This topic

Poor quality picture on BT Sport 4

andy_hants — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 17:16:53 GMT

I am watching the live Chelsea game tonight on BT Sport 4 and the picture quality is lower quality than on other live games I have previously watched on channels 2 and 3. This is the second time I have observed a worse picture on channel 4.

I am watching using Chromecast. When static the quality looks ok but is noticeably fuzzy/blurred with movement. It does not appear to be 1080p 50Hz yet is the main live football event on at the time.

Re: Poor quality picture on BT Sport 4

DarrenDev — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 17:33:44 GMT

There shouldn't be any reason why BT Sport 4 would be any lower than 1 - 3.
If you check 1 - 3 now, does it also show low quality?

Re: Poor quality picture on BT Sport 4

andy_hants — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 18:05:02 GMT

I have just switched to chan 1 and the picture also looks poor quality with movement for me so it doesn't appear to be just chan 4. My download speed is appx. 16 Mbps.

I also found this from a Google search

"The video quality on the BT Sport 1-3 channels goes up to 1080p50 - full HD. If you're watching on any of the other channels then they only go up to 720p25 which can look a bit grainy on larger TVs."

It's from the following thread, is this applicable to the app on android?

https://community.bt.com/t5/BT-Sport-on-TV-Online-player-or/BT-sport-video-quality-using-BT-Sport-Apple-TV-app/td-p/2220164

Re: Poor quality picture on BT Sport 4

Robin — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 18:34:51 GMT

Sort of same here. BT Sport 4 buffering every 30 seconds or so via Chromecast .Watching on Android phone only is fine.

Re: Poor quality picture on BT Sport 4

DarrenDev — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 10:05:22 GMT

There are a few threads about Chromecast. Unfortunately we had to switch to using the new Google Player which is still unreliable. We're working with Google to understand the cause, however you should find that rebooting your Chromecast immediately before you use it will cause it to work at its best - the performance will degrade over time, resulting in increased buffering and lower bitrates.

Re: Poor quality picture on BT Sport 4

andy_hants — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 10:20:19 GMT

Thanks for the update Darren. For information I had poor picture quality immediately after powering on my Chromecast device on chan 4.

Also did you get a chance to see the following question I previously posted:

I found this on google

It's from the following thread, is this applicable to the app on android using Chromecast?

https://community.bt.com/t5/BT-Sport-on-TV-Online-player-or/BT-sport-video-quality-using-BT-Sport-Apple-TV-app/td-p/2220164

Re: Poor quality picture on BT Sport 4

DarrenDev — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 10:34:49 GMT

I'm not sure if I was mistaken earlier this year, or if the quality changed when it became a BT Sport channel (previously it was ESPN). I checked last night before responding though and confirmed BT Sport 4 goes up to 1080p50.

Which model of Chromecast do you have?

Re: Poor quality picture on BT Sport 4

andy_hants — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 10:49:40 GMT

Thanks for checking, I have a 3rd gen Chromecast device supporting up to 1920x1080 at 60fps.

Re: Poor quality picture on BT Sport 4

DarrenDev — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 11:08:37 GMT

OK, looking at your final experience on BT Sport 2 last night, I think this might be one of the most variable sessions I've ever seen. I'm not sure how well this graph will come across on here:

It shows you toggling between middle and top quality constantly for the first hour, but then settling for the second.

I know we had some service issues last night, but I'm not sure which channels were affected or what time they occurred. Your sessions all night appear to be pretty bad though. I can't explain it.

Re: Poor quality picture on BT Sport 4

andy_hants — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 11:19:01 GMT

Ok it's good you can see what I was experiencing, it matches what I was seeing with the quality getting better as time went on for BT 2. Earlier on BT 4 it was all of a lower quality.

I hope these issues can be resolved soon. Thanks for the quick feedback though.

Re: Poor quality picture on BT Sport 4

andy_hants — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 11:22:41 GMT

Ok it's good you can see what I was experiencing, it matches what I was seeing with the quality getting better as time went on for BT 2. Earlier on BT 4 it was all of a lower quality.

I hope these issues can be resolved soon. Thanks for the quick feedback though.

Re: Poor quality picture on BT Sport 4

Carlusha — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 12:59:14 GMT

@DarrenDevwrote:
I know we had some service issues last night, but I'm not sure which channels were affected or what time they occurred. Your sessions all night appear to be pretty bad though. I can't explain it.

