IFollow: Hows it going?

[Mad Mick]

So far working well. I have reasonable speed internet and first half was pretty good quality without much stutter. Second half was not as good there was more stuttering buy it didn't drop or freeze at all. I tried delaying the video for a couple of minutes, but still had stuttering. My VPN is set to the Netherlands and I've had no issues. I do miss the Radio Sheffield commentary though. I could fix this by watching on my PC and using another "Tab" but as it was cast to my 65" TV I tried to sort it. BTW quality on 65" TV is pretty good. At half time I plugged in a Chrome cast Audio Dongle. This was on top of my standard Chrome-Cast. I then tried casting the audio from the second "Tab" on my PC without success. Has anyone managed to get video and audio on a smart TV?
Finally I got audio on my IPad for about a minute, but it kicked me out of video. I have to say though it's the best 130 Euros I've ever spent.

 

[boo radley]

Not had much chance to use it but it says you have to pay for the extended highlights then on the next tab you get them for free?
If you sign up for the most expensive option (£45) then you cannot watch the match. I am assuming that if you pay that then get a VPN then you can watch the game,Is that right?

 

[Mad Mick]

You only get live matches if you sign up from abroad.

 

[JimPhipps]

Not up to snuff. I was thinking yesterday that I get a more reliable feed from a fancast. Hopefully, it will improve as we go. So, I don't mind supporting it.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

So far working well. I have reasonable speed internet and first half was pretty good quality without much stutter. Second half was not as good there was more stuttering buy it didn't drop or freeze at all. I tried delaying the video for a couple of minutes, but still had stuttering. My VPN is set to the Netherlands and I've had no issues. I do miss the Radio Sheffield commentary though. I could fix this by watching on my PC and using another "Tab" but as it was cast to my 65" TV I tried to sort it. BTW quality on 65" TV is pretty good. At half time I plugged in a Chrome cast Audio Dongle. This was on top of my standard Chrome-Cast. I then tried casting the audio from the second "Tab" on my PC without success. Has anyone managed to get video and audio on a smart TV?
Finally I got audio on my IPad for about a minute, but it kicked me out of video. I have to say though it's the best 130 Euros I've ever spent.

Is the live video devoid of commentary then? Seems odd that they don't simply simulcast it with the audio commentary from RS.

 

[S5Blade]

There's two major problems for me

One is the lack of commentary while watching the video stream. It just makes no sense, it really can not be that hard to do.

The other is a lack of information anywhere on the screen, it really can not be that hard for an overlay that shows the score, bookings, substitute information etc.

The quality has never been 720p either. It's watchable but not close to anywhere near HD standard. I have no idea how invested / bothered the club are but the service can be loads better with a few simple changes.

 

[S5Blade]

Is the live video devoid of commentary then? Seems odd that they don't simply simulcast it with the audio commentary from RS.

They don't even need to do that. They have Kevin Gage employed to do commentary for iFollow exclusively but then don't have it on the same stream as the video.

 

[HD8 Blade]

Hi,

First time posters and looking for some clarity about iFollow.

I don't live abroad although living in Huddersfield might be considered so however, at the start of the season I renewed my subscription to what used be Blades Player now iFollow and duly paid my £45.

I attend the Brentford game but as I usually do, watch the two halfs of the game a day or so later which I did and the content is still available for me to watch.

I missed the Barnsley game but listened to the live commentary on iFollow with the intention of watching both halves when they got uploaded to the site, as yet this hasn't materialised.

Again, I went to the match yesterday but was looking forward to watching the two halves on iFollow, but all I'm getting is the highlights and the extened highlighs.

Looking at the history on iFollow it appears that other than the Brentford match and cup ties all other content is just the highlights.

Apologies for hijacking this thread but have I missed something? It's doing my nut!

 

[Mad Mick]

Is the live video devoid of commentary then? Seems odd that they don't simply simulcast it with the audio commentary from RS.

Easier said than done. The RS commentary on the internet lags behind the match and can be a minute or two behind. You can adjust the video to match the commentary on a PC though.

 

[Preecey]

Hi,

First time posters and looking for some clarity about iFollow.

I don't live abroad although living in Huddersfield might be considered so however, at the start of the season I renewed my subscription to what used be Blades Player now iFollow and duly paid my £45.

I attend the Brentford game but as I usually do, watch the two halfs of the game a day or so later which I did and the content is still available for me to watch.

I missed the Barnsley game but listened to the live commentary on iFollow with the intention of watching both halves when they got uploaded to the site, as yet this hasn't materialised.

Again, I went to the match yesterday but was looking forward to watching the two halves on iFollow, but all I'm getting is the highlights and the extened highlighs.

