Kayo Sports

[Pommy]

Yep that’s what I meant. Kayo is about the same price as the add-on sports component of Foxtel, on top of the standard Foxtel package that you have to buy.
Which makes sense as Kayo is marketed as sports only. So they can’t really dramatically jack up the price unless they completely move away from the whole “sports only” model which is its whole reason for existence.

Yeah I don’t see them jacking the price up, it’s already double the cost of Netflix, Stan etc.
whilst they’re not direct competitors people are going to draw comparisons.
$25 a month is better for Foxtel than $0 and people watching on shady websites. It’s like the music industry artists don’t earn as much from steaming as they did selling albums but everyone was just illegally downloading the albums. Business models have to change and foxtels really needs to change.

 

[Timmah]

Yeah I don’t see them jacking the price up, it’s already double the cost of Netflix, Stan etc.
whilst they’re not direct competitors people are going to draw comparisons.
$25 a month is better for Foxtel than $0 and people watching on shady websites. It’s like the music industry artists don’t earn as much from steaming as they did selling albums but everyone was just illegally downloading the albums. Business models have to change and foxtels really needs to change.

Good analogy. 10-15 years ago everyone was a fan of Napster/Limewire etc etc then iTunes and Spotify made it more affordable and the market shifted to more legitimate purchases (and musicians more effectively communicated how damaging free downloads were).

Companies like foxtel and most news outlets however have been poor at getting that switch over happening, Kayo's a good start for that for fox.

 

[Matua]

That’s why I think they’re doing the smart thing launching now, they’ll get a fair bit of uptake during cricket season which should enable them to build capacity. I reckon by round one they’ll be pretty sorted and even if they have some issues in round one who cares, it’s hardly the end of the world when it’s costing you $7 or so a week.

Also liking the fact that the license is for 2 simultaneous screens, not 2 devices - so if you live by yourself you can install it on all your devices and still split your subscription with a mate.

I’m testing it out now, working well so far on my two iOS devices (iPhone 8 and iPad) and sent to my TV via an HDMI cable from my phone is working well. Getting smooth 720p playback which is pretty decent considering my ADSL connection is pretty horrible at only about 8Mbit/s. No doubt it’ll look nicer when I finally get NBN and a speed boost.

I'm thinking about getting it but am really annoyed they don't have a smart tv app and I have to either do what you're doing and rig up a HDMI cable; b. buy a chormecast; c. buy Apple TV, or d. get a Telstra account and Telstra tv.

Also, I just know that the internet will go down in the middle of a big match I'm watching.

Anyway, I think I'm going to give it a test run with their $5 February deal and then if it's crap see if I can get a new connection deal with Foxtel.

Unlike some I don't have any big issues with Foxtel as long as I can a decent get an introductory offer. A couple of years ago I got it for $35 a month with HD through Telstra.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I'm thinking about getting it but am really annoyed they don't have a smart tv app and I have to either do what you're doing and rig up a HDMI cable; b. buy a chormecast; c. buy Apple TV, or d. get a Telstra account and Telstra tv.

Also, I just know that the internet will go down in the middle of a big match I'm watching.

Anyway, I think I'm going to give it a test run with their $5 February deal and then if it's crap see if I can get a new connection deal with Foxtel.

Unlike some I don't have any big issues with Foxtel as long as I can a decent get an introductory offer. A couple of years ago I got it for $35 a month with HD through Telstra.

Agree on the lack of smart TV apps being annoying, though given my smart TV (Panasonic Viera) has a pretty shitty app platform I think it’s only gonna be a matter of time before I get an Apple TV anyway. The HDMI cable works pretty well though, as long as you’re not worried about doing too much browsing/surfing.
Another option if you have a smart TV is running it in a web browser though I didn’t have any joy doing that with the browser on mine as the login fields didn’t seem to work.

 

[Parra]

Agree on the lack of smart TV apps being annoying, though given my smart TV (Panasonic Viera) has a pretty shitty app platform I think it’s only gonna be a matter of time before I get an Apple TV anyway. The HDMI cable works pretty well though, as long as you’re not worried about doing too much browsing/surfing.
Another option if you have a smart TV is running it in a web browser though I didn’t have any joy doing that with the browser on mine as the login fields didn’t seem to work.

