ESPN3 quality question

[cabbie191]

I'm grateful to have the option to watch these games via my computer but it was really frustrating for the majority of the game with very poor video quality and, for long stretches of time, having no audio at all.

Curiously, every single time they went to commercial break both the video and audio quality became top notch. Which just intensifies the frustration noted above. And immediately back to poor quality when the game resumed.

Wondering if others had the same experience?

 

[ochoopsfan]

Most of the time my AV is fine, occasionally it gets blurry.
The ESPN feed is behind live feed, sometimes by a minute. I had the gametracker on and the score was ahead on GT vs ESPN3 feed.

 

[wbbfan]

I do have quality issues when I watch on the computer, but when I use my Roku stick for TV the quality remains HD throughout the entire game.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Quality of the feed fluctuates as the game proceeds. Sometimes the feed is great and other times its blurry and I lose the sound. Two or three minutes quality and sound improves. I watched the tournament that Baylor and DePaul games this weekend. Provider used YouTube to stream the games and the quality was far superior to the ESPN3/SNY feed.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Most of the time my AV is fine, occasionally it gets blurry.
The ESPN feed is behind live feed, sometimes by a minute. I had the gametracker on and the score was ahead on GT vs ESPN3 feed.

Gametracker was ahead of ESPN's TV on fouls, scores, etc. That is not uncommon. I always use GT ---no matter who is talking or what they are talking about I know who did what to whom.

 

[Jeff H]

I'm grateful to have the option to watch these games via my computer but it was really frustrating for the majority of the game with very poor video quality and, for long stretches of time, having no audio at all.

Curiously, every single time they went to commercial break both the video and audio quality became top notch. Which just intensifies the frustration noted above. And immediately back to poor quality when the game resumed.

Wondering if others had the same experience?

I've watched the three non tv games on ESPN3. Two I watched at my house and had no issues. The other I watched at my mom's house in Georgia and had fluctuating video quality with occasional freeze ups. It wasn't unwatchable, but it wasn't too good. I assume speed of internet service, computer speed, modem and router are all factors. For whatever reason, this year at my house the quality has been much better than last year (so far).

 

[noirwestern]

I've watched the three non tv games on ESPN3. Two I watched at my house and had no issues. The other I watched at my mom's house in Georgia and had fluctuating video quality with occasional freeze ups. It wasn't unwatchable, but it wasn't too good. I assume speed of internet service, computer speed, modem and router are all factors. For whatever reason, this year at my house the quality has been much better than last year (so far).

Dunno. I have google fiber up and running, a nearly new computer and this last game stalled out so many times that I eventually gave up and turned the whole mess off.

 

[bags27]

Annoying to be sure. A few times, I ended the web broadcast, and rebooted (not the computer, just the link) and started over. Seemed to work well for maybe 20-30 minutes at a time.

 

[Rayvin56]

I watch all the games online and this year my streaming from ESPN has been excellent, almost always at the highest res. Noirwestern, I'm surprised you have a problem with a fiber optic connection--what kind of speed are you paying for? I'm still on cable, my package is for 75 mbps, I usually get closer to 100 mbps.

 

[cabbie191]

The frustrating thing is that if the commercials are crystal clear, why isn't the game broadcast more reliable? I don't know the technology behind this but it seems that a deliberate effort is made by ESPN to have a better signal for the commercials. I know this makes business sense, if in fact this is how it works, but it still is irritating.

 

[Rayvin56]

The frustrating thing is that if the commercials are crystal clear, why isn't the game broadcast more reliable? I don't know the technology behind this but it seems that a deliberate effort is made by ESPN to have a better signal for the commercials. I know this makes business sense, if in fact this is how it works, but it still is irritating.

Funny, but my experience is just the opposite. Many times the commercials will be pixelated while the game stream is fine. I figure it has something to do with the commercials being streamed locally (to have local content) and the game stream is totally separate. I'm only guessing here.

 

[tomcat]

We had many problems last year but this year, it's been fine. We are ona completely different system (Xfinity vs.Cox) in a completely different place (FL vs AZ).

 

[noirwestern]

I watch all the games online and this year my streaming from ESPN has been excellent, almost always at the highest res. Noirwestern, I'm surprised you have a problem with a fiber optic connection--what kind of speed are you paying for? I'm still on cable, my package is for 75 mbps, I usually get closer to 100 mbps.

I opted for the full monty, gigabit speed and use sling tv to access espn3. Sling has an option for me to see the actual bitrate coming from them and the most I've ever seen was 5.3mb but during this game it sat on 0. I don't know if it was the espn feed, sling, or what but it flat out wasn't happening.

