(03-06-2018 01:05 PM)jmufan2008 Wrote:  

(03-06-2018 12:42 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  

(03-06-2018 11:49 AM)jmufan2008 Wrote:  Like I posted in the JMU Nation FB thread, WatchESPN WAS great. Last year it was horrendous. Every single game I watched stuttered every 3-5 seconds even once I moved and got gigabit internet. Even the FBS NC game (ESPN's most important 3 hours of the year) was nearly unwatchable for most of it. I love the ease of their app, but their throughput took several steps back last year. Hoping they can turn it around. I'd be willing to pay some money to get the subscription, but if that's in addition to paying for ESPN to start with...that's a weird system.

The way I kept it from stuttering was by not going to full screen.

I was casting to my tv...kinda hard to not be full screen

Suspect "casting" may have contributed to the issue. Personally have never had trouble with WatchESPN via AppleTV, Roku, iPhone, iPad or other devices. When you "cast" often that means the video stream has to take another hop. Some WiFi networks in particular struggle with that.

It may be well worth $20-30 to buy a Roku and use that for WatchESPN rather than cast. Roku has performed much better for me with Stretch/CAA.tv than watching on a PC or other devices.

(03-06-2018 08:00 AM)Yesolitis Wrote:  For international viewers, the ESPN3 option is now horrible. It is one of the hardest work-arounds online to get live streaming out-of-network, and this changed significantly last year compared to previous years. I even use an online VPN and it won't work while other companies (e.g., CBS, NBC, etc.) do. Generally, I watch using Slingbox, but those events broadcast only available online (like ESPN3.com) can be infuriatingly difficult to access out of market.

I know I am only one of a handful of people that have to deal with this problem, but that said, for me I was able to watch a vast majority of JMU's football games overseas. If we went all-in on ESPN I am certain I would not be able to access as much unless they were ESPNU or higher.

Out of curiosity, just tested ESPN3 streams on WatchESPN over a VPN comnection.

When my VPN endpoint was set outside the US (Canada), the stream wouldn't play. When I changed it to use a US endpoint (East Coast), it worked perfectly. This was with the PIA VPN service. Other VPNs might be blacklisted by ESPN.

Suspect they are trying to control geography to reduce content pirating. A number of premium channels (HBO, ESPN, etc) are rebroadcast without permission on Kodi streams, and a lot of that activity originates outside the US.

(03-06-2018 09:21 AM)OBXDuke11 Wrote:  At the Elon game this year, we spoke with D’Antonio during the game and learned a little bit about the "new" TV deal the CAA rolled out LATE last summer. In a nutshell, CSN was willing to keep televising games, but they were going to make the CAA pay ALL production costs, which the CAA could not afford to do and American Sports Network was bought out. All of this came to happen too soon before the season started to get anything better worked up than the CBS digital. I asked about ESPN 3 as the SOCON and MVC, etc have theirs streamed on ESPN 3. He said that other CAA schools do not invest in their production equipment/staff (and past CAA staff has not pushed them too) and because not EVERY CAA school can provide a good enough stream to ESPN, they can't make that kind of deal..He said only 3 CAA schools have such production high enough in quality for ESPN 3. I am not sure how much of this is truth, it kind of seemed like a little bs sprinkled with some truth. Either way, schools like URI are holding this conference back, at least from the perspective of football based on our conversation.

On a going forward basis, I envision a model very similar to what CSN offered. Even with ESPN.

The easiest way for the networks like ESPN to make money is to be an aggregator and to make themselves available on an OTT platform. And you know what, it kind of makes sense for schools to foot this bill when the broadcasts arent very obviously going to be profitable. Having your school's game on a TV network is advertising for the school. If your product is a good product, people will watch, and that will help drive advertising which can help to offset those production costs. If the product stinks, then you have a decision to make with respect to whether or not to broadcast. Crappy production quality is what it is. If that is all a school can afford, is that better than nothing? I guess that is up to the school and viewership.

I also think mid and low major conferences will become less involved with TV deals going forward. I think more will fall to the individual institution. Its very easy to see, based on the production quality of caa.tv broadcasts, which schools are committed and which ones arent. I dont think that is a caa-specific phenomena.

(03-06-2018 04:04 PM)JMURocks Wrote:  

(03-06-2018 01:05 PM)jmufan2008 Wrote:  

(03-06-2018 12:42 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  

(03-06-2018 11:49 AM)jmufan2008 Wrote:  Like I posted in the JMU Nation FB thread, WatchESPN WAS great. Last year it was horrendous. Every single game I watched stuttered every 3-5 seconds even once I moved and got gigabit internet. Even the FBS NC game (ESPN's most important 3 hours of the year) was nearly unwatchable for most of it. I love the ease of their app, but their throughput took several steps back last year. Hoping they can turn it around. I'd be willing to pay some money to get the subscription, but if that's in addition to paying for ESPN to start with...that's a weird system.

The way I kept it from stuttering was by not going to full screen.

I was casting to my tv...kinda hard to not be full screen

Suspect "casting" may have contributed to the issue. Personally have never had trouble with WatchESPN via AppleTV, Roku, iPhone, iPad or other devices. When you "cast" often that means the video stream has to take another hop. Some WiFi networks in particular struggle with that.

It may be well worth $20-30 to buy a Roku and use that for WatchESPN rather than cast. Roku has performed much better for me with Stretch/CAA.tv than watching on a PC or other devices.

I love my Rokus but have had the opposite experience with the caa.tv app. Even over a hardwire ethernet connection.