Starting XI
99
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3.7K
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over 14 years

paulm wrote:

So how many commenters on this thread actually experienced the issues with Spark that are being widely discussed?

Really interested to know, as more and more seem to be confirming they had no issues at all. 

I cant speak for the rugby as I didn't try to watch it but yea, EPL been superb. I don't even have fibre internet either. On monday morning i was streaming NFL and the Chelsea game at the same time and both were HD quality.  

Legend
8K
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14K
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over 16 years

paulm wrote:

So how many commenters on this thread actually experienced the issues with Spark that are being widely discussed?

Really interested to know, as more and more seem to be confirming they had no issues at all. 

experienced the "issues" watching the AB's game, there were none watching the earlier games so it seems to be the problem was around capacity of the one server being used at the time (when apparently it should have been six). Haven't watched the EPL but from what I've read on here it seems that some have had no probs but others have not been overly enamoured with their experience. I just think that streaming live sport in NZ is just not going to provide the perfect experience. Infrastructure is not up to the standard required. If Optus can't manage it then why would anyone in NZ try?

Tegal
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Head Sleuth
3K
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19K
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almost 17 years

theprof wrote:

paulm wrote:

So how many commenters on this thread actually experienced the issues with Spark that are being widely discussed?

Really interested to know, as more and more seem to be confirming they had no issues at all. 

I just think that streaming live sport in NZ is just not going to provide the perfect experience. 

This is a phenomenon I’ve noticed where a new thing comes along and suddenly people start looking at the current thing with rose tinted glasses. Sky is so far from perfect, yet spark sport has to deliver a perfect experience otherwise it’s considered a complete failure. 

It happened with uber too, a lot of issues people complained about are also issues with Taxis. Lime Scooters where people (usually drunk) occasionally get injured, also happens with other forms of transport like bikes and skateboards and cars. But people are used to these things, so it doesn’t get considered.

Legend
3.6K
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15K
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almost 17 years

People don't like change.

People like complaining. 

People like reading about other people complaining.

Starting XI
880
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2.5K
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about 12 years

I have only had a few very minor issues with Spark Sport - nothing outrageous.

I'm not on here to rip on Spark - like I said earlier SKY needs Spark to do a decent job to make sure the NZer's who are out there and would rather get their content via a box are not scared off, because at the end of the day if SKY can completely drop it's sat service then the cost per user is much less - Although as I mentioned above i don't think that's anytime soon.

Re 20 Legends statement about Netflix, I understand why people use that as a measuring stick against SKY but really it should be against SKY Subscribers with no sport for a fair comparison (which does point to entertainment based streaming services giving SKY trouble) but as it dosn't have sport (and sport seems to be where streaming will be tested the most) it's not the comparison that will give you an answer on the economics side - also that comment about working at SKY wasn't aimed at you it was aimed at another user.

I'm genuinely interested to see where this arms race of sport will go - I have some views on it but most of them seem to be disregarded as SKY-biased views - which is fine but I don't think you will find a SKY employee who is not tuned into these kind of discussions and has done some homework on it.

Marquee
5.3K
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9.5K
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over 12 years

I think we're still in a transitional stage for live sports streaming where there's a middleman (or more) between the content source (EPL, RWC etc) and the public. The ultimate end point is direct streaming from the source, as some US sports now do. The concept of a local broadcaster owning geographically restricted rights is outdated in the modern interconnected information environment.

Legend
8K
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14K
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over 16 years

I think we're still in a transitional stage for live sports streaming where there's a middleman (or more) between the content source (EPL, RWC etc) and the public. The ultimate end point is direct streaming from the source, as some US sports now do. The concept of a local broadcaster owning geographically restricted rights is outdated in the modern interconnected information environment.

totally this, for me the main issue that spark has is that they are relying on a company in the states to essentially package the content into stream-able data. If they were doing this at the source or even in NZ then a) there wouldn't be a 40-50second (2 minutes) delay b) less chance of this outside your control causing issues.

Tegal
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Head Sleuth
3K
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19K
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almost 17 years

theprof wrote:

I think we're still in a transitional stage for live sports streaming where there's a middleman (or more) between the content source (EPL, RWC etc) and the public. The ultimate end point is direct streaming from the source, as some US sports now do. The concept of a local broadcaster owning geographically restricted rights is outdated in the modern interconnected information environment.

totally this, for me the main issue that spark has is that they are relying on a company in the states to essentially package the content into stream-able data. If they were doing this at the source or even in NZ then a) there wouldn't be a 40-50second (2 minutes) delay b) less chance of this outside your control causing issues.

Aside from local content, Sky also rely on an overseas company to provide feeds, commentary etc for them. 

