The availability of live streamed events is so great for those that have to work, have mobility issues, or somehow can’t make it to all events.
The announcers are often fun and energetic. The services bring nice quality camera gear and tripods.
The only issue is that the streams are often unwatchable. They are too blurry to see and the sound often does not work.
Game on Live Studios operates on “hope” that the school internet connection is consistent and has fast upload speed.
All of this is easy to solve by bringing your own internet connection. If you bring a Starlink, you no longer rely on hope and can stream high quality 4K video that people would pay to watch, all for under $5 of data per game.
Why have they not improved the product after so many complaints and refund requests? Is it time for the tournament hosts to switch to higher quality services like Overnight for important tournaments?
As of 810am 2 of the 10 live games were actually streaming, the other 8 games were still dark. Now as of 820am we are up to 5 games. I understand 1 game having an issue, but when half the games are still not being broadcast at all (forget streaming quality issues) it is just unacceptable. In concept its wonderful, but in practice it falls well short of expectations!
Looks like things are working now. I was able to watch the 9 AM game and checked a few others…from what I saw, they all appeared to be up and running.
I really like what they’re doing, especially the athlete interviews. It’s just a bummer that the first morning of events can feel like a roll of the dice, especially with the 8 AM games across multiple sites. Hopefully everything stays up and stable the rest of the day.
I’m sure it’s a lot trying to stream that many pools at once, and I do hope they keep improving because the people I’ve interacted with have been really nice.
Also, for what it’s worth on the Starlink, as someone who has tried using one for gaming, it can be hit or miss depending on the location and upload speeds.
I’ve been live streaming our games with Starlink this whole season. It takes 5 minutes to setup the antenna and it’s a consistent 40 MB upload speed, better than all except fiber home internet connections. 40 is plenty to run 2 simultaneous streams at 4K and 30 fps without any hiccups. I use Larix broadcaster, as it handles mobile streams well and also allows you to store 4K to your phone at the same time. Not quite a pro setup, but the picture and sound are clear, which is the most important part.
I’ve tried a direct wired ethernet connection from phone to starlink, but the speed is so good on wifi, it’s not worth running the wire.
If you do film your own live stream, on hot days, your phone may throttle, which will make your stream choppy. The cheap peltier chip phone coolers like Neewar brand on Amazon completely solve that problem and make me smile at the fact it gets as cold as an ice cube.
Another handy toy to have is a $99 250 watt-hour backup battery. Then the starlink can be setup anywhere, no outlet needed. 250 w/hr is good for 2 games.
I saw at Wollett someone using a Starlink mini, which is half the speed of the standard antenna, but way more portable and might work just fine
I sound like I’m a salesman for Starlink, which is not intended. It isn’t the only solution. You could also bond the school connection and a couple cellular business hotpots to stabilize the connection.
I tried a software bonding solution, Speedify, to use both my 5G and Starlink, but the starlink doesn’t need it.
Hardware bonding would be a lot better for combining all the venue and cellular 5G connections, such as LiveU or Peplink.
I agree, there are great broadcasters and staff at GOLS. Everyone could appreciate their talents if they can get past the technology hurdle.
This is great information. I’ve always thought clubs should want to stream as many of their games as possible. It’s great marketing for the club and gives current families a way to watch when they can’t attend. It also gives players film they can review and share. If the Starlink setup is really this simple and reliable (and i don’t doubt it is), it seems like a no-brainer for clubs that don’t have dependable internet at their pools. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I have a device for each of the big three carriers and the state of data uploads is still very spotty. Despite the 18 mp/s upload on AT&T this morning at Newport HS, I still had a lot of drop-out when trying to stream at 10mb/s. It might be time to switch to a starlink mini next season.
Having to deal with video quality questions a lot for my “none-waterpolo-life” the starlink setup in this situation would be the most reliable one because at many of the other locations the wifi is also be shared with other people at the pool and many locations are not equipped to handle these types of requests.
For a new app I’m building (not live streaming waterpolo!), I’m much more interested in the quality of the stream than the real time aspect of it and that got me wondering of the real value behind the live stream in our sport.
Other than the parent who cannot make it to the game, who really needs to watch a game live vs being able to access a better quality footage a few hours later.
Love the scientific approach. I thought bonding multiple connections might be a good alternative, but your testing shows it might not work everywhere.
With the priority plans on Starlink, I’ve have not yet had an issue with competing for bandwidth. I usually get 30 to 60 MBPS upload speed. I am using a standard antenna, but I would guess the mini antenna would get you at least 15, which is plenty for streaming if it’s consistent.
This would be great info to pass on to Game on Live Studios if anyone has a contact there.
A couple other audiences it is helpful for are team owners and parents with multiple athletes who try to watch all age groups during tournaments, as they can’t drive to every venue.
The bigger value is in growth of the sport. Broadcasting creates a whole new fanbase in any state. We have friends and family really enjoying the game from states that don’t even have water polo. Good broadcasters explain the game in a way that makes it easy to ramp up your knowledge of the rules and strategies. An understanding of the nuances makes sports much more fun to watch.
Knowing the game is live adds to the excitement of watching. Do you ever watch recorded sports? It doesn’t quite feel the same.
“Good broadcasters” is absolutely spot on. And a key difference between someone sticking with a game coverage or not.
I still can’t help but think about the potential of having the commentaries delivered by a parent from each side. The opportunities for drama/entertainment are just too good to pass on. Someone has to try it at some point !
GOLS is a good idea but stream quality is garbage most of the time. I paid $30 and could only watch a couple games due the the stream or channel not being available. Its 2026, can they figure it out??? Still cant watch Buena Park or El Modena High School as of right now because the channels are down. There has got to be a better solution before charging people…just sayin
Anyone know the wifi/cell data situation at UC Irvine (any back bay parents around??). Trying to decide if I should proactively get a starlink for this weekend.
I think the problem is nobody can compete for the spot. GOLS would get better or lose if they didn’t have exclusive streaming rights. Competition is good!
Yes, I also started off streaming using a 5G phone connection. You can usually stream in 1080p (slightly grainy, but watchable) with a good cellular connection. For some reason, the venue internet that they have been using only allows 480p, which is really blurry on a large screen, so 1080p from a cell connection would be an improvement.
There seems to be more confidence in the venue connection using Ethernet cable, rather than WiFi, Modern WiFi would never be a bottleneck, so the cable does not increase speed at all, you’re still limited to the school internet connection, which has no reason to prioritize upload bandwidth.
The other satellite providers have too much latency (Viasat and HughesNet) and OneWeb would be cost prohibitive for this use (intended for marine/industrial).
We’re hoping GOLS gets a good solution in place for Junior Olympics in just a couple weeks!
