UND Webcast

[siouxfan512]

Just wanted to get a concencus on how the webcast worked for people? I was pleasantly surprised at how well it was for the first game. The HD was a great improvement, and I didn't have any issues with the game being glitchy or pixilated. About half way through the game I did see some issues with the screen freezing and having to refresh. I think it was starting to have some buffering issues or something, I just dragged the tracker back and watched the game at about a minute delay and didnt have any problems the rest of the game.

I'm sure this isn't as high traffic of a game as we'll see with the regular season, but for a first go it seemed pretty good. Now if they can just get rid of Dan Hammer ... he is just awful.

[207Sioux]

My feed last night was pretty bad. The picture was fuzzy; it looked like a bad standard definition feed. It was choppy and froze up on me at several points. When I watched the women's exhibition game; it was perfect: crisp picture and smooth delivery. If they can resolve whatever issues they were having last night so that the game looks like the women's game did, I will be really happy with the internet option. If they can't, it will be a long season.

[Jeremy_und2004]

Mine was 50/50. When it was good, the picture was really crisp and it kept up with the action as HD should. But when it was bad, it was really bad. I would have to keep clicking "go live" to catch back up all the time, missing a few seconds each time it had to buffer. During the penalty shot, it froze and didnt come back at all and I had to completely restart my laptop to get the feed to work again. The second period the feed was good, only once i had to close the full screen and reopen the player. I wasnt able to watch the 3rd period, so I can only say from my 2 period experience. It has awesome potential, and I hope it will work on my ipad-apple tv soon.

[siouxfan512]

Mine did the same thing on the penalty shot. That when I stopped trying to watch live and I watched at about a 1-2 minute delay. That seemed to solve the freezing problem. Hopefully they continue to make improvements.

[craw84]

I had an minor stutter that was happening every few seconds throughout most of the game. It wasn't bad enough to prevent me from watching but was definitely distracting. I tried viewing with multiple video quality settings on the media player (720p, 540p, 320p) and all had the same minor stutter. My laptop was hooked up directly to my modem (no wi-fi), and I've had no issues streaming both 1080p/720p HD content from other sources in the past, so I don't think it's an issue on my end. In the 2nd and 3rd periods, I had a few moments where the feed completely froze - including the penalty shot. When it worked, the sound and picture looked fantastic - but the almost constant minor stuttering made it tough to watch at times.

One other minor idea...any way we can get the media player control bar to hide when viewing in fullscreen? Seems like most online video players hide that control bar until you move you mouse to the bottom edge of the screen. Just my 2 cents...

[Jayson Hajdu]

Folks,

Please keep the feedback coming on this thread. It will help me monitor it in one location and I'll be checking it regularly. Everything checked out fine on our end minus the one hiccup during the penalty shot that everyone else seemed to encounter as well. The majority of our feedback was good, with a good number reporting great experiences (again, minus the penalty shot hiccup). However, some viewers on here also reported average-to-poor experiences and this is not lost on us.

If you had issues, I urge you to convey your specific problems to customer support online (http://www.undsports...DB_OEM_ID=13500) or by phone (1-877-967-3267) and we can have Neulion look into it for you.

If anyone is curious, we had 1300 online viewers for last night's game compared to 300 for last year's exhibition game against Manitoba. Of those 1300, we received 13 help desk requests. If you are a returning customer, we appreciate your support and if you are a new webcast customer, we appreciate your willingness to give it a try. By utilizing the feedback options listed above, we can do our best to rectify any issues you might have going forward.

[Fetch]

I left early & watched the last 1/2 of 3rd & shootout at home on midco - I thought the picture was dark & the HD barely better & I have a new vizeo new latest greatest tv

[TBR]

I also watched on Midco..did not look like HD. I wouldn't even say it looked like a quality SD picture.

[Jayson Hajdu]

I was actually referring to feedback on the webcast, since that's what the thread was titled, but if there were broadcast issues, I guess we can include that too. I know there was one mix-up on a TV timeout where Midco went to break but the on-ice officials did not. Other than that, we haven't received any TV-related feedback on the game.

