How Was Your ESPN+ Experience

[Gil Dobie]

For those that watched games on ESPN+, curious how your experience watching games this weekend?

Any issues?

[BisonFan02]

Been using it now.....works fine.....just like ESPN3 honestly.

[RootinFerDukes]

It’s just espn3 behind a paywall. The production quality varies. The KSU/GSU game was good quality but they’re FBS.
I’m sure you could find an FCS school shooting the feed that is of poor quality.

[ASU33]

It's ok.

[Reign of Terrier]

there were issues with audio for the wofford citadel game this past weekend, but overall, from the games I watched this past weekend it was better than opening weekend last year.

[ElCid]

there were issues with audio for the wofford citadel game this past weekend, but overall, from the games I watched this past weekend it was better than opening weekend last year.

The issue I had was there was no audio. The game had no announcers. The camera angles were horrible. And I was forced to watch the same commercials 96 times. I needed to go instead since it is so close, but I just couldn't get away. I am in for the free 30 days and then I think I will dump it. I will see. The next 5 weeks of our games are not on it after this month ends.

[aceinthehole]

Agree with most. Watched CCSU-Ball State; same as ESPN3, except it cost me $5.

No issues here. I wish NEC would sign a deal and use ESPN3 instead of Front Row. While NEC Front Row was once cutting edge, time to move on.

[Bisonoline]

On Sunday I installed my new Roku. I found the process rather easy. Went to the game and at the very beginning the picture was buffering real bad. That only lasted about 30-60 seconds and after that everything ran fine.

[ST_Lawson]

Watched a few different games, worked fine on the PC and my phone. My older Roku hooked up to my TV had fewer streaming issues than it did last year. Feels like they might have upgraded their servers somewhat. Seems ok so far. Worth the 30 day free trial period, for sure ;)

[Schism55]

Worked great for me, definitely less issues than last couple years for me on WatchESPN3.
FYI- I watched on PC and Kindle Fire HD.

[cx500d]

It was fine... I use my AppleTV to watch, and you can still do the multi-screen view to watch any combination of games on any of the other ESPN stations also.

[Bisonwinagn]

It worked fine maybe even better quality video than ESPN3. Any issues were typical ESPN issues they normally have to start the season. Otherwise it's hard to tell if I was using ESPN3 or + since all the video's show up in the same place. Also Comcast now has a direct link to both when looking at the TV Guide so I can watch directly on TV and the quality was really good and couldn't hardly tell I was using the internet.

[McCowboys]

I first subscribed a couple of months ago. When I was watching games on my laptop, I was encountering lots of buffering and freezing that I did not experience with ESPN3. As it turned out, this was caused by my anti-virus/firewall and once I put it in my whitelist, no more problems.
Lately I have watched ESPN+ sports with my Amazon Fire Stick with no issues.

[Sycamore62]

I got ESPN+ to watch the last 4 seconds of the YSU-Butler game. It was great

[McNeese72]

I have had good experiences watching ESPN+ through Roku. But the Pluto TV streaming of the McNeese - Northern Colorado game sucked. Buffered on and off a lot and everybody I know lost the stream completely with 3:08 left in the game. Never did see the last 3:08 of the game.

[cx500d]

I have had good experiences watching ESPN+ through Roku. But the Pluto TV streaming of the McNeese - Northern Colorado game sucked. Buffered on and off a lot and everybody I know lost the stream completely with 3:08 left in the game. Never did see the last 3:08 of the game.


I tried to watch Idaho State on Pluto and it was unwatchable with the buffering and freezing.

[Twentysix]

For those that watched games on ESPN+, curious how your experience watching games this weekend?

Any issues?

The ESPN+ side of the ESPN app seemed to have less internet/buffering issues than ESPN3 did in years past. (could be that ESPN has just improved the infrastructure on their end for all online services)

ESPN3 had a 45 minute outage during Saturdays games. ESPN+ did not receive this same outage.

As others have said, ESPN+ is just ESPN3 behind another paywall.

[TheKingpin28]

I have used it for Sky Sports with Swansea City AFC and it worked fine for that and I used it here and there on the phone for the FCS and it worked fine.

[SCPALADIN]

Buffering issues with the ROKU. Every 5 minutes I had to backout and reset the game.

[Twentysix]

Buffering issues with the ROKU. Every 5 minutes I had to backout and reset the game.I'm also using Roku with no issues. Might be your isp.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

[Lehigh Football Nation]

How do people like the **** sandwich of paying for something that used to come for free with their ESPN subscription?

[Bisonoline]

How do people like the **** sandwich of paying for something that used to come for free with their ESPN subscription?

I had Directv. Had the Sports pack which included ESPN and last couple of years there was ESPN extra which carried some FCS games. The way its set uo now it has many many many many more games so I dont mind paying 50.00 for the whole year.

[SDFS]

How do people like the **** sandwich of paying for something that used to come for free with their ESPN subscription?

My ISP - did not include ESPN 3 - so it was no problem with me. I liked it.

[Herder]

Are replays available on ESPN+? I’m having a hard time finding the NDSU replay of Saturday’s game. The feature I always loved with espn3 was quick access to re-watch all the games. Seems like + is just showing them live.

[Bisonoline]

Are replays available on ESPN+? I’m having a hard time finding the NDSU replay of Saturday’s game. The feature I always loved with espn3 was quick access to re-watch all the games. Seems like + is just showing them live.

Yes. We are watching USD and KSU right now.

[Twentysix]

I had Directv. Had the Sports pack which included ESPN and last couple of years there was ESPN extra which carried some FCS games. The way its set uo now it has many many many many more games so I dont mind paying 50.00 for the whole year.

If you only use it for FCS football its only $15-20 (depending on if you are using the 30 day trial or not); although cheap, hiding behind a paywall is annoying.

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Yes. We are watching USD and KSU right now.

USD KSU was an ESPN3 game not an ESPN+ game.

