Fulham TV Live

[LittleErn]

OK so there are teething troubles, but once sorted, everything was fine for me here in the UK. Still, the first 30 mins were a pain what with constant buffering and repeated commentary. Worst of all, it dropped out just as Mitro scored his second goal. A partial refund would be a nice gesture, but I'm not holding my breath!

[rogerpbackinMidEastUS]

I'm in Fort Lauderdale right now ,paid a fiver each game never a problem.

Hi,
I live in Delray Beach

[Dr Quinzel]

It should be fixed now, lads. You'll notice a bit more blurring in motion because they've lowered the bitrate, but no longer any audio/video sync issues. They went from having 720p to 360p resolutions to help this along. Make sure to refresh your browsers if you haven't already.

That's poor though for £10. You can watch a Premier League game in HD for £7.99 on Now TV.

FFCTV uses their own broadcast. I am sure the team that works for FFCTV is significantly smaller than those who broadcast prem matches. It's not exactly an apples:apples comparison.

Yes, it's poor, but they did something about it. They went from getting high quality visuals, to realizing it was too much, so they downgraded the bitrate. A 720p resolution, streamed from the original source, to be compatible on multiple devices, that goes a long way.

I know it's easy to say "It should just work", but there are more elements at play here. It's a new service, this FFCTV, their sample size is being experienced by all, so it's a learning experience for all.

Nah - it should work. It is simple as that. If you can't offer a product, don't. They're falling a long way short. They've had long enough to trial this - we're ten games into the season; they've had months to prepare. It shouldn't begin working properly on the 35th minute of a game. They need to have a look at their processes.

[knightwest]

Just to let you know that I requested a refund which was issued. I stopped trying o watch before the issue was apparently resolved.

[RaySmith]

Much better for me than last time v Millwall, when there was constant buffering and loss of picture.

The problems, constantly mentioned by Jim, and thus acknowledged, didn't  affect my enjoyment much,  and then , when it was sorted after 30 ins,  it was all fine -  which i thought a good  sign for the future.
If it had been as bad as  last time again, i likely would have given up with it.

So, my verdict -a minor problem was sorted out after 30 mins, then very good, so expecting it to be all right in the future.
Value for money? Well, you expect it to be perfect for the money, but I think it's getting there.

[toshes mate]

I will not become an apologist for people who take money and fail to deliver what they promise.  FFCTV has been beset with problems from the start of this campaign and they cannot all be teething issues.  I am hoping this is something which will be followed up by FST since a product should be, at the very least, fit for purpose.   There can be no excuses for it being otherwise, IMO.

I don't use the live video facility and have had only one or two problems with audio which were down to the player getting stuck and having to log out and log back on.  This did happen the season before last but only when you tried to get the 'old player' to work at lowest lag time.  The new audio player doesn't have this same issue and so I am hoping it will be better overall.   

 

[Dr Quinzel]

toshes - The FST confirmed they'd bring it up (again).

First time (probably last  ) last night, but feel for overseas fans in particular if that is what they've been putting up with. Not easy or fashionable following Fulham from those lengths, and at the cost I know I would expect better.

[Russianrob]

There are some advantages in being a miser like me who begrudges paying a fiver when you have already paid an annual fee to listen to the Gent.I would be really angry being ripped off almost every other week.

[jarv]

I am waiting until everyone on here tells me how good it works. I gave up a while ago, I have 2 places, Massachusetts and Vermont. I doesn't work in either. someone said it can depend on the internet carrier. The Vermont carrier is superb, the feed is included in the condo fees and serves all the units, about 100 condo units. I await patiently until FFC gets it right.

[Matt10]

It should be fixed now, lads. You'll notice a bit more blurring in motion because they've lowered the bitrate, but no longer any audio/video sync issues. They went from having 720p to 360p resolutions to help this along. Make sure to refresh your browsers if you haven't already.

That's poor though for £10. You can watch a Premier League game in HD for £7.99 on Now TV.

FFCTV uses their own broadcast. I am sure the team that works for FFCTV is significantly smaller than those who broadcast prem matches. It's not exactly an apples:apples comparison.

Yes, it's poor, but they did something about it. They went from getting high quality visuals, to realizing it was too much, so they downgraded the bitrate. A 720p resolution, streamed from the original source, to be compatible on multiple devices, that goes a long way.

I know it's easy to say "It should just work", but there are more elements at play here. It's a new service, this FFCTV, their sample size is being experienced by all, so it's a learning experience for all.

