Streaming on the private fan mile
The European Football Championship starts soon. We show you how to watch the German team's matches on the big screen with as little delay as possible.
When the neighbors cheer earlier, it takes the fun out of the European Championship game for some. We have therefore tested the delay times of the broadcast for you.
(Image: Fotomontage: c't/uk)
The ball will be rolling again from June 14, when ARD and ZDF will broadcast all of the German team's matches, the semi-finals and the final on free TV. The unencrypted TV signals can be received in the traditional way via cable, satellite or aerial, for example with a compact DVB-T2 receiver. They can also be streamed as an IP data stream via an app with inexpensive players such as an HDMI stick. No external players are required for the smart TV, as it already has the tuners built in and also offers various streaming apps. We took a closer look at the different reception options for the private fan mile.
Satellite is in the lead
The fastest reception path is the satellite signal, which we therefore chose as the zero point in our measurements. In fact, the satellite signal also lags behind reality by around six seconds, but you would only notice this in the stadium itself.
Some streaming services bring the TV signal