Legend
8K
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14K
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over 16 years

Tegal wrote:

theprof wrote:

I think we're still in a transitional stage for live sports streaming where there's a middleman (or more) between the content source (EPL, RWC etc) and the public. The ultimate end point is direct streaming from the source, as some US sports now do. The concept of a local broadcaster owning geographically restricted rights is outdated in the modern interconnected information environment.

totally this, for me the main issue that spark has is that they are relying on a company in the states to essentially package the content into stream-able data. If they were doing this at the source or even in NZ then a) there wouldn't be a 40-50second (2 minutes) delay b) less chance of this outside your control causing issues.

Aside from local content, Sky also rely on an overseas company to provide feeds, commentary etc for them. 

provide feeds yes, but not to repackage the content into multiple viewable streams.

sparks current method is: content sent from Japan to spark, spark send it to company in America to repackage, data gets sent to 6 servers in NZ to be streamed.

Woof Woof
2.7K
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19K
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over 16 years

Downey26 wrote:

I've recently purchased NFL Gamepass and it's beyond fantastic. I've also had no issues whatsoever with SparkSport. Every Chelsea game has been in crystal clear HD

NFL Gamepass is a shining example of what a fantastic product streaming services can be. 

First Team Squad
1K
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1.7K
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over 15 years

I kid you not - was sitting in a pub in downtown Auckland this evening and there was a replay of the rugby on. Digital interference was coming through and I assumed they were having stream issues.... right on cue the screen went blank and Sky's rain fade warning came up (they had it on Duke). Good laughs.

Starting XI
880
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2.5K
·
about 12 years

20 Legend wrote:

I kid you not - was sitting in a pub in downtown Auckland this evening and there was a replay of the rugby on. Digital interference was coming through and I assumed they were having stream issues.... right on cue the screen went blank and Sky's rain fade warning came up (they had it on Duke). Good laughs.

Commercial properties can have an increased chance of rainfade over domestic customers due to a number of issues - one of which is that the business own the dish and cabling and therefore often in places like downtown several businesses will share one dish, which means signal levels drop and can mean there is more chance of a rainfade message.  Bearing in mind rainfade just means the signal drops below a certain threshold - it's not always rain, it's sometimes snow (tricky one that one) or a tree has grown infront of the dish's line of sight etc.  

Anyway point is commercial properties operate different gear to domestic - for example I have had no signal loss or drop in picture quality during this heavy rain.  Sounds like that commercial property has an existing slight signal issue which the rain has amplified.

Marquee
1.7K
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7.5K
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almost 17 years

paulm wrote:

So how many commenters on this thread actually experienced the issues with Spark that are being widely discussed?

Really interested to know, as more and more seem to be confirming they had no issues at all. 

As i said, was at a friends and had the pixellation constantly (about 1/ of the first half) in and out.  Had one freeze for about a minute 5 mins in to the second half.  We also wouldn't be included in the 5% effected figure if that is based on the comparitive numbers from streaming to Duke, as we didn't swap over - didn't have a terrestrial tv set up where we were watching.  Wouldn't be surprised if there was a reasonably significant portion in that same boat.

Fibre connection, streamed plenty before, 100% wasn't user error.

Edit:  Should add, to not just be negative, clarity/resolution was absolutely fantastic when it was working. 

LG
Legend
5.5K
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23K
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over 16 years

I know from my experiences with "At Bat" - The Major League Baseball app, that I get all the games in crisp clear HD quality pictures. They do not stutter, freeze or anything else untoward. Streaming when done properly can and does work.

Marquee
1.7K
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8.1K
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over 16 years

paulm wrote:

People don't like change.

People like complaining. 

People like reading about other people complaining.

Oh hello NZ Herald, I didn't see you there...

Legend
3.6K
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15K
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almost 17 years

Lonegunmen wrote:

I know from my experiences with "At Bat" - The Major League Baseball app, that I get all the games in crisp clear HD quality pictures. They do not stutter, freeze or anything else untoward. Streaming when done properly can and does work.

Well this and the NFL example show that our infrastructure is absolutely fine to be supporting this technology.

Can't wait to see how this all improves over time. As I said before, right now is the worst it will ever be, which is something to be excited about, given most people aren't having issues anyway. 

Legend
3.6K
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15K
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almost 17 years

brumbys wrote:

paulm wrote:

People don't like change.

People like complaining. 

People like reading about other people complaining.

Oh hello NZ Herald, I didn't see you there...

Or literally any mainstream media. Clickbait is an overused term because that's just what news is now. 

Starting XI
2.1K
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4.3K
·
over 11 years

paulm wrote:

So how many commenters on this thread actually experienced the issues with Spark that are being widely discussed?