You may have to adjust your picture settings, even on a new TV. It was very much broadcast in HD -- we had it on in the press box as well -- and while we did receive complaints about the webcast, the only feedback we got last night on the HD TV broadcast was positive. Usually when there are broadcast issues, we hear about them loud and clear as they're happening

[sioux7>5]

Jayson I know we had it on and the picture never buffered but was shaky most of the game and stalled out once where I had to re-start the broadcast, but the picture quality was great just very shaky. I know it is streaming and all, but if I pay for something I expect it to keep up and be smooth. Thanks

[NOCO SIOUX]

My webcast was 50/50 as well. The audio was broken at times and I had the same glitches in the second period and the penalty shots. Backing up did not solve these freezes and I had to back out and click on the link again. My feed was better than SD and good when it worked. If the audio would've been better it would have been great. I miss the commercials especially the American Tire commercials!

On a different related note. I have a new Samsung Smart TV and I could not get the feed to work properly on the TV run internet even thought the TV is directly attached to the modem via ethernet. I had to attach my computer to the TV through a HDMI cable for it to run smooth without buffering etc. Anyone have any ideas as to how I can get this to run through my TV without having to attach my computer to the TV. I am guessing the TV is not as fast as my computer and this is why. Just thought I'd throw it out there.

[fargosioux]

My feed could not have been any better. I watched it on my tablet with no issues whatsoever, and the picture was incredible.

[siouxfan512]

Overall I thought the webcast was really good, much better than I expected. It would be nice if it didn't just cut to black to the TV timeouts though. Why don't they just broadcast the commercials that are on TV. Thats what most other webcasts do. Id be all about watching some of the old GF commercials I used to see in college, haha ... it would be better than a silent black screen.

[KSSioux]

This definitely was not full HD quality and the picture did chatter, but I am not sure why. Part of the problem I see is the comments about, "it is not on our end". It is definitely tied back to UNDSports web site, Neulion, or Midco. There are some folks on here that may have poor internet connections, but those of us who watch HD live feeds regularly on their computer know it is not good. It was definitely 780P and not 1080P quality, but I will say that it was better than I thought it would be. It does amaze me that they still have these issues. Neulion may respond to questions, but they blame the user and do nothing to fix it. I also find it laughable when some folks have said, "give them time, you were not great on your job the first day". That is ridiculous because it does not fly. You pay for a service and expect a professional to do the job, not someone learning as they go. My church has better feed quality than this, in better HD and by the way they added the IPad (non-Flash) fix within a month of folks requesting it.

[siouxfan512]

This definitely was not full HD quality and the picture did chatter, but I am not sure why. Part of the problem I see is the comments about, "it is not on our end". It is definitely tied back to UNDSports web site, Neulion, or Midco. There are some folks on here that may have poor internet connections, but those of us who watch HD live feeds regularly on their computer know it is not good. It was definitely 780P and not 1080P quality, but I will say that it was better than I thought it would be. It does amaze me that they still have these issues. Neulion may respond to questions, but they blame the user and do nothing to fix it. I also find it laughable when some folks have said, "give them time, you were not great on your job the first day". That is ridiculous because it does not fly. You pay for a service and expect a professional to do the job, not someone learning as they go. My church has better feed quality than this, in better HD and by the way they added the IPad (non-Flash) fix within a month of folks requesting it.

Can't argue with that, paying for a service we should expect it to be flawless.

[Cratter]

When you watch Monday Night Football it's in 720p and not 1080p either.

Rarely is much high definition in 1080 unless it's bluray.

[Anderson2200]

The live stream was top-notch and I highly recommend to those who has issues, to stream the game a minute or 2 behind LIVE. From my perspective as a somewhat technologically-savvy consumer, I can say that I was impressed even though I think I had the odds stacked against me using my wife's older laptop. Tips from me are as follows:

- hard wire an Ethernet cord from modem to device (don't expect much out of wireless)

- stream 1 - 2 minutes behind especially if using wireless is your only option (use time during intermissions to bank more grace-time)

- Optimize your experience by accessing Task Manager and prioritizing the stream over other processes using up your CPU's power (Ctrl + Alt + Delete)

- HDMI cords are $12 at Menards and work just as well as any for this purpose...

