watching BT Sport on a laptop

[Pedr057]

@DarrenDev

Thanks for the suggestions. I used to use an iphone casting to Apple TV but that was even worse. I do have access to an Android tablet so will try that instead of Chrome on a (Windows) laptop. I'm not that familiar with Android - on the Android tablet, should I use Chrome or is there a BT Sport app like on the iphone? I'm kind of surprised that the BT person I spoke to didn't ask me how I was trying to watch BT Sport.

[DarrenDev]

It should be the same experience from the BT Sport app on an iPhone as the BT Sport app on an Android device, but both of these should be better than casting a tab in Chrome browser.

If even that experience is poor then it would suggest that the issue is the wifi signal between your Chromecast and your router.

[gomezz]

@DarrenDev

casting your tab from Chrome browser is not supported. It's a highly inefficient way of trying to share video to your TV, and I'm surprised it even works. Do you have an Android or Apple device that you could use instead? If you cast from there, the Chromecast will directly load the video and perform much better.

Huh? Casting from the Chrome browser is exactly the same as casting from the app on a phone or tablet in that the Chromecast device (dongle or built in) does the streaming direct. The only difference is that the user controls the casting from the browser (Pause/Play/Stop etc) rather than from the app.

[DarrenDev]

Nope @gomezz - when you cast from the app, it just sends commands to our custom receiver running on the Chromecast device. The device retrieves the video itself in a format optimised for it. You can turn your phone off, and Chromecast will continue playing the video headless.

When you cast the BT Sport web site, you're just mirroring your browser window to it. There's twice as much traffic on the WiFi network, as your PC is acting as a piggy in the middle.

Note: I wrote the BT Sport Chromecast receiver many years ago, and I'm currently helping my colleagues to write the new one currently in beta from Android devices. Once this is ready, we'll then be able to offer a proper/optimised casting experience from the web too - hopefully later this year.

[gomezz]

That is not my experience of casting from the Chrome browser, admittedly not of BT Sport but of other streaming services. Mirroring it certainly isn't. Perhaps your team need to revisit what is possible?

Edit:  Just tried casting from BT Sport using the Chrome browser and yes, that is mirroring.  But that means it is a limitation of BT Sport rather than of what Chrome is capable of.  Depends if BT Sport want to do it properly or not.

[DarrenDev]

That's exactly the point I was making @gomezz. This post is about BT Sport. My response was about BT Sport.

[Pedr057]

@DarrenDevI've tried the solutions you suggested and connected the laptop to the TV with an HDMI cable via a USB-C travel hub (also connected to the T HomeHub.)

Using the BT app on the Android tablet worked well for the 10 mins I watched some minor league football. Will try that again at the weekend afternoon/evening when there are more people using the service. It alo allowwed me to switch off the laptop whilst still viewing on the TV.

I also tried the BT app on my iphone and also watched that for 10 mins but using Airplay to Apple TV. This was OK for the 10mins I tried it but the picture didn't seem as good as the Android/Chromecast option. I noticed that in addition to the Airplay icon top right, nexxt to it was teh cast icon. When I tried to use it there was nothing to cast to (but I guess that'd be a miracle for an Apple iphone to cast to a Google Chromecast. If it hs no chance of working, why include the cast icon on the screen?

The Windows laptop connected to the HomeHub and the TV by cables so avoiding an wifi connectivity issues lasted less than two minutes before getting the 'circle of death' and then error VC081.

I'll try all three again at the weekend when there are likely more users and internet traffic.

I do find it frustrating that BT don't seem to cover this in their 'Help' - if it's there it's well hidden. Perhaps they don't want to encourage people to us phones/tablets and apps to watch their content?

[DarrenDev]

Sorry that you're not finding the help very helpful. There are unfortunately so many different things that can affect the viewing experience (especially on web), it's difficult to provide the right balance of information vs overloading with too much and putting people off reading anything at all.  You've definitely come to the right place here though - this is the best way to get the help you need.

It is possible to cast from an iPhone to a Chromecast, and the fact that the Chromecast icon appeared means that your iPhone knew it was there. Unfortunately, it's not uncommon for device discovery to be a bit flaky though - especially if you have a lot of devices on the network. I find myself constantly having to reboot devices or my router to make my Chromecast appear.

I've looked at your stats from yesterday and can see that you were watching a lower quality stream - how is your Apple TV connected to your router? The lower quality suggests it wasn't receiving quite a strong enough signal to to reach the top level.  It'd also be worth trying the BT Sport app on your Apple TV, rather than using Airplay (if the Apple TV is new enough).

VC081 is unfortunately one of the frustrating errors that happens occasionally, but we don't know why - it just means a general blip in the internet connection that was enough to stop the stream from downloading.  Weirdly, I don't see any reports of this on your account though, so I can only assume that the blip also prevented your browser from sending us logs?

[Pedr057]

@DarrenDevMy Apple TV is third generation, approx six years old,  so I can't install the BT Sport app on it.

I tried watching the end of the first half of the rugby yesterday evening on my desktop but the picture kept freezing every couple of minutes. Strangely I could still hear the commentary. That's not happened before. That was approx 20:30.

I watched the second half using my iphone app and Apple TV. I'd just connected the Apple TV directly to the HomeHub rather than relying on wifi. That worked fine till the end of the match then it just stopped abruptly - not the end of the world but concerning in case it had happened a few moments earlier. That was approx 21:45. Are you able to tell what happened?