[caribbeanhen]

I tried to watch Idaho State on Pluto and it was unwatchable with the buffering and freezing.

consider it a blessing

[Evolution Prime]

Worked fine for me. Just like ESPN3. Quality depends on who they are getting the feed from. I don't mine paying the $5 for it since I assume that some SDSU basketball games will be on there during basketball season. To me it looks like the vast majority of FCS was put on ESPN+ unless they were playing an FBS team then they were on ESPN3. Only exception was Nichols State vs Kansas was relegated to ESPN+.

[jmu007]

I watched using my 4k Apple TV. No issues to report. Picture quality was immaculate on every game I switched to. Very pleasantly surprised.

[RootinFerDukes]

I just looked it up, there is plenty of archived games available still and yes, they have the ESPN+ logo next to them. I'm assuming it's the same as ESPN3 in the past, where a game is archived for roughly 30 days after the original airing.

[Neighbor2]

For having so many non-FBS options, well . . . . . it's bargain!

By the end of this season, I expect to have paid about $2 pergame. For games I could not have seen on tv otherwise.

[ElCid]

For having so many non-FBS options, well . . . . . it's bargain!

By the end of this season, I expect to have paid about $2 pergame. For games I could not have seen on tv otherwise.

It isn't about the actual cost, it is the principle of it. I hate ESPN. They are over charging duchebags. They know that we will pay in order to see these games we couldn't get otherwise and they charge because they can, while they make even more on the advertisements. And this is simple the camel's nose under the tent. How much you want to bet they charge 7.95 per month next year, 11.95 the next? They make up a sizable portion of cable bills already. It is clearly an attempt to stop the bleeding they have seen from people fed up with them. I have already decided to dump them after my free 30 days.

[Neighbor2]

Hey, I hate ESPN, too! Their political mission disgusts me. Unfortunately, I am an SEC fan, too, and they also have their claws on that. What the future brings in terms of pricing is unknown. Right now, the ESPN+ options are fun to have. I already gave up watching the NFL and need more college sports. ESPN+ will be carrying many Ivy League games as well. I try to think of this as purchasing a good product, regardless of the bottling company.

[Yote 53]

It isn't about the actual cost, it is the principle of it. I hate ESPN. They are over charging duchebags. They know that we will pay in order to see these games we couldn't get otherwise and they charge because they can, while they make even more on the advertisements. And this is simple the camel's nose under the tent. How much you want to bet they charge 7.95 per month next year, 11.95 the next? They make up a sizable portion of cable bills already. It is clearly an attempt to stop the bleeding they have seen from people fed up with them. I have already decided to dump them after my free 30 days.

It's not only that it's that they are doing it on the backs of the FCS schools. They aren't doing this to the P5 schools because of the backlash they would face.

[Outsider1]

It isn't about the actual cost, it is the principle of it. I hate ESPN. They are over charging duchebags. They know that we will pay in order to see these games we couldn't get otherwise and they charge because they can, while they make even more on the advertisements. And this is simple the camel's nose under the tent. How much you want to bet they charge 7.95 per month next year, 11.95 the next? They make up a sizable portion of cable bills already. It is clearly an attempt to stop the bleeding they have seen from people fed up with them. I have already decided to dump them after my free 30 days.


This was my thought. I was going to try it last week, but stopped when I saw the charge. I didn't even want to do the free trial. We pay BIG BIG bucks for cable every month, including ESPN. I shouldn't have to pay for another ESPN to stream so so service online. Sorry but my family comes before ESPN pockets......

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It's not only that it's that they are doing it on the backs of the FCS schools. They aren't doing this to the P5 schools because of the backlash they would face.


Agree

[CockyGeek]

GSU/KSU was great.

UAB game was pretty pathetic. The quality of their AV department is just not good and never has been.

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk

[ST_Lawson]

It's not only that it's that they are doing it on the backs of the FCS schools. They aren't doing this to the P5 schools because of the backlash they would face.

Well, they kinda are...you have to pay more to get stuff like the SEC Network or ACC Network which also run through ESPN's system. Longhorn Network might as well, I think. I know I don't get those "standard" with my current cable subscription. Looks like I can step up to the next level and pay more to get the Big 10 Network, the next level above that gets me ESPNU, ESPNews, and SEC Network. Alternately I could probably add a sports package that would also cost more $.

So, this isn't really any different than that. It's true they're not moving the P5 schools to ESPN+ for the most part, but for many fans, they've had to pay extra to get their team's games for years now.

[Outsider1]

Well, they kinda are...you have to pay more to get stuff like the SEC Network or ACC Network which also run through ESPN's system. Longhorn Network might as well, I think. I know I don't get those "standard" with my current cable subscription. Looks like I can step up to the next level and pay more to get the Big 10 Network, the next level above that gets me ESPNU, ESPNews, and SEC Network. Alternately I could probably add a sports package that would also cost more $.

So, this isn't really any different than that. It's true they're not moving the P5 schools to ESPN+ for the most part, but for many fans, they've had to pay extra to get their team's games for years now.

Again, my family is more important than making their pockets fatter...I can watch live stats.....

[Yote 53]

Well, they kinda are...you have to pay more to get stuff like the SEC Network or ACC Network which also run through ESPN's system. Longhorn Network might as well, I think. I know I don't get those "standard" with my current cable subscription. Looks like I can step up to the next level and pay more to get the Big 10 Network, the next level above that gets me ESPNU, ESPNews, and SEC Network. Alternately I could probably add a sports package that would also cost more $.

So, this isn't really any different than that. It's true they're not moving the P5 schools to ESPN+ for the most part, but for many fans, they've had to pay extra to get their team's games for years now.

Yeah, I guess, but that is kind of stretching it. Often those stations are part of some kind of sports package that not only includes the extra ESPNs but also BTN, MLB Network, NFL Network, NHL Network, Sportsmans Channel, GolTV, etc. That's not much different than paying extra for the movie pack or the variety pack or some other extra package. There are also different tiers of cable packages that have nothing to do with sports stations. You can have limited cable, basic cable, premium cable, etc.

