I dont like to piss and moan about anything Accustats does, but if my name was Pat Fleming or Mike Howerton, I would consider finding a new tech/streaming crew or? My refresh finger is worn out. This is terrible. Its been crappy all day.
It had nothing to do with the tech, streaming crew, streaming company. It was the connection from the Casino that was faulty. The uplink stream was fine from Day 5 to 9. Days 1-4, the stream would periodically drop due to the mass attendance at the event, plus the allowing players to individually stream from the phones in the Arena, a total of 15 streaming phones were counted at one point. It was also found that the circuit that Accu-Stats was connected to, was the same circuit supplying all the bandwidth to the WiFi Access Points in the arena. With the speed and lack or urgency from Casino IT Staff, and Cox Communications not working over the weekend, it wasn't able to be resolved until Day 5. In the meantime on Day 2-4, we tried all other avenues of internet communications. Hard Line, WiFi, T-Mobile 5G, Verizon 4G LTE with the same issues experienced, with periodic outages since we were so close to the Arena, where 500+ people and phones were congregated. Additionally it was found that even though we tried the 5G and 4G LTE solution, even those connections were tied into the same circuit via the Casino's wireless provider extender modules. Since the wireless carriers tower was too far away from the Casino to penetrate the vast building, and provide wireless service to thousands of people in the Casino during the event.
There is no comparison to be drawn from other streams being free of issues, while Accu-Stats had problems. Streaming from others were through different circuits supplied throughout the event. Also to note, those other streams are of much lower bitrates, and can be sustained at lower bitrates because they do not provide very fast moving PTZ cameras in their productions. Stationary camera streams do not need high sustained bitrates to avoid pixelation experienced by compression of the live video into a suitable bitrate that can be received. If we were to lower the bitrate of the Accu-Stats stream to combat the periodic outages of the connection, or to ease the ability for viewers to experience less buffering (because they weren't using the CDN connection provided on the page), then severe pixelation would be then provide a very poor viewing experience, especially those who were casting to big screen televisions, when the cameras are zooming back and forth capturing players movements and shots.
The main stream was 1 bitrate (no adaptive rates) at 2.5mbit/s 1280x720p resolution. We satisfied thousands of connections on that feed alone. Those who were experiencing periodic pauses for the buffer to fill back up, were instructed to use the CDN link provided below the video which provided 5 bitrates, 720p @ 2.5mbit/s, 480p @ 1.3mbit/s, 360p @ 800kbit/s, 188p @ 400kbit/s, and 144p @ 250kbit/s. The CDN was also provided for overseas customers, which sustained hundreds of connections throughout the event.
REGARDLESS of what the abilities available by the streaming company, and also the company that provided the CDN connection, if the feed from the location is poor, and intermittent, then all viewers experience that issue. This was solved after Day 5.
For whatever purpose this may serve, is that the streaming company Accu-Stats has chosen to use, provides instant on-demand for these exact issues that can and will occur, and can occur with any streaming provider. The Accu-Stats production team immediately after a match, were compressing the local master recording, and uploading it through other means, so that at least the On-Demand video would play without those intermittent issues, or videos being of multiple parts. We had tons of emails and calls thanking us for having those videos available after the fact. I UNDERSTAND, that isn't the best solution, and many pay for PPV to be able to watch it LIVE, however, included in Accu-Stats PPV's since 2021, on-demand has been available adjacent to the cost of the LIVE PPV, which is not offered with other broadcasts entirely. Also, those who purchase a Accu-Stats PPV , or who have pledged their support subscription the the Accu-Stats On-Demand, enjoy access to all material, and will enjoy access of all future content that is created from the International Open and Derby City Classic. Essentially, content compounds every year, and any purchase of a video pass LIVE or On-Demand, or subscription based, have unfettered access to that content.
If we want to continue the development of an industry ran streaming platform instead of shipping upwards of 30% of revenues to a third party, having the ability to stream all tables, integrate statistics and live scoring mechanisms, we are going to have to remain patient and vigilant on this opportunity.
I hope this explanation puts at ease some of the very frustrating circumstances surrounding the 2023 Derby City Classic LIVE PPV that has been provided by Accu-Stats for 24 years, and quite certain, for the next 24 years.
Best, The Accu-Stats Production Team