Level 1

11 points

MLB TV Picture Quality

After yesterday's announcement, I excitedly ordered MLB.TV to watch on my AppleTV 2nd Gen.

Picture quality was a disappointment. Watched 2 spring training games. Detail was very poor, even on a game that was widescreen (presumably HD?). Motion is very stuttery, as if the frame rate is low.

My downstream bandwidth exceeds 17Mbps, and Netflix and Apple rentals work fine.

Anyone else tried it yet?

BTW: MLB.TV says it can be cancelled "at any time", but the fine print says you can only get a refund in the first 5 days!

Posted on Mar 10, 2011 6:30 AM

Top-ranking reply

theroys88

Level 1

0 points

Posted on Apr 2, 2011 7:11 PM

The reason the quality of the picture is not comparable to Sat or cable is that those services stream those games with a bitrate ranges from 16-91mpbs/second. MLBTV maximum bitrate which is stated on their website is 3mpbs/second. With those low bit rates you will see a highly compressed signal. I am having similiar video and audio issue with choppy audio and video. This atop the compression artifacts that jump at you with any fast motion. These streams have 5 to 6 times the compression as a sat or cable HD feed. **** a standard dvd has a bit rate of 6-8mpbs. Have called MLBTV and the level 2 tech agreed and told me that the current bit rates were designed for computer streaming and not large screen HDTV sets. Received a email from MLBTV stating they are currently working on raising bit rates for streaming devices. I would encourage everyone who is not happy with the servicce to call MLBTV and complain about the low bit rates. State my numbers to them. I have called several times and no tech has argued that I was wrong. They all agreed and apologized. I can tell you that the audio and video choppyness that I am experiencing is a MLBTV app PS3 issue. I can stream MLBTV through Playon and the stream is clean. Only 480p and still full of compression artifacts but no audio or video stuttering.

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187 replies

Sutter11

Level 1

0 points

May 3, 2011 12:28 PM in response to caa100

I had been pleasantly suprised with the MLBTV quality thru the Apple TV2, but the last few days have been horrible. Impossible to watch the games on any feed. I sent MLB support an inquiry but I've yet to hear from them. Is this solely MLB's issue?

May 3, 2011 12:38 PM in response to Sutter11

That's the million dollar question... Or at least the $129 question... which is what I paid for my MLB.tv subscription so I could watch it on my ATV.

I tend to believe it's an MLBtv issue because other streaming contenct to the Atv is very good and often great. For instance, the NBA highlights load fast and are superb quality... Not so with any of the MLBtv content (including the daily recaps) except on very rare occassions.

There are others in this forum who's experience would lead them to believe it's an Atv issue however.

Atavist

Level 1

5 points

Apr 11, 2012 1:51 AM in response to tofupants

Respectfully, I suspect that something is amiss with you system.

I have not any problem at present.

I did have problem last season, but I increaded my cable throughput and rebooted the TV<->ATV interconnection. (None the less,, I suspect that last season MLB function was lacking in some manner, and unprepared to properly render the service via ATV.)

Apr 12, 2012 8:00 AM in response to tofupants

Same problems here as last season. Cable service is the fastest available. Apple TV is connected via cable to router. Everything is routinely restarted. The only trouble is with MLB.TV. Tried to watch the Redsox vs Bluejays game the other night and the video was more often than not pixelated and the stream kept starting and stopping.

Apr 12, 2012 8:35 AM in response to postmechanical

It usually gets better as the season goes on. A lot of people get it for a month then drop it, for whatever reason.

That said, that app is FAR worse than the iPhone and iPad apps. I hope MLB/Apple get together and at least get it to be reliable.

ccress23

Level 1

0 points

Sep 18, 2013 7:38 AM in response to Atavist

I went on the mlb.tv forums and there are multiple complaints. The moderators there say oh we cannot duplicate the problem therefore there is no problem.

for me it started to get a little better the past few days. for 99% of the time I've used Apple tv to watch mlb.tv its been great. too bad there is a playoff chase now and the games are waaaay more important, quite frankly the last 90% of the season is useless if you can't watch now.

anyways the moderators keep saying oh restart this, try that. but nothing is working. I think it's just over use with their late season discount they offer.

Macaby

Level 3

923 points

May 21, 2012 8:00 PM in response to tjancijr

Hey Tom, You didn't mention what ATV you owned. As I remember it, the ATV2 is only 720p while the new ATV3 supports 1080p.

Atavist

Level 1

5 points

Apr 1, 2011 11:48 AM in response to caa100

Accessed, and even with increasing throughput to 20MBps it's unsatisfactory: First half inning was adequate with mild pixilation, next half inning the picture froze. Returned to menu and selected game again ('Stros v. Phils - home) - more pixilation and stop action then shortly it froze and stayed frozen for more than 10 minutes, and I returned to menu resume again froze again.