My issue is I already pay ESPN through my cable company. I used to get all these FCS games on ESPN 3, now they have taken them away and make me pay for them, yet I did not get a $5 discount on my cable bill.

[Bisonoline]

It isn't about the actual cost, it is the principle of it. I hate ESPN. They are over charging duchebags. They know that we will pay in order to see these games we couldn't get otherwise and they charge because they can, while they make even more on the advertisements. And this is simple the camel's nose under the tent. How much you want to bet they charge 7.95 per month next year, 11.95 the next? They make up a sizable portion of cable bills already. It is clearly an attempt to stop the bleeding they have seen from people fed up with them. I have already decided to dump them after my free 30 days.

Before they were going through internet providers. All they did was cut out the middleman and are now keeping all the money. By looking at the College football TV schedule it looks like there will be many many more games on TV now than there were before. I really liked the ESPN extra but there werent really a lot of games shown there. Yeah I dont care to give them anymore money. But in the grand scheme of all things in sports----- at 4.16 a month for unlimited football??? Yeah I can live with it.xnodx

[ElCid]

It's not only that it's that they are doing it on the backs of the FCS schools. They aren't doing this to the P5 schools because of the backlash they would face.

Exactly. They do it because they know they can get away with it.

[ST_Lawson]

Again, my family is more important than making their pockets fatter...I can watch live stats.....

I'm the same way...hell, I don't even get ESPN or ESPN2 on my "bare minimum" $15/month cable subscription. I only have that because I can't get anything on an antenna where I live anyway.
I do get access to ESPN3 streaming because it's Comcast and they include that as part of it, but considering I've never paid any extra to get my team's games on TV, I'm ok shelling out a grand total of $10 a year to be able to access them and quite a few other FCS games. It's a little annoying that I used to get most of those for no extra charge through ESPN3, but the streaming quality has been better enough through ESPN+ so far to make up for it.

But, that's just my situation. I'm not going to fault someone else for choosing to go a different route.

[Outsider1]

I'm the same way...hell, I don't even get ESPN or ESPN2 on my "bare minimum" $15/month cable subscription. I only have that because I can't get anything on an antenna where I live anyway.
I do get access to ESPN3 streaming because it's Comcast and they include that as part of it, but considering I've never paid any extra to get my team's games on TV, I'm ok shelling out a grand total of $10 a year to be able to access them and quite a few other FCS games. It's a little annoying that I used to get most of those for no extra charge through ESPN3, but the streaming quality has been better enough through ESPN+ so far to make up for it.

But, that's just my situation. I'm not going to fault someone else for choosing to go a different route.

No, I won't fault someone for choosing different, or if their capacity allows them different choices. I do fault the companies that force those things because they can. I will still keep up with other teams the best I can and be happy.

[ST_Lawson]

I do fault the companies that force those things because they can.

I don't like it either, but it is kinda what big companies do. If they can get away with charging more, then they're going to do it.

[wcugrad95]

As for the experience, personally it seemed just like ESPN3 for me in terms of the coverage. I am happy I can watch all these games, but like everybody else I am unhappy these are mostly the same games I didn't pay for last year. The WCU game was the same type of coverage, same announcers, same cameras/angles, etc. - all run by people from the home team that typically is going to fall pretty short of a professional group coming in to broadcast a game. And maybe it was just me, but going into the ESPN app on Roku, I couldn't see ALL of the live events in one place - I had to go under ESPN+ for the games they had, ESPNU/ESPN3 for the games they had, ESPN....

So I had to bounce around through a couple of screens if I wanted to move between ESPN3 and ESPN+ games. But that could be operator error.

[Little Stevie]

Good. Beats not having the game.

[BEAR]

I tried watching the UCA/Tulsa game on ESPN+ this weekend. Missed most of the first quarter due to tech difficulties. They came back on and said lightning hit the stadium the day before and fried some circuits but we didn't know that until the first quarter was almost gone. Thought it was the typical espn tech difficulties we always experience with the online streaming.

Will I pay $5 a month to see my away games and other games? Yeah. But it will only be for 3 months so no biggie. I don't expect much better quality than the ESPN3 broadcasts but it is cheaper than driving all the way to some of the SLC games hometowns and I imagine most SLC fans feel the same way about having to drive all the way to conway! xlolx

[Herder]

Crappy! No technical issues . . . but the game "Replay" is not available. I've spend more time watching games replays over the years when I'm at the game. IF ESPN+ games are not available to re-watch, that sucks!

A few ESPN+ replays are out there, but not the games I wanted to watch. I could always find the games to replay on ESPN3.

[dewey]

Crappy! No technical issues . . . but the game "Replay" is not available. I've spend more time watching games replays over the years when I'm at the game. IF ESPN+ games are not available to re-watch, that sucks!

A few ESPN+ replays are out there, but not the games I wanted to watch. I could always find the games to replay on ESPN3.

Have you tried watching the replay on YouTube? If you are going to watch a replay it is much better since YouTube takes out the commercials.

Dewey

[wcugrad95]

Try this - http://www.espn.com/watch/schedule/?categoryId=64&startDate=20180901&type=replay

It will probably default to today, but I think you should be able to choose the date you want, and the sport you want, even the channel you want - and you can see replays from all of the channels (ESPN+, ESPN3, etc.). I have not checked to see if it is ALL the games that they streamed.

[Herder]

Try this - http://www.espn.com/watch/schedule/?categoryId=64&startDate=20180901&type=replay

It will probably default to today, but I think you should be able to choose the date you want, and the sport you want, even the channel you want - and you can see replays from all of the channels (ESPN+, ESPN3, etc.). I have not checked to see if it is ALL the games that they streamed.

Thanks!

[caribbeanhen]

I bailed when it asked for my credit card number..... I cut the cord this past year , ESPNwatch site was not loading during the day

I was able to get some games on my iphone later on that evening..... saw some Central Arkansas, South Dakota and Northern Arizona games....

was able to watch Delaware game on collegesportslive live via the Roku but it was the free game

Sunday was able to watch some of the A&T game on laptop......

