Watching Spark Sport (including launch and pricing)

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6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2200481 17-Mar-2019 22:19

smidon:
ACompleteMuppet: Hmm just trying to watch the race now, but when casting (iOS) to CC2 I can’t seem to get the cast to start from the start of coverage, so just had the podium presentation on the big screen! Bugger. Then trying to ‘rewind’ rewinds the app, but not the feed. Any ideas?

Exactly the issue I had - see my posts above. Have sent that into the Spark feedback thingy as requested above. Please do the same (just copy & paste your text).

Cheers, I thought I’d read something to that effect, but couldn’t for the life of me find it.

I’ve sent the feedback through on the link supplied earlier.

insane

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#2200498 18-Mar-2019 00:01

Worked great today casting from a Galaxy S7 to a Chomecast Ultra. Two minor stutters where ~5-10 seconds just vanished (the first one was right when a certain Aussie driver apparently lost a front wing).

Overall I'd say a solid 8.5/10. Would give it more if they natively supported Fire TV - but understand why that may never happen.

Perhaps someone can hack together a Kodi plugin that can auth and connect to the streams?

Apsattv

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#2200499 18-Mar-2019 00:17

Where's the Liverpool TV linear channel that was mentioned in the rights and content ?

Is there a planned start date for that?

and surely linear feeds of ESPN and Eurosports will be added?

DavidSpark

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2200532 18-Mar-2019 08:18

Hi everyone,

Some thoughts on the past three days:

Platform: really pleased with how this performed- didn't miss a beat. Quality of the stream was crisp and never left HD for me

Network: No issues here- CDN perfect (thanks @talkiet ). I tried switching to 4G to see how that performed- no difference what I saw relative to my standard fibre connection

Apps: Performed well, but with some beta bugs to sort (e.g. rewind back to the start of a live event). I agree with the comments on the importance of getting the native apps for Apple TV/ Smart TVs etc up and running, which are all underway

Production: A few things here to work on. From the audio feed on Day 1 to the static blank red screen we used yesterday when Sky UK went to breaks, we'll get better at making this more seamless. We'll be running our own ads in these breaks in the future....but like yesterday we won't be running ads during the race

Misc: Not ideal to switch from one feed (pre-race) to another (race)- but not sure how fast it will be to resolve. We'll also work on the turnaround time to get live events back into the library as VOD assets

In terms of the less tech-savvy audience outside of this forum, we had a few issues with people using un-supported devices and being unhappy that these didn't work (despite being told that their devices were unsupported). But I'm not critical of this view- after all, it's our job to make the tech as easy to use and accessible as possible.

Thanks for the interest in Spark Sport and the detailed, constructive feedback you've given over the weekend. Overall, we're really pleased with our first big test and the response from customers.

David

tdgeek

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#2200534 18-Mar-2019 08:25

Thanks David. The post race was combined with the race, is it possible to have one feed pre, race, post?

Ads would be good, to help support SS, and to show users that its still running and not a hidden glitch

Yesterday was top notch

GV27

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#2200545 18-Mar-2019 08:42

I was really happy with yesterday. Lost the race at one point on Spark but just flipped over to Duke and restarted the app and things were fine, so I'm happy to write that off as being a connection issue at my end.

The pre-race to race coverage wouldn't need to be automatic; if I'm watching the pre-race and a race stream is about to begin, a notification would be fine.

DavidSpark

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Wannabe Geek

#2200547 18-Mar-2019 08:44

GV27:

I was really happy with yesterday. Lost the race at one point on Spark but just flipped over to Duke and restarted the app and things were fine, so I'm happy to write that off as being a connection issue at my end.

The pre-race to race coverage wouldn't need to be automatic; if I'm watching the pre-race and a race stream is about to begin, a notification would be fine.

That's a good point on notifications- it does need something so that viewers aren't left guessing

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#2200557 18-Mar-2019 09:15

Talkiet:

It's nothing to do with rights. In _very_ simple terms the platform treats live and VOD (Video on Demand) assets differently. It still allows viewers to seek within the live asset while it's active, but when the live event finishes, the video from the live event is repackaged into a VoD asset. I don't know how much work is done to the file between the 2 formats but it's not an instantaneous process I'm afraid.

Cheers - N

This may have been answered further in the thread but I am here in the thread so, are you able to clarify if this is a temporary thing or not? The way I watch sport indicates this could be a major pain if a 4 hour delay is going to be normal and ongoing?

Typically (with sky) I build around 15-30 minutes into my timeframes and watch what am recording on that delay. This allows me to fast forward long breaks in play, or ad's or what not. Given during RWC I will be watching each match, I also like to be able to fast forward a lot of set peice set ups so I can actually get through the days content each day. If I understand this correctly, this means if there is a continued 30 minute delay (as in I don't catch up inside the timeframe of the original live stream) I could potentially end up missing the last 20-30 minutes of a game, and then have to wait 4 hours to see how it ends?

