on mind I'd reset the opinion for now, and see what happens today. they did sort some things while it was live, its now been overnight, so lets start over. Its beta remember. Not making excuses but its a beta, things were done/managed in real time, and it was day one of live. The VOD replay is great, so lets see how todays live goes.

tdgeek

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#2199485 16-Mar-2019 13:03

sleepy:

Was hoping to watch the 2nd practice from yesterday but cant find it available, can they only be watched at the time

Go to Home (click Spark Sport top left) then scroll to Most recent, it's there. Ive raised this

sleepy

334 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2199511 16-Mar-2019 13:45

tdgeek thank you

DavidSpark

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2199522 16-Mar-2019 14:06

Hi Everyone,

My name is David- I am the CFO at Spark and the Executive Lead for Spark Sport- in other words, I look after the new Sports business from a governance perspective but don't run it day-to-day. Like many here, I love Formula 1- I have a replica of Senna's helmet in my office and watch most races, despite the time zone differences. Big fan of McLaren for more than 30 years, although I have drifted over to Red Bull in recent years to follow Webber and Ricciardo.

I am not a technical guy- so I can't add to the discussions here on the technical side of Spark Sport, but I am happy to answer questions when I can about the service. The reason that we are happy to have some of our team represent the official Spark position on this forum is because we know and respect your opinions. Rest assured that your comments are being heard. I can't promise you that we'll be able to meet everyone of your requests, but they are heard and considered.

A couple of responses to questions/ comments from previous posts:

- On Demand. In these early days, our position is that we will have replays up within 4 hours. Last night FP2 was up a lot faster than that, and over time we'll get this time down. We'd like it to be immediately, but it may take us some time to get there.

- Features: Rest assured that there is a strong pipeline of enhancements and new features coming. These were never intended for Day 1, but as a build over the coming months. You may not have noticed, but the iOS app has already been updated from the first version in the app store and you can expect regular updates, as with any other app. I can't give you specific answers now on which features when.

- Shame yesterday about the background audio. This was not an issue with our platform, but rather the audio feed that we were given. We had this resolved during FP1, but opted to not cut across ahead of FP2 as we didn't want to risk any disruptions. The feed that you will get on Spark Sport is the Sky UK feed (in my opinion, clearly the best coverage), with all the pre and post race commentary. We're aiming for this to be in place from today. Yesterday, we had the global picture feed with Sky UK commentary, but without the track sound effects. Not the end of the world, but not what we- or you- wanted.

- Quite a few comments on Kayo: Yep, we watched them very closely when they launched and I've been using their service over summer in Australia. Like us, they launched in Beta and have been adding features regularly since launch. It's a great product...we are not planning on being the second best platform in Australasia, but they do have ~6 months on us in terms of development pipeline.

- Beta: I don't apologise for us being in Beta for the first race. That was always the reality of our build programme when it was signed off, and if it could have been done faster, it would have been. That's the reason why we decided to show the first race on TVNZ. We weren't forced to do this, but figured that anything in Beta- no matter how many hours you put into the Alpha- carried more risk and that timing meant that there wouldn't be a lot of time ahead of the Aus GP.

Anyway, I don't want to inundate this thread with *another* Spark employee posting, but given I'm reading what you're all saying, I thought it was only right to drop in and say hello.

David

Kiwi2222

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2199533 16-Mar-2019 14:14

tdgeek:
sleepy:

Was hoping to watch the 2nd practice from yesterday but cant find it available, can they only be watched at the time

Go to Home (click Spark Sport top left) then scroll to Most recent, it's there. Ive raised this

Let's hope. Only time will tell. If they can do as good a job as Sky UK and we don't lose what we are used to been able to watch.

And I still wish for only us interested in motorsport a cheaper option. Why am I pay for the millions spent on English football rights too. I know why.

A company in financial trouble not just with spark sport launch

Let's hope they do a multi million dollar sport justice for the decades of dedicated fans.

Or I'll be back. In 2021 when it all changes again with chase Carey's plans and F1 corporation take control hopefully. Yesterday isn't how they want to be promoted

smidon

91 posts

Master Geek

#2199552 16-Mar-2019 14:39

Thank you David for chiming in ... we all want this to work, and having the TVNZ channel was a good plan on your part. A compounding problem is, this is the first race of the season - if ever there were one we don't want to miss, this is it.

So, today/this morning I have 2 problems. I can't play the OD copies/editions (whatever) of FP1 and FP2. I get ...

Problem 1 ... on (Win 10 PC, Chrome browser) I get ...

a multi-coloured vertical striped background (not a rainbow but 6 colours + white

text as follows

"WIF GRAPHICS SAFE"

a rotating F1 logo

more text "Audio +ODBU [-18BdBFS] Ch1 + Ch2 ... Dolby E Ident Ch3 + Ch4"

Problem 2

I can watch on iPad, but I can't cast (to CC Ultra) ... it just says SparkSport, stay tuned, coming shortly" (or something like that, as though I'm watching the no yet live FP3

Any ideas folks?

cheers Don

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