Current opinions on Fan Pass?

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MileHighKiwi

564 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 252906 16-Jul-2019 18:19

Just wondering how Fan Pass is performing currently? I've read the new CEO wants to improve their digital offering, is it getting better?

I'm considering moving from Sky to Fan Pass, mainly cost savings as I'm getting Fiber and Spark Sport, for the EPL, and want to reduce costs elsewhere.

Is it good enough that I can turn off the satellite?

sen8or

813 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 2277876 16-Jul-2019 18:30

Are the sports you want on the main channels at the time when you want to watch them?

If the answer is yes, and you don't need recording or pop up channels, then it might be worth looking into, if not, then no matter the price, the product won't meet your needs (for now).

If fanpass goes to a VOD model rather than a stream of linear broadcast, that may negate your need to record / watch later.

There are other alternatives, like our friends across the ditch with their "kayo sports", ofcourse, thats only available to Australian residents in Australia, cough cough, but it really shows what an online sports facility should be.

Just saw fanpass do a rewind for up to 24 hours prior, a start to "on demand" I guess

DjShadow

3002 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

# 2277882 16-Jul-2019 18:37

One person supports this post

Main thing to remember is currently Fan Pass is only Sky Sport 1-4, no popup channels or ESPN. I'm hoping Sky have their updated offering for Fan pass soon.

Senecio

566 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 2277888 16-Jul-2019 18:52

Currently I think it's a poor quality and poor value for money service.

Only live linear streaming of the Sky Sport 1-4 channels
No VOD which is essential if you give up the option of local recording
Only 720p last time I was using it and the frame rates were poor

I would love for it to be successful. I tried Fanpass for 6 months when I first ditched my Sky box. I got frustrated by the above, most notably the 1-4 channels as the sports that I follow would always get pushed to a pop-up channel. I really would like it to be succesful. If Sky can over a service equivalent to Kayo at a cost comparable with Kayo then I'll happily return.

DjShadow

3002 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

# 2277889 16-Jul-2019 18:54

Senecio:

Currently I think it's a poor quality and poor value for money service.

Only live linear streaming of the Sky Sport 1-4 channels
No VOD which is essential if you give up the option of local recording
Only 720p last time I was using it and the frame rates were poor

I would love for it to be successful. I tried Fanpass for 6 months when I first ditched my Sky box. I got frustrated by the above, most notably the 1-4 channels as the sports that I follow would always get pushed to a pop-up channel. I really would like it to be succesful. If Sky can over a service equivalent to Kayo at a cost comparable with Kayo then I'll happily return.

I got a fault logged for the Frame Rate as it really stood out when I got Fanpass last year and watched on the Apple TV. Took sending them a video of how bad it was and they got it sorted fairly quickly.

cb1

272 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 2277914 16-Jul-2019 19:39

Senecio:

No VOD which is essential if you give up the option of local recording

Just to clarify - VOD is available on PC/Mac for events that started within the previous 24 hours, but not via the apps

cb1

272 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 2277915 16-Jul-2019 19:39

Senecio:

No VOD which is essential if you give up the option of local recording

Just to clarify - VOD is available on PC/Mac for events that started within the previous 24 hours, but not via the apps

Senecio

566 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 2277918 16-Jul-2019 19:48

Be honest, rewinding 24hrs but only available on a PC via browser is not VOD. Its a poor excuse at best.

Glad to hear the frame rate issue has been addressed.

wazzageek

Go Hawks!
945 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

# 2279239 18-Jul-2019 20:16

On AppleTV, the live streams work great. The lack of pop up channels or vod is the biggest downfall. We get fan pass for the rugby season only (6 month, then let it go month by month until no more sport we want to watch is on)

Really hoping with the new CEO there will shortly be a much better “sky” offering over the internet.

Apsattv

1375 posts

Uber Geek

# 2279391 19-Jul-2019 05:50

An upgraded Fanpass is suppose to be out in August

cyril7

6958 posts

Uber Geek

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Subscriber

# 2279392 19-Jul-2019 05:58

Please don't turn off the satellite as I'm still using it.

Cyril

event2

150 posts

Master Geek

# 2280198 20-Jul-2019 12:38

One person supports this post

The main issue for me is the frame rate, it was quite painful watching the cricket world cup. Im not sure what the issue is with the frame rate be it inconsistent or just to low for sports, but there's something just not right with it.

I normally watch via a chrome cast and fast moving action like a ball being hit and rolling for a four is not very smooth and if you have motion interpolation turned on your tv you end up with some really weird stuff going on.

For me the steam was really reliable, I could leave it playing on my chrome cast for a week it would always be working fine when ever I turned the TV on.

There is a annoying issue with the app, where say you had been using it to change channel streams on achrome cast and then you let your phone go to sleep, when you next unlock your phone and open the app it comes up with and error message saying that you are watching on multiple devices then signs you out of your fan pass account on the phone and sometimes kills the stream currently playing on the chrome cast, then you have to sign back in and get things going again. Super frustrating if you open the app on accident while in the middle of watching something and it stops the stream.

In the past 5 months of having fan pass the only time I had trouble with the stream stuttering and stopping was at the beginning of the cricket world cup final and it took them around 30 minutes to fix whatever the issue was.

Its OK but not a like for like replacement for normal satellite sky sport.

allio

606 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 2282305 23-Jul-2019 16:19

The "problem" with the frame rate is simply that it's 25 FPS, compared with the 50 FPS of a deinterlaced 1080i stream. Simply put it looks like garbage and just isn't good enough for live sport.

Motion interpolation can ease some of the pain but faster motion (like a cricket ball) ends up strobing in and out like a UFO.

People focus excessively on spatial resolution (demanding 1080p etc) when temporal resolution is just as important (and in fact much more important in the case of sports). 1080p/50 would obviously be ideal but is a tough ask bandwidth-wise. I would hope that the new version of Fanpass is 720p/50 rather than 1080p/25, but given that Sky don't even provide information on the frame rate anywhere on the Fanpass website, I would be surprised.

Otherwise I found the performance perfectly good - never once had instability or buffering during the whole cricket world cup.

event2

150 posts

Master Geek

# 2283006 24-Jul-2019 18:40

One person supports this post

I would also be happy with 720p50.

tdgeek

18039 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

# 2283010 24-Jul-2019 18:46

event2: I would also be happy with 720p50.

Agree. I got FP when we moved. No Sky here, just 12 ethernet ports in rooms :-) FP visual was fine , 720, but the judder , i.e. 25fps, canned it and got Sky back