Klon99

Level 1

8 points

Apr 1, 2011 5:47 PM in response to caa100

Here is my 2 cents.

Even though I live in Florida I am a New Joisey native. Love the yankees. Bought MLB the show 11 and decided to try free trial of MLB.tv

I am very disappointed in my apple tv. The picture quality is horrible. it is blocky and just looks bad. I got about a 9md download rate.

I tried it on my ps3 and the picture was a little better, but nothing to really shake a stick at.

On my Imac 21" 1yr old machine I finally got some decent pictures, but I dont want to watch it on this. I hope it is something with a software update on apple tv. Or I will not be purchasing mlb.tv

PaulLu

Level 1

9 points

Apr 1, 2011 11:02 PM in response to theroys88

While everything you say is true - and something I've witnessed myself on my Mac - it doesn't account for the video feed stopping/hanging when using an AppleTV hooked up to a TV. The quality of the feed is actually pretty good (eventually, once they lock in on the proper bitrate, which I'm assuming they do on the fly), but then the feed just...locks. Happens within 30s, and repeats about that often as well.

And that's with the unit hardwired (not Wifi), with nothing else going on on my network.

Something is obviously wrong, and if I were to guess I'd say it was exactly the opposite problem from the one you're describing, i.e. the mlb.tv feed is coming in at a bitrate higher than the AppleTV can handle.

Message was edited by: PaulLu

Atavist

Level 1

5 points

Apr 1, 2011 11:48 PM in response to caa100

I suggest we mount a dual campaign of complaints one toward MLB.TV and one toward Apple. Apple should realize that Apple TV's reputation is suffering at the moment they wish to enlist baseball fans, and it will jump on MLB.TV, when it realizes that MLB.TV "bit-constipation" is causing Apple to lose sales to Roku and Amazon - direct competitors of of Apple TV and iTunes.

caa100 Author

Level 1

11 points

Apr 2, 2011 6:05 AM in response to fatcat585

fatcat585 wrote:
when I pointed out in the MLB.tv support forums that netflix will stream without issue for me over WiFi to my ATV2 the "forum administrator" that replied actually had the nerve to say "netflix is different from a live stream"...

Yeah, that is nuts. They need to get their act together. When I first contacted MLB support about the quality on AppleTV, they asked me which browser I was using and told me to update Flash!

Apr 2, 2011 8:35 AM in response to Hadsus

That rationale for substandard image quality is absurd, and at least to me, wholly unacceptable.

Bottom line is that MLB has to pay to transmit the streams for the games. The less compression they apply to the streams, the higher the throughput, and the lower the profit margins.

The image quality should be consistent across desktops, laptops, and iOS devices; and that image quality should be equivalent to what is obtained from the Extra Innings package with a cable or satellite subscription though a television of 42" - 60".

If MLB isn't going to stream true HD, or even SD, or if in order to achieve it would require a hard-wired ethernet connection and/or a television 30" or smaller then MLB should disclose that to subscribers prior to purchase.

Message was edited by: fatcat585

Apr 2, 2011 4:47 PM in response to Macaby

hey Macaby....not way over the top for me!..definitely UNWATCHABLE...it's like "here's the pitch...ball 1.." PICTURE AND SOUND FREEZE.....20 seconds or more later..."that was his first homerun of the season"
...if that's not unwatchable I don't what is...consider yourself very lucky to NOT have this issue
...I sure hope Apple deals with MLB and gets this sorted out..I know MLB's easy answer is that if you have the problem, it's your bandwidth..nice try!

As I stated...when MLBTV did catch up with the buffering or whatever, the image quality was great..while it lasted which was only a few seconds..such a tease! 😟

Macaby

Level 3

923 points

Apr 2, 2011 5:28 PM in response to baseballcrazy1

baseballcrazy1 wrote:
hey Macaby....not way over the top for me!..definitely UNWATCHABLE...it's like "here's the pitch...ball 1.." PICTURE AND SOUND FREEZE.....20 seconds or more later..."that was his first homerun of the season"
...if that's not unwatchable I don't what is...consider yourself very lucky to NOT have this issue
...I sure hope Apple deals with MLB and gets this sorted out..I know MLB's easy answer is that if you have the problem, it's your bandwidth..nice try!

Well, when someone posts "unwatchable", it really doesn't mean anything. That said, if what you are getting is in your post above, that certainly is unwatchable. I don't understand the vast difference between what you're seeing and what I'm getting. I'm on Qwest DSL and it's not the fastest "cooker" on the pipeline.

One the MLB speed test I'm getting around 4Mbps. On Speedtest.com, I get as high as 6Mbps. Since I see some reports here of speeds in the "teens" with problems, it doesn't seem like that is a major factor.

Unless it's a hardware issue, I don't see what Apple can fix since this doesn't affect everyone.

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MLB TV Picture Quality