Eircom Sports Hub

Johnboy1951

Hi Ant,
Thanks for getting back to me.

eircom: Ant wrote: »

Thanks Johnboy,

I apologise for linking your OS with a 'browser'. Wasn't intentional. Clealy insulting all my touchy red hat friends here in Technical Support.

no problem

Technical Support are of course my authority on all techncial issues and have advised me that NO Operating system is actually being blocked from viewing Setanta streams.

OK ..... but that is NOT what the text says when I try to access the streams as you can see from the pics I posted.

They advise, that it is the codecs that are the issue and, for the moment, this is not directly supported by broadband Support. They advise they are unaware of the unique code /or streaming format used in the Setanta Stream.

So they tell you my OS has a problem with the codecs used?
Yet they are unaware of what codec this might be.

Sorry Ant, that makes no sense at all ...... if they don't know what the codec is they cannot determine if that is the problem.

Though they suggest that it likely it maybe licensed and difficult for either Setanta or eircom to give out online.

The name of a licenced codec is hardly a secret!

Sorry, but that looks like BS

The online team responsible for eircom SportsHub do envisage Setanta streams will be available to other browsers and different OS in the near future. As soon as I have more information on this I will post this here.

I have to ask ...... do you have any idea what 'near future' means in this case?
Do they mean a matter of days; weeks; several months; or maybe a year or two?

Some ball-park figure would be helpful.

I'm afraid that's all I can say about it for the minute. Over 95% of users are unfortunately using Windows or Mac so they are largely accommodated. As these would be the predominant OS our support is currently geared towards supporting as many of our customers as possible. As said, it is likely that other browsers and different OS will indeed be supported in the near future. If you need further assistance or need to contact eircom Broadband Support direct:

Broadband Technical Support : 1890 260260 (lowcall); Hours : 08:00 - 22:00 (7 days).

Best wishes,
Ant

Best wishes,
Ant

I do realise that I am using a minority OS.
What I fail to see is how some unnamed (licenced or otherwise) codec could be preventing me from accessing a stream. In fact I doubt it is possible.

Yes, a lack of support in my OS would prevent me from PLAYING the stream ...... but not from accessing the stream.

Yet in this case I am prevented from accessing the stream.
The text tells me that it is because of the OS I am using.

This happens BEFORE my PC attempts to play the stream.

So, while I acknowledge your efforts on my behalf, with thanks, I do not believe what you have been told.

I don't believe it because they refuse to name this mysterious codec which allegedly prevents me from ACCESSING (not playing) the stream.

So, yes I am frustrated.
I feel we have been given 'the run-around'.

I have no problem with my PC being unable to play the stream ..... that is my problem if it should happen.

I have a problem with - IMO - being prevented from accessing the stream because I chose to use a different OS.
There is no known technical reason why my PC cannot play the stream if given access to it.

Hopefully you will be able to get an indication of what 'near future' means ........ but based on what we have been told to date I doubt I will believe the answer. :mad:

Thanks again Ant, for your efforts.

regards.

Johnboy1951

Hi Ant,
any indication when the 'near future' might be?
or even what codec they claim to be referring to?

Thanks

eircom: Ant

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Hi Ant,
any indication when the 'near future' might be?
or even what codec they claim to be referring to?

Thanks

Cheers Johnboy1951,

I don't have a definite date for the update at the moment. Normally the Online Team will let us (& the Technical Support department) know when similar upgrdes are pending. They will normally update as soon as an upgrade or new product comes out. When I have more information, I will post it up here immediately.

Can't really help with the source code for the codecs stream. I'm not sure if Technical Support can help either.. The source code or format is generally licensed and most likely patented by the programmers. Eitherway, I am unable to help you further on this.

Technical Support will have more knowledge obviously about viewing streams, like Setanta on different plaforms. They generally support windows, though they will certainly try to point you in the right direction for support on other OS. Alot of the Support team will actually be using Linux on their own personal computers at home. Some would be experts on updating codec files to run different streams (divx, etc.) They will have more knowledge on where to get help with running streams on other platforms.

As advised, I will post as soon as I have information on viewing Setanta Sports on different OS and on different browsers.

All the best,
Ant

Johnboy1951

Eitherway, I am unable to help you further on this.

I guess that is it so.

I am blocked from accessing the stream based solely on my use of a particular operating system.

Eircom have not come up with a credible answer why you are doing this.

I don't need support for my operating system. I take full responsibility for it.

I am VERY pissed at Eircom for blocking my access.

The more BS I read from Eircom the more pissed I get, so I suppose this thread should die.

Eircom have no intention of allowing all their customers access to all their services.

