Changes watching Setanta via the Eircom SportsHub?

Mr Cumulonimbus

I notice that when when watching Setanta now via this webpage its now using the Microsoft Silverlight player facility. It was using the Windows Media Player previously.

Question is why the 1500 Kbps button that used to be there, is gone for watching the stream at this bitrate?

There used to be an 850 Kbps option and the already mentioned 1500 one.

Now there are just a 300 and an 850 Kbps option.

allen175

it might be basing it on your speed and what it is judging to be the max bandwidth that your connection can handle
i have the 300kbps and the 1500kbps where i am

for the life of me i cannot figure out how to attach a file without uploading it to a site and getting the link from that

EDIT: got it

Johnboy1951

I am inclined to believe the move to Silverlight is to, once and for all, prevent users of other operating systems (other than Win & Mac) from viewing the content.

Eircom had previously deliberately blocked (or attempted to block) all other operating systems, but there were some work-arounds to the block which I guess they did not like.

Now they have moved to a dying technology (Silverlight) and the only reason I can fathom for that move is to block other operating systems once and for all.

Eircom's behaviour in this is a crock!

To be honest, when I could get the service (via a work-around), it mostly was not worth watching on a large monitor. The quality of the stream was brutal. Probably OK for mobile devices.

Mr Cumulonimbus

allen175 wrote: »

it might be basing it on your speed and what it is judging to be the max bandwidth that your connection can handle
i have the 300kbps and the 1500kbps where i am

for the life of me i cannot figure out how to attach a file without uploading it to a site and getting the link from that

EDIT: got it

On the up to 8 Meg NGB package. Speed is always around 7 Meg download. Nothing has changed. Why the 1500 Kbps option is gone, I dont know. Strange that you have 300 and 1500, but not 850.

eircom: Alan

Mr Cumulonimbus wrote: »

On the up to 8 Meg NGB package. Speed is always around 7 Meg download. Nothing has changed. Why the 1500 Kbps option is gone, I dont know. Strange that you have 300 and 1500, but not 850.

Hi Mr Cumulonimbus

Unfortunately at this moment I do not have an answer to your query, I will look into this and get back to you as soon as I have further information.

Thanks,

Al

Mr Cumulonimbus

Any updates on this?

eircom: Mark

Mr Cumulonimbus wrote: »

Any updates on this?

Hi Mr Cumulonimbus,

Apologies for the delay in getting back to you.

Can you confirm what browser / system you are using?

The SportsHub FAQs may also be of help

http://eircomsports.eircom.net/Setanta/Help.aspx

Thanks, Mark

Mr Cumulonimbus

eircom: Mark wrote: »

Hi Mr Cumulonimbus,

Apologies for the delay in getting back to you.

Can you confirm what browser / system you are using?

The SportsHub FAQs may also be of help

http://eircomsports.eircom.net/Setanta/Help.aspx

Thanks, Mark

Windows Vista. Using Firefox 18 and IE9. Nothing in the FAQ's of relevance it seems. I haven't changed anything on my PC and my BB performance is as usual.

Perhaps the changeover to the Silverlight player platform is the reason for losing the 1500 Kbps stream option?

eircom: Mark

Mr Cumulonimbus wrote: »

Windows Vista. Using Firefox 18 and IE9. Nothing in the FAQ's of relevance it seems. I haven't changed anything on my PC and my BB performance is as usual.

Perhaps the changeover to the Silverlight player platform is the reason for losing the 1500 Kbps stream option?

Hi Mr Cumulonimbus,

The option is coming up ok for me in the live sports viewing? Have you updated the Silverlight player facility, what version are you using.

Thanks, Mark

Mr Cumulonimbus

eircom: Mark wrote: »

Hi Mr Cumulonimbus,

The option is coming up ok for me in the live sports viewing? Have you updated the Silverlight player facility, what version are you using.

Thanks, Mark

Silverlight version is 5.1.10411.0

Here is the player running again today. As before, just 300 and 850 Kbps options available.

eircom: Mark

Mr Cumulonimbus wrote: »

Silverlight version is 5.1.10411.0

Here is the player running again today. As before, just 300 and 850 Kbps options available.

Ok, I will check this out with the platform support for eircomSportsHub. Can you PM me with your telephone number or eircom account number please to send on.

Thanks, Mark

Mr Cumulonimbus

eircom: Mark wrote: »

Ok, I will check this out with the platform support for eircomSportsHub. Can you PM me with your telephone number or eircom account number please to send on.

Thanks, Mark

PM sent.  Also tried viewing with a laptop running Windows 7 Starter using Firefox. Same result, no 1500 Kbps stream available.

eircom: Mark

Mr Cumulonimbus wrote: »

PM sent.  Also tried viewing with a laptop running Windows 7 Starter using Firefox. Same result, no 1500 Kbps stream available.