Nah - it should work. It is simple as that. If you can't offer a product, don't. They're falling a long way short. They've had long enough to trial this - we're ten games into the season; they've had months to prepare. It shouldn't begin working properly on the 35th minute of a game. They need to have a look at their processes.

They do offer the product. It does work. It has worked for myself and multiple others for the entire season. This was the first time issues came up for myself, and it turned out it was a service impacting to all levels, not just on an individual basis. They acknowledged this, both in email form and by commentary.

I do hope the FST has some valuable information to present back to the public. I've said it before, I do feel bad for those that are experiencing issues. I don't work for FFCTV, but I have on multiple occasions tried to troubleshoot for others in hopes of just helping a fellow supporter out. Sometimes they want to be helped, or sometimes they want to complain. I understand both completely.

Hopefully they learn that the bitrate going forward needs to be lowered. I believe their goal of maintaining high visual content is going to 'blur' into more of a performance level content that is streamable through all devices. From a less technical standpoint, I strongly urged to them, again, that they need to set up a live chat support option. Just someone on the other end to help users troubleshoot would go a long way to mend the working relationship.

[Dr Quinzel]

Matt, a read of this forum would suggest it doesn't and on many occasions hasn't worked in the way a product of its type should. That is my opinion at least.

It should be no more complex than login, click and play. This isn't an illegal or cheap workaround or a favor where you accept and probably expect a few workarounds and intermittent viewing, it is a professional service offered at considerable price (when compared to other similar services).

You are obviously technically minded and have been generous enough to troubleshoot and help others, which is a great credit to yourself, but is also an indictment on the quality of the product.

I agree heavily with your sentiment re FAQ/Live trouble shooting. You said that the commentators made apologies, which is all well and good, but myself watching had no idea that happened, because the system simply wasn't working to have heard it. The club tweeted an apology and update I think at HT, and without that people were in the dark.

I seem to remember, but could be wrong, that this is supplied by an outside contractor/new contractor. Perhaps it is something they can/do offer that that the club can take up.

[Matt10]

Matt, a read of this forum would suggest it doesn't and on many occasions hasn't worked in the way a product of its type should. That is my opinion at least.

It should be no more complex than login, click and play. This isn't an illegal or cheap workaround or a favor where you accept and probably expect a few workarounds and intermittent viewing, it is a professional service offered at considerable price (when compared to other similar services).

You are obviously technically minded and have been generous enough to troubleshoot and help others, which is a great credit to yourself, but is also an indictment on the quality of the product.

I agree heavily with your sentiment re FAQ/Live trouble shooting. You said that the commentators made apologies, which is all well and good, but myself watching had no idea that happened, because the system simply wasn't working to have heard it. The club tweeted an apology and update I think at HT, and without that people were in the dark.

I seem to remember, but could be wrong, that this is supplied by an outside contractor/new contractor. Perhaps it is something they can/do offer that that the club can take up.

I understand that completely. Yes, it should work for everyone, but it doesn't. There are few, if any, products that simply just work for everyone. The company I work for has people constantly saying "It just works", well, why am I a support engineer then?  :)

The basic idea of troubleshooting is if it works in one place, but it doesn't work in another, what could be the issue? Is it our issue, theirs, or both? Individual case by case now has to be considered. Which is why they state in their issues section of the FAQ to email them.

I have read through the forums, and have yet to see anyone go into their full experience when troubleshooting with ffctv support. My assumption is ffctv support isn't available in "real time", so the end-user never gets anywhere because there is only a space of roughly 2 hours to troubleshoot. Even more emphasis for live support, especially in an environment that the user cannot test outside of those 2 hours.

The contractor looks to be steamamg, https://www.streamamg.com/ , which is used by other clubs as well. They have quite the enterprise set up it seems.

[Bokonon]

I will just add that yesterday from here in Massachusetts, USA, was first time I hit sustained awful performance all season.

[Stoneleigh Loyalist]

As an FFC Member last night was my first time paying to watch fulhamtv. Like others I completely missed the first three goals only discovering that we had scored by jumpy pictures of the celebrations.
When it blacked out at about 35 minutes I gave up and have today requested a refund.
There is no excuse for taking money when you cannot deliver the goods.

[rogerpbackinMidEastUS]

Matt, a read of this forum would suggest it doesn't and on many occasions hasn't worked in the way a product of its type should. That is my opinion at least.

It should be no more complex than login, click and play. This isn't an illegal or cheap workaround or a favor where you accept and probably expect a few workarounds and intermittent viewing, it is a professional service offered at considerable price (when compared to other similar services).