Looking at the history on iFollow it appears that other than the Brentford match and cup ties all other content is just the highlights.

Apologies for hijacking this thread but have I missed something? It's doing my nut!

I can get it on mine. Just got to "Results", find the match you're after, and select "full replay". I should mention that I'm using the android app.

 

[Dkc]

Used it once for the Boro game, it was shit, delays of about 10 seconds every minute or two, impossible keeping it in sync with the comm. As Jim says above, fancams are more watchable atm.

Watching abroad, not using VPN and with a good Internet connection. Amazing they can't do better than fans with phones..

 

[Paulus]

Just watched the 10 minute highlights of the Derby game and it seems we are getting the Derby version and not our own - not good enough.

 

[S6 Blade]

I've used it with mixed results I pay the monthly subscription for it and successfully used a vpn once to watch the Cardiff game. However when i use a vpn app on my phone now if gives me an error saying you need to upgrade your subscription. Have the cottoned on to people using vpns to watch the games or have i missed something?!

 

[HD8 Blade]

I can get it on mine. Just got to "Results", find the match you're after, and select "full replay". I should mention that I'm using the android app.

Thanks, I think I've sussed it out now, I normally watch/listen to the stream on my laptop as such I've missed the trick; this is what's happening.

If you you go to Matches > Results, it lists all games played so far, what I see listed against the Blades v Derby is "Live on iFollow" and "Watch on iFollow" so when I click on the latter of the two links the resulting page that loads has the highlights content, what I've not noticed is the little video camera icon that appears to the left of the red bar that has the result.

If you scroll the content down, the red bar becomes black and the words "Watch now" appear, click on that or the camera icon if seeing the red bar and the game is there to see in it's entirety. I would assume that anyone using a desktop computer or larger monitor wouldn't have experienced this issue.

Paulus, the content I'm seeing is what I'd consider to be the normal content "the United" version if you like!

 

[Ron_Justice]

Full on foreign viewer, watching through Chrome on a quick i7 PC hooked up to a 52inch, 1080p, plasma TV via HDMI out. 50mbps internet.

Picture quality isn't an issue IMO. No, it's not 4k and '720HD' is the highest it can go but for me, that's been great. MUCH better than the quality of fan streams via phones from the ground. Very occasional stutters in the frame rate - I think it's dropped frames from the upload end - but all in all, 8/10 for quality.

I get the audio feed via another tab, then delay the video by 12 seconds to get them to sync. That 12 second figure has been consistent across 3 games. It's the same audio feed as you'd get via the UK service or the old Blades Player app/site. On the actual video player, there's non-functional options for which audio stream you'd like 'English', 'Home', or 'Away' which makes me think it's all still a bit of a work in progress.

One nice benefit is you can pause, review an incident - there are markers dropped on the time line to show when an incident happened, so finding the action is a piece of piss - and restart the video stream at any point. Once you figure out the audio delay (12 second for me) you can do your own half time recap and then re-sync for the second half.

Moving forward, I'd like to see an on screen timer and the latest score. I think, if you're compare the the quality to SKY etc. then you're going to see the deficiencies but for £130 a year or £5 a game, it's an absolute bargain IMO.

 

[Student Blade]

So far working well. I have reasonable speed internet and first half was pretty good quality without much stutter. Second half was not as good there was more stuttering buy it didn't drop or freeze at all. I tried delaying the video for a couple of minutes, but still had stuttering. My VPN is set to the Netherlands and I've had no issues. I do miss the Radio Sheffield commentary though. I could fix this by watching on my PC and using another "Tab" but as it was cast to my 65" TV I tried to sort it. BTW quality on 65" TV is pretty good. At half time I plugged in a Chrome cast Audio Dongle. This was on top of my standard Chrome-Cast. I then tried casting the audio from the second "Tab" on my PC without success. Has anyone managed to get video and audio on a smart TV?
Finally I got audio on my IPad for about a minute, but it kicked me out of video. I have to say though it's the best 130 Euros I've ever spent.

What was needed to prove you were 'abroad'? Just wondering if your vpn location was enough or did you have to provide an overseas address?

Also which vpn do you use? (pm me if you don't want to do say here) I'm signed up to tunnel bear so hoping that'll work.

 

[Worksop II]

I'm signed up to tunnel bear

Careful ... I think Tunnel Bear is LYDON's handle on Grinder

 

[Pollingtonblade]

I watched the game in 3D live yesterday, from the John Street stand.

 

[Bath Blade]

It's shit. I pay the money for Radio Sheffield commentary, then go to France for a fortnight and find I can't get commentary because I'm abroad. Is it not beyond the realm of possibility to let me sign in as being in the UK when on holiday (I can see the obvious issues in the opposite direction but I'm only asking for what I've already paid for).