Hi Mr Cumulonimbus,

I got the PM / details thanks. I am chasing it up for you know and hope to be back to you soon.

Thanks, Mark

BigKev

Hi all,

I also have this issue with only having a max 850Kbps stream available. Do you know if the 1500Kbps stream can be restored? 

Thanks, Kev

eircom: Alan

BigKev wrote: »

Hi all,

I also have this issue with only having a max 850Kbps stream available. Do you know if the 1500Kbps stream can be restored? 

Thanks, Kev

Hi BigKev.

Apologies for the inconvenience however I am currently awaiting feedback from operations in relation to this issue. Hopefully I shall get back to you soon.

Regards

Al

Mr Cumulonimbus

Any further updates on this? Thanks.

eircom: Linda

Mr Cumulonimbus wrote: »

Any further updates on this? Thanks.

Hi Mr Cumulonimbus

I'm afraid we do not have an update on this as of yet. Once we receive more information we will get straight back to you here.

Regards

Linda

eircom: Mark

Mr Cumulonimbus wrote: »

PM sent.  Also tried viewing with a laptop running Windows 7 Starter using Firefox. Same result, no 1500 Kbps stream available.

Hi Mr Cumulonimbus

Apologies for the delay in getting back to you. I have been out of the office for a few weeks. I updated the silverlight on my PC and the 1500kbps is working fine. It should still be available for customers on the "up to 8MB NGB"?

eircom broadband support asked if you could call them on 1890 260 260, to check your plug ins and player version to see if that is the issue.

Let me know how you get on.

Thanks, Mark

Mr Cumulonimbus

I'll try to ring them in the next couple of days.

In the meantime I have uninstalled and reinstalled Silverlight and checked the plugins in both Internet Explorer and Firefox (now latest version 19). Both browsers are saying the Silverlight plugin is enabled. My Silverlight version is 5.10411.0 and appears to be the latest version available. No change though. Still no 1500 Kbps stream available.

eircom: Mark

Mr Cumulonimbus wrote: »

I'll try to ring them in the next couple of days.

In the meantime I have uninstalled and reinstalled Silverlight and checked the plugins in both Internet Explorer and Firefox (now latest version 19). Both browsers are saying the Silverlight plugin is enabled. My Silverlight version is 5.10411.0 and appears to be the latest version available. No change though. Still no 1500 Kbps stream available.

Hi Mr Cumulonimbus,

I appreciate you checking everything your end, let me know how the call with support goes.

Thanks, Mark

Mr Cumulonimbus

Well just after ringing broadband technical support. No help there I'm afraid. The agent enquired about the speed of my line which I told him was unchanged. He said then to fill out the support query page here which I did. He also stated there is not much that they can do re queries about these services. Ref number for this call was 4954334.

One other poster (BigKev) has also reported the same problem in this thread. Can you investigate further please? Thank you.

eircom: Alan

Mr Cumulonimbus wrote: »

Well just after ringing broadband technical support. No help there I'm afraid. The agent enquired about the speed of my line which I told him was unchanged. He said then to fill out the support query page here which I did. He also stated there is not much that they can do re queries about these services. Ref number for this call was 4954334.

One other poster (BigKev) has also reported the same problem in this thread. Can you investigate further please? Thank you.

Hi Mr Cumulonimbus

I have sent a request to managers in technical support to help with this issue, I will try to get back to you as soon as I have any further information.

Regards

Al

Mr Cumulonimbus

eircom: Alan wrote: »

Hi Mr Cumulonimbus

I have sent a request to managers in technical support to help with this issue, I will try to get back to you as soon as I have any further information.

Regards

Al

Thanks Alan.

allen175 in post#2 suggested maybe that the stream quality being made available to me was based on the speed and bandwidth availability my line could handle. Is the line quality being misread somewhere I wonder?

Current line stats:
Speed : 8160 kbps / 512 kbps
Line Attenuation (Down/Up) : 43.5 dB / 19.5 dB
DSL Noise Margin : 11.5 dB / 22 dB

How do these readings look do you think?

Speed test using Eircom's broadband speed test page also attached. Pretty good I think as it's the Up To 8Mb NGB package I have. Also using a wired connection between the router and my PC.

Also the case ID for the online query I submitted was 6457311.

eircom: Alan

Mr Cumulonimbus wrote: »

Thanks Alan.

allen175 in post#2 suggested maybe that the stream quality being made available to me was based on the speed and bandwidth availability my line could handle. Is the line quality being misread somewhere I wonder?

Current line stats:
Speed : 8160 kbps / 512 kbps
Line Attenuation (Down/Up) : 43.5 dB / 19.5 dB
DSL Noise Margin : 11.5 dB / 22 dB

How do these readings look do you think?

Speed test using Eircom's broadband speed test page also attached. Pretty good I think as it's the Up To 8Mb NGB package I have. Also using a wired connection between the router and my PC.