I apologise if I have misunderstood.

Benoire

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#2200590 18-Mar-2019 09:41

That's an interesting question, I thought the answer was that if you started at any point on the live stream you would continue on until its finished, but if it crashes etc. then you cannot resume until the VOD is available... Does the system stop streaming the live feed past the show end, even if you're not finished? If I pause something for 30 minutes to put the kids to bed and then come back, will I eventually lose the 30 minutes? If not, then that means the live feed is still in the CDN until the last user has finished and surely that must be an easier way to keep access to the stream while the VOD asset is created...

I noticed that the VOD files are called replays, seems a bit strange you would call them that the whole purpose of ondemand is to watch at any time... something titled replay seems to be curtailed or constrained as it would on TV... Perhaps just simply using 'Live' for live events and the event name without 'reply' for the VOD would look better?

davidcole

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#2200593 18-Mar-2019 09:44

Watch the race yesterday....first time watching a full f1 race since the mid 90s.

Using an iPad to a chromecast.

Only had one issue where the chromecast seemed to stop (not sure if it was the lap 5 that people were talking about), but jumping in to the app I could see the stream going, and then there was a bit of weirdness in disconnecting the chromecast from the stream so I could start it again - see below.

Other than that, I was really happy with how stable it was, and how much things had changed since Friday practice. It was just getting more and more stable and you could see the evolution of the streams.

Weird stop casting issue

(I've noticed at a few points if you start streaming, then let the ipad do something else, when you come to disconnect the chromecast, the stop casting button in the spark sport app is ignored, and It tends to run both in the ipad and on the tv...until I go to the google home app and stop the stream)

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#2200595 18-Mar-2019 09:49

I am hoping for a native android app for Shield TV as soon as possible. I've done casting a few times, it's not stable on either of my 2 devices (A brand new 4K Sony Android TV and a Shield latest gen) . The problem is troubleshooting. Is it the source, destination, stream? Logs are nigh impossible to get useful information from. I don't really consider it to be stable in my environment, enough to put the most important sporting event in 4 years across. For me it's a method of last resort.

tdgeek

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#2200597 18-Mar-2019 09:51

davidcole:

Watch the race yesterday....first time watching a full f1 race since the mid 90s.

Using an iPad to a chromecast.

Only had one issue where the chromecast seemed to stop (not sure if it was the lap 5 that people were talking about), but jumping in to the app I could see the stream going, and then there was a bit of weirdness in disconnecting the chromecast from the stream so I could start it again - see below.

Other than that, I was really happy with how stable it was, and how much things had changed since Friday practice. It was just getting more and more stable and you could see the evolution of the streams.

Weird stop casting issue

(I've noticed at a few points if you start streaming, then let the ipad do something else, when you come to disconnect the chromecast, the stop casting button in the spark sport app is ignored, and It tends to run both in the ipad and on the tv...until I go to the google home app and stop the stream)

The lap 5 issue was a glitch thats being looked into, and that can it seems, possibly jigger the casting. It was as though the CC got lost. I couldnt manage anything in the app so shut the app off and ended cast with GH and that was enough

davidcole

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#2200598 18-Mar-2019 09:52

networkn:

I don't really consider it to be stable in my environment, enough to put the most important sporting event in 4 years across. For me it's a method of last resort.

But bathurst isn't on spark sport.....and it's on every year you don't have to wait 4 years for it.

😛

davidcole

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#2200601 18-Mar-2019 09:56

tdgeek:

davidcole:

The lap 5 issue was a glitch thats being looked into, and that can it seems, possibly jigger the casting. It was as though the CC got lost. I couldnt manage anything in the app so shut the app off and ended cast with GH and that was enough

In the scheme of things, a 60+ minute race, it was < 2 minutes of rejigging. Personally I'd almost expect that with broadcast (remember rain fade issues anyone?)

Benoire

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#2200609 18-Mar-2019 10:07

davidcole:

tdgeek:

davidcole:

The lap 5 issue was a glitch thats being looked into, and that can it seems, possibly jigger the casting. It was as though the CC got lost. I couldnt manage anything in the app so shut the app off and ended cast with GH and that was enough

In the scheme of things, a 60+ minute race, it was < 2 minutes of rejigging. Personally I'd almost expect that with broadcast (remember rain fade issues anyone?)

I've never actually suffered rain fade in the 8y of having sky in NZ and didn't get it in the UK either, and 2 minute regigging is awkward in an app as its hard to get back to where you where at the moment.

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