DStv standalone streaming launched in South Africa

wingnut771 said:
I get you, just from my experience, not all channels are 720p, so they're not being entirely honest.
Click to expand...

Well the sum total of my DSTV watching is sport when I visit a mate of mine, so I have very limited exposure to their streaming quality.

But, it is becoming an issue, as I am seriously looking to buy an nVidia Shield TV, which does some very good 4K upscaling. But it does not upscale, 1080p @ 60 fps.

If DSTV stream at 1080p @ 60 fps, then I need to get a Shield Pro, as this will upscale 1080p @ 60 fps.

Problem is no one gives and authoritive answer. And as soon as someone gives a answer, Mybb, or some other contradicts it so yeah, like I said, rather confused.
 
TelkomUseless said:
The compression they use is f0ck their stream. I don't trust Dstv ... because what I see is bad.

I have watched (it's set to 1080 p or i, can't remember)....and it's pixelated. Fast moving scenes is very blocky. It looks like 90's video file.

And this is with 10meg ADSL, and now uncapped RAIN 5g, 300 Mbp/s. Like i say 4k youtube etc works perfect.
Click to expand...

Eish, I am on 20mbps VDSL, as no fiber, no 5G, decent but costly 4G/LTE is available - this is starting to look like a proper Africa effort.
 
elf_lord_ZC5 said:
Eish, I am on 20mbps VDSL, as no fiber, no 5G, decent but costly 4G/LTE is available - this is starting to look like a proper Africa effort.
Click to expand...

Yea.. DSTV effort can suck it. I would not pay R50 for it to be honest. Quality sucks...
Edit: Youtube and Netflix looks amazing in 4k. 5G flies...
 
elf_lord_ZC5 said:
Well the sum total of my DSTV watching is sport when I visit a mate of mine, so I have very limited exposure to their streaming quality.

But, it is becoming an issue, as I am seriously looking to buy an nVidia Shield TV, which does some very good 4K upscaling. But it does not upscale, 1080p @ 60 fps.

If DSTV stream at 1080p @ 60 fps, then I need to get a Shield Pro, as this will upscale 1080p @ 60 fps.

Problem is no one gives and authoritive answer. And as soon as someone gives a answer, Mybb, or some other contradicts it so yeah, like I said, rather confused.
Click to expand...
I doubt any TV broadcast is in 60fps and would assume it's the standard 30fps. I just have to mention that watching IPL everyday, we do get the odd day where even with a good picture we get buffering on a 100mb line, change the channel and buffering stops, showing its that specific server, so DSTVnow servers are just **** sometimes. Our LG 4K tv has dstvnow app, Natgeo looks pixelated, SS looks fine. Not sure upscaling makes a difference.
 
Dstv now looks bad because of the interlaced conversi9n if I remember correctly. That’s why it oooks like it’s from the 90s.
 
wingnut771 said:
I doubt any TV broadcast is in 60fps and would assume it's the standard 30fps. I just have to mention that watching IPL everyday, we do get the odd day where even with a good picture we get buffering on a 100mb line, change the channel and buffering stops, showing its that specific server, so DSTVnow servers are just **** sometimes. Our LG 4K tv has dstvnow app, Natgeo looks pixelated, SS looks fine. Not sure upscaling makes a difference.
Click to expand...

Holy crap... I got buffering on the sport channels too. I just stopped watching sport on dstv because of that. I think their servers get overloaded or they don't have enough throughput ...
 
wingnut771 said:
I doubt any TV broadcast is in 60fps and would assume it's the standard 30fps. I just have to mention that watching IPL everyday, we do get the odd day where even with a good picture we get buffering on a 100mb line, change the channel and buffering stops, showing its that specific server, so DSTVnow servers are just **** sometimes. Our LG 4K tv has dstvnow app, Natgeo looks pixelated, SS looks fine. Not sure upscaling makes a difference.
Click to expand...