Really interested to know, as more and more seem to be confirming they had no issues at all. 

I did. For the All Blacks game I had pixelation and several freezes during the first half and one of the tries was missed while it was frozen. I switched to Duke for the 2nd half. I'm using a brand new Samsung Smart TV and Vodafone Fibre 100. I feel like I was prepared equipment wise and don't believe I made any user error as I'm very used to streaming. Granted it was over WIFI as the router is not quite close enough to the TV to use wired, but I have not had any issues using Netflix, TVNZ/TV3/Freeview On Demand or Lightbox by the same method. The only previous game I'd watched was Australia-Fiji earlier that same day and had no issue with it which to me suggests it was a capacity issue. It was fine for the England game the next night.

For the EPL I have only used it for 2 games so far - the 1st and latest Arsenal games as I was overseas on holiday in between those. No issues with either, while noting they were both on demand rather than live.

Starting XI
2.1K
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4.3K
·
over 11 years

Japan-Ireland game won't even load tonight, let alone any freezing issues once you get the game to actually play. Looks like I'm not the only one judging by their Facebook page.

Tegal
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Head Sleuth
3K
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19K
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almost 17 years

It’s working fine for me. 

Starting XI
2.1K
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4.3K
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over 11 years

Working now. Wouldn't for the first half hour.

Legend
3.6K
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15K
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almost 17 years

Jeez ajc feel for you, you have had a terrible time of it.
Cracking gamed too!

Starting XI
2.1K
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4.3K
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over 11 years

All good, it worked fine after that first half hour. Ended up getting it to load when I joined live and rewound back to the start while managing to avoid seeing the score.

Legend
3.6K
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15K
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almost 17 years

Streaming was great for Aus/Wales for me last night, although the audio issues at the beginning were annoying until they sorted it. 

The missus was tearing her hair out with Sky Sports Now right through the weekend though. She's into the athletics and was trying to watch whole days of the world champs on demand. Couldn't cast it to tv as it always reverted to live, and couldn't be rewound, so she had to watch it on the laptop. She was trying to skip through parts etc but that functionality was working so poorly. She stuck at it, but man she was so p*ssed off, all day. It was a nightmare for her. I played around but couldn't get it working any better than she could. The on-demand capability on that app still needs a LOT of work. 

One in a million
4K
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9.5K
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almost 17 years

Yeh the streaming was fine for Wales rugby game last night. Lost stream briefly 2 or 3 times in the Leicester game this morning though.

Phoenix Academy
190
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370
·
over 10 years

paulm wrote:

Streaming was great for Aus/Wales for me last night, although the audio issues at the beginning were annoying until they sorted it. 

The missus was tearing her hair out with Sky Sports Now right through the weekend though. She's into the athletics and was trying to watch whole days of the world champs on demand. Couldn't cast it to tv as it always reverted to live, and couldn't be rewound, so she had to watch it on the laptop. She was trying to skip through parts etc but that functionality was working so poorly. She stuck at it, but man she was so p*ssed off, all day. It was a nightmare for her. I played around but couldn't get it working any better than she could. The on-demand capability on that app still needs a LOT of work. 

Was weird, you basically had three overlapping audio feeds for a bit there: the world feed comms, the Stevenson/Donald comms and what sounded like TVNZ/Spark panicking producer chatter.

Marquee
5.3K
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9.5K
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over 12 years

Spark just got the rights to all Black Caps games in NZ from April 2020 (plus White ferns games and domestic competitions)

Phoenix Academy
190
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370
·
over 10 years

In addition, TVNZ is partnering with NZC to provide live, free-to-air coverage on TVNZ 1 of the first T20 international of each men's and women's series, together with more than a third of the men's and women's Dream11 Super Smash competition on TVNZ 1 and DUKE channels.

Interesting free to air component here. But basically looks like Spark has ring-fenced the ODI + test matches. 

Presumably Sky will continue to show the Black Caps overseas matches, along with high profile cricket stuff like the Ashes and ODI + T20 World Cups. They'll lose their perch as the one stop shop for the sport in NZ, but they'll still have a lot of content. Share price has taken a hammering. 

Starting XI
2.1K
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4.3K
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over 11 years

Much like with the EPL (if you also want to see CL, EL and FA Cup aswell) you still need both Spark and Sky. 

Legend
8K
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14K
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over 16 years

ajc28 wrote:

Much like with the EPL (if you also want to see CL, EL and FA Cup aswell) you still need both Spark and Sky. 

so basically spark are cherry picking events and sports, not to create a competitive market and help the end viewer, cos this doesn't, but to increase their own profits.

