Delay in live sports

[Andys1980]

Any broadcast over IP will have a slight delay.

I've actually found the delay on Sky Sports quite useful on a Saturday afternoon.  I can watch BT Sport Score and if the PL / Championship game is on sky sports, when there is a goal or incident you can flick across to Sky Sports PL / Football to see it due to the difference in the  delay between BT Sport and Sky Sports on a BT TV box.

[Piotrch]

Time for BT to send feed through satellite like Sky and whole world. Was thinking about getting Ultimate this summer but now would rather watch in HD on Sky. 

[NigelB72]

@Piotrch viewing on BT TV via multicast transmission has very little delay in the same way satellite has little delay but there will always be a delay. Oh and BT provide most of the satellite uplinks that every UK broadcaster uses and even global broadcasters use when a signal is coming back to the UK.

[Piotrch]

Well I’ve got Sky contract still therefore can’t have two tvs at home. Can I ask how little is it?

[ozsat]

Just checked the BT Sports 1 output on different platforms.

VirginMedia and Sky are together - BTtv is only two seconds behind.

[Piotrch]

But ultimate is 40 so its simply useless.

[DarrenDev]

On the BT TV box (via multicast) the delay is negligible.
In the BT Sport app on all other devices, the delay can be anywhere between 20 and 60 seconds at the point of starting the stream. It can slip a little further behind on connections that buffer a lot.

[ozsat]

Streaming or on the BTtv box?

As said above I except on BT box itself only a second or two.

Sky is noticably behind on their own platform it you have same event live on the radio.

You are aways going to get delays.

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@Piotrchwrote:
But ultimate is 40 so its simply useless.

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[Piotrch]

Streaming.I mean honestly I could understand delay on some illegal stream ..but for 25 quid I’d expect superior quality through satellite.

[ozsat]

By choosing satellite you have already chosen a system with delays in it. By going digital you are introducing more.

The only way to get true live it to be there.

All transmission systems have delays to one extent or another.

Sky's own SkyQ system has a delay of around 1 second between the main box and the mini box - which are in the same house.

What is the problem with seeing a goal a few seconds later than somebody actually at the event?

The delay in transmission systems was recently in the news as groups were using drones at horse race meetings to put bets on at bookies who watching a delayed feed.