How good is BT Sport on ADSL Multicast

[cooperman]

My exchange is not Infinity enabled but has recently had Multicast over copper enabled. I have an email from BT to say that from 20th October I will only be able to get BT Sport over Broadband on my Vision box. I will not be able to get any of the extra channels or Sky Sports.

Can anyone already recieving BT Sport in this way comment on the picture quality and reliability please. Is the picture quality as good as the SD picture via the aerial? Does it pixellate or buffer?

I am using the HH2 and the checker shows a Downstream Line rate of up to 7.5Mbps with a downstream range of 6.5 to 8.5Mbps.

It is annoying as it would seem that it will only be possible to record or watch one program at a time which seems to defeat the object of having a PVR. I am only really interested in BT's rugby coverage so if it the experience is not as good as now it could be a deal breaker.

[pottyperson]

With a similar ADSL service to yours I had no issues with TV over broadband. The eventual upgarde to Infinity made no noticeable difference to SD picture quality.

[pottyperson]

Apologies, please ignore my previous post; it's misleading because my ADSL service had been upgraded by the time I got TV over broadband. Memory malfunction.

[cooperman]

Do you mean its now over Infinity or a better ADSL connection?

[pottyperson]

I was on ADSL2 at around 18Mbps when I first got broadband TV, not similar to your 6-8 as I first stated. I subsequently upgraded to Infinity and still have it, though I now stream non-terrestrial TV from the internet as I got fed up with BTTV's foibles.

Playing BT Sport from the internet via a computer to your telly might give you some idea of what the service will be like, but bear in mind that picture quality is likely to be better when you get the BTTV service, even in SD.

[cooperman]

Thanks for the information. I have streamed from iPad and iPhone via Chromecast, it's not too bad but not quite as good as via the TV aerial. Will just have to hope Infinity arrives soon though stills shows as in planning stage.

[Martin_Gibson]

I have BT Sport across ADSL and find the picture to be a little better than it was via the aerial. However, my speed is faster than yours: about 13MB.

I've not found the restriction on recording one sport channel while watching another to be a problem, as the magazine and highlights programmes are repeated frequently and live events often get a re-run. The IPTV version gives you ESPN as well as BT Sport 1 & 2, although ESPN is mostly US sport, with some football when they have more than one live game at the same time.

[cooperman]

Thanks Martin. Do you know whether you are able to record a BT Sport channel and a Freeview channel at the same time? I'm not into American Sports so ESPN is not really of any value to me.

[Martin_Gibson]

I'm recording BT Sports 1 and ITV4 as I write this, so yes, you can record an IPTV sport channel and a Freeview channel on ADSL at the same time. 

[benwiddowson · Accepted solution]

I had BT Sport over ADSL multicast with a speed of 5.5mb/s. The quality was much better than via an aerial in my eyes. Yes it did slow down the broadband a lot but we tend not to be using that when watching TV. The only differences i noticed when we moved to infinity 2 was the better quality with HD and the increase in speeds while still watching tv.