Where RWC will be most ‘live’
When it comes to watching the Rugby World Cup, some liveviewing options will be a little more ‘‘live’’ than others.
Fans who have signed to watch up the tournament through Spark Sport can expect a lag of 30-40 seconds between the events taking place on the fields in Japan and being able to see them on their computer or TV screen, which is pretty standard for live-streamed sports.
In contrast, TVNZ spokeswoman Rachel Howard says the lag on matches screened live on TVNZ 1 will be only a few seconds.
Sky Television also expects only ‘‘four to five seconds’’ of lag on a Sky pop-up channel that pubs and clubs will be able to access to show the rugby, its spokeswoman, Kristy Martin, says.
That was ‘‘fairly standard for the live sporting events we broadcast’’, she says.
If milliseconds matter, live radio broadcasts might have the edge.
NZME will broadcast all games involving the All Blacks on Newstalk ZB and Radio Sport live.
Spokeswoman Rowena Dsouza says there will be a one-second lag for the audio to arrive in New Zealand from Tokyo and be sent out to Auckland listeners, with an additional 1.5 seconds – so 2.5 seconds in total – for those living outside Auckland.
In normal circumstances, a lag of less than a minute might be irrelevant to even the most die-hard fans. But if Spark Sport subscribers live above a pub or club or have thin walls, there is a chance they might hear a cheer or ‘‘boo’’ go up before they have an inkling why.
Betting fans who want to avoid any risk of surprises being preempted may want to consider how they use the TAB.
General manager of betting Glen Saville says its odds are set as close to ‘‘real time’’ as possible – so a ‘‘matter of seconds’’ after events on the field.
When a penalty is awarded or a try is scored, it is likely the ability to place bets will be suspended for a short period, Saville says.
So for betting Spark Sport subscribers, the odds going dark on the TAB could be the first sign that something is up.
That has been the case for other sports such as English Premier League matches where streaming has become the norm, so it is something the TAB is now used to managing.
The lag is an unavoidable, minor drawback of current streaming technology and not within Spark’s control.
Spokesman Anaru Tuhi says the 30-40 second lag on Spark Sport’s RWC broadcasts is ‘‘standard in comparison to other online sports streaming services’’.
It largely reflects the time it takes to encode footage into a video format suitable for streaming, deliver it through internet networks, and buffer the stream on the consumer’s playback device to ensure smooth playback and reduce the risk of ‘‘jitter’’.
All other things being equal, the lag on live-streams is likely to reduce thanks to technology advances.
But that assumes improvements in video quality through higherdefinition filming and faster framerates don’t cancel out that trend, or send it in the other direction.
One thing appears certain – if lag is the biggest issue for RWC fans, Spark Sport will be smiling.