 

[Rayvin56]

I opted for the full monty, gigabit speed and use sling tv to access espn3. Sling has an option for me to see the actual bitrate coming from them and the most I've ever seen was 5.3mb but during this game it sat on 0. I don't know if it was the espn feed, sling, or what but it flat out wasn't happening.

You talking 5.3 megabytes per sec or 5.3 megabits per sec. Multiply by 8 to convert the megabytes to megabits per sec and you get 42.4 mbps, which is a decent download speed.

 

[noirwestern]

You talking 5.3 megabytes per sec or 5.3 megabits per sec. Multiply by 8 to convert the megabytes to megabits per sec and you get 42.4 mbps, which is a decent download speed.

Mb/sec according to sling. Just turned it on and got 3.7Mb/sec for an old movie. I still get pixelated images, drop outs, and like the game in question, stalls. Not sure what the issue is and suppose I don't care enough to make a fuss over it.

 

[Schoup]

People having problems might try opening a command window and try ipconfig/ release and the ipconfig/ renew. Also, some times just turn off and reset your modem/wifi. You also can run a speedtest of your connection. Just mentioning what I do when I have problems which is not too often.

 

[Rixxx]

I too do usually not have problems. But, I watched the TN/ Tenn State game and had to mute the sound. The audio feed was way ahead of the video. I was hearing about a jump ball situation before any shot was taken. I really wanted to listen to Brittany Jackson, but could not. Brittany was doing color.

 

[FairView]

I've never had any problems streaming any ESPN feed on my computer.

 

[Blueconn]

As a certified, bald-headed, old luddite I'm still thrilled at being able to access games on my tablet. Sling's broadcast had the occasional blur and freeze moments (am in Kansas City and have U-Verse) but overall was very good. Many fewer moments when I watched the replay.

But I've ditched Sling ($20 per mo.) for AT&T's Directv Now. Two days checking it out and it's quite satisfactory. Depaul was the first live UConn game and the feed was noticeably more consistent than with Sling. The $35 per month introductory price was enticing...thus far far (say they'll be expanding the lineup) 109 channels...SNY via ESPN3 for now but SNY may soon become a "regular" channel. Plus Longhorn, Big 10, FS1 etc make it a good option.

Next step may be a big, beautiful smart tv after my super-smart teenage great-nephew finishes his research. Toddler grandson says "do it grampa". 50" or 9.5" ? Duh...

Best of all ? This old, 12th gen Nutmegger (and 13th gen daughter) heads to Manhattan next week to see some old friends from Storrs. K-State is undefeated and the 12,ooo seats are all sold.

The Husky cup runneth over.

 

[UcMiami]

I do find that my computers can get slow with video and streaming over time - resources getting used and not released or something, and restarting can clear everything up. If I do a bing watch of some TV series on streaming for example. It is always worth trying that. The times that I have used ESPN3 it has been very good - occasionally a few minutes of degraded video quality when the cable gets slow, but not as frequently as I have issue with other streaming services. I think on the commercials - SNY is streaming HiDef to ESPN and ESPn is then streaming it as well - any degradation in any of those transmissions will show up at your computer - but with local commercials they may not actually be HiDef so the data that is being streamed is actually a lower volume of data per second. Because of the speed of any sport, the bits per second is set to the highest rates, with commercials even HD can be fewer bits per second.

 

[UCONN in OKC]

This year been great.... I haven't had no problems with video or audio like last year....

 

[NewCorn]

I've watched the three non tv games on ESPN3. Two I watched at my house and had no issues. The other I watched at my mom's house in Georgia and had fluctuating video quality with occasional freeze ups. It wasn't unwatchable, but it wasn't too good. I assume speed of internet service, computer speed, modem and router are all factors. For whatever reason, this year at my house the quality has been much better than last year (so far).

Many PC models have a turbo-mode, which is fastest, and an energy-saving mode which is slower. I have found that my viewing experience is far better with my PC in turbo-mode. I use AVG Tuneup to set the mode.

 

[Roger G]

I'm grateful to have the option to watch these games via my computer but it was really frustrating for the majority of the game with very poor video quality and, for long stretches of time, having no audio at all.

Curiously, every single time they went to commercial break both the video and audio quality became top notch. Which just intensifies the frustration noted above. And immediately back to poor quality when the game resumed.

Wondering if others had the same experience?

I had the same experience. I gave up and got Directv. They carry SNY and its worth it.