WWI streaming reliability disappoints

by Michael Gray Jun 28th 2008 at 10:30AM

It's not like we've been awake since the wee hours waiting for a big announcement or anything. And it's certainly not like there was a huge dev panel with Tom Chilton, whose every word we hung on about class changes. But as your intrepid WoW Insider staff huddles around the news room viewers to get you the latest information from the 2008 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational, we're encountering the same problem as everyone else. The streaming live feed offered by Octoshape and Blizzard is kind of letting us down.

I suppose some of the technical difficulties are unavoidable. I have to assume the technology is pretty complicated. But the problems range from audio and video randomly cutting out, to Octoshape's viewing slots being filled by too many users. This is a little surprising, since Octoshape had good performance for Blizzcon and even GotFrag. Just as frustrating, the Octoshape web site doesn't have any information about what was going wrong.

On the other hand, since Tom Chilton stepped off stage, the stream has been a lot more reliable. They've either fixed the problems, or the number of viewers has stepped down since the WoW discussion has ended. Here's hoping the better performance lasts.

Tags: blizzard, live-stream, livestream, octoshape, streaming, wwi, wwi08, wwi2008

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items, Worldwide Invitational

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Khanmora Jun 28th 2008 10:39AM

I was really upset when mine cut out right as it started and I couldn't pick it back up :(

Willypiggy Jun 28th 2008 10:46AM

I have only experienced very slight problems (can be fixed by closing and reopening) during my viewing, it has been pretty nice quality and I can't really knock it at all. Blizzard didn't have to provide a free live feed but they are doing what they can which is great!

Xtek Jun 28th 2008 10:48AM

They're using P2P so if you're watching using their client they're being cheap and using your bandwidth to stream this. After streaming on a 10mbit/512kbit connection (pleanty to stream 1mbit down) my connection went to hell. Just like almost every other home/residential connection it's half-duplex. Meaning if you're uploading at your full rate your download will be crap. And since they want to use all of your upload to save them money... your download is lacking causing the streaming issues.

cursedelf Jun 28th 2008 10:48AM

I am haveing no issues streaming the WWI, its been working fine for me since it began.

Victor J Velasco III Jun 28th 2008 10:50AM

I just wish the damn camera people would focus on the video when he is describing something instead of me watching him talk about a video I can't see :(

Xtek Jun 28th 2008 10:51AM

I agree, the camera and commentary during this has been amateurish to say the least.

Aigarius Jun 28th 2008 11:03AM

+1

"Here you can see how the Titan is taking out the air units" and then we can look at the sideways looking face of the presenter for 2 minutes with battle sounds in the background.

Idiotic editing of the live video stream. Can you get someone there on the phone to kick them in the butt?

Gormaggus Jun 28th 2008 11:09AM

Yeah. I don't want to see rob pardo staring at the video, I want to see the video of a thor decimating units! :P

Sham Jun 28th 2008 10:52AM

And don't forget the audio problems as well. I couldn't hear half of what they were saying about D3 . . . but I could see it (in between video lag).

And I find the camera men aren't showing the viewscreens when videos/pictures are being shown. Instead they focus almost exclusively on the speaker. Sorry, but I'm just not interested in looking at the developer's pretty faces - I WANT TO SEE THE GAMES!

Victor J Velasco III Jun 28th 2008 10:54AM

My point exactly and the flipping threw the camera views every couple of seconds is kinda making me sick to my stomach lol.

zikko Jun 28th 2008 10:57AM

I just thought the same when I watched the live raid before (and now the Starcraft II panel). They always show the persons instead of the raid. Or now in the panel there are movies shown, but we only see the speaker (and the slides aren't readable, since they don't provide the original slides, they show the slides on the screen). Why not provide the original picture?

They have to work on that issue for sure. But I still think it's a very good thing they do that. Else I wouldn't see a single thing, and it is even free.

Bradley Jun 28th 2008 11:08AM

yh i also aggre, specially with Sc2 with his movies i wanted to see the abilitys and stuff but i could only catch a glimpse behind his face........but on D3 i was shouting at the screen for the stupid camera man to move xD

slimj091 Jun 28th 2008 12:19PM

"I just thought the same when I watched the live raid before (and now the Starcraft II panel). They always show the persons instead of the raid."

yeah.. kind of odd that they can show the in game action for the tournaments. but not for the live raid or even the power point presentations for the panels. in my oppinion too many damn close ups of "sniffy" during the live raid. yes she's a chick.. yes she's a sort of hot chick. but they really should have named it "live raid on sniffy's face"

zikko Jun 28th 2008 10:53AM

I guess Octoshape never had that many users on a single live stream. Unfortunately you can't test that in a lab (well, you can, but is hell to do it) so problems are pretty natural.

But I'm not sure if all problems come from Octoshape, the missing audio or video problem could also come from Blizzard. Maybe they have problems with the recordings in Paris itself.