:mad:

Johnboy1951

From 19th Jan 2012

The online team responsible for eircom SportsHub do envisage Setanta streams will be available to other browsers and different OS in the near future. As soon as I have more information on this I will post this here.

OK, three months later, which is I believe a reasonable time to wait for something due "in the near future" ..... so ......

what have you got to tell me that is new and up to date?

Has access to the streams been arranged for ALL Eircom customers or not?

If not, when will it be so arranged?

I look forward to some solid information, having waited patiently for some notice to appear.

Today's attempt to access the service at
http://eircomsports.eircom.net/Setanta/
resulted in the response below.

Obviously nothing has changed in the last three months

regards

mikeym

I also cannot access eircom sportshub live, I was told to email eircom.

The E-mobile call centre is a disgrace I rang them today about not being able to access Eircom Sportshub and I got cut off because they didnt know what it was:mad:

mikeym

The e-mobile website is a pack of lies. It says you can watch live sport on eircom sportshub when obviously you cant.

Nonoperational

To be fair it's a bit of a dogs dinner on a Mac too.

Johnboy1951

Could an Eircom rep PLEASE respond to this question?

eircom: Ant

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

From 19th Jan 2012


OK, three months later, which is I believe a reasonable time to wait for something due "in the near future" ..... so ......

what have you got to tell me that is new and up to date?

Has access to the streams been arranged for ALL Eircom customers or not?

If not, when will it be so arranged?

I look forward to some solid information, having waited patiently for some notice to appear.

Today's attempt to access the service at
http://eircomsports.eircom.net/Setanta/
resulted in the response below.

Obviously nothing has changed in the last three months

regards

Johnboy,

Thanks for your query. I appreciate you have been waiting for a firm response on this issue. I haven't heard more on the upgrade, from the last time we spoke. I will contact the online team again and see if there is further progress. Obviously your response clearly shows that your OS is not supported.

I will get back to you soon.

Best wishes,
Ant

eircom: Ant

mikeym wrote: »

I also cannot access eircom sportshub live, I was told to email eircom.

The E-mobile call centre is a disgrace I rang them today about not being able to access Eircom Sportshub and I got cut off because they didnt know what it was:mad:

Hi mikeym,

I've asked the e-mobile guys to help you on this.

Best wishes,
Ant

eircom: Tony

mikeym wrote: »

The e-mobile website is a pack of lies. It says you can watch live sport on eircom sportshub when obviously you cant.

Hi, In order to get access to the eircom sportshub you need to click on this link: http://www.emobile.ie/perks/broadband/#perks-setanta-sports

Access to the eircom sportshub is only available to eMobile broadband customers.

Tony

Johnboy1951

eircom: Ant wrote: »

Johnboy,

Thanks for your query. I appreciate you have been waiting for a firm response on this issue. I haven't heard more on the upgrade, from the last time we spoke. I will contact the online team again and see if there is further progress. Obviously your response clearly shows that your OS is not supported.

I will get back to you soon.

Best wishes,
Ant

Thanks for your response.


Yes, as before it shows that Eircom do not support Linux.
Of course I am not looking for any 'support' ...... all I want is the block removed, nothing else, and be given access to the stream.
I am prepared to support my own OS.

I look forward to hearing from you soon .... hopefully with a date for when this block will be removed.


regards

eircom: Ant

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Thanks for your response.


Yes, as before it shows that Eircom do not support Linux.
Of course I am not looking for any 'support' ...... all I want is the block removed, nothing else, and be given access to the stream.
I am prepared to support my own OS.

I look forward to hearing from you soon .... hopefully with a date for when this block will be removed.


regards

Johnboy1951,

Apologies for the delay. I am still chasing this up and waiting on a reply from the online team.

I will update you next week eitherway and as soon as I have further information.

Regards,
Ant

Johnboy1951

eircom: Ant wrote: »

Johnboy1951,

Apologies for the delay. I am still chasing this up and waiting on a reply from the online team.

I will update you next week eitherway and as soon as I have further information.

Regards,
Ant

Thank you ....... look forward to the update.

regards

jay93

Eircom's webplayer doesn't support Linux on Windows it uses windows media player to stream i'm assuming on a Mac that it uses quicktime player.

Problem with Linux is there is no supported player for it to work unless Eircom work around which they can if they really want to.!

Quite a fair bit of people use Linux but support is still really bad all over the world for it it's a shame really.

Johnboy1951

jay93 wrote: »

Eircom's webplayer doesn't support Linux on Windows it uses windows media player to stream i'm assuming on a Mac that it uses quicktime player.

