Super Bowl delay is real — here’s how to avoid it

There’s a phenomenon with the modern Super Bowl — and with all live sports today — that our parents never had to deal with. And it’s just one of those things that comes with modern digital entertainment.

In other words, the Super Bowl delay is real.

If you’ve ever lived in a house crazy enough to have more than a few ways to watch live TV, you may have experienced this. You’re watching a game — and that’s true whether it’s football, soccer, or anything else — in one room, only to find that the TV in the other room is a good minute or so behind. Maybe you checked Twitter or got a notification from a friend that a big game happened. Or maybe you just heard cheers (or groans) from another room. No one’s fault, really – that’s just how things work these days.

So what does it give? And how can you avoid a Super Bowl delay?

Phil Nickinson/Digital Trends

Don’t stream the Super Bowl

When it comes to watching live sports, you want to take the path of least resistance. Unfortunately, that path is the slowest when it comes to streaming services.

The oversimplified version is that services like Hulu With Live TV or YouTube TV take your local broadcast affiliate, run it through their pipes and servers, and then send it back to your phone or TV or whatever you’re watching. And unlike cable or broadcast, which take a more direct route (especially the latter), it takes time. There is time for the stream to buffer so you have a smooth, continuous feed. And there is also time for the service to do its job. Video — especially live video — requires a lot of data. And when you’re talking about thousands and thousands of people moving the same data, there is latency.

The most popular way to avoid the Super Bowl delay will be cable television. It’s still the default method for most people, although more and more are switching to streaming services.

Cable TV and wireless antennas will still ensure that you can watch the Super Bowl as close to real time as possible.

Watch the Super Bowl with an antenna

Probably the closest you can get to real time is with an aerial antenna. Yes, it’s old school. And, yes, it absolutely still works. In fact, it works better than ever. It’s also a relatively inexpensive way to view your local affiliates.

It is also extremely affordable. A good antenna can be bought for less than $100 and it’s a one-time purchase.

The most important part of the entire antenna process is placement. You need to know the direction of your local broadcast affiliates. If they are in the west, point the antenna to the west. East to East, etc. You want your antenna outside if possible, and the more the better.

Of course, you’ll have to balance that with being able to run a cable to the television you actually want to watch on. (We said cheap, but not particularly easy.)

After that, search for channels. Just make sure you have NBC and you’re good to go.

Is the Super Bowl postponement a big deal?

This part is subjective. There’s a decent chance that if all the devices in your home are watching the live event the same way, with the same service, any perceived lag isn’t that big of a deal. What might get a little irritating is if you’re the type to watch a game or other live event while scrolling through Twitter, where you’ll quickly realize that people are reacting to things that haven’t happened in your world yet.

Phoenix

Or due to the wonders of the internet, a slight discrepancy between devices is still possible even if they use the same service but in different ways. Watching a game on an Apple TV over Ethernet can end up with little difference between what’s “live” if another TV within earshot is doing it over Wi-Fi. Or maybe it’s just that the streams to the devices themselves don’t match — this sometimes happens if I’m watching the Premier League on the TV in the living room while it’s also on in the kitchen via the Nest Hub.

Streaming technology company Phenix, which handles back-end stuff and competes directly against the WebRTC video streaming standard, puts up charts showing digital lag. While it’s easy to tell that closer to real-time is always better than not, all the streaming services were within 10 seconds of each other, and all were close to a minute late. While that’s not great, at least it’s consistent.

These are, as they say, first world problems. It’s silly to complain about them, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t real. How much it bothers you is up to you.

But regardless, there are ways around the delay.

Editor’s recommendations

Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn

Links: Super Bowl delay is real — here’s how to avoid it – Tekmonk Bio, Super Bowl delay is real — here’s how to avoid it – Kungfutv, Super Bowl delay is real — here’s how to avoid it – Blogtomoney