The era of streaming continues to progress with no signs of slowing down. In the past, households relied on aerial or dish connections for TV viewing, but now, broadband offers a more convenient way to stream content directly to televisions. Streaming has become a more user-friendly option compared to traditional methods, especially for placing TVs in areas without access to aerial connections.
Yet, internet-based viewing, particularly for live sports, faces a challenge known as latency. This issue causes a delay in live streams compared to over-the-air signals. Consequently, viewers streaming sports events may experience delays, missing out on real-time actions like goals being scored.
Sky has addressed this latency issue with its latest streaming devices, such as Sky Glass and Sky Stream, which now provide access to sports events with only a few seconds delay from live broadcasts.
Following suit, the BBC has introduced a similar update to reduce latency for viewers using Fire TV Sticks, Sony televisions, and BT set-top boxes, including Sky Glass. This update, initially in a trial phase, has now been extended to enhance the viewing experience.
Melissa Darragh, Senior R&D Engineer at the BBC, elaborated on the low latency streaming trial on BBC iPlayer beta. The trial is expanding to more supported devices and a prolonged testing period to evaluate the performance of low latency streaming in real-world conditions.
The BBC aims to offer a better live event viewing experience with this extension, encompassing breaking news, sports events, concerts, and more. The broadcaster encourages more households to participate in the trial to further test the new streaming capabilities.
Users with supported devices can engage in the trial by switching to iPlayer Beta and watching BBC Two live during specific time slots. The trial will run for approximately a month, offering reduced delays without significant differences in the viewing experience. Participants facing issues can easily revert to conventional streaming by opting out of iPlayer beta via the Settings menu.
Below is a list of compatible devices for the BBC’s low latency streaming trial:
– Fire TV Edition 4K 2022
– Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K (2nd Gen)
– BT TV Box Pro
– Sky Glass Gen 1
– Selected Bush TVs (e.g., U43F8C, U43F8V)
– Sony TVs (e.g., XR-A95K series, XR-X90K series)
– Selected Toshiba TVs (e.g., 43UV2363DB, 50UV2363DB)
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