You are obviously technically minded and have been generous enough to troubleshoot and help others, which is a great credit to yourself, but is also an indictment on the quality of the product.

I agree heavily with your sentiment re FAQ/Live trouble shooting. You said that the commentators made apologies, which is all well and good, but myself watching had no idea that happened, because the system simply wasn't working to have heard it. The club tweeted an apology and update I think at HT, and without that people were in the dark.

I seem to remember, but could be wrong, that this is supplied by an outside contractor/new contractor. Perhaps it is something they can/do offer that that the club can take up.

I understand that completely. Yes, it should work for everyone, but it doesn't. There are few, if any, products that simply just work for everyone. The company I work for has people constantly saying "It just works", well, why am I a support engineer then?  :)

The basic idea of troubleshooting is if it works in one place, but it doesn't work in another, what could be the issue? Is it our issue, theirs, or both? Individual case by case now has to be considered. Which is why they state in their issues section of the FAQ to email them.

I have read through the forums, and have yet to see anyone go into their full experience when troubleshooting with ffctv support. My assumption is ffctv support isn't available in "real time", so the end-user never gets anywhere because there is only a space of roughly 2 hours to troubleshoot. Even more emphasis for live support, especially in an environment that the user cannot test outside of those 2 hours.

The contractor looks to be steamamg, https://www.streamamg.com/ , which is used by other clubs as well. They have quite the enterprise set up it seems.

I'm not sure there is a space of roughly 2 hours to trouble shoot.
A couple of times I've got to half time before giving up.
That 45 minutes is a long, infuritating waste of time.

As I mentioned on another thread, I watched a perfect stream from the Wigan site
and we were the home team.  So, my problem was 'user error' on FFCTV but not WFCTV
Perhaps you can explain that reasoning.

BTW thanks for your help on a couple of occasions
Cheers
Roger

[Matt10]

Matt, a read of this forum would suggest it doesn't and on many occasions hasn't worked in the way a product of its type should. That is my opinion at least.

It should be no more complex than login, click and play. This isn't an illegal or cheap workaround or a favor where you accept and probably expect a few workarounds and intermittent viewing, it is a professional service offered at considerable price (when compared to other similar services).

You are obviously technically minded and have been generous enough to troubleshoot and help others, which is a great credit to yourself, but is also an indictment on the quality of the product.

I agree heavily with your sentiment re FAQ/Live trouble shooting. You said that the commentators made apologies, which is all well and good, but myself watching had no idea that happened, because the system simply wasn't working to have heard it. The club tweeted an apology and update I think at HT, and without that people were in the dark.

I seem to remember, but could be wrong, that this is supplied by an outside contractor/new contractor. Perhaps it is something they can/do offer that that the club can take up.

I understand that completely. Yes, it should work for everyone, but it doesn't. There are few, if any, products that simply just work for everyone. The company I work for has people constantly saying "It just works", well, why am I a support engineer then?  :)

The basic idea of troubleshooting is if it works in one place, but it doesn't work in another, what could be the issue? Is it our issue, theirs, or both? Individual case by case now has to be considered. Which is why they state in their issues section of the FAQ to email them.

I have read through the forums, and have yet to see anyone go into their full experience when troubleshooting with ffctv support. My assumption is ffctv support isn't available in "real time", so the end-user never gets anywhere because there is only a space of roughly 2 hours to troubleshoot. Even more emphasis for live support, especially in an environment that the user cannot test outside of those 2 hours.

The contractor looks to be steamamg, https://www.streamamg.com/ , which is used by other clubs as well. They have quite the enterprise set up it seems.

I'm not sure there is a space of roughly 2 hours to trouble shoot.
A couple of times I've got to half time before giving up.
That 45 minutes is a long, infuritating waste of time.

As I mentioned on another thread, I watched a perfect stream from the Wigan site
and we were the home team.  So, my problem was 'user error' on FFCTV but not WFCTV
Perhaps you can explain that reasoning.

BTW thanks for your help on a couple of occasions
Cheers
Roger

Wigan use the same contractor. What did FFCTV support say when you told them it worked on WFCTV, but not FFCTV?

No problem. Thanks for that. I just want to help other supporters get their money's worth.

[S.F.Sorrow]

It's rubbish. There are ALWAYS dropouts with "data missing" so I always need to refresh the browser at least 10 times pr game. Audio is never properly synced. Most of the time I hear the goal a second before I see it. Reading was unwatchable. Money down the drain. The problem is NOT my setup. I'm on an extremely fast fibre connection and use a VERY highly spec'ed custom built gaming pc that has been upgraded for professional audio production. Every other streaming service I've ever used works more or less flawlessly. But FFCTV varies from slightly poor to unwatchable. Even on a good day the video quality is disappointing. The bitrate they're using is an insult to paying customers.

