Kayo Replay Quality Query

[Slartibartfast 15,715]

I'm looking for some help.

I have Kayo and have noticed that the quality of the replays on my TV are very poor in that the ball "ghosts" all the time and is hard to follow in flight.  I have adjusted the Kayo quality to the highest setting but the problem still exists.  I've also played round with the TV picture settings with no success.  Also the 50m lines and centre square lines often get blurred and appear as a green and white zebra stripe.

Does anyone else have this problem when watching the replays on their TV and more importantly does anyone have a fix?  The issue only applies to replays but not to broadcasts where the picture is very good.

Thanks for any help anyone can offer.

[roy11 2,910]

Perhaps they are compressing replays which might amount for some reduced quality/motion blur? 

I don't watch too many replays but will test this week to check on quality. 

[Mr Steve 3,820]

I find that all the time even on live games. I log completely out and log back in. seems to fix it. Was hoping they lost to rights to the footy with the next contract, not looking likely now. 

[Hellaintabadplacetobe 4,089]

It's been pretty ordinary watching some games live lately where it randomly just goes back to the beginning of the broadcast mid match.

Has happened a few times the past month. Overall it's been pretty good but it's frustrating when it happens and usually multiple times once it starts happening.

[Smokey 4,112]

25 minutes ago, Mr Steve said:

I find that all the time even on live games. I log completely out and log back in. seems to fix it. Was hoping they lost to rights to the footy with the next contract, not looking likely now. 

I don't think they have any "rights" to the footy per se, believe they just buy rights to re-broadcast the Foxtel coverage 

[Smokey 4,112]

Go to www.speedtest.net and share your average download speed result. The issue may very likely be the quality of your internet connection. 

I never have any issues with Kayo, with the picture in HD either live or while watching replays 99% of the time. I also have pretty much the best internet connection you can get in this country. 

[daisycutter 28,427]

26 minutes ago, Mr Steve said:

I find that all the time even on live games. I log completely out and log back in. seems to fix it. Was hoping they lost to rights to the footy with the next contract, not looking likely now. 

i had similar problems with vfl streaming on my pc desktop. in the end decided it was my pc setup.

i ran a pc cleanup program called restoro. very comprehensive and after that all fine. 

i never found out the real culprit but suspected it was in the windows registry.

ymmv

[Call Me What You Will 691]

Live coverage is usually in HD with good quality. Replays, Kayo Minis etc are not and I have the same problem. Frustrating. I think I read somewhere that this and the whole clunky interface of Kayo may be addressed next year, but not holding my breath.

[Bluey's Dad 3,419]

Could be your chromecast, if you're using one. If you have a gen 1 and are using that, I'd suggest upgrading to the new one. If you're casting to your TV, it still could be the same issue if that TV contains an old gen 1 inside. Mine has worked very well since I upgraded to the latest chromecast, had all kinds of issues before.

[Diamond_Jim 11,670]

6 minutes ago, Call Me What You Will said:

Live coverage is usually in HD with good quality. Replays, Kayo Minis etc are not and I have the same problem. Frustrating. I think I read somewhere that this and the whole clunky interface of Kayo may be addressed next year, but not holding my breath.

The excuse they gave for the replays a couple of years back is that is how they received the replay from the third party provider.

The difference is frames per second. Live games are done at a higher fps rate.

Looking forward let's hope that whoever gets the rights improves the picture quality dramatically. Not too much to expect 4k quality

[Slartibartfast 15,715]

Thanks everyone.  I have a download test speed of 52mps so I don't think this is the issue.  I have Kayo through my TV and Apple TV with the same issues.

What confuses me is that some people have this issue and others don't and my TV is supposed to be a good one. Very frustrating.

[FlashInThePan 1,893]

By default the streaming quality is set to 'Auto'. If you have a slow connection speed it will detect that and drop your quality from HD back to lower res. You can hard set it to HD to stop that happening. On my LG TV I click up and the picture quality selector comes up.

[Dr. Gonzo 22,387]

They definitely compress the video file once it goes to "replay" - if you watch the game the next day or so with the full prematch/halftime etc it should be better quality but once it is a replay and the video begins at the start of the match the quality is reduced.

Edited August 29, 2022 by Dr. Gonzo

[mauriesy 6,783]

Definitely check the speed of your internet connection, and the playback quality in the Kayo settings.