Problem with Linux is there is no supported player for it to work unless Eircom work around which they can if they really want to.!

Quite a fair bit of people use Linux but support is still really bad all over the world for it it's a shame really.

I do not understand what you mean.
There is nothing I have come across that either of the players you mention can play, that I cannot play on Linux.

Would you care to explain what you mean?
Particularly what you mean by 'supported player'?

What technical hindrance is there?

jay93

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I do not understand what you mean.
There is nothing I have come across that either of the players you mention can play, that I cannot play on Linux.

Would you care to explain what you mean?
Particularly what you mean by 'supported player'?

What technical hindrance is there?

It doesn't use basic flash like youtube or most video sites do it uses the operating systems main default player to play,

You might be able to play videos of all formats on your computer but since Eircoms web players support only Windows and Mac it won't work on Linux.

Basically the software for the player isn't compatible with Linux.

The problem is with the player in the browser on your computer it doesn't have the required software to run ie windows media player and Apple quicktime.

Johnboy1951

jay93 wrote: »

It doesn't use basic flash like youtube or most video sites do it uses the operating systems main default player to play,

OK it uses a video player installed on the OS ......

You might be able to play videos of all formats on your computer but since Eircoms web players support only Windows and Mac it won't work on Linux.

That appears to contradict the previous statement.
Either there is a specific Eircom app to play the stream, or as above it uses an app installed on the OS.

Basically the software for the player isn't compatible with Linux.

What software? ........ the only software required would appear to be a player ... and all the players I use are compatible with Linux ...

The problem is with the player in the browser on your computer it doesn't have the required software to run ie windows media player and Apple quicktime.

Why should it matter to the Eicom video stream what player is used to play it on any PC, regardless of OS?

You appear to be saying that Eircom are limiting the use of the video stream to two particular pieces of software - the players you mentioned above. If so then this is an artificial limitation ..... is it not possible to play the stream on a different player in Windows OS?

Is it only possible to see the Eircom stream using WMP and no other player when using Windows?

I would be interested in the answer to that question.

If they are not limiting the use of the stream to particular players, then they are limiting its availability to the two OSs as shown in the pics I posted.
This then would be an artificial limitation imposed by Eircom, and not a technical inability of Linux to play the stream.

Thank you for the response.

Johnboy1951

eircom: Ant wrote: »

Johnboy1951,

Apologies for the delay. I am still chasing this up and waiting on a reply from the online team.

I will update you next week eitherway and as soon as I have further information.

Regards,
Ant

Hi Ant,
another week has gone by ...... update?

regards

Johnboy1951

eircom: Ant wrote: »

Johnboy1951,

Apologies for the delay. I am still chasing this up and waiting on a reply from the online team.

I will update you next week eitherway and as soon as I have further information.

Regards,
Ant

The above was two weeks ago

Johnboy1951

This is getting tedious

I am still waiting for an update on the situation as promised ....... anybody from Eircom? ......

eircom: Ant

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

This is getting tedious

I am still waiting for an update on the situation as promised ....... anybody from Eircom? ......

Hi Johnboy1951,

Apologies for the delay, I still have no further information from the last post on this.

However, a colleague of mine, who is solely a Red Hat server person, has advised me that he has no problem viewing any streams. He advised me that he had an issue with his browser and he sorted this. He can now view all streams, including Setanta live football games. He is connected only through eircom. He also advised that the streams are only designed so that you can view them on one computer device. So for example if you have 2 computers, you would only be able to view the Setanta streams on one of them. I'll double check this again and if I have more information, I will post here.

Maybe someone else that uses Linux can advise on this.

Cheers,
Ant

Johnboy1951

eircom: Ant wrote: »

Hi Johnboy1951,

Apologies for the delay, I still have no further information from the last post on this.

However, a colleague of mine, who is solely a Red Hat server person, has advised me that he has no problem viewing any streams. He advised me that he had an issue with his browser and he sorted this. He can now view all streams, including Setanta live football games. He is connected only through eircom. He also advised that the streams are only designed so that you can view them on one computer device. So for example if you have 2 computers, you would only be able to view the Setanta streams on one of them. I'll double check this again and if I have more information, I will post here.

Maybe someone else that uses Linux can advise on this.

Cheers,
Ant

Hi,
Thanks Ant for sticking with this.
I tried again and got the same 'Linux is not supported' as previously posted.
In light of the above info, I right clicked on the space where the video should be and chose 'reload'.

The result was a looping attempt to show a player, but not stream. That was using Chromium Browser.

I next tried Firefox and had the same experience.

So I tried Midori Browser, and this time I had some success ...... able to view Ulster Vs Leinster ....... Yeah!!!!!

