Watching Spark Sport (including launch and pricing)

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#2293380 10-Aug-2019 09:35

While I have backed the criticism of Spark Sport in this thread I have to be honest that I have not seen a problem on my devices.

I use Matt Huisman's Spark Sport addon for Kodi on nVidia Shield, Fire TV stick and LibreElec (on a NUC and also on an old PC)

20 minutes into the 2015 NZ vs France game at the moment and it looks great.

(Gb connection with BigPipe via Edgrerouter 4 and Grandstream AP's)

Rob

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#2293433 10-Aug-2019 10:31

I just tried the new and improved 25fps version of SS casting to my UHD tv and it was absolutely painful to watch with the 'motion enhancement on, which is a real shame as the F1 previously looked really nice.

For the price it's ok but the quality now is only on par with HD pirated streams. I'd even go as far as to say I've seen some pirated streams which have better quality. That fps drop really killed it.

Batman

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#2293438 10-Aug-2019 10:35

Meanwhile I'm spending my weekend trying to side load apk onto Tizen and WebOS TVs without much luck.

With the Tizen TV in so close, got everything but the tv will not allow my computer to connect to it.

evilonenz

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#2293439 10-Aug-2019 10:36

Had a quick play about this morning on my Samsung TV, with the Spark Sport app. Tried playing around with the 'Auto Motion Plus' options. Turning this off yields a very slight improvement, but obviously still lacking from the smooth action that 60fps would provide!

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Batman

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#2293440 10-Aug-2019 10:37

evilonenz:
Had a quick play about this morning on my Samsung TV, with the Spark Sport app. Tried playing around with the 'Auto Motion Plus' options. Turning this off yields a very slight improvement, but obviously still lacking from the smooth action that 60fps would provide!

Make sure you check all settings as there may be more motion settings buried elsewhere.

evilonenz

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#2293441 10-Aug-2019 10:39

Batman:
evilonenz:

Had a quick play about this morning on my Samsung TV, with the Spark Sport app. Tried playing around with the 'Auto Motion Plus' options. Turning this off yields a very slight improvement, but obviously still lacking from the smooth action that 60fps would provide!

Make sure you check all settings as there may be more motion settings buried elsewhere.

Yeah, I went through with a fine tooth comb. The major contributor to a better picture was definitely Auto Motion Plus, nothing else really managed to change the picture. I did also note minor differences when setting it between Auto, Custom and Off, but again, not with the best results, but definitely better than previous.

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Starlith

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#2293442 10-Aug-2019 10:53

I think the biggest problem they have is that people are going to compare the Spark Sports stream quality to Sky Sport broadcast is in terms of picture quality, motion and sound. Its apparent that the motion isn't up to par of Sky though its much better than Sky's streaming platforms but it still leaves alot to be desired.

For me I can live with it as I have been using FanPass 720p 30hz streams for a long time and having to optimise my TV's motion settings to make the motion smoother and more watchable. But I still expect better from Spark especially as there is no other alternative to watching Spark Sport without streaming, they need to get that framerate delivery improved if ever so slightly.

For example the premier league game and the tennis this morning the ball movement jutters, even with Motion turned off on the TV it didn't improve to the motion quality of a Sky broadcast. I tried both the TV app and the Kodi addon with the same results. I can live with it but I really think this needs to be sorted on the streaming side or by Spark evenetually setting up alternative broadcast solution such as IPTV.

At the moment I'm dissapointed but at the same time I expected this to happen when they decided to launch the streaming service and its still in Beta. If they can't sort it out the motion issues by the time the rugby starts then thats a going to piss me off because the pass is quite pricey. I just wished they had an IPTV alternative.

robfish

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#2293453 10-Aug-2019 11:39

Another plug for the Kodi add-on.

I was dropped off at work while my wife is shopping.

On an old i5 PC with only 4Gb ram I freshly installed LinuxMint 19.2 and Kodi, Chrome and Dropbox.

I added Matt Huisman's Spark Sport addon and tested on our 100/100 connection and it was fine (even while Thunderbird and Dropbox were still doing their first sync)

Rob

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#2293456 10-Aug-2019 12:02

Can one install the Spark Sport add on to the kodi on Xbox one or an LG tv?

Ellwood

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#2293464 10-Aug-2019 12:29

Any android whizz's out there.. ?

i have an android tv Box (Minix X8h) works fine with other apps, but my spark sport trial has so far failed.. i can browse the shows no bother but when i try to play anything i get a "you must be in New Zealand error"

My IP is definitely in NZ, and no VPN's running. The OS is android 5.1.1 and it isn't rooted. It runs Netflix/threenow and ran Bein and PLP fine. I've reached out to Spark but doesnt appear they have any technical people judging by my interactions so far, and i'm expecting to be fobbed off with an "unsupported device" pretty soon

any thoughts on what to try ?

(i will try this kodi add-on in the mean time)

eracode

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#2293478 10-Aug-2019 12:39

Batman: Can one install the Spark Sport add on to the kodi on Xbox one or an LG tv?

There’s meant to be a SS app coming this month for 2017 or later LG TVs.

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MileHighKiwi

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#2293509 10-Aug-2019 13:24

NBC's EPL streams are far superior to Spark. I've only ever seen pirated NBC streams but even they are significantly better than what Spark is providing with the downgrade in fps.

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#2293605 10-Aug-2019 16:58

I decided not to spend $60 for the Rugby WC. Delayed coverage on TV1 is good enough for me.

I would have been interested in signing up for the EPL, but my team got relegated to the Championship last season (Huddersfield Town), and SKY Sport has good coverage of that. Leeds United and Huddersfield are both on live tomorrow morning. My SKY is set to record both 😀

Sorry to hear of the quality issues on Spark Sport. The only good thing to come out of this, is that they may be forced to let us watch the Rugby WC for free on TV1 if things don't pan out.

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DNArewind

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#2293617 10-Aug-2019 17:21

Just watched some of the Liverpool v Norwich game.

Is everyone else seeing what I'm seeing - the corner at 27:48 - 27:50 (matchtime) for example?

It's a juddery, blurry mess - impossible to see any detail.

I've tried two plasma TVs @ 50 Hz and an LCD monitor (albeit @ 60 Hz) - same result.

ruff

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Master Geek

#2293619 10-Aug-2019 17:26

Well...

The main thing to keep in mind, is that Spark Sport has removed half of the visual information.

So, in lay-mans terms... it's going to look rubbish.

This is half of the information missing from only a few weeks ago. Missing from when they launched their product.

Half of the information missing, compared to every other broadcaster in the world.

There is no coming back from that. It will look bad, until they reinstate an actual broadcast standard on their platform.

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