Phoenix Academy
79
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180
·
over 4 years

theprof wrote:

ajc28 wrote:

Much like with the EPL (if you also want to see CL, EL and FA Cup aswell) you still need both Spark and Sky. 

so basically spark are cherry picking events and sports, not to create a competitive market and help the end viewer, cos this doesn't, but to increase their own profits.

It's almost like they are a business or something...

Phoenix Academy
140
·
330
·
almost 11 years

Wonder what will happen to the price of a Spark Sport sub now that it has the cricket? As a cricket and football fan, I could probably stomach an increase. However, those who subscribe who only watch football or basketball and have no interest in cricket are going to be a bit annoyed if the prices go up.

I wonder if Spark are going to move to a "build your own subscription" sort of model where people can subscribe to specific sports. 

Tegal
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Head Sleuth
3K
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19K
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almost 17 years

So excited for this. Cricket is ideal for this sort of platform. 

Legend
8K
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14K
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over 16 years

Tegal wrote:

So excited for this. Cricket is ideal for this sort of platform. 

cos of the limited view numbers?

Legend
8K
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14K
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over 16 years

LSA2SB wrote:

theprof wrote:

ajc28 wrote:

Much like with the EPL (if you also want to see CL, EL and FA Cup aswell) you still need both Spark and Sky. 

so basically spark are cherry picking events and sports, not to create a competitive market and help the end viewer, cos this doesn't, but to increase their own profits.

It's almost like they are a business or something...

I have no dice with them trying to make money, but just hope that the muppets who start crowing about how awesome this is actually realise that this is going to hurt us the viewers in the pocket and probably not improve anything.

Starting XI
2.1K
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4.3K
·
over 11 years

theprof wrote:

Tegal wrote:

So excited for this. Cricket is ideal for this sort of platform. 

cos of the limited view numbers?

Or that the duration of matches mean that most people are not able to be at home in front of their TV for the entirety and the ability to catch some on their phone whilst elsewhere is more suited to a match lasting multiple days than one that's only 80-90 mins.

Tegal
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Head Sleuth
3K
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19K
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almost 17 years

theprof wrote:

LSA2SB wrote:

theprof wrote:

ajc28 wrote:

Much like with the EPL (if you also want to see CL, EL and FA Cup aswell) you still need both Spark and Sky. 

so basically spark are cherry picking events and sports, not to create a competitive market and help the end viewer, cos this doesn't, but to increase their own profits.

It's almost like they are a business or something...

I have no dice with them trying to make money, but just hope that the muppets who start crowing about how awesome this is actually realise that this is going to hurt us the viewers in the pocket and probably not improve anything.

Monopoly = high prices with minimal effort put into the service.
Monopoly broken up = good for consumer. 

Sky used to charge $100+ per month for very limited coverage. Games were often delayed (remember how the A league used to be not that long ago? And the EPL always had a handful of games delayed before PLP took it over and changed peoples expectations). You used to have minimum sign up periods too. 


Now you can get sky sports now for $40 per month, and spark sport for $20 per month. All EPL games are live on spark, sky has also increased the number of competitions it covers in response to the competition for rights. The cricket is going to feature games on free to air for the first time in over 20 years (I think?) and the women’s game is going to be covered better than it ever has before.

You can also watch sport live or on demand anywhere and on any device. 


So sport is cheaper and has better, more extensive coverage. How is that worse exactly?

Starting XI
2.1K
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4.3K
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over 11 years

Where are you getting Sky Sport for $40? Just had a look on the Sky website and the cheapest option I can see is starter for $25.99 plus sport for $31.99. MySky is still an extra $15 although they no longer charge $10 for HD. Main price drop is the starter/entertainment split which used to be about $50.

Edit: Re-read and I see you meant the new app. Haven't investigated that yet so don't know whether that gets you everything live and on-demand or whether you still need Sky TV for some channels and MySky if you can't watch live.

Tegal
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Head Sleuth
3K
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19K
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almost 17 years

ajc28 wrote:

Where are you getting Sky Sport for $40? Just had a look on the Sky website and the cheapest option I can see is starter for $25.99 plus sport for $31.99. MySky is still an extra $15 although they no longer charge $10 for HD. Main price drop is the starter/entertainment split which used to be about $50.

Edit: Re-read and I see you meant the new app. Haven't investigated that yet so don't know whether that gets you everything live and on-demand or whether you still need Sky TV for some channels and MySky if you can't watch live.

I believe it’s all the sky sport channels. So no ESPN. On demand is the past 24 hours - which isn’t great but hopefully they change that to be more in line with Spark and other streaming platforms soon enough. 

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