[woffordgrad94]

My experience was God awful. There wasn’t even an announcer for the Wofford-Citadel game! Is THIS what I paid $40 for a year’s subscription for? I want a refund!

[RootinFerDukes]

My experience was God awful. There wasn’t even an announcer for the Wofford-Citadel game! Is THIS what I paid $40 for a year’s subscription for? I want a refund!

Each school is producing their own feed. ESPN is just providing the platform for delivering the broadcast product.

Does anyone know if espn is providing their higher quality broadcast for any of the FCS leagues? I feel like they’re just re-distributed school produced feeds.

[ST_Lawson]

Each school is producing their own feed. ESPN is just providing the platform for delivering the broadcast product.

Does anyone know if espn is providing their higher quality broadcast for any of the FCS leagues? I feel like they’re just re-distributed school produced feeds.

Usually that's the case, but I know in the past ESPN has occasionally gone to MVFC sites and done something like a "game of the week" where it's actually produced by "low-level" ESPN people rather than the local broadcasters who just send them the feed. I don't know if they're doing that again this year or not though.

[Neighbor2]

Because of the multiple choices and the ease of moving around the ESPN+ channels on Roku, I was able to take in parts of just about every broadcast. Some are just as much quality as regular ESPN2. Others use local crews that are a little more unpolished. ESPN maintains a very long list of ESPN-contracted football play-by-play and color commentators. These are pros we don't see on the biggest FBS national broadcasts. Pretty much unknown names, but some of those individuals are EXCELLENT.

It seems as though the telecasts using the ESPN-contracted, "2nd and 3rd team" crews also bring along better video presentations. It's early, but of the 8-10 available ESPN+ televised games, maybe 2-3 are somewhat lower in production quality. Either way, to be able to watch re-broadcasts of so many college games on Sunday is valuable to me.

Because some of this content was previously available on ESPN3 (assuming you are already paying for a cable provider) I would not be surprised to see the FCS playoff games only available on ESPN+. So, pay now for ESPN+, or pay later for ESPN+ to see all the playoff action. Time will tell if that's how ESPN plays it.

I purchased the entire year thinking that basketball and other sports will now be available.

[woffordgrad94]

Each school is producing their own feed. ESPN is just providing the platform for delivering the broadcast product.

Does anyone know if espn is providing their higher quality broadcast for any of the FCS leagues? I feel like they’re just re-distributed school produced feeds.

Well if that’s the case I really hope this was just week one issues and bugs for Wofford and their feed productions. Because it looks like I’m stuck with this year’s sub of ESPN Plus. But I am concerned now because in the past Wofford always produced very good quality feeds. But they got cheap this offseason and wouldn’t renew the contract of longtime play-by-play man Mark Hauser at his very reasonable asking price (they let him walk over only $2000 from what I heard). So maybe they are going cheap on these game feeds. I can only hope not.

[wcugrad95]

I think they also are staying cheap and not going forward with instant replay until forced to do so by conference-mandate next year, correct? No idea if those add-up to what kind of coverage you should expect from Wofford games, but for most SoCon schools I expect the broadcast to be only as good as the local team can produce.

WCU has plenty of issues, too - but our announcers are usually pretty decent and relatively fair (although certainly "Southern"). Now if we could somehow figure out a way to darken that bright sheen of the field on the wide-angle shots...

[woffordgrad94]

I think they also are staying cheap and not going forward with instant replay until forced to do so by conference-mandate next year, correct? No idea if those add-up to what kind of coverage you should expect from Wofford games, but for most SoCon schools I expect the broadcast to be only as good as the local team can produce.

WCU has plenty of issues, too - but our announcers are usually pretty decent and relatively fair (although certainly "Southern"). Now if we could somehow figure out a way to darken that bright sheen of the field on the wide-angle shots...
Well there are definitely people at Wofford who don’t seem to like spending money for quality people and things...but I guess time will tell. Fingers crossed...

[AmsterBison]

Watched via an XBox One.

Minuses: The ESPN app for the XBox doesn't show ESPN+ content so I had to open the Watch ESPN site from a browser - that was a bit of a pain.
Pluses: ESPN3/College Sports Extra would start the feed right at kickoff or just after - ESPN+ showed some pregame. And, unlike ESPN3/College Sports Extra, the commercials didn't constantly run over into live action.

[RootinFerDukes]

Well if that’s the case I really hope this was just week one issues and bugs for Wofford and their feed productions. Because it looks like I’m stuck with this year’s sub of ESPN Plus. But I am concerned now because in the past Wofford always produced very good quality feeds. But they got cheap this offseason and wouldn’t renew the contract of longtime play-by-play man Mark Hauser at his very reasonable asking price (they let him walk over only $2000 from what I heard). So maybe they are going cheap on these game feeds. I can only hope not.

I watched a snippet of wofford’s game to see what you were talking about. They had no play by play announcer and just let the stadium PA announcer substitute for it. It was very hard to hear.

I then turned on WCU’s game and the production was much better in comparison. They had announcers and even some of the espn graphics.

[wcugrad95]

I watched a snippet of wofford’s game to see what you were talking about. They had no play by play announcer and just let the stadium PA announcer substitute for it. It was very hard to hear.

I then turned on WCU’s game and the production was much better in comparison. They had announcers and even some of the espn graphics.

I know I am a homer, but for the WCU coverage would you concur (or argue against) the announcers being pretty fair? Daniel Hooker (Hook) is our play-by-play guy, but in my opinion he does his best to be unbiased knowing he is doing an ESPN-related broadcast rather than a WCU one. He still lets some "us" terminology slide in occasionally, but I thought last year our announcers were pretty decent and that Saturday they were even more complimentary (or critical) of both teams than what I have seen from some of the other broadcasts.

The biggest problems most are going to see with any local team will typically be the camera work. I saw some shaky shots from the endzone cameras (some of the cameras are not on tripods or stands), but other than that I was pretty happy with the production. Again, other than the dang "sheen" on the field when the sun is still full-on.