[sprig]

Left my comment on the link Jayson posted, but mine, like others, streamed well except for the 2nd period lockup. but was jittery/shaky throughout (but not because of buffering).

Backing up and creating additional time lag did not solve the jitteriness. Otherwise picture was decent.

[tho0505]

Overall a great stream. Love the HD feature. I click from "Best Picture" to 720 to get regular HD video. It was SO SO SO nice to go back to the first period and stream it that way. I came into the game half way through and was able to watch the game from the start which was great.

A little too choppy though. I'm going run it on another computer next game to get the full effect.

[Goon]

I was actually referring to feedback on the webcast, since that's what the thread was titled, but if there were broadcast issues, I guess we can include that too. I know there was one mix-up on a TV timeout where Midco went to break but the on-ice officials did not. Other than that, we haven't received any TV-related feedback on the game.

You may have to adjust your picture settings, even on a new TV. It was very much broadcast in HD -- we had it on in the press box as well -- and while we did receive complaints about the webcast, the only feedback we got last night on the HD TV broadcast was positive. Usually when there are broadcast issues, we hear about them loud and clear as they're happening

I want to complain because there's no commercials on the web casts.

[KSSioux]

The live stream was top-notch and I highly recommend to those who has issues, to stream the game a minute or 2 behind LIVE. From my perspective as a somewhat technologically-savvy consumer, I can say that I was impressed even though I think I had the odds stacked against me using my wife's older laptop. Tips from me are as follows:

- hard wire an Ethernet cord from modem to device (don't expect much out of wireless)

- stream 1 - 2 minutes behind especially if using wireless is your only option (use time during intermissions to bank more grace-time)

- Optimize your experience by accessing Task Manager and prioritizing the stream over other processes using up your CPU's power (Ctrl + Alt + Delete)

- HDMI cords are $12 at Menards and work just as well as any for this purpose...

Appreciate the comments and input. Just a couple of things. If you have to time lag behind, it is not actually a "live" feed is it. I watch many different HD live feeds without these issues and would expect more out of this based on the other live HD feeds that I get over my wireless. I have some of the fastest connections outside of Chattanooga, TN, so that is not an issue and since I have no problems with other live feeds because of that, it should not be a problem. A final thing is about the HDMI cord. I got pummeled earlier on my pricing of a HDMI cable (I used Monster pricing and referenced it to a FTA system), and did not want to by a cheap Chinese knockoff to give Neulion another excuse. I do agree that if you get a good quality one, it is similar and good enough for this 720P feed.

[BigGreyAnt41]

My only complaint (outside of the shootout problem which I think has been mentioned ), was that I couldn't go full screen with it. When I would click the "Full" button it would show a black screen that said "Press esc to leave full screen mode" or something like that, and it wouldn't never show the pictures. The audio continued, though.

I had to watch the game in the small window the whole time. This was in Internet Explorer on Windows 7 on a laptop. I didn't try another browser, though I probably should have. I've never had issues with IE so it rarely crosses my mind to try a different browser.

Jayson, any word on when Neulion will catch up with the times and ditch Flash in favor of HTML5?

[Jayson Hajdu]

Jayson, any word on when Neulion will catch up with the times and ditch Flash in favor of HTML5?

Neulion is moving away from Flash to HTML5, which will allow all UND Insider programming to be viewed through tablet browsers. It is currently in the test phase and should be available in the near future.

[Goon]

Neulion is moving away from Flash to HTML5, which will allow all UND Insider programming to be viewed through tablet browsers. It is currently in the test phase and should be available in the near future.

does that include Nook's?

[SiouxForever]

does that include Nook's?

Goon, a Nook is consider more of an ereader than tablet. To answers your questions, I'd probably say no.