Watching Spark Sport (including launch and pricing)

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2798 posts

Uber Geek

#2199663 16-Mar-2019 17:21

I don't actually care about the precise technical details and for the most part I probably wouldn't understand; I'm a Civil Engineer not an IT person... however all I care about is a reliable, working platform that delivers a high quality outcome that reaches what Sky used to have at a base level. I care deeply about F1 having watched it every year since I was probably around 16 and I'm now almost 40 and have not missed a season yet, hence my passion about getting this right.

I am also noticing worse quality via the casting process compared to in the browser on my HP Elitebook X2 1012; clearly this needs to be equitable for the service to attract users otherwise we end up in the same place the PLP had with the EPL where it was connect via HDMI to your TV to make it work well.

C0rsa

32 posts

Geek

#2199664 16-Mar-2019 17:23

They produce a magazine style show between qualifying and race day that features different teams and drivers and interviews. I guess it is part of the Sky F1 stable, as opposed to the international feed that Spark are procuring

Benoire

2798 posts

Uber Geek

#2199712 16-Mar-2019 18:40

whats all these sky creative agency stuff?

Benoire

2798 posts

Uber Geek

#2199717 16-Mar-2019 18:44

Its really disconcerting as I have no idea if the stream has crashed or not while this is on.

Benoire

2798 posts

Uber Geek

#2199722 16-Mar-2019 18:48

cast / stream has crashed again and app has just brought up the DRM error again.

Benoire

2798 posts

Uber Geek

#2199725 16-Mar-2019 18:52

Talkiet:

Benoire:

Its really disconcerting as I have no idea if the stream has crashed or not while this is on.

I'll report that I guess, but it's obviously not what's intended and if that's what's bothering you most about it at the moment then I'm pretty happy :-)

N

Yeah generally the stream is much better today and little to no judder compared to for fp1/2; app is still crashing but I'm using it to try and provide some measure of feedback. As we're in the almost correct timezone for the race, the VOD stuff doesn't matter to me right now, that will only kick in during the european races.

Crazy loop has just happened, F1 logo break and it looks like the stream has dropped back by 10 minutes? No ability to check if I'm current or not but its telling me its live. Is the stream all over the place?

kiwiharry

1030 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Subscriber

#2199736 16-Mar-2019 19:11

Talkiet:
That loop is the Sky production team practising stuff while the stream is "off air"

N

Please tell me you are not streaming their rehearsals? That stuff is generally not for public consumption and is not supposed to be broadcast/streamed.

If you can't laugh at yourself then you probably shouldn't laugh at others.

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Benoire

2798 posts

Uber Geek

#2199739 16-Mar-2019 19:16

I thought it was the platform that was beta not Spark's utilisation of the content? Are you 'beta-ing' both content and platform?

Oblivian

7300 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#2199751 16-Mar-2019 19:39

Benoire:

I thought it was the platform that was beta not Spark's utilisation of the content? Are you 'beta-ing' both content and platform?

Head off and Investigate Onsite Broadcasting and Host Broadcaster/international production and how they work.

You can get a pre-produced product via the primary broadcaster to simply show users. (commentary and ads included)

Or an un-edited un-produced international raw product event end-to-end with markers for injection of adverts, breaks and other such things. Often with fulltime video coverage, but without mid-break commentary and so on. Split into audio and video feeds of various IDs/sources.

Merge the chosen streams together, and inject how you please post-production. You get a final product localised for your area. Just how when you watch Bathurst after the complaints, when they promised no-ads for Kiwis, Aus FTA(pre Foxtel) still showed them - identifiable by less video cuts and different voices for commentary for a short period but still 'welcome back...' when it never really left.

I suspect, as it was well advised on the NZNOG video, the current post-production touch step in the US that would normally change your experience, is currently very minimal for these tests to avoid disruption and perform analysis. But still manipulable to the point of these slight adjustments and audio stream changes they are making.

Sure, some minor dead air at times. But the alternate, is likely less coverage. And a whole lot of irrelevance.

smcc

205 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

#2199767 16-Mar-2019 20:23

Talkiet:

Sorry, not going to explain it. I don't fully understand the production side and I'm sitting on a (so far) 3 hour 15 minutes audio with the production team doing the live event switching. \

N

Chill, This is more interesting than having ads in the program, you will learn how they put content together. The alternative is Ads in the program.

