Autosport wrote: Formula 1 has officially announced plans for its new ad-free streaming service and given a first glimpse of what it will look like.
F1 owner Liberty Media has mooted plans for an 'OTT' (over-the-top) offering since last season.
On Tuesday it revealed full details and also released a short video showing what the new service will look like.
The premium service, called F1 TV PRO, will include ad-free live coverage of every session, access to all 20 on-board cameras, press conferences, support races and other exclusive footage.
F1 TV PRO will be made available in four languages (English, French, German and Spanish), and in a number of different markets including Germany, France, USA, Mexico, Belgium, Austria, Hungary and much of Latin America.
Sky has exclusive UK live rights in a deal that runs from 2019 to 2024, which currently precludes the streaming service being offered in the UK before '25.
While access will initially be available through desktop and the web, in the future there will be mobile apps phased in through Amazon, Apple and Android.
The service will cost users between $8 and $12 per month, with annual rates priced according to the market.
A less expensive non-live-streaming service, called F1 TV Access, is similar to what has been available up until now with live timing data, radio commentary and extended highlights - including historic footage. This will be available in nearly every country.
F1 said the new service was driven by its desire to offer the best TV service to watch live races.
Frank Arthofer, F1's director of digital and new business, said: "Our objective with F1 TV is simple: provide these fans with the best available service to watch live grands prix and provide them with the best sports OTT customer experience in the world.
"Our team and our partners are singularly focused on delivering on that vision: not just for launch but over the long-term. Live streaming video is an exciting space changing almost daily."
The streaming service has just gone live for the Spanish GP, I've just signed up for the yearly subscription ($90 for the first year [by 5/31/2018], then $100 a year afterward).
My initial impressions of the F1.TV streaming experience, this was from my Windows 10 PC.
Video Quality is I would estimate 720p, not 1080p and certainly not 4K, it's not a connection speed issue, I have a symmetrical 1Gb Fiber connection to the Internet, and there are no manual controls for quality.
Commentary was cut off abruptly in the middle of sentences for no logical reason.
Audio is out of sync with the video, at least on the English (SKY) commentary, for example, the car would cross the line to set a time, the commentators reacted to it 2 - 3 seconds later consistently. Also, the SKY commentary continued when each qualifying session was over, so I was hearing Ant Davidson on the Sky Pad, while the world feed continued showing completely different video from what I was hearing.
The time scrub bar (see image below) remains onscreen at all times, sometimes partially obscuring the onscreen graphics.
The selectable driver onboard cameras have no sound, only team radio messages are audible.
Archives are kinda limited at the moment, especially as you go further back in time, I would have liked to have relived the 1992 season, my first full season of watching F1, but no races are available for that season.
f1.tv.jpg
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myownalias • The Englishman in Kansas • Twitter: @myownalias
darwin dali wrote:Sorry to hear - maybe they should talk to Netflix...
Given the problems in FP1, I skipped FP2 & 3, and it seems that whatever issues they were having has been resolved for qualifying. Of course, this is only one session, but Liberty need to maintain this quality to hold onto all the people that signed up last May for a year's subscription, $100/yr is a lot of money for many, for that we expect a professional service.
myownalias • The Englishman in Kansas • Twitter: @myownalias
