I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of trademarked terms meant to make something sound better than it is, and MLB’s NextDef is a case in point. But MLB and Swarmcast have created a service that works very well and they should be applauded for it.
No, a 1.2 Mbps stream won’t give you high definition, it’s not going to knock your socks off if attached to a large screen, but it is the highest quality live video currently offered on the internet. In this MLB has succeeded.
Live streaming is a very different beast than delivering on-demand content, and making possible the best experience for so many users with so many different connection speeds is no an easy task. According to the release, “On Opening Day, MLB.TV and Swarmcast delivered over 1.7 million live game streams” Based on that massive number, it’s no wonder there were some opening day issues.
Moreover it speaks to the advantage of having a client-side protocol like Swarmcast’s Autobahn that can measure and adapt to the unique conditions in each users home. While online, every connection is different, Autobahn, ensures that each user receives the best possible experience.
Said Joe Choti, Chief Technology Officer, MLB.com:
“Existing streaming technologies did not have the level of scalability we required and we realized that in order to grow our audience and improve video quality we needed a fundamentally different approach to streaming. Swarmcast presents the only method of delivering high-quality live streaming to hundreds of millions of viewers with the reliability that enables us to grow a business around the Internet as a distribution channel.â€
The expansion of Autobahn which had previously been used to power MLB’s Moasiac multi-game viewing option to all games shows that in places where content can be monetized, we are quickly moving toward much higher quality video on the net.
Corey Adds: Not to be a complete hater, I do have to give credit where it is due. While taking the Acela back from Boston last week, I was able to stream the Red Sox game I was leaving behind, nearly uninterrupted. The battle between “lean back” quality and content with any where, any time convenience continues on……
[...] freesatellitetv wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptWhile online, every connection is different, Autobahn, ensures that each user receives the best possible experience. Said Joe Choti, Chief Technology Officer, MLB.com:. “Existing streaming technologies did not have the level of … [...]
[...] and Swarmcast have created a service that works very well and they should be applauded for it. No, ahttp://www.onlinevideowatch.com/swarmcast-delivers-nextdef-streams-for-mlbtv/Senegal: Singing to a Political Beat AllAfrica.comIf a European rock music fan has just one album by [...]
Really? Mlbt.tv works well? Give it long enough and you’ll be pulling your hair out. Imagine if you paid 20 bucks a month for your local cable sports carrier and 1/5 of the total innings were unwathable due to technical problems with the carrier itself.
That’s how frustrating MLB.tv is.
Get yourself a good internet connection, buddy. Or pony up the money for MLB Extra Innings.
Um, have you checked out the MLB support forums. From the looks of it, the NextDef plugin has been a disaster so far. Don’t believe the hype.
I’m not sure how good a connection Ben Homer thinks we need. I get the same crappy results from NextDef whether I’m at home with RoadRunner or at work with UNC’s fat pipe through NC-REN. I also don’t want to hear about machine resources. We’ve tried it on brand new PC’s, MAC’s, it doesn’t matter. The stream freezes. You get stuck 1-3 innings behind live action. It just plain sucks.
I’d like to second the problems. I canceled today on the last day of my grace period because of the brutality and I’ve got 17mb fiber and quad core so it’s not my connection or pc. I was watching an ARCHIVED cardinals mets game and it kept skipping and downgrading to like 2 bars of quality so that was the last straw for me.
I love my MLB.TV and it’s probably the best thing to hit the internet as far as watching live games. I’m not having a problem at all and I think it comes down to having a DSL or cable Modem that’s fast enough on the download. My DSL download speed is 3.0 but get usually get a true 2500 – 2600 KB. I have a 2GHz processor along with 2GB worth of physical memory and I’m able to watch MLB on HD all the time without a hiccup so for everyone out there, yall need to load up on the hardware and to be honest I really don’t consider my pc to be all that powerful compare to the machines they have out there with the 1GB video cards and dual core processors. I also recently changed from cable to DSL because with cable it really boils down to how many users is sharing that same pipe with you and others in your area. When I had Cable they promised a 3.0 download and got half that 90% of the time or if not always. I’m upgrading next Monday to DSL 6.0 on the download and can only imagine that things will be twice as better for me. I hope this was helpful and good luck to you all having trouble with MLB.TV on HD.
Franlin – Sorry but it doesn’t work in HD. Last Night it did not work at all for several hours – all games. MLB has admitted to date it can not fix it.
I have to disagree with Franklin and Ben Homer. I have a consistent 10mb cable connection that is blazing fast (relatively) and a Quad Core processor/ 4GB RAM/ GeForce GTS 8800 video card. On live broadcasts, the player constantly bumps me down to “standard” regardless of my download speeds. If I try to fiddle with it too much, I get an error message and I can’t watch it at all forcing me to watch the archived version the next day. (yes, swarmcast is running).
On a side note, to mlb.com’s credit, NBA.com’s sad excuse for a broadband video service makes mlb’s streaming video look wonderful.
The service was initially adequate, but MLB.TV has managed to allow the service to regress to a state that has left many subscribers feeling frustrated and ignored.
Worst off, the most recent problem is not even technical in nature (i.e. difficult to resolve) – they simply changed their game policy and chose not to inform subscribers. MLB.TV is not aligned with the fan base and chooses to not address the issues and concerns of the paying subscriber.
http://www.mlbsupport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=8439&start=30&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&sid=45472298051076c838f643fff45d413a
Interessantes Thema. Bin aber nicht ganz eurer Meinung, aber das ist ja auch kein Diskussionsforum hier. Bleibt am Ball.
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