Is Sommet Sport going under?

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#1196185 12-Dec-2014 12:03

I was trying to watch a Football game a few days back and I could even see the ball. On larger sets it was a total waste of time.

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richms

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#1196208 12-Dec-2014 12:43

I tried watching it and the picture was so blurry it was unwatchable, and their systems conversion was crap so anything moving had lots of judder.

If they cant get the technical details working so their product looks better than CNN coverage from some dodgey middle east TV station then there is no point. Bandwidth will be better used on the other channels.

Richard rich.ms

mattwnz

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#1196216 12-Dec-2014 12:47

MileHighKiwi: I experienced pretty poor customer service when it took 7 days to respond to an email requesting info about their programming.

Up to 7 days is reasonable for business communications. Some companies never reply, or can take weeks. I have found this common especially with government departments and SOEs.

Smithy100

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#1196223 12-Dec-2014 12:53

I watched via Sky on my 50" HD and while the picture wasn't HD quality (obviously) it was always perfectly watchable.

It'll be interesting now to see whether Coliseum picks up any of their content (as I doubt Sky will - with the exception of AFL as the AFL will pay for it because they want their sport seen in NZ and don't see it as a revenue stream).

mattwnz

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#1196224 12-Dec-2014 12:54

richms: I tried watching it and the picture was so blurry it was unwatchable, and their systems conversion was crap so anything moving had lots of judder.

If they cant get the technical details working so their product looks better than CNN coverage from some dodgey middle east TV station then there is no point. Bandwidth will be better used on the other channels.

I have found it similar to choice TV, where the picture is far too soft. Prime isn't that much better either. I wish they had given these minnow channels more bandwidth so they can broadcast at a higher quality, rather than it being wasted on these hopeless plus one channels.

afe66

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#1196248 12-Dec-2014 13:13

Gone as of mid day according to NZ Herald app.

A.

MikeB4

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#1196293 12-Dec-2014 13:43

Sommet the Hedgehog has gone into hibernation.

gjen

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#1196298 12-Dec-2014 13:49

Spark should look at taking over and make it an Internet only Sevice !!!

Shindig

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#1196318 12-Dec-2014 14:02

Looks like they got rid of their social media team already.

No tweets since Nov 28th..

The little things make the biggest difference.

Spyware

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#1196358 12-Dec-2014 14:59

mattwnz:
richms: I tried watching it and the picture was so blurry it was unwatchable, and their systems conversion was crap so anything moving had lots of judder.

If they cant get the technical details working so their product looks better than CNN coverage from some dodgey middle east TV station then there is no point. Bandwidth will be better used on the other channels.

I have found it similar to choice TV, where the picture is far too soft. Prime isn't that much better either. I wish they had given these minnow channels more bandwidth so they can broadcast at a higher quality, rather than it being wasted on these hopeless plus one channels.

It is NOT a bandwidth issue. Quality is simply lost by wrong standard conversion, zooming 4:3 ratio into 16:9 or feeding 800 kbps 360p streams into encoder. The streams they were using were NOT broadcast quality by anyone's imagination. As for the Sky transmission of Sommet, it looked like a Picaso mosaic with the mpeg2 macros tiled over the blurry mess.

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MikeB4

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#1196359 12-Dec-2014 15:02

also their awful too intense channel watermark

Zippity

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#1196388 12-Dec-2014 15:43

Their MotoGP coverage was nothing short of brilliant.

Will Sky pick up this coverage?

I doubt it

mattwnz

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#1196400 12-Dec-2014 16:03

Spyware:
mattwnz:
richms: I tried watching it and the picture was so blurry it was unwatchable, and their systems conversion was crap so anything moving had lots of judder.

If they cant get the technical details working so their product looks better than CNN coverage from some dodgey middle east TV station then there is no point. Bandwidth will be better used on the other channels.

I have found it similar to choice TV, where the picture is far too soft. Prime isn't that much better either. I wish they had given these minnow channels more bandwidth so they can broadcast at a higher quality, rather than it being wasted on these hopeless plus one channels.

It is NOT a bandwidth issue. Quality is simply lost by wrong standard conversion, zooming 4:3 ratio into 16:9 or feeding 800 kbps 360p streams into encoder. The streams they were using were NOT broadcast quality by anyone's imagination. As for the Sky transmission of Sommet, it looked like a Picaso mosaic with the mpeg2 macros tiled over the blurry mess.

You have to wonder why they bothered. I mean the qaulity of the picture really turned me off it, and if I was an advertiser, I wouldn't be happy with the picture quality my ad was broadcast under. I don't think NZ was large enough to sustain this number of FTA channels anyway.

joshhill96

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#1196411 12-Dec-2014 16:22

Sommet Sports was a good start for building a new structure in Free to air coverage of sports. Hopefully this can encourage the push for new services to be available in New Zealand in the near future, but despite what has been reported on quality etc.. they listened to their viewers on sport requests and delivered content that SKY missed out on,

Most EPL fans would be disappointed as rights go back to the offering table after the next season 2016/17 and since Sommet Sports came 2nd last year many would have hoped to see Sommet have full rights next time.

Cloudy

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#1196516 12-Dec-2014 19:06

What always had me baffled was how they made any money to cover costs. I watched and loved the MotoGP but they would show the whole race and not a single ad. For a free to air channel I would have expected several ad breaks during each race. I have no problem with ad's if it means we get to see good sports free to air. On the quality isssue I had no problems on my 42" panasonic. Picture was perfectly watchable.

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