The era of streaming continues to evolve without signs of slowing down. Instead of relying on traditional methods like aerial or dish connections, broadband now offers a seamless way to stream content directly to TVs. This presents a more convenient option, especially for placing TVs in areas without aerial connection points.
However, internet streaming faces challenges, particularly in live sports due to latency issues. Latency causes delays in live streams compared to over-the-air signals, resulting in viewers receiving notifications about events before actually witnessing them on their screens.
Sky has already addressed this issue with its latest streaming devices, such as Sky Glass and Sky Stream, allowing viewers to access sports content with minimal delay. Following suit, the BBC has introduced a similar update for devices like Fire TV Sticks, Sony TVs, and BT set-top boxes, including Sky Glass, to enable watching shows with reduced latency.
Melissa Darragh, Senior R&D Engineer, elaborated on the BBC’s low latency streaming trial extension on BBC iPlayer beta, expanding support for more devices and extending the testing period. This phase aims to evaluate the performance of low latency streaming in real-world conditions across various networks and settings.
The BBC aims to enhance users’ live event viewing experience with this extension, covering breaking news, sports, concerts, and more. The broadcaster encourages more households to participate in the trial to gather additional feedback.
Viewers on supported devices can engage by enabling iPlayer Beta and watching BBC Two live during specified hours. The trial stream is accessible for viewers in England or Scotland and is expected to run for about a month. If users encounter any issues, they can switch back to conventional streaming by opting out of iPlayer beta via the Settings menu.
The BBC also provided a list of compatible devices for the low latency streaming trial, including Fire TV Edition 4K 2022, Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K (2nd Gen), BT TV Box Pro, Sky Glass Gen 1, select Bush TVs, Sony TVs, and Toshiba TVs.
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