iFollow coverage - info from EFL about streaming games

[Martin Shaw]

on iFollow Stags, an additional video interview with Nigel Clough, recorded this morning with Jake Garner.

And player cam on George Lapslie from Tuesday night's game against Preston.

[Sneag]

Can you stream Saturday matches overseas if you are just away on holiday?

[Martin Shaw]

Can you stream Saturday matches overseas if you are just away on holiday?

yes

[Sneag]

Can you stream Saturday matches overseas if you are just away on holiday?

yes

That'll make visiting the in-laws more bearable.

[Martin Shaw]

iFollow Stags subscribers can now watch a full re-run of yesterday's win over Newport County.

[oldweststander]

Club website states that you can watch the Colchester game on Ifollow for £10, that's my Tuesday night viewing sorted.

[Martin Shaw]

Resorted to the app. Can't get the TV browser to work, blank screen only.

Same here, watched it on my tablet.

my understanding is that in theory you are not supposed to be able to watch the matches on your TV. So you are supposed to watch on tablet/device/laptop. I think this is in the FAQs somewhere, and it was mentioned on here somewhere towards the end of last season as I recall. You will just get a black screen.

[Martin Shaw]

Can someone please confirm for me the Mansfield 103.2 "Listen live" bit on their website isn't working?

Confirmed. Buffering permanently

I may be wrong here, but wasn't it always the case that although they had the rights to broadcast commentary it was only on the radio and not via the internet ?
I think it's something to do with the broadcast area.

Just to be clear, Mansfield 103.2 have the rights for radio commentary, but not for internet commentary. So you cannot listen on their website. This has always been the case.

[mans_field]

Resorted to the app. Can't get the TV browser to work, blank screen only.

Same here, watched it on my tablet.

my understanding is that in theory you are not supposed to be able to watch the matches on your TV. So you are supposed to watch on tablet/device/laptop. I think this is in the FAQs somewhere, and it was mentioned on here somewhere towards the end of last season as I recall. You will just get a black screen.

if you've got an LG tv, check the settings, they have updated the browser and set as default to block ads, I had the black screen until I removed this setting, then everything worked perfectly

[Bradders]

Resorted to the app. Can't get the TV browser to work, blank screen only.

Same here, watched it on my tablet.

my understanding is that in theory you are not supposed to be able to watch the matches on your TV. So you are supposed to watch on tablet/device/laptop. I think this is in the FAQs somewhere, and it was mentioned on here somewhere towards the end of last season as I recall. You will just get a black screen.

if you've got an LG tv, check the settings, they have updated the browser and set as default to block ads, I had the black screen until I removed this setting, then everything worked perfectly

Thanks, that's worth a try. Last season it worked fine, hence being caught out last night.
If the EFL are serious about live streaming it's time they sorted it out so you can watch on TV via an app. This clunky approach is losing them revenue.

[Bradders]

Resorted to the app. Can't get the TV browser to work, blank screen only.

Same here, watched it on my tablet.

my understanding is that in theory you are not supposed to be able to watch the matches on your TV. So you are supposed to watch on tablet/device/laptop. I think this is in the FAQs somewhere, and it was mentioned on here somewhere towards the end of last season as I recall. You will just get a black screen.

I don't think that's correct. All they say is that there's no TV app, and infer that any browser should work.

From the iFollow FAQ section :

"What devices can I use for the iFollow service?
iFollow is available across desktop, mobile and tablet via web browser (e.g. Google Chrome, Safari).

Users wishing to watch via an app will need to download the 'EFL iFollow' app, which is available in the App Store and Google Play Store. There is currently no app available on the Amazon Appstore.

iFollow is not supported on any Smart TV apps or Chromecast."

[one f in mansfield]

I tried via internet on tv for first time last night , never done it before so set up early . Had a perfect picture but the it froze every minute or so . Decided to log out and connect laptop to telly as usual.

[gazza1988]

Resorted to the app. Can't get the TV browser to work, blank screen only.

Same here, watched it on my tablet.

my understanding is that in theory you are not supposed to be able to watch the matches on your TV. So you are supposed to watch on tablet/device/laptop. I think this is in the FAQs somewhere, and it was mentioned on here somewhere towards the end of last season as I recall. You will just get a black screen.