[caribbeanhen]

lots of free games on ESPN3 replay .... just have to remember to click on Saturday and lot's of FCS options

by the way, Villanova is top 5 easy......

[Gil Dobie]

https://media1.tenor.com/images/cd77f35d8796025d03b5452d65269e9d/tenor.gif?itemid=8766696

[cx500d]

lots of free games on ESPN3 replay .... just have to remember to click on Saturday and lot's of FCS options

by the way, Villanova is top 5 easy......
Not anymore

[caribbeanhen]

Not anymore

the jynx worked, always be suspicious of a Hen fan talking up Nova

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might have to order ESPN Plus for the big game next week, looks like it is not on ESPN3 for free

[cx500d]

the jynx worked, always be suspicious of a Hen fan talking up Nova

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might have to order ESPN Plus for the big game next week, looks like it is not on ESPN3 for free

they have a free months trial so why not?

[caribbeanhen]

they have a free months trial so why not?

it says start your 7 day free trial when I pull up a game on ESPN Plus......

[RowdyRabbit]

Well, I'm 2 for 2, last weeks SDSU vs Montana State on the 7 free trial, and tonight vs UAPB...$5 bucks and change charged today. No problems with either of those games, and today I briefly watched some Montana @ WIU hiccup free, and Chatt vs...someone hiccup free as well. (I can't recall if both of those games were + or 3 though.)

[cx500d]

today I briefly watched some Montana St @ WIU hiccup free, ...

are you trolling?

[RowdyRabbit]

are you trolling?

Your fast..I thought I had it corrected before anyone read it.

Besides that I can't troll Montana as a jackrabbit fan based on our last two losses to them.

[cx500d]

it says start your 7 day free trial when I pull up a game on ESPN Plus......
Oh, a couple weeks ago it was a free month trial. Sign up next Saturday then...although it wouldn’t surprise me if they don’t offer the free trial on Gamedays

[caribbeanhen]

Oh, a couple weeks ago it was a free month trial. Sign up next Saturday then...although it wouldn’t surprise me if they don’t offer the free trial on Gamedays


good advice, Yea I was thinking maybe Wednesday would be a good day to sign up, would be a bummer if I signed up yesterday just to see it expire at kickoff......

please remind me to cancel that thing after the game

[mainejeff]

I signed up for feee 7 day trial for the Maine/Western Kentucky game. It worked great so I am keeping it through the football and winter sports seasons. $4.99/month is peanuts these days.

[JSUSoutherner]

Oh, a couple weeks ago it was a free month trial. Sign up next Saturday then...although it wouldn’t surprise me if they don’t offer the free trial on Gamedays

I signed up yesterday. I was offered 7 days.

[POD Knows]

I have a really stupid question here and feel free to flame away but I subscribed to ESPN+ and use Roku. I am unable to get any ESPN3 games to load up via the ESPN link in Roku. I get the ESPN+ games but not the ESPN 3 games, is this normal? I can watch ESPN 3 on laptop but not on my TV. Midco is the cable company I use.

[cx500d]

I have a really stupid question here and feel free to flame away but I subscribed to ESPN+ and use Roku. I am unable to get any ESPN3 games to load up via the ESPN link in Roku. I get the ESPN+ games but not the ESPN 3 games, is this normal? I can watch ESPN 3 on laptop but not on my TV. Midco is the cable company I use.

I don't use a roku, I use an apple TV so I don't know what the difference is, but on the Apple TV ESPN app I can watch up to 4 simultaneous ESPN games from any of the ESPN channels. To do that, in the Apple TV app I had to enter in my cable company the first time, then I had to enter a validation code into a website and then my Apple TV was authorized to watch all the channels.

[Milktruck74]

I have a really stupid question here and feel free to flame away but I subscribed to ESPN+ and use Roku. I am unable to get any ESPN3 games to load up via the ESPN link in Roku. I get the ESPN+ games but not the ESPN 3 games, is this normal? I can watch ESPN 3 on laptop but not on my TV. Midco is the cable company I use.

I'm Roku too. I get plus and 3, but I think my 3 is thru sling....I think you have to get two separate subscriptions....BASTARDS!!!!

[cx500d]

I'm Roku too. I get plus and 3, but I think my 3 is thru sling....I think you have to get two separate subscriptions....BASTARDS!!!!

if you get ESPN on your midco cable, you shouldn’t need another subscription for espn3.

[POD Knows]

if you get ESPN on your midco cable, you shouldn’t need another subscription for espn3.I was getting an error message about "reauthentication" so I logged everything off and logged back in and it still didn't work. Powered everything off, started over, same deal. Kind of strange. I am pretty sure I watched ESPN 3 games last weekend and ESPN+ worked great.

[Milktruck74]

My Plus Experience is hit or miss. I've watched a decent game or two and an awful one... Chattanooga @ Martin was just bad. I had to watch the QB reaction to see if anything 10+ yards (outside of the frame) was a catch or not. Aside from the bad camera work, the announcers were piss poor....not just homers (which I expect), they were just ill prepared and struggled with the entire game...it was as if they won a fan contest down at the Kroger to be "announcer of the week".... Broadcasting is a dying art. I see it as a reflection of what is going on in D1 football. The talent pool is being watered down. As more teams move up to 85 schollys (from 63 or 24 or even zero), it provides more opportunities for kids to play, but it also thins out the talent. And the supply side is drying up too...less kids are playing in HS, and more scholly opps.... Then we look at broadcasting.....When I was a kid (I know it was 100 years ago, actually in the 80s/90s), there were 3 or 4 games on National TV on a Saturday. You could see Nebraska, Alabama, Notre Dame, USC, a Texas team, and a handful of others....then there were some regional games (I was in ACC country, so I got UNC, NCSU and maybe Wake or Clemson)....Then enter ESPN, Now, the number of game we can watch expands....then enter ESPN2, The BTN, Etc....all the big schools have TV games....then enter ESPN3....now, across all levels, there are probably 150 games being broadcast every weekend....and the reality is the schools that are selling commercials to the local Ford Dealership, aren't paying enough money to pull in top level talent to Broadcast, or operate cameras, or do the production. My pops was an Emmy winning (national level) Color guy for about 30+ years. I saw the effort and work he put in to prepare for each game...Your local sportscaster and a former all conference tight end from the local team, aren't going to give it the necessary time to prep for a $300 check and a BBQ sandwich at halftime. I also saw the behind the scenes of production....a dozen people and 100 moving parts....not counting 25 different camera angles....We will always get high quality level when we watch the SEC or Big10, but just be glad we get to see (some of) the away games we can't travel to...Some broadcast is better than no broadcast.