(Edit sp. - curse my typing)

smcc

205 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

#2199771 16-Mar-2019 20:33

I Just want to say well done to spark sport today. The Stream is good and of pretty consistent quality. Great that you have now got hold of the Sky UK Stream today, rather than the world feed.

There is still small amounts of jitter and lag, but when not casting it's acceptable.

The one thing I was not so happy to learn today, is that we can only have 1 active screen at a time. This is not great in this day and age. Nobody only uses 1 screen these days, IF I want to watch on my multi-screen desktop, with live timimg etc, and my wife wants to watch on the TV in another room not great! they really need to fix this while we need to use casting to watch on the big screen.

Benoire

2798 posts

Uber Geek

#2199810 16-Mar-2019 21:10

So, despite some of my positions about the product/platform, I do wish to congratulate spark on what appeared to be a successful set of events. Clearly the main event is tomorrow and I'll post my full thoughts then but some initial feedback. I've decided that I shall use the app as much as I possibly can in order to provide as much feedback as possible, even if I get the crashes and missing bits.

Picture & motion: Picture quality is fantastic, easily comparable with the Sky feed from last year which is all I could ask for as I was happy with that. Fast panning motion appeared to have less judder in FP3 and Qualifying compared to FP1/2 so that's really good. Overall very happy with what I physically saw from the race.

Content: Clearly some issues with the ad breaks which made me question if something had happened to the stream; i.e. was it still running, had the app crashed etc.? but everything appeared to be smooth outside of those issues in terms of the content production, continuity etc.

Platform & App: Ignoring my earlier VOD questions, the live stream seemed to stream well through the platform. It dropped quality a few times until I forced the stream quality to 1080p. The android app appears to have considerable issues with maintaining a cast to my Shields (both of them) and will stop working. Understand you will improve on this but worth putting here. App has some shortfalls already noted by others including no actual time bar to know where you are or how long you've paused the stream - this then means no idea how far you need to go back or forwards. No quick 30s back button to jump back slightly which I expect will be annoying until time skip is implemented.

I currently have no confidence that if I pause the stream it will actually come back to life and continue on fine; i left the post race stuff on pause while I put my son to bed and it just stopped completely a few minutes back and I suspect I won't be able to get to it now as it will be classed as VOD due to it being after 9pm - just checked and this is correct, so I won't get the post race stuff until tomorrow now most likely. I think this is worth noting as it might catch a few people out that are normally used to pause / play simplicity of Sky, especially if someone else takes control of the TV to do something else.

A dedicated Android TV app will be good as I do not have that much confidence in casting in general and try to avoid if possible. I know Spark seem to like Sony, but Spark Sport should be an exception to get the most audience.

Sound: Sound was good generally, with the right Sky UK stuff. Not sure what happened during the interviews, the background audio was a strong as the foreground making it difficult to hear Vettel talk as a result.

So all in all a good start and apart from the app crashes and casting issues the actual content was strong and of good quality. Clearly I have high expectations for the product and I do expect Spark to get there, I just hope it gets there before the night races otherwise it will be disappointing.

Here's for a successful main race and a trouble free experience for all including Spark staff who will clearly be working hard to get this platform launched.

Cheers

Chris

Apsattv

2390 posts

Uber Geek

#2199886 16-Mar-2019 23:30

The SKY UK raw G.P feed is it being taken from a satellite somewhere or via I.P playout to iplanetstream

Wellingtondave

159 posts

Master Geek

#2199902 17-Mar-2019 01:33

Not to be discussed here but I've taken other measures to watch Melbourne at least. This ridiculous carry on from Spark must be driving a few in the same direction.

Apsattv

2390 posts

Uber Geek

#2199903 17-Mar-2019 01:36

Wellingtondave:

Not to be discussed here but I've taken other measures to watch Melbourne at least. This ridiculous carry on from Spark must be driving a few in the same direction.

Give them a chance they have only been up and running for 5 minutes

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