ITTF TV Live Streaming is so poor

why still no app for watching ittf livestreaming instead of using browser?

In 2011, we will continue to improve the service for the fans around the world creating Apps for Mac, iP, iPod, iPad, Androïd phones, etc.

The Apps will allow the fans to keep up with news, results, live scoring, and much more live on their mobile devices when they are not seated in front of a computer.

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promise is still promise (from 2011)?

I think ITTF really tries to do something for their streams. The quality of one stream has gotten better and I believe the second will follow soon. I can't complain about the sound quality as you did, everythings sounds pretty normal, maybe a bit quietly but you can turn up the PC/headphone volume to get it louder.
I'm also pretty happy about there's no commentator on every match, I wouldn't miss them at all. I want to enjoy the pure table tennis and not a guy, who tells me how good the rally was

ITTF said:

We will also revamp and redesign our website, which currently ranks 3rd amongst all international federation’s websites in terms of unique users. This is a position we have held for a long time, and although there are fluctuations, we do end up 3rd on the average of the past 12 months. However, our website is in dire need of a fresh new look and we will deliver it in 2014. We will also enhance the quality and programming of itTV to respond to the requests made by our loyal viewers.

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From: http://ittf.com/_front_Page/ittf_full_story1.asp?ID=33987&Category=Other&Competition_ID=&

Guess we'll have to wait and see. By the way you can hear one of the well-known commentators calling the players' names before the match and the results afterwards in the hall.

Masta5 said:

I'm also pretty happy about there's no commentator on every match, I wouldn't miss them at all. I want to enjoy the pure table tennis and not a guy, who tells me how good the rally was

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I think it's better that there be a commentator but just analysis the technique and tactics in the match.

still no app to watch live matches for android yet?

Just install the firefox browser and the adobe flash player from archive
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-watch-flash-videos-firefox-android
http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/installing-flash-player-android-devices.html
http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/archived-flash-player-versions.html

cannot watch in ff, ie8 ok, dont know why :-(

Have you got ie8 on Android ?

no, on pc, on android i use dolphin mini :-D, but it cannot be as good as native app if possible

I think Ittf did try to improve. at least there are pongcast. and I think they increased the number of HD camera I think in the early stage (the matches before the finals)

I think there are 2 areas that need serious improvement

(1) media, e.g. the website still looks like a 1995 website with GIF and all that (how expensive is it to improve the website, I think people will feel ashamed about themselves if they ever shared any pages there... sosad), video qualities, and highlight videos. I am an advocate of in-house highlight. ttlondon did amazing jobs making them highlight, but they really needa be an in-house professional as an organization, and to not have relied on people like ttlondon to make them highlight and then (no offense) to have the last few seconds of the video giving credit. a professional in-house hire would guarantee the uniform quality of all ittf products.

but i really hate ittf too LOL. but i think they're trying. I really don't know what's their minds on. the first impression of people to have on modern day TT, are the highlights and live matches , and the ittf website. it's a bit sad.

(2) professional commentatory and analysis, i guess there's no further explanation needed. the analysis before was crap. the former German head coach was great doing 2011 WTTC. the commentators usually are really stating the obvious (no offense again, I know it is hard to know how the tactics) but it makes the game SEEMS so simple, even when the players, say ma long, zjk and xuxin are changing their games

like the timing when they're hitting the ball. the distance they're playing from table as the sets progress. no-spin or more spin they put on the strokes just to confuse their opponents. the switch of ball placements.

i think everything needs to at least look nice, and I thought that wasn't hard with money. And they're gonna revamp the website (FINALLY!) in 2014.

I think a third suggestion is to have an official discussion platform for people to send in feedback easily, or suggestions, there are websites. but a more encouraging means would be great.

Great, Kuwait Open has begun, and the stream quality is back to being God damn terrible.

Come on, ITTF! Apply yourself!

The streaming is handled by TMS International: http://www.tmsin.com/

It may be an auto-bandwidth application (more active streams = less bandwidth per stream), or it could be Asia are not taking the streams as much (the larger nations are only likely to participate in the Super and maybe some Major series of the tour?)

Are there any resolution stats to back up the perception that the stream is lower quality now? The live stream has always been lower quality compared to the recorded matches.

a quite "off" examples

http://www.thebestdesigns.com/

if they just hire any one of the designers on there for the tt new website. it would be so great. This kinds of designs might not apply since sports websites usually contain lots of information, but i'm sure money invested into the websites will come back to the sports etc.

*****

but i believe highlights, short and sweet clips are also the key to promote tt to non-tt-players/viewers. There are plenty of amazing shots. If they are of the qualities that people are willing to share them on facebook and stuff (without feeling ashamed lol) then the sports could be rapidly promoted. One of the keys is to correct the misconceptions of tt in non-tt-viewers.

another method is celebrities endorsements, but these are expensive, and I don't believe they should use that before having at least the basics things (video qualities, media platform like websites)

*****

if they could persuade one of the chinese sponsor to sponsor on the promotions. it would be huge.

Blackbird74 said:

Are there any resolution stats to back up the perception that the stream is lower quality now? The live stream has always been lower quality compared to the recorded matches.

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It's not just a matter of resolution and bitrate. Notice how the lighting appears dim. Now, we already know that ITTF insists on sufficiently lit arenas. Rules state that the minimum illuminance above the table needs to equal 600 lux, and 400 lux covering the rest of the arena which is more than sufficient for recording quality video, yet the image in the stream appears dark, meaning the people in charge of video don't know how to operate the cameras (set the appropriate lens aperture and shutter speeds, which shouldn't be that complicated). Or perhaps they just don't care enough. Yesterday I also noticed that the camera covering one of the tables was slightly tilted to the left. That's just plain sloppy.

EDIT:

Here's an example from another thread:

I do not know what happened but now table 1 is really good while table 2 is same as previous very poor.

Sali said:

I do not know what happened but now table 1 is really good while table 2 is same as previous very poor.

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That's because the broadcasts from table 1 are now televised (done by professionals).

They prefer spending their time searching for the perfect new ball. When they find it, ittf's streaming will be much better. The players may look distorced but the ball will be always good for viewers

Many times, it is not the streaming part, but is the source. Since I have the racket channel will shows the pro tour match from time to time, it has been noticeably that the video source, or more precisely, the equipment used is not the decent equipment. I'm recalling the Morocco pro tour, and some mid-east pro tour showed on TV is the most significant. Rather, it just some low quality equipment, so I don't know the video team hiring process goes for the pro tour.

But, I just came across on the price of bandwitdh pricing for cooperation few weeks ago. This may hard to blame as the cooperation pricing is much higher than the normal user. We may have 50 dollar for a 100Mbps per month, but the speed is not guaranteed. The speed may drop to 10~50Mbps during peak hour, and the max speed may not even reach 95Mbps above. But for cooperation usage, they do get offer for the package that guarantee 100Mbps. However, they had to pay for X amount of money (not in term of 1~10 usd) for every 1Mbps usage. Then, this will depends on what is the budget they have every year for streaming. Less revenue means less budget mean bad streaming.

And while World Tour streams are constantly borderline unwatchable, the French are streaming their national championships in glorious 720p.