[POD Knows]

My Plus Experience is hit or miss. I've watched a decent game or two and an awful one... Chattanooga @ Martin was just bad. I had to watch the QB reaction to see if anything 10+ yards (outside of the frame) was a catch or not. Aside from the bad camera work, the announcers were piss poor....not just homers (which I expect), they were just ill prepared and struggled with the entire game...it was as if they won a fan contest down at the Kroger to be "announcer of the week".... Broadcasting is a dying art. I see it as a reflection of what is going on in D1 football. The talent pool is being watered down. As more teams move up to 85 schollys (from 63 or 24 or even zero), it provides more opportunities for kids to play, but it also thins out the talent. And the supply side is drying up too...less kids are playing in HS, and more scholly opps.... Then we look at broadcasting.....When I was a kid (I know it was 100 years ago, actually in the 80s/90s), there were 3 or 4 games on National TV on a Saturday. You could see Nebraska, Alabama, Notre Dame, USC, a Texas team, and a handful of others....then there were some regional games (I was in ACC country, so I got UNC, NCSU and maybe Wake or Clemson)....Then enter ESPN, Now, the number of game we can watch expands....then enter ESPN2, The BTN, Etc....all the big schools have TV games....then enter ESPN3....now, across all levels, there are probably 150 games being broadcast every weekend....and the reality is the schools that are selling commercials to the local Ford Dealership, aren't paying enough money to pull in top level talent to Broadcast, or operate cameras, or do the production. My pops was an Emmy winning (national level) Color guy for about 30+ years. I saw the effort and work he put in to prepare for each game...Your local sportscaster and a former all conference tight end from the local team, aren't going to give it the necessary time to prep for a $300 check and a BBQ sandwich at halftime. I also saw the behind the scenes of production....a dozen people and 100 moving parts....not counting 25 different camera angles....We will always get high quality level when we watch the SEC or Big10, but just be glad we get to see (some of) the away games we can't travel to...Some broadcast is better than no broadcast.
The production values at a lot of the FCS is God awful. We complain about NDSU but I think that we actually do a pretty good job but the bar isn't set very high.

[cx500d]

I was getting an error message about "reauthentication" so I logged everything off and logged back in and it still didn't work. Powered everything off, started over, same deal. Kind of strange. I am pretty sure I watched ESPN 3 games last weekend and ESPN+ worked great.

It sounds like you need to reauthorize your Roku with ESPN.

Not sure how Roku works, but on Apple TV, after I signed up for ESPN+ from the ESPN website when I was logged into ESPN.com, I went to my Apple TV and ESPN+ games didn't show up. I deleted the ESPN app on my apple TV, then restarted the Apple TV, then I reinstalled the ESPN app, went through the device (apple TV) authorization process, then the ESPN+ games showed up.

[POD Knows]

It sounds like you need to reauthorize your Roku with ESPN.

Not sure how Roku works, but on Apple TV, after I signed up for ESPN+ from the ESPN website when I was logged into ESPN.com, I went to my Apple TV and ESPN+ games didn't show up. I deleted the ESPN app on my apple TV, then restarted the Apple TV, then I reinstalled the ESPN app, went through the device (apple TV) authorization process, then the ESPN+ games showed up.I get the + games on the Roku, it seems to be functioning fine with those games only. For all I know, the ESPN+ subscription blocks the ESPN3 games from loading on Roku, I will probably just have to hook up my laptop to the TV like I did before for the ESPN 3 games.

[ST_Lawson]

...Aside from the bad camera work, the announcers were piss poor....not just homers (which I expect), they were just ill prepared and struggled with the entire game...it was as if they won a fan contest down at the Kroger to be "announcer of the week".... Broadcasting is a dying art...

....We will always get high quality level when we watch the SEC or Big10, but just be glad we get to see (some of) the away games we can't travel to...Some broadcast is better than no broadcast.

I understand some of the criticisms from people who watched our game against Montana (mostly from Montana fans over on another message board), apparently camera work, commentary, and overall broadcast quality was not good. However, we don't have "local television media" in our town...we don't have any TV stations or professional TV broadcasters. The entire production at WIU is done by students in our sports broadcasting department...camera work, production, announcers...all of it...students. Also, this weekend was the first home game for us, so for some of the students doing it, it was their first time ever working a live broadcast.

Before we had ESPN3 to carry our feed, our live video options for watching WIU games were...none. No TV stations means nobody carries your games on local television. If you wanted to watch the game, you either go to it to see it live, or you did have the option of waiting until Monday and watching the recorded version of it on the university's local cable access channel (no commentary though). The fact that I have the ability to watch any of WIU's games live on my TV still amazes me, regardless of the quality of the broadcasting work. Like you said, for me, some broadcast is better than no broadcast (I know it's not technically "broadcast" since that means going over the airwaves, but as a general term applying to any way of watching live video on a tv or computer screen)...because those were our options prior to ESPN3.

[caribbeanhen]

I have a really stupid question here and feel free to flame away but I subscribed to ESPN+ and use Roku. I am unable to get any ESPN3 games to load up via the ESPN link in Roku. I get the ESPN+ games but not the ESPN 3 games, is this normal? I can watch ESPN 3 on laptop but not on my TV. Midco is the cable company I use.

