Watching Spark Sport (including launch and pricing)

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188 posts

Master Geek

#2208089 31-Mar-2019 11:24

Qualifying is up

Kiwi2222

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Wannabe Geek

#2208091 31-Mar-2019 11:32

Unbelievable NO PRACTICE 3

Someone should be fired!!!!

I saw all this when nothing was set months out from season

Can change the name Telecom but doesn't change a failing company.

If you are listening reading this. The formula 1 fan base who are key to your success and you look like amateurs. The technology is out there as many other providers prove everyday yet you can't even get basic platform for watching close to the likes of Netflix let alone stream or have on demand.

Furious again at this

I expect 3month free trail now when you can't prove yourself anyone else????

sbiddle

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#2208097 31-Mar-2019 11:40

AgentX20:

My 'TV PC' is a lowly (2.4GHz) dual core machine with an AMD 5450. It can stream Youtube and play 1080p x264 videos without problems but runs 100% CPU and is a stutter-fest with SparkSport streams in any browser I try. There are no controls or settings I can play with. I've tried Firefox as has been suggested elsewhere vs Chrome and Edge, and it is a little better but is still no good. It seems the machine is simply being overwhelmed processing the stream - which consumes vast CPU even when paused.

The fact you can play YouTube is very different - your GPU is simply so old it doesn't support hardware offload for the profile used by Spark Sport - hence software decoding which your CPU then struggles with.

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#2208099 31-Mar-2019 11:48

sbiddle:
AgentX20:

My 'TV PC' is a lowly (2.4GHz) dual core machine with an AMD 5450. It can stream Youtube and play 1080p x264 videos without problems but runs 100% CPU and is a stutter-fest with SparkSport streams in any browser I try. There are no controls or settings I can play with. I've tried Firefox as has been suggested elsewhere vs Chrome and Edge, and it is a little better but is still no good. It seems the machine is simply being overwhelmed processing the stream - which consumes vast CPU even when paused.

The fact you can play YouTube is very different - your GPU is simply so old it doesn't support hardware offload for the profile used by Spark Sport - hence software decoding which your CPU then struggles with.

Also video decryption in there.

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

hio77

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#2208100 31-Mar-2019 11:51

philakl:
Was just about to post exactly the same comments. I thought it was just me. Also got a DRM error saying could not be watched in this region.

Called Spark and after bouncing through four departments was told they will contact me within 24 hours. Oh joy.

Sort of bummed out my morning as was looking forward to watching the qualifying.

Your error here is calling.

The correct sport support channel is help.sparksport.co.nz.this will take you to live chat.

If you were not advised this on the phone I do apologise.

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hio77

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#2208109 31-Mar-2019 12:21

Jase2985:
@hio77: Your error here is calling.

The correct sport support channel is help.sparksport.co.nz.this will take you to live chat.

If you were not advised this on the phone I do apologise.

Except the message on the live chat button says "Live Chat (Offline), Available between 8am - 10pm"

its 12pm....

fat lot of good that is

So it's open for another 10 hours?
If your on your sat connection give it a moment. Loads as offline first then updates when the async callback confirms open.

#include <std_disclaimer>

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

AgentX20

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Master Geek

#2208111 31-Mar-2019 12:22

hio77:
sbiddle:

AgentX20:

My 'TV PC' is a lowly (2.4GHz) dual core machine with an AMD 5450. It can stream Youtube and play 1080p x264 videos without problems but runs 100% CPU and is a stutter-fest with SparkSport streams in any browser I try. There are no controls or settings I can play with. I've tried Firefox as has been suggested elsewhere vs Chrome and Edge, and it is a little better but is still no good. It seems the machine is simply being overwhelmed processing the stream - which consumes vast CPU even when paused.

The fact you can play YouTube is very different - your GPU is simply so old it doesn't support hardware offload for the profile used by Spark Sport - hence software decoding which your CPU then struggles with.

Also video decryption in there.