Also the case ID for the online query I submitted was 6457311.

Hi Mr Cumulonimbus
 
Thanks for the online case ref number. Yes, Allen175 was indeed correct inmentioning this can be a contributing factor in some cases however this is definitely not the case in your issue as the speed results you have attached and line stats you have added are quite good if not perfect. 
Unfortunately I really do not have any further idea on what may be causingthis issue but hopefully managers will get back to me soon.
 
Regards
 
Al

eircom: Mark

Mr Cumulonimbus wrote: »

Well just after ringing broadband technical support. No help there I'm afraid. The agent enquired about the speed of my line which I told him was unchanged. He said then to fill out the support query page here which I did. He also stated there is not much that they can do re queries about these services. Ref number for this call was 4954334.

One other poster (BigKev) has also reported the same problem in this thread. Can you investigate further please? Thank you.

Hi Mr Cumulonimbus,

I have received a response from a manager in online support regarding the SportsHub issue.

"There have been changes to the settings on the new player. This is to accommodate more customers to view the stream at the same time. Which is why the streaming options have been reduced from 1500kbps to 850kbps.

I am really sorry I was unable to clarify this for your sooner.

Also if you do have a problem with the eircomSportsHub service in the future. There is an online (form) = direct support

http://support.eircom.net/emailescalation

They will get back to you in 48 hours.

Thanks, Mark

Mr Cumulonimbus

eircom: Mark wrote: »

Hi Mr Cumulonimbus,

I have received a response from a manager in online support regarding the SportsHub issue.

"There have been changes to the settings on the new player. This is to accommodate more customers to view the stream at the same time. Which is why the streaming options have been reduced from 1500kbps to 850kbps.

I am really sorry I was unable to clarify this for your sooner.

Also if you do have a problem with the eircomSportsHub service in the future. There is an online (form) = direct support

http://support.eircom.net/emailescalation

They will get back to you in 48 hours.

Thanks, Mark

Thanks Mark.

I used the online query form last week (case ID 6457311) and i got back a similar reply this morning:

In regards to your query, we have changed some of the setting on the new player in order to allow more customers to view the stream at the same time, this is to eliminate any congestion issues. We apologies for any inconvenience caused. Thank you.

To clarify, does this mean that the 850 kbps stream will be the best quality available now and anyone (such as allen175) that currently has a 1500 kbps option will lose it?

eircom: Mark

Mr Cumulonimbus wrote: »

Thanks Mark.

I used the online query form last week (case ID 6457311) and i got back a similar reply this morning:



To clarify, does this mean that the 850 kbps stream will be the best quality available now and anyone (such as allen175) that currently has a 1500 kbps option will lose it?

Hi Mr Cumulonimbus,

I will need to get confirmation if the higher streaming option will be  available to customers on the "up to 24MB packages"

And get back to you.

Thanks, Mark

Mr Cumulonimbus

eircom: Mark wrote: »

Hi Mr Cumulonimbus,

I will need to get confirmation if the higher streaming option will be  available to customers on the "up to 24MB packages"

And get back to you.

Thanks, Mark

Thanks Mark.

Must say I'm disappointed I can't get the 1500 kbps quality stream anymore. As mentioned previously I'm on the up to 8 MB NGB package and when the SportsHub site used Windows Media Player, Setanta ran flawlessly for me at 1500 kbps.

Why then switch to a player that has worsened the quality for some Eircom customers and then seemingly have to change to a more expensive option (up to 24 MB) to get it back?

garroff

Why all the fuss....streamimg is very bad. I'm an Eircom customer who cannot afford Sky Sports BUT will not watch Eircom Sportshub because the quality is unbelievably bad.
Sportshub....just bin it!!!!.

eircom: Mark

Mr Cumulonimbus wrote: »

Thanks Mark.

Must say I'm disappointed I can't get the 1500 kbps quality stream anymore. As mentioned previously I'm on the up to 8 MB NGB package and when the SportsHub site used Windows Media Player, Setanta ran flawlessly for me at 1500 kbps.

Why then switch to a player that has worsened the quality for some Eircom customers and then seemingly have to change to a more expensive option (up to 24 MB) to get it back?

Hi Mr Cumulonimbus,

I have to get more details regarding the change before answering your post definitively. It may take a few mode days.

However I will get back to you next week.

Thanks, Mark

Mr Cumulonimbus

Any further news on this?

Also I posted some line stats on 14th March (post #23). Checked them again tonight. They are as follows:

Speed: 7168 kbps / 512 kbps
Line attenuation (Down/Up): 43.5 dB / 19.5 dB
DSL Noise margin: 13.5 dB / 23 dB

The speed on the line seems to have changed. Did a speed test. Speed has dropped and ping times have risen since before. Just wondering has the line speed change anything to do with relation into the investigation into this issue or is it a separate matter? Speed test attached too.