I had nothing but problems yesterday with the Roku, first problem was I was getting a message that the TV would not support the power, unplugged cable and plugged it back in, the problem went away

the next problem was the Roku was not picking up the router signal..... all day

I finally just picked the free games on ESPN3 via the laptop...

saw the Sammy game and alot of McNeese.....

sometimes I miss the old days when you turned on the TV and the thing always worked...... this is your game and your going to like it ............

[RootinFerDukes]

FWIW I was watching 3 and + games all day in the espn roku app with no issue. I even loved that they’ve started showing the score in the menu before you select it. That helps make it easier to decide which to watch and which to skip (aka blowouts).

[caribbeanhen]

FWIW I was watching 3 and + games all day in the espn roku app with no issue. I even loved that they’ve started showing the score in the menu before you select it. That helps make it easier to decide which to watch and which to skip (aka blowouts).

guess you didn't watch the JMU game

[wcugrad95]

Using Roku, I had no problems watching ESPN3 or ESPN+ on Friday. I took a TV to a tailgate yesterday, and all I could watch was ESPN3 - when I tried to get ESPN+ games to watch Samford/Mercer it kept prompting me to login, I would, it would tell me to go to another device and get a code, I would, rinse, repeat. I logged out of my account on the TV, logged out on my phone, retried - same problem. I ended up putting the ESPN games on the TV and had to stand over by the grill watching the SoCon game on my phone. No problem at home today or the previous 2 weeks.

As for the production quality, clearly that is at the mercy of the host team in nearly every FCS-level game. Not through ESPN, but I watched the 2nd half of the Richmond vs St Francis game and thought the picture quality was great but the announcers were horrible (but you could tell they were young and were the home team's guys). WCU vs Gardner-Webb (ESPN+) again I thought the picture was very good but announcers (as expected) were the hometeam, non-professional guys. I thought the Samford/Mercer coverage was pretty decent. Again, most of the complaints seem to be very technical in nature, or are about the kind of coverage we see that has little to nothing to do with ESPN and everything to do with the local production crew who are simply doing the best they can.

[cx500d]

I had nothing but problems yesterday with the Roku, first problem was I was getting a message that the TV would not support the power, unplugged cable and plugged it back in, the problem went away

the next problem was the Roku was not picking up the router signal..... all day

I finally just picked the free games on ESPN3 via the laptop...

saw the Sammy game and alot of McNeese.....

sometimes I miss the old days when you turned on the TV and the thing always worked...... this is your game and your going to like it ............


I got two words for all you cheap ass weanies with the Roku issues.....Apple TV.

It just works.

[Bisonoline]

I just started using this service with ROKU and its been problem free. Not saying I havent experienced "operator error" numerous times while figuring out how to navigate the system.

[wcugrad95]

I agree on ROKU - it is awesome on almost everything. My guess is my problem yesterday was user-error taking a TV and ROKU on the road and trying to make it work hooked up to my daughter's school's WiFi. I could have probably used my phone and tethered the TV to it and it would have worked - but speed would have been an issue.

[Thumper 76]

For those of you with the ROKU issues, not sure if it’s been said yet or not, but you need to link your plus subscription to your ESPN account if you didn’t purchase you plus on the Roku. Found this out because I was helping my parents out with using my creds on their Roku and they couldn’t watch plus games. I had to go on my phone and link my ESPN account to my plus subscription because I wasn’t logged into it when I got plus. All OK to go now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[POD Knows]

For those of you with the ROKU issues, not sure if it’s been said yet or not, but you need to link your plus subscription to your ESPN account if you didn’t purchase you plus on the Roku. Found this out because I was helping my parents out with using my creds on their Roku and they couldn’t watch plus games. I had to go on my phone and link my ESPN account to my plus subscription because I wasn’t logged into it when I got plus. All OK to go now.


Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkOK, what do you do when you can watch the + games with Roku and not the games on ESPN3? I am going to have to hire a tech guy and a Caesar guy to get me through the football season, I wonder if I could find one guy to handle both tasks.

[Sycamore62]

OK, what do you do when you can watch the + games with Roku and not the games on ESPN3? I am going to have to hire a tech guy and a Caesar guy to get me through the football season, I wonder if I could find one guy to handle both tasks.

ive had some difficulties on my phone. I started my free trial to see the last 0:04 of the YSU Butler game and then I was having trouble finding the ISUb EIU game (i was there but I like to switch over and watch the "live" feed which is a few seconds later to see a "replay"). at one point i clicked a link and im not sure how I was supposed to log in since before I just used my apple id.

[Gil Dobie]

I'm using Roku, and it was terrible. Loading every couple minutes.

[RootinFerDukes]

What internet speeds do some of you all have? I have "up to 250mbps" according to my ISP and everything usually loads fine. I rarely get buffering issues.

[wcugrad95]

100 mbps is the claim, but of course that is if you are wired into the cable modem and not over wireless (Spectrum loves to remind me of that). I generally don't have much buffering issue unless everything is having a problem - so not ESPN or app-specific, but pure ISP-related. If I have a problem on one app generally I have it on all of them.

[Gil Dobie]

What internet speeds do some of you all have? I have "up to 250mbps" according to my ISP and everything usually loads fine. I rarely get buffering issues.

That's probably my issue. They had something that worked great last year with the additional sports channel, now they changed it and it doesn't work the same for everyone. I'll have to check with comcast on that.

[Gil Dobie]

100 mbps is the claim, but of course that is if you are wired into the cable modem and not over wireless (Spectrum loves to remind me of that). I generally don't have much buffering issue unless everything is having a problem - so not ESPN or app-specific, but pure ISP-related. If I have a problem on one app generally I have it on all of them.

Netflix and Prime work fine with the Roku.

[ST_Lawson]

Internet: Comcast w/ ~100 down
Devices: Roku, iPhone, Firefox on Windows 10
Problems: very few

I've got a few things I wouldn't mind changed about the design of things and how to find the games you want to watch, but for the actual streaming, it seems to work fine unless I'm trying to stream like 3 different things at the same time (was doing that Saturday evening)...on phone, computer, and roku...was just a bit too much for my bandwidth (or maybe my router). I've used both ESPN+ and ESPN3 on most of the listed devices.