The website is horrible too. Not very intuitive. The first time I used it I almost couldn't find the live broadcast. Very poorly designed. The website doesn't even work properly in Firefox unless it's scaled down to around 70%. And when I'm already logged out, why is there still an option to log out but no option to log in? To actually log in I have to click on something that requires me to be logged in and then get re-directed to some other page to log in. Very poor. And where's the paypal option? It's been saying soooooon now for months! I'm sick of having to re-type parts of my personal info every week because the website deletes or alters half of it. It's so useless I'm close to cancelling my monthly subscription.

I've got friends who support other clubs. They use iFollow and have no issues whatsoever. Why can't FFC use iFollow? :031:

[Dr Quinzel]

Sorrow - you've worded my thoughts better than I could.

Matt - that's a very good point about being an engineer and the need for your existence. I appreciate what you say there. That said, there's a difference between troubleshooting and occasional error, and almost all users consistently having issue. As Sorrow alludes, a lot of that feeling for me went beyond the actual feed and included the terrible website. It feels like something that has gone live without outside testing/customer/peer feedback.

Matt, you'd likely know, but I assume these are all things that should they pull their finger out, could be improved upon easily? The bitrate for example, but the other issues just seem to be less technical and more customer service orientated.

[toshes mate]

It's rubbish. The bitrate they're using is an insult to paying customers.
The website is horrible too. Not very intuitive.

So, my problem was 'user error' on FFCTV but not WFCTV

As Dr Qunizel rightly points out a professional product should ... just work ...  without the need to did deep beneath the veneer of whatever device you have.  The problem is these companies are trying to cram significant ranges of devices into their arsenals without thinking the technology and logic through.  They should offer high quality video and audio properly synced and absolutely without issue except when an Act of God (the legal get out clause) takes place and trying to bully people into thinking otherwise is specious in the extreme.

[rogerpbackinMidEastUS]

Matt, a read of this forum would suggest it doesn't and on many occasions hasn't worked in the way a product of its type should. That is my opinion at least.

It should be no more complex than login, click and play. This isn't an illegal or cheap workaround or a favor where you accept and probably expect a few workarounds and intermittent viewing, it is a professional service offered at considerable price (when compared to other similar services).

You are obviously technically minded and have been generous enough to troubleshoot and help others, which is a great credit to yourself, but is also an indictment on the quality of the product.

I agree heavily with your sentiment re FAQ/Live trouble shooting. You said that the commentators made apologies, which is all well and good, but myself watching had no idea that happened, because the system simply wasn't working to have heard it. The club tweeted an apology and update I think at HT, and without that people were in the dark.

I seem to remember, but could be wrong, that this is supplied by an outside contractor/new contractor. Perhaps it is something they can/do offer that that the club can take up.

I understand that completely. Yes, it should work for everyone, but it doesn't. There are few, if any, products that simply just work for everyone. The company I work for has people constantly saying "It just works", well, why am I a support engineer then?  :)

The basic idea of troubleshooting is if it works in one place, but it doesn't work in another, what could be the issue? Is it our issue, theirs, or both? Individual case by case now has to be considered. Which is why they state in their issues section of the FAQ to email them.

I have read through the forums, and have yet to see anyone go into their full experience when troubleshooting with ffctv support. My assumption is ffctv support isn't available in "real time", so the end-user never gets anywhere because there is only a space of roughly 2 hours to troubleshoot. Even more emphasis for live support, especially in an environment that the user cannot test outside of those 2 hours.

The contractor looks to be steamamg, https://www.streamamg.com/ , which is used by other clubs as well. They have quite the enterprise set up it seems.

I'm not sure there is a space of roughly 2 hours to trouble shoot.
A couple of times I've got to half time before giving up.
That 45 minutes is a long, infuritating waste of time.

As I mentioned on another thread, I watched a perfect stream from the Wigan site
and we were the home team.  So, my problem was 'user error' on FFCTV but not WFCTV
Perhaps you can explain that reasoning.

BTW thanks for your help on a couple of occasions
Cheers
Roger

Wigan use the same contractor. What did FFCTV support say when you told them it worked on WFCTV, but not FFCTV?

No problem. Thanks for that. I just want to help other supporters get their money's worth.

I was so pleased to find a stream that I didn't bother to tell them, the initial "anger" had dissipated  0)