I don't think that's correct. All they say is that there's no TV app, and infer that any browser should work.

From the iFollow FAQ section :

"What devices can I use for the iFollow service?
iFollow is available across desktop, mobile and tablet via web browser (e.g. Google Chrome, Safari).

Users wishing to watch via an app will need to download the 'EFL iFollow' app, which is available in the App Store and Google Play Store. There is currently no app available on the Amazon Appstore.

iFollow is not supported on any Smart TV apps or Chromecast."

So Martin is correct then?

On mobile/desktop and tablet the browser should work (they get a bit tetchy if you block ads)

If you want to watch via an app then it's available from Google and apple's stores but not amazon.

It's not supported on smart TV apps and chromecast. The Web browser on a smart TV is still an app on the smart TV. This is likely to be because the settings are usually slimmed down and have ad block enabled by default and sometimes not even changeable by the average person.

It is viewable on smart TV browsers but requires settings to be altered, they won't say this because then people complain they've changed the settings incorrectly and break it and then complain ifollow broke their TV.

FAO bradders: I accidently replied using the pm function (on my phone the button is above the quote button) and accidentally sent it as a private message. I deleted the message so if you had an email saying you had a pm and you've not got one that is why. My mistake.

[Martin Shaw]

Resorted to the app. Can't get the TV browser to work, blank screen only.

Same here, watched it on my tablet.

my understanding is that in theory you are not supposed to be able to watch the matches on your TV. So you are supposed to watch on tablet/device/laptop. I think this is in the FAQs somewhere, and it was mentioned on here somewhere towards the end of last season as I recall. You will just get a black screen.

I don't think that's correct. All they say is that there's no TV app, and infer that any browser should work.

From the iFollow FAQ section :

"What devices can I use for the iFollow service?
iFollow is available across desktop, mobile and tablet via web browser (e.g. Google Chrome, Safari).

Users wishing to watch via an app will need to download the 'EFL iFollow' app, which is available in the App Store and Google Play Store. There is currently no app available on the Amazon Appstore.

iFollow is not supported on any Smart TV apps or Chromecast."

So Martin is correct then?

On mobile/desktop and tablet the browser should work (they get a bit tetchy if you block ads)

If you want to watch via an app then it's available from Google and apple's stores but not amazon.

It's not supported on smart TV apps and chromecast. The Web browser on a smart TV is still an app on the smart TV. This is likely to be because the settings are usually slimmed down and have ad block enabled by default and sometimes not even changeable by the average person.

It is viewable on smart TV browsers but requires settings to be altered, they won't say this because then people complain they've changed the settings incorrectly and break it and then complain ifollow broke their TV.

FAO bradders: I accidently replied using the pm function (on my phone the button is above the quote button) and accidentally sent it as a private message. I deleted the message so if you had an email saying you had a pm and you've not got one that is why. My mistake.

I will move this discussion to the iFollow thread for future reference when I get a moment.

I understand the reason for all this is that Sky have the "TV rights" for showing live EFL matches. And iFollow has the "internet rights" for showng live EFL matches.

There will still be ways to watch iFollow on a TV with workarounds, like connecting your laptop to a TV via HDMI lead for example. And the useful info from mans_field above about an LG TV.

[Gazmoose82]

Best way to watch on tv is to get yourself an amazon firestick... Download the app onto it (firesticks run android) and your away

[Rob]

Resorted to the app. Can't get the TV browser to work, blank screen only.

Same here, watched it on my tablet.

my understanding is that in theory you are not supposed to be able to watch the matches on your TV. So you are supposed to watch on tablet/device/laptop. I think this is in the FAQs somewhere, and it was mentioned on here somewhere towards the end of last season as I recall. You will just get a black screen.

if you've got an LG tv, check the settings, they have updated the browser and set as default to block ads, I had the black screen until I removed this setting, then everything worked perfectly

That's the issue I had, thanks for this, I'll try it next time.

[Bradders]

Best way to watch on tv is to get yourself an amazon firestick... Download the app onto it (firesticks run android) and your away

I don't want the extra expense, but can you confirm that the app can be downloaded onto the Firestick, bearing in mind that the app won't be in the Amazon Appstore? I have bad experience of Google Play apps being seemingly randomly not installable on an Amazon tablet. If it's definitely possible then it sounds like a great solution.

