Watching Spark Sport (including launch and pricing)

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2798 posts

Uber Geek

#2216784 14-Apr-2019 10:21

Spark should be supporting only those devices that are official chrome casts or officially running android OS/TV.. the list for chromecasts is quite small and the official phones are easy as they have google apps installed at the get go. outside of that, all those custom chinese boxes are the edge cases.

I've been testing the chromecast to shield from my laptop to the shield in the lounge and so far I haven't had any issues with the qualifying reply, so I reckon its either the phone or the app in conjunction with the phone, espeically since Talkiet has no problems with his Sheild.

Was also talking with SS support and they now expect paid subs even though the service is still classed as beta. I get today's race as part of the 1st month trial but after this ends I'm not confident I will resub, $20 a month for a single sport on a platform still in beta and with issues I'm not sure that is value for money there... When the EPL starts then it would have more value as I currently pay sky $16 a month for that access through bein so will have more value but right now, its a tough ask.

D.W

726 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2216785 14-Apr-2019 10:27

Jase2985:
No you shouldn't but it might help to be able to prove that the sheild is the issue so then spark know and can fix it. At he moment his issue could be either device.

While sheilds might be good to add to the devices to test, how far do you go along that route? Test on every single Chinese Android box on trademe? With every single phone on sale in NZ? It adds a lot of cost to the testing. More technically orientated users can help out by identifying where issues lie then submitting a report on the webpage.

Spark can't test for every possible senario. The app on one device with the second Android version on another may play differently due to how the manufacturer has intergrated things.

I have no issues on my Huawei mate 9 with Android pie to a gen 2 Chromecast. Nor via chrome on Windows 10 to a Chromecast. Gen 2

If he doesn't have another device to test with, suggesting testing with another device isn't very useful. And if he did, and it worked fine, that still doesn't negate the fact that ideally they should test on that device in the future.

As for how far to take it, that's up to Spark and to what level of support they want to provide. If they aren't really interested in anything other than the most basic of compatibility, sure, but if they want to provide support for additional devices, the Shield TV is a reasonable candidate

Jase2985

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#2216883 14-Apr-2019 11:10

D.W:

Jase2985:
No you shouldn't but it might help to be able to prove that the sheild is the issue so then spark know and can fix it. At he moment his issue could be either device.

While sheilds might be good to add to the devices to test, how far do you go along that route? Test on every single Chinese Android box on trademe? With every single phone on sale in NZ? It adds a lot of cost to the testing. More technically orientated users can help out by identifying where issues lie then submitting a report on the webpage.

Spark can't test for every possible senario. The app on one device with the second Android version on another may play differently due to how the manufacturer has intergrated things.

I have no issues on my Huawei mate 9 with Android pie to a gen 2 Chromecast. Nor via chrome on Windows 10 to a Chromecast. Gen 2

If he doesn't have another device to test with, suggesting testing with another device isn't very useful. And if he did, and it worked fine, that still doesn't negate the fact that ideally they should test on that device in the future.

As for how far to take it, that's up to Spark and to what level of support they want to provide. If they aren't really interested in anything other than the most basic of compatibility, sure, but if they want to provide support for additional devices, the Shield TV is a reasonable candidate

he has said he has a laptop so he can use that to try and cast from, that will eliminate the phone from the equation and almost certainly prove the shield or the phone is the issue.

im not disagreeing that the sheild tv is a reasonable candidate for a supported device. but its not supported yet (yes i realise its got chromecast built in but its physically not a chromecast it has everything else built around it which could be causing issues.

its about eliminating the variables. spark might eventually get there but it may take time.

Benoire

2798 posts

Uber Geek

#2216930 14-Apr-2019 11:44

Jase2985:

he has said he has a laptop so he can use that to try and cast from, that will eliminate the phone from the equation and almost certainly prove the shield or the phone is the issue.

im not disagreeing that the sheild tv is a reasonable candidate for a supported device. but its not supported yet (yes i realise its got chromecast built in but its physically not a chromecast it has everything else built around it which could be causing issues.

its about eliminating the variables. spark might eventually get there but it may take time.

Just in case it was missed, I ran the entire qualifying VOD from the laptop to the Shield without trouble, but then so did the phone to the Shield for FP2 & 3. While my phone had said that the app was not being optimised for battery I have turned off battery optimisation completely to see if that may cause the issues with the app screwing up.

@talkiet what android version are you using on the S9 note and do you have a similar battery optimisation setting?

Benoire

2798 posts

Uber Geek

#2216998 14-Apr-2019 16:22

Do you know if its android 8 or 9 as 9 comes with the battery optimisation which 8 didn't have.

tdgeek

29746 posts

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#2217060 14-Apr-2019 19:30

Again, Watch From Start does not work. A family errand caused me to miss the start, so now I cannot watch it, until its finished, which I assume is also the post race, then the time it takes to create the VOD asset, so race night is ruined.

Benoire

2798 posts

Uber Geek

#2217061 14-Apr-2019 19:32

Can you not cast and then immediately drag back? Perhaps mute TV and then look only at the phone/tablet?! I do feel your pain though, happened to me during melbourne.

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D.W

726 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2217085 14-Apr-2019 20:16

I thought I'd be able to watch today's racing, my subscription shows: "You will be able to view content until 15/04/2019", and the 'resume' button is greyed out, but when I try load the race, if I choose 'watch live' it tells me I need a subscription (although it does have the option from there to 'resubscribe now'). On both web browser and Android app.

event2

188 posts

Master Geek

#2217095 14-Apr-2019 20:54

Benoire:

Can you not cast and then immediately drag back? Perhaps mute TV and then look only at the phone/tablet?! I do feel your pain though, happened to me during melbourne.

I'm in the same boat, its super frustrating!!!

Benoire

2798 posts

Uber Geek

#2217097 14-Apr-2019 20:58

Don't worry, you can now pay for the privilege of them fixing the issue that has been reported since the platform went live 😋

tdgeek

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#2217155 15-Apr-2019 07:26

Benoire:

Can you not cast and then immediately drag back? Perhaps mute TV and then look only at the phone/tablet?! I do feel your pain though, happened to me during melbourne.

Are you referring to my From Start not working?

IPad, casting. Tried everything, no go. Tried Macbook and it did work on that, so I watched that. Ipad app suddenly has this issue? I can't see how

Benoire

2798 posts

Uber Geek

#2217173 15-Apr-2019 08:09

Android has it too I just have to drag the time bar back otherwise you see what is currently live

tdgeek

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#2217176 15-Apr-2019 08:15

Benoire: Android has it too I just have to drag the time bar back otherwise you see what is currently live

Yes, and that was fine with my iPad till this weekend.

Benoire

2798 posts

Uber Geek

#2217195 15-Apr-2019 08:35

oh I don't know then! SS breaking the app one race at a time.

PolicyGuy

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#2217247 15-Apr-2019 10:02

tdgeek:

Again, Watch From Start does not work.

Not for me, either, so I missed most of the pre-race coverage, and I had to be sure I was glued to the telly to not miss the actual race start. Very aggravating.

I'm casting from a Samsung GalaxyPad S2 to a ChromeCast, btw

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