You can set Kayo to SD, HD or "automatic" (which will take your internet speed into account).  Kayo says you need 1.5mbps for SD and 6mbps for HD. I have no trouble streaming Kayo in HD on a 7mbps ADSL connection. I've got a Google TV (no Chromecast)

I also have a 4G mobile broadband connection that is 40mbps during the daytime and a crappy 3mbps at night due to congestion. It won't work for Kayo on HD when that happens.

[Slartibartfast 15,715]

12 minutes ago, mauriesy said:

Definitely check the speed of your internet connection, and the playback quality in the Kayo settings.

You can set Kayo to SD, HD or "automatic" (which will take your internet speed into account).  Kayo says you need 1.5mbps for SD and 6mbps for HD. I have no trouble streaming Kayo in HD on a 7mbps ADSL connection. I've got a Google TV (no Chromecast)

I also have a 4G mobile broadband connection that is 40mbps during the daytime and a crappy 3mbps at night due to congestion. It won't work for Kayo on HD when that happens.

It makes no difference if I set the Kayo quality to HD.  My speed tests tell me I've got 52mbps download speed.  It's very annoying.

[george_on_the_outer 6,940]

I now know why the umpires see things differently!

[hank 23]

I also had that trouble. It was my internet provider. I am now with Aussie Broadband. I was with mate and had nothing but trouble with Kayo live and replays but it depended on the time of day I was watching. Since switching, no trouble ever. A starting point to find the trouble is to be with a  premuim supplier.

[Diamond_Jim 11,670]

Kayo requires a steady internet connection of at most 10-13 mbs so most ISP's should be fine.

Because it's live sport there is very little buffering compared to netflix etc. This means that if your connection is flaky although you may never know it during day to day use you can get problems with live sport.

That being said 52mbs should be no problem.

Is your TV/box connected by ethernet or wireless. Sometimes it can be a wireless issue in your home.

I purchased a mesh router last year with a couple of satellites. Improved the home wireless connection enormously

[layzie 28,473]

Wow that's crap, supposed to the future. That's not so futuristic.

[Gawndy the Great 7,243]

The replay quality is definitely lower quality. Seems to me a lower frame rate rather than resolution.

Hopefully the next iteration has the full 4K broadcast. However this will take away from the more premium foxtel offering so not holding my breath. This is where paramount or Amazon can potentially change the game. 

[kryton101 334]

Maybe if using Apple TV you have a lot of streaming apps open in background?  I find that sometimes uses up memory which affects the buffering for streaming?  For me the picture was pausing for a second or two in Kayo then restarting a few seconds back - really annoying!!

You can close them out much like you do an iPhone or iPad by ‘swiping up’ when you’re in the screen that displays all your streaming services.  Made a difference for me.

[Slartibartfast 15,715]

Thanks everyone. The picture is perfect other than the ball in flight where it ghosts and at time almost disappeared. 
 

I’ll contact Kayo again for some advice. I thought I’d come to the experts first!  I don’t think Kayo will be able to help. 

[Dr. Gonzo 22,387]

8 hours ago, CYB said:

The replay quality is definitely lower quality. Seems to me a lower frame rate rather than resolution.

Hopefully the next iteration has the full 4K broadcast. However this will take away from the more premium foxtel offering so not holding my breath. This is where paramount or Amazon can potentially change the game. 

This is the answer. Don't worry about all the other stuff.

[Stu 843]

10 hours ago, CYB said:

The replay quality is definitely lower quality. Seems to me a lower frame rate rather than resolution.

Hopefully the next iteration has the full 4K broadcast. However this will take away from the more premium foxtel offering so not holding my breath. This is where paramount or Amazon can potentially change the game. 

I think you're right. @Slartibartfast it may be worth also trying to reduce the hertz on the TV down to 50 or 60 (if that's an option) as it might be running in the 100-200 range. The much higher hertz can cause ghosting during action movies or live sport when the frame rate it's being shown in isn't high enough.

[Slartibartfast 15,715]

2 hours ago, Stu said:

I think you're right. @Slartibartfast it may be worth also trying to reduce the hertz on the TV down to 50 or 60 (if that's an option) as it might be running in the 100-200 range. The much higher hertz can cause ghosting during action movies or live sport when the frame rate it's being shown in isn't high enough.

Thanks for your help Stu.  I contacted LG to ask if I could change the Hertz on my TV but you can't.  But they told me to change a setting to a thing call "AI" to off and change the aspect ratio to "original".  The replays are now at least watchable.  I've put this info here to help anyone else who is in the same boat.  I contacted LG thru their online chat feature and they were prompt and very helpful. 

Thanks for everyone's comments and help.