I've used a few smart TV's - they all suck.

Much easier to use your phone and chromecast. So simple. I don't know why smart tv's exist.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I've used a few smart TV's - they all suck.

Much easier to use your phone and chromecast. So simple. I don't know why smart tv's exist.

I agree, I like the Netflix integration on mine (it has a dedicated Netflix button on the remote and is seamless) but the other apps are all really just novelties and I can see them just getting out of date.
Prefer the Apple TV to the chromecast personally because the apps run on the device itself and it doesn’t require a separate phone/tablet, but either solution beats most smart tvs. Plus the Apple TV has the split screen option which is pretty cool. (Especially when NRL and Super Rugby/tests are both happening)

 

[roofromoz]

We watch Netflix, Stan, etc.. through the XBOX One and have no problems.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

We watch Netflix, Stan, etc.. through the XBOX One and have no problems.

Yeah unfortunately though Kayo hasn’t rolled out apps for XBox or PlayStation yet, rumoured to be inthe pipeline though.
The problem with networked TV devices at the moment is the proliferation of different platforms, most of which require their own apps to be developed.
Right now you’ve got PC/Mac (both covered by browsers), iOS, Android, Apple TV, XBox, PlayStation, TelstraTV, and at least 3 different types of smart TV operating system. I suspect we’re going to see a few of those drop off or move to browser based setups in the next few years as it’s a bit of a mess for developers right now.

 

[Matua]

Agree on the lack of smart TV apps being annoying, though given my smart TV (Panasonic Viera) has a pretty shitty app platform I think it’s only gonna be a matter of time before I get an Apple TV anyway. The HDMI cable works pretty well though, as long as you’re not worried about doing too much browsing/surfing.
Another option if you have a smart TV is running it in a web browser though I didn’t have any joy doing that with the browser on mine as the login fields didn’t seem to work.

I surf on my laptop not my iPad so no issues there.

Like you I've got a dedicated Netflix button and the Stan/SBS apps work really well.

I might take the plunge this weekend then - do you have the the Apple branded lightning to HDMI or an off brand?

It's a pity they haven't at least rolled out a PS4 one.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I surf on my laptop not my iPad so no issues there.

Like you I've got a dedicated Netflix button and the Stan/SBS apps work really well.

I might take the plunge this weekend then - do you have the the Apple branded lightning to HDMI or an off brand?

It's a pity they haven't at least rolled out a PS4 one.

I’ve got an off-brand eBay cheapie cable. Works fine with the iPhone however not so good with the iPad because the screen aspect ratio isn’t the same as the TV- meaning it wont display full screen properly as the image isnt as wide as the TV. some TVs have zoom controls that will fix that, mine doesn’t but it’s no biggie as I just use my phone instead. As far as I’m aware this isn’t an issue with the cable, it’s apparently the same with the Apple ones.

You could also run a cable from your laptop to the TV, apparently that works fine too, and will give you more control ofpver the picture output.

 

[Matua]

I’ve got an off-brand eBay cheapie cable. Works fine with the iPhone however not so good with the iPad because the screen aspect ratio isn’t the same as the TV- meaning it wont display full screen properly as the image isnt as wide as the TV. some TVs have zoom controls that will fix that, mine doesn’t but it’s no biggie as I just use my phone instead. As far as I’m aware this isn’t an issue with the cable, it’s apparently the same with the Apple ones.

You could also run a cable from your laptop to the TV, apparently that works fine too, and will give you more control ofpver the picture output.

That's annoying about the iPad.

I have HDMI from laptop but I don't want to use it, I wanted to just have the iPad sitting next to me like a remote with a cord.

Cheers for all the info!

 

[SpaceMonkey]

That's annoying about the iPad.

I have HDMI from laptop but I don't want to use it, I wanted to just have the iPad sitting next to me like a remote with a cord.

Cheers for all the info!

Apparently the iPad issue is something that could be changed in the app implementation so it’s possible that Kayo will fix it up down the track. I might actually log it as a support issue with them.