[IBleedYellow]

I have 1Gb internet and the damn app won't load on my phone.

It doesn't seem to be a connectivity problem - it's ESPN's infrastructure not being able to handle the load.

[ccd494]

The only problem I have with my ROKU is occasional messages that I have too many people logged in on one subscription, which is odd because I haven't given anyone my password and only have it on one device.

[RootinFerDukes]

I have 1Gb internet and the damn app won't load on my phone.

It doesn't seem to be a connectivity problem - it's ESPN's infrastructure not being able to handle the load.

I do sometimes have trouble with the phone app loading a game. I usually have to completely close out of it and reload it. It eventually works. It can be a PIA.

[Gil Dobie]

100 mbps is the claim, but of course that is if you are wired into the cable modem and not over wireless (Spectrum loves to remind me of that). I generally don't have much buffering issue unless everything is having a problem - so not ESPN or app-specific, but pure ISP-related. If I have a problem on one app generally I have it on all of them.

That's what I get, verified with comcast. Comcast said it should work without issues at that speed.

[BadlandsGrizFan]

Had to use it to watch Montana and WIU...it was HORRIBLE!!!!!!!! It was basically students from WIU production value, and than ESPN slapped their brand on the work...which in my opinion...not a good idea.

Cameraman had no idea where the ball was...missed a lot of big plays because he couldnt keep up with the play. It was pretty comical.

[ST_Lawson]

It was basically students from WIU production value, and than ESPN slapped their brand on the work...which in my opinion...not a good idea.

Well...that's pretty much exactly what it is. Students do the entire broadcast productions...cameras, producing, commentary, etc. It's a training opportunity. It just happens to be distributed by ESPN (ESPN+ or ESPN3 most weeks). This is how it is with most of the ESPN+/ESPN3 broadcasts though...the schools put together the "show" and it goes out via ESPN "tubes".

[BEAR]

Just got ESPN+ this weekend to watch the UCA at SLU game. Not really much of a problem after registering for it. But if it is the old espn3 people then I can imagine the problems they will have in other games. xlolx

[Silenoz]

Well...that's pretty much exactly what it is. Students do the entire broadcast productions...cameras, producing, commentary, etc. It's a training opportunity. It just happens to be distributed by ESPN (ESPN+ or ESPN3 most weeks). This is how it is with most of the ESPN+/ESPN3 broadcasts though...the schools put together the "show" and it goes out via ESPN "tubes".

Every time we quick-snapped it when a WIU player was offsides, the broadcast team thought we were running a trick play. Comedy gold.

[Sycamore62]

I used to have to read about our games in the newspaper the next day. now I can watch them on my telephone.

perspective

[ST_Lawson]

I used to have to read about our games in the newspaper the next day. now I can watch them on my telephone.

perspective

This. I remember one time when we were hosting a playoff game and I had to be out of town. I was able to find out what happened in that game a few hours after it ended when I got back to the hotel room and waited for the ESPN crawl to get to our game.

Now, I can have notifications whenever anyone scores, I can listen to the radio stream, or I can watch it live, all on my phone (depending on what the situation allows).

[AggieManiac704]

My school's broadcast vs Gardner-Webb had no audio. Which I was expecting because our broadcasts are trash. Time for us to invest in some better streams. Get that quality up. Because ESPN is just gonna crank out whatever we give them.

[IBleedYellow]

I do sometimes have trouble with the phone app loading a game. I usually have to completely close out of it and reload it. It eventually works. It can be a PIA.


Reloading the App 10+ times no worky here.

Even rebooting the phone - nope.

Very frustrating.

[Derby City Duke]

I'd like a non-JMU opinion; we have an in-house broadcasting service called Madizone. It runs on the Stretch Internet portal. Our director of Multimedia Communications, Curt Dudley is the play by play guy; this year for the 1st time, the color analyst is not a student, though students from Dudley's multimedia class do sideline spots.

Would like to know how this compares quality-wise to what others out there have. I believe they had 7 cameras for the Robert Morris game last Thursday.

Here's the link (go to on-demand tab for replays):

https://portal.stretchinternet.com/jmu/

I only posted this because the CAA is an absolute ****show for getting its schools on the air in any kind of user friendly way, or that allows ease of viewing for others outside the CAA realm.

[TheKingpin28]

I'll trade Lee Timmerman for almost anyone not named Jay Walker and/or Beth Mowins at this point. Maybe we can pay Anish Shroff to come here for the fall permanently and let him do his lacrosse in the spring?

Sent from my SM-J727V using Tapatalk

[Schism55]

I'll trade Lee Timmerman for almost anyone not named Jay Walker and/or Beth Mowins at this point. Maybe we can pay Anish Shroff to come here for the fall permanently and let him do his lacrosse in the spring?

Sent from my SM-J727V using Tapatalk
Pam Ward?? xlolx

[TheKingpin28]

Pam Ward?? xlolxAlmost anyone. That doesn't mean anyone. xlolx

Sent from my SM-J727V using Tapatalk

[caribbeanhen]

signed up for the 7 day free trial, getting alot of ".... We are unable to play this video at the moment, please try again later"

I guess they mean after the free trial is over.... haha

[grizband]

Have had some issues with ESPN+, but the feed worked fairly well for the WIU/Montana game. Now, the camera work on the other hand...xrotatehx

[caribbeanhen]

Have had some issues with ESPN+, but the feed worked fairly well for the WIU/Montana game. Now, the camera work on the other hand...xrotatehx

good to know, its the replays Im having the problem with, hopefully the live games on Saturday will be problem free

[grizband]

Have had some issues with ESPN+, but the feed worked fairly well for the WIU/Montana game. Now, the camera work on the other hand...xrotatehx


good to know, its the replays Im having the problem with, hopefully the live games on Saturday will be problem free
Unfortunately, it varies game to game; in most instances, ESPN picks up the local feed from the game. The operation at WIU seemed to be student run, and many times the camera crew did not follow the action of the play. Different games may have more, less, or different problems of their own.