 

[highgreenintokyo]

I paid for and used it for the Brentford game (living abroad). My internet is poor, but Netflix is fine, but the quality was terrible. Second half was basically unwatchable. Think that's mostly my problem, though.

Annoying bits were:

1. No commentary on feed (even though it says -live commentary as an option when purchasing.
2. No access to full match replay, even though it says that's a feature when purchasing
3. The procedure for purchasing and then finding how to watch the match is unintuitive at best.
4. The lack of email confirmation of your order despite saying it will be sent is worrying.

I sent that in an email to iFollow, and they replied.

"Thank you for taking the time out to provide us positive feedback.
We are glad to be of service. If there are any other issues or questions please dont heistate to contact us via email.

Regards,
Rasal, ifollow support"

It's a great service, but amateur as fuck at the minute.

 

[Asabanana]

Works great with the vpn on my desktop PC.

The android app also uses location services, so make sure your GPS and vpn location agree.

 

[JJ Sefton]

I think its alright.

 

[Athens Blade]

I haven't been able to see a game yet. It could be that I have shitty wifi, but so far the old blades player was better

 

[bromtom]

It's alright in a pinch. If I can't get to the Lane then it's nice being able to see it but there are some major issues.

There needs to be an overlay.

Where's the commentary? I tried opening up Listen Live and it was Radio Sheffield, but it was the Wendy game.

The camera/ camera man is shithouse. He needs a different lens and maybe a new camera all together.

I have fibre broadband, even with a VPN on it's still more than quick enough to stream 4K HDR Netflix, but it still stutters occasionally, usually in the second half. Seems very bandwidth dependent on their end.

Out of that lot I'd just take the overlay though to be honest.

 

[djbaldken]

Hi,

First time posters and looking for some clarity about iFollow.

I don't live abroad although living in Huddersfield might be considered so however, at the start of the season I renewed my subscription to what used be Blades Player now iFollow and duly paid my £45.

I attend the Brentford game but as I usually do, watch the two halfs of the game a day or so later which I did and the content is still available for me to watch.

I missed the Barnsley game but listened to the live commentary on iFollow with the intention of watching both halves when they got uploaded to the site, as yet this hasn't materialised.

Again, I went to the match yesterday but was looking forward to watching the two halves on iFollow, but all I'm getting is the highlights and the extened highlighs.

Looking at the history on iFollow it appears that other than the Brentford match and cup ties all other content is just the highlights.

Apologies for hijacking this thread but have I missed something? It's doing my nut!

Hello HD8 Blade. Im also in HD8........do I know you? Bull.....Shepley by any chance???

 

[breeny]

Missing Keith...

 

[S5Blade]

Missing Keith...

Thats one of the huge positives......

 

[North East Blade]

So far working well. I have reasonable speed internet and first half was pretty good quality without much stutter. Second half was not as good there was more stuttering buy it didn't drop or freeze at all. I tried delaying the video for a couple of minutes, but still had stuttering. My VPN is set to the Netherlands and I've had no issues. I do miss the Radio Sheffield commentary though. I could fix this by watching on my PC and using another "Tab" but as it was cast to my 65" TV I tried to sort it. BTW quality on 65" TV is pretty good. At half time I plugged in a Chrome cast Audio Dongle. This was on top of my standard Chrome-Cast. I then tried casting the audio from the second "Tab" on my PC without success. Has anyone managed to get video and audio on a smart TV?
Finally I got audio on my IPad for about a minute, but it kicked me out of video. I have to say though it's the best 130 Euros I've ever spent.

Always one that as to tell the world how big his TV is.


Small cock syndrome

 

[don240]

So far working well. I have reasonable speed internet and first half was pretty good quality without much stutter. Second half was not as good there was more stuttering buy it didn't drop or freeze at all. I tried delaying the video for a couple of minutes, but still had stuttering. My VPN is set to the Netherlands and I've had no issues. I do miss the Radio Sheffield commentary though. I could fix this by watching on my PC and using another "Tab" but as it was cast to my 65" TV I tried to sort it. BTW quality on 65" TV is pretty good. At half time I plugged in a Chrome cast Audio Dongle. This was on top of my standard Chrome-Cast. I then tried casting the audio from the second "Tab" on my PC without success. Has anyone managed to get video and audio on a smart TV?
Finally I got audio on my IPad for about a minute, but it kicked me out of video. I have to say though it's the best 130 Euros I've ever spent.

I run the app on my tv for video & cast the audio from my PC or tablet to my soundbar, don't know if that would work for you.

 

[originaltrueblade]

They are now checking to see if the billing address matches the country people signed up from, so i have been told