I used an HDMI cable from a laptop early last season, and although just about OK it was miles behind the quality when using the TV browser.

[gazza1988]

You can install the ifollow app onto your firestick. Or just use the built in browser or download Firefox. Both should work.

I did install the app to firestick a few years ago and it worked. I can't see why it wouldn't now.

Another option that only works over WiFi is miracast your desktop (both the TV needs to support miracast and the playing device) if your smart TV can connect to the Internet and device (ie laptop) wireless it will likely support miracast. The apple variant of miracast is airplay.

Google "miracast laptop to TV" or "miracast tablet to TV" or "airplay mac to Tv"or" airplay ipad to tv" (you get the idea) and it will give instructions on how to do it. If you don't have a smart TV then is should work to a firestick and the like.

The user manual of your TV should contain instructions too on how to set it up.

[Conker]

I just mirror it to my tv via Roku stick, works fine everytime.

[Rob]

I unchecked the pop up blocker on the browser on my LG Smart TV as suggested by mans_field above and I can now play the highlights so assume the fix worked.

[gazza1988]

It's like a adblock-blocker. It detects ad block and refuses to play the stream until the ad has played. The browser refuses to play the ad.

It boosts the money ifollow get from a video match pass or perhaps because its part of the efl they get sponsors to offset the costs so more can go to the club. So the figure Martin says the club gets would be lower if there was no advertising. Usually its fifa game, papa John's and last season it was screwfix (don't remember seeing it last night).

[Bradders]

I unchecked the pop up blocker on the browser on my LG Smart TV as suggested by mans_field above and I can now play the highlights so assume the fix worked.

I checked last night and could play highlights of a previous match via the LG browser, but not the live stream, so you might still find that the live stream needs testing.

[Rob]

I unchecked the pop up blocker on the browser on my LG Smart TV as suggested by mans_field above and I can now play the highlights so assume the fix worked.

I checked last night and could play highlights of a previous match via the LG browser, but not the live stream, so you might still find that the live stream needs testing.

OK thanks, will try the Firestick thing as a back up, we have one on our tv in the kitchen, off to experiment!

[Bradders]

You can install the ifollow app onto your firestick. Or just use the built in browser or download Firefox. Both should work.

I did install the app to firestick a few years ago and it worked. I can't see why it wouldn't now.

Another option that only works over WiFi is miracast your desktop (both the TV needs to support miracast and the playing device) if your smart TV can connect to the Internet and device (ie laptop) wireless it will likely support miracast. The apple variant of miracast is airplay.

Google "miracast laptop to TV" or "miracast tablet to TV" or "airplay mac to Tv"or" airplay ipad to tv" (you get the idea) and it will give instructions on how to do it. If you don't have a smart TV then is should work to a firestick and the like.

The user manual of your TV should contain instructions too on how to set it up.

I've done that in the past and the stream was horribly jerky. I gave it a try again last night but it wouldn't connect at all. One device didn't allow it, the other did but never connected.

HDMI is the best of a bad lot. Others watching said that it looked fine, but I couldn't stand the jerky panning. And that's after considerable tweaking to get the best frame rate, and using very recent and powerful kit. It's OK if you just want to see the game, but not exactly an immersive experience. I've done a fair amount of (amateur) video production over the years and worked in software a lot, so I guess that I have higher expectations.

The only smooth video comes from the TV browser app, which is horribly clunky to sign in to, but once you've made the effort it's as good as TV to watch.

[Martin Shaw]

There are two conflicting statements in that press release.

It says no matches with Saturday 3pm kick offs will be streamed to UK audiences, but also says matches on international weekends will be screened.

So which is it.

no matches on Saturday at 3pm will be streamed to UK audiences, except for international weekends. From memory this was the case pre-Covid.

just to flesh this out ... this means that the following games will be streamed live with a match pass for £10:

Mansfield vs Harrogate, Sat Sep 4
Mansfield vs Oldham, Sat Oct 9
Stevenage vs Mansfield, Sat Nov 13