Yes, I'd figured it was too old and for some reason was streaming purely in software - and that SparkSport's stream is rather demanding as streams go. The video card is a single slot passively cooled card - perfect for its original use on Windows Media Centre and does do hardware 264 decode on a variety of codecs. I'll look into a 'newer' single slot (space is limited) solution. I only really mentioned it due to the frustrations with iOS devices and Airplay, and streaming in general. My main PC has no trouble handling the streams but doesn't quite offer the chilling on the couch experience.

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hio77

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#2208112 31-Mar-2019 12:26

It does decode still on a reasonable gpu (it does on my surface gpu and my 460gtx..)

But the actual cpu decode, on some systems is rather demanding.
I personally feel some optimization could be possible but that's purely down to how hard the cpu hit can be rather than any technical drilling into what each cycle is doing.

I passed the feedback to the team when I noticed this may become a problem for some users.

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Jase2985

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#2208113 31-Mar-2019 12:27

hio77:
Jase2985:

@hio77: Your error here is calling.

The correct sport support channel is help.sparksport.co.nz.this will take you to live chat.

If you were not advised this on the phone I do apologise.

Except the message on the live chat button says "Live Chat (Offline), Available between 8am - 10pm"

its 12pm....

fat lot of good that is

So it's open for another 10 hours?
If your on your sat connection give it a moment. Loads as offline first then updates when the async callback confirms open.

it wouldnt give me the option to click it hence the comment

tried a different browser and it works now

noroad

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#2208114 31-Mar-2019 12:27

AgentX20:

My 'TV PC' is a lowly (2.4GHz) dual core machine with an AMD 5450. It can stream Youtube and play 1080p x264 videos without problems but runs 100% CPU and is a stutter-fest with SparkSport streams in any browser I try. There are no controls or settings I can play with. I've tried Firefox as has been suggested elsewhere vs Chrome and Edge, and it is a little better but is still no good. It seems the machine is simply being overwhelmed processing the stream - which consumes vast CPU even when paused.

I'd suggest a card that can do x265 hardware decode. Personally I use an entry level 2G GTX 1050. Its also single slot with no external power but can sustain 4k 60P smoothly.

langi27

675 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2208121 31-Mar-2019 12:59

Did I miss something, where is Bahrain F2 Race 1?

ockel

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#2208236 31-Mar-2019 16:26

Well Stuff is calling last nights efforts an epic fail https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/111678294/race-fans-angered-as-spark-sport-formula-1-coverage-stalls. Which doesnt help given that its sports writer couldnt watch the Melbourne F1GP via SS.

Granny Herald is a little more forgiving although I note that its not written by Sparks fanboy - maybe he is waiting on tweets from Moutter before presenting any apology to readers.

Blaming the platform provider is passing the buck that fans just dont care about. Its gotta work and work flawlessly every time, no excuses. Not for the "vast majority" of users but for all users.

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smcc

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Master Geek

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#2208238 31-Mar-2019 16:29

KiwiLip:

Ahhhh - so promising the first race - now a shambles.

With so many races over night and and watched as a VOD, I hope this is not a pattern that will be repeated - maybe need to get someone working Sunday/Monday mornings to watch out for these issues!

I don't know why everyone fell for the story that the first race was promising, they had plenty of issues, however, last night was exceptionally bad. I guess we were all keen to give the benefit of the doubt.

My summary of observed issues form race 1 w/e (Aus)

1. Missed a good portion of P1.

2. Had to use world feed rather than SkyUK programme with intro/outro.

3. Stream quality issues at times

4. Casting is not great lots of lag and jitter.

for w/e 2 (Bahrain) thus far.

1. Missed the start of every program except quali.

2. Stream errors not recovered and killed the whole stream for F2 Race, FP3 and Quali.

3. Not sourcing a good file from FOM or Sky UK to stand up a streamable VOD asset for the failed streams. (Now done for Quali).

4. no VOD assets for F2 Race or FP3.

5. Continued poor performance of the casting solution

My other main gripe is the one screen active at once offering. This means I have to be in the same room as my PC and can't easily transfer to another TV when I want to watch in another room (e.g. my bedroom TV)