I should mention that I had originally tried all the installed browsers and was unable to get this far.

BTW I only use one PC to connect to Eircom, so that has not had any effect.

My only complaint tonight is that my connection speed is not good enough to display the stream without some juddering

Ant,
thank you again for sticking with this.
If it requires me to use a specific browser, I have no problem with that.
Even better would be some information from your RedHat-using contact about what changes he made to his browser settings.

If I can get Chromium or Firefox to connect properly that would be preferable of course.

Thanks again ....... I will try it a few times over the next day or so and see how things go.

Regards.
(Happy Chappy)

eircom: Ant

I've email-ed my 'mentor' friend in Technical Support. He has a 20Mb connection at home and is connected to eircom. I've asked him to test this for me using Ubuntu or any Linux and let me know. I will update you on this as soon as I can and get browser details also. Otherwise, we're back to the standard reply, which I will have to apologise for and I don't want to have to keep doing that to you.

Cheers, Ant

Johnboy1951

eircom: Ant wrote: »

I've email-ed my 'mentor' friend in Technical Support. He has a 20Mb connection at home and is connected to eircom. I've asked him to test this for me using Ubuntu or any Linux and let me know. I will update you on this as soon as I can and get browser details also. Otherwise, we're back to the standard reply, which I will have to apologise for and I don't want to have to keep doing that to you.

Cheers, Ant

Hi Ant,
thanks for keeping after this.
presently, using Midori browser, I do not get the 'we don't support Linux' window.
I just tried it again now before posting, and it went straight to the video - seemed to be something called "Milan Vs Bologna" but ads were showing.
The browser is using Mplayer to play the video.

Unfortunately, for some reason, the video does not go full screen when selected. The browser tries to, but the actual video remains the same small size up in a corner of the screen.

In any case the situation as I now perceive it is this :

The video stream can be accessed from Linux. Maybe something in the browser settings cause that 'no support' graphic to come up.

It would be very useful indeed to have some info from your 'mentor' as to what settings are involved. Heck I don't mind if I need another browser specifically for this.
To have it working is the only thing that matters ..... and that is close indeed.

I appreciate your persistence on this matter Ant.
Yes it does get frustrating at times, but I do appreciate your efforts, which are indeed bearing fruit ..... albeit small ones yet

regards

eircom: Ant

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Hi Ant,
thanks for keeping after this.
presently, using Midori browser, I do not get the 'we don't support Linux' window.
I just tried it again now before posting, and it went straight to the video - seemed to be something called "Milan Vs Bologna" but ads were showing.
The browser is using Mplayer to play the video.

Unfortunately, for some reason, the video does not go full screen when selected. The browser tries to, but the actual video remains the same small size up in a corner of the screen.

In any case the situation as I now perceive it is this :

The video stream can be accessed from Linux. Maybe something in the browser settings cause that 'no support' graphic to come up.

It would be very useful indeed to have some info from your 'mentor' as to what settings are involved. Heck I don't mind if I need another browser specifically for this.
To have it working is the only thing that matters ..... and that is close indeed.

I appreciate your persistence on this matter Ant.
Yes it does get frustrating at times, but I do appreciate your efforts, which are indeed bearing fruit ..... albeit small ones yet

regards

Thanks, and I appreciate your comments.

It's a bit better news. I haven't received any more information from my Linux buddy, so have just asked the support centre to try to test this on the test bed.

Will get back to you on Monday. In the meantime, can you keep trying on your side over the weekend.

Cheers,
Ant

Johnboy1951

eircom: Ant wrote: »

Thanks, and I appreciate your comments.

It's a bit better news. I haven't received any more information from my Linux buddy, so have just asked the support centre to try to test this on the test bed.

Will get back to you on Monday. In the meantime, can you keep trying on your side over the weekend.

Cheers,
Ant

Hi Ant,
yes will try connecting over the weekend.
If anything surprising happens I will post

Thanks again

regards

Johnboy1951

Checked a few times today ...... and get 'server busy' try again in a minute - clock count down ...

That was using the Midori browser which is the only one I managed to connect with out of the nine or so I have tried ....

Johnboy1951

Now getting the media player attempting to connect to the stream ... can see the redirects flashing by .... and it ends with "Stopped".

No idea what this means.

Again this is using the Midori browser ...... Opera and others show the Linux unsupported graphic still, when launched, and on refresh the media player seems to be attempting to connect but goes into a continuous loop jumping about the page ......

Epiphany tells me Unable to load page ..... too many redirects ....... Try Again .....

Similar failures with other browsers ...