Yes, I can confirm there were some service issues - this using the Smart TV app. Every now and again, the buffering circle would appear although our download speed was well over 70mbs. That said, I was only half awake so I didn't let it worry me. It did, however, eventually settle down and continued without problem as usual.

Re: Poor quality picture on BT Sport 4

andy_hants — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 20:57:36 GMT

Same again for me tonight for the Liverpool game with a poor quality picture on BT Sport 2. Sometimes it improves then it gets worse again. For the last 10 minutes I tried changing to another TV on a different Chromecast device and then the sound was out of sync, about 5 seconds behind.

As it has been acknowledged there are known issues causing some problems (switching to using the new Google Player which is still unreliable) and unknown issues causing the quality to constantly change (from the graph previously posted) will I be due some sort of refund as I am not getting the quality I'm paying for?

I appreciate it might not be possible to give me an answer here on this, but if my request could be passed to the appropriate person I would be grateful.

Re: Poor quality picture on BT Sport 4

andy_hants — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 23:20:10 GMT

Apologies if my last post seemed a bit harsh, I was just a bit fed up. I appreciate it is only the second night I've had some issues with the picture quality. I'm not fussed about getting a refund and hopefully the issues can be resolved soon.

Re: Poor quality picture on BT Sport 4

DarrenDev — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 11:09:13 GMT

I understand your frustration - it's very frustrating for us too, as we get hammered with complaints every time a big match is on. We're doing all we can to work around the issues where possible, but when it comes to quality adjustment, the logic for deciding which quality level to display is all internal to Google.

For some users, the new player appears to be incredibly pessimistic - showing lower quality than the speeds should support. For other users, it's over-optimistic, causing users to constantly show buffering.

For me, it works fine - I don't see any buffering and it remains on top quality. My hub is less than a metre from the Chromecast though, and I have 1Gbps broadband.

Can't chromecast from the BT Sport app

zengtben — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 20:45:14 GMT

I have more or less constant issues with the BT Sport App. I watch all my TV by casting - iplayer, channel 4, NOW TV, netflix, disney+ etc - they all work fine all the time. But if I try to cast BT Sport, there are issues more or less every time. Takes much longer to load, strange lags between video and audio, and today - it's just not casting at all and giving me error message VC526 telling me to restart my chromecast. Like, why? But I did it and things still don't work. Why are there so many issues with casting BT Sport when I can cast all other apps just fine? I have very fast BT home internet. So tired of this. Yes, I've tried restarting everything. No, it still doesn't work. About to cancel my subscription because it's just not worth the hassle anymore.

Re: Poor quality picture on BT Sport 4

andy_hants — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 20:57:10 GMT

A week on and watching the Tottenham game on BT Sport 2 using Chromecast and the picture is just as bad as last week. For information I can watch live football using the Now TV app with Chromecast in full hd with no problems, so it's not an issue with my hardware. My download speed is currently showing at 10Mbps. I have also tried power cycling my device.

Why is this problem not being resolved with Google especially when Google can apply the correct quality level when chromecasting with all my other apps? It's just BT sport that shows a poor quality picture.

As this is a known issue, acknowledged last week in the previous posts in this thread, I think it's only fair those affected should be offered some kind of refund.

Re: Poor quality picture on BT Sport 4

DarrenDev — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 21:05:04 GMT

Google ARE working on it, but it's not sorted yet. There are at least 10 other platforms that it can be watched on, so I'm afraid no refunds can be offered.

Re: Poor quality picture on BT Sport 4

andy_hants — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 22:14:39 GMT

In the second half it kept disconnecting and when it it did connect the quality went from poor to terrible. I ended up having to watch it on my phone!

I am paying for a service that offers Chromecast to tv in full hd, I am not getting this service.

Re: Poor quality picture on BT Sport 4

andy_hants — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 10:56:44 GMT

I just phoned BT technical support and the guy there contacted the BT Sport Dev team and said there were no known issues!

Fortunately I get BT Sport via Plusnet, I phoned them and spoke to their technical support. They checked and immediately confirmed there were known problems with the BT Sport app chromocast streaming (poor picture quality, buffering, connection problems) and they are currently being worked on with a target resolution date of 5th Nov.

I have been refunded two months subscription because of these ongoing problems with the BT Sport app.