 

[roofromoz]

Yeah unfortunately though Kayo hasn’t rolled out apps for XBox or PlayStation yet, rumoured to be inthe pipeline though.
The problem with networked TV devices at the moment is the proliferation of different platforms, most of which require their own apps to be developed.
Right now you’ve got PC/Mac (both covered by browsers), iOS, Android, Apple TV, XBox, PlayStation, TelstraTV, and at least 3 different types of smart TV operating system. I suspect we’re going to see a few of those drop off or move to browser based setups in the next few years as it’s a bit of a mess for developers right now.

Thanks, good to know.

 

[Matua]

Apparently the iPad issue is something that could be changed in the app implementation so it’s possible that Kayo will fix it up down the track. I might actually log it as a support issue with them.

So I decided to take the plunge and decided to sign up to Kayo, borrowed a mates Chromecast (which is limited to 720p) and have no problems casting from the iPad, full screen with no issues. Will likely buy an Ultra when the sports season really starts going.

Will take me a while to get used to the setup, took me ages to find the 'live' channels (right down the bottom) and despite selecting league and rugby as my preferences I keep getting soccer all over the place.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

So I decided to take the plunge and decided to sign up to Kayo, borrowed a mates Chromecast (which is limited to 720p) and have no problems casting from the iPad, full screen with no issues. Will likely buy an Ultra when the sports season really starts going.

Will take me a while to get used to the setup, took me ages to find the 'live' channels (right down the bottom) and despite selecting league and rugby as my preferences I keep getting soccer all over the place.

Sweet. I should’ve clarified the full screen iPad issues I mentioned are specific to HDMI cables, casting to a chromecast or ATV is all good.

The HDMI issue is because the app is set to simply mirror your device’s screen to the TV via HDMI, so unless your screen has a 16:9 aspect ratio like a modern TV (which most phones do, while tablets tend to be 4:3), it doesn’t display full screen. The app developers could fix it by changing the output from mirroring to “output to TV” which sends the picture at the aspect ratio of the actual broadcast stream rather than the device’s screen. I’ll send them some feedback on it, they’re actually really responsive, I sent them feedback that the NZ national cricket sides were missing from the test and ODI options and they had then added in a few days.

 

[Pommy]

So I decided to take the plunge and decided to sign up to Kayo, borrowed a mates Chromecast (which is limited to 720p) and have no problems casting from the iPad, full screen with no issues. Will likely buy an Ultra when the sports season really starts going.

Will take me a while to get used to the setup, took me ages to find the 'live' channels (right down the bottom) and despite selecting league and rugby as my preferences I keep getting soccer all over the place.

Yeah I think it’s a solid service but really needs some refinement.
Took me ages to find Wigan vs St Helens despite saying I’m interested in league and super league.
A simple search function could fix the majority of the issues

 

[Matua]

Yeah I think it’s a solid service but really needs some refinement.
Took me ages to find Wigan vs St Helens despite saying I’m interested in league and super league.
A simple search function could fix the majority of the issues

Yeah, I remember when it was first released in November last year they had a mock-up of how it would look, and it looked really organised yet it's completely hopeless in reality.

Also, every function just seems weird. I tried using every split screen and if I wanted to make another split screen the primary one I had to cancel all of them and start from scratch (maybe I'm doing it wrong).

Also, when I was playing around yesterday there were lots of programs available for the Sydney 7s but the live one was actually about 10 programs in - it was only because I was playing around that I found them.

I can't believe their is now search function!

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I’ve found it pretty easy to navigate personally but you’ve got to think of it as a Netflix type on demand service, not a Foxtel type channel service.

 

[Matua]

Considering I like to watch sport live, and that many other viewers will too, I think that they should have personal settings that allow for a more Foxtel type style.

I might send them some feedback on this (or maybe there is already a way to do this but I just haven't figured it out yet).

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Considering I like to watch sport live, and that many other viewers will too, I think that they should have personal settings that allow for a more Foxtel type style.

I might send them some feedback on this (or maybe there is already a way to do this but I just haven't figured it out yet).

I’ve had no trouble turning on and finding the live stuff straight away (NZ-India one dayers and Super Bowl today). But rather than thinking about finding a channel you need to look for an event- if it’s live and it’s already started then it gives you an option of watching live or watchin from the start (without giving any spoilers, which I REALLY) like.