By all reports, the Shield has so.e of the best upscaling around, at least more than somewhat better than that currently on offer with TVs themselves
 
I have tried DSTV streaming this past weekend, using my laptop (Dell Latitude 5490, Windows 10 Pro, Firefox browser), as well as the DSTV app on my Samsung smart TV. Either way, I find the frame rate insufficient on the streaming service. There is perceivable motion judder (not stutter, but judder), which is especially noisome with fast moving action, such as in sport and action movies. The same feed, same channel via the DSTV decoder shows no similar motion artifact. My internet service is fibre at 20 Mbps, which is entirely sufficient for streaming HD. I have no motion artifacts when streaming Netflix or Amazon Prime Video over the respective apps on my Samsung TV. So, the blame cannot be laid before my ISP.

I find the above particularly irritating of Multichoice. They seem to skimp on providing proper bandwidth to stream at the proper frame rate. Technical comment by Multichoice is invited.
 
jpbarnard2019 said:
I have tried DSTV streaming this past weekend, using my laptop (Dell Latitude 5490, Windows 10 Pro, Firefox browser), as well as the DSTV app on my Samsung smart TV. Either way, I find the frame rate insufficient on the streaming service. There is perceivable motion judder (not stutter, but judder), which is especially noisome with fast moving action, such as in sport and action movies. The same feed, same channel via the DSTV decoder shows no similar motion artifact. My internet service is fibre at 20 Mbps, which is entirely sufficient for streaming HD. I have no motion artifacts when streaming Netflix or Amazon Prime Video over the respective apps on my Samsung TV. So, the blame cannot be laid before my ISP.

I find the above particularly irritating of Multichoice. They seem to skimp on providing proper bandwidth to stream at the proper frame rate. Technical comment by Multichoice is invited.
Click to expand...
I also use the standalone streaming service (DSTV app on my Samsung Smart TV) It's not unwatchable, but it doesn't look as good, and as smooth as the service you get via the Dish and Decoder. How can DSTV charge the same for this service when the quality is not the same? I don't want a dish and decoder, we are not in the stone age anymore. Why is it so difficult for DSTV to deliver proper quality via their streaming services??
 
zulucat said:
The picture quality is subpar - it stutters (a lot). It is not worth the money you pay
Click to expand...
We are on a Vox uncapped 50 meg fibre line and all streaming services (local and international )work with occasional minor glitches
 
zulucat said:
The picture quality is subpar - it stutters (a lot). It is not worth the money you pay
Click to expand...
I have a dstv decoder and a media box with dstvnow on a 40inch LCD, I can't tell the difference in picture quality between the 2.

I will say that there are days you can't login or a certain channel will buffer (the cricket) when others don't (a dud server I guess) and usually clears up in an hour or 2.
 
jpbarnard2019 said:
I have tried DSTV streaming this past weekend, using my laptop (Dell Latitude 5490, Windows 10 Pro, Firefox browser), as well as the DSTV app on my Samsung smart TV. Either way, I find the frame rate insufficient on the streaming service. There is perceivable motion judder (not stutter, but judder), which is especially noisome with fast moving action, such as in sport and action movies. The same feed, same channel via the DSTV decoder shows no similar motion artifact. My internet service is fibre at 20 Mbps, which is entirely sufficient for streaming HD. I have no motion artifacts when streaming Netflix or Amazon Prime Video over the respective apps on my Samsung TV. So, the blame cannot be laid before my ISP.

I find the above particularly irritating of Multichoice. They seem to skimp on providing proper bandwidth to stream at the proper frame rate. Technical comment by Multichoice is invited.
Click to expand...
Update on the above. Since my post, above, my DSTV App frame rate issue has seemed to resolve itself. I have been using DSTV App for streaming Channel 215 (motorsport) to watch F1 races without any noticeably worse frame rate compared to the DSTV Explore 2 decoder. The resolution seems to be better (1080p) than decoder (720p) at times, depending upon my internet feed's effective bandwidth at the time. Consequently, I have down-graded my one DSTV subs (I maintain two - ouch - one at my home and one at my mother's home) and used the DSTV App instead to stream those premium channels that I do watch (very few - only Motorsport, Tennis, BBC Earth and Bloomberg, really).
 
The only reasons that I continue to subscribe are to provide my elderly mother with DSTV - she is not computer savvy - and because I am a bit of an international news junky. And try subscribe to Sky, BBC, CNN and Bloomberg news streams through individual monthly subscription - you'll pay more than the DSTV premium subscription for only those four international news feeds. Bloomberg news stream alone costs over R500 per month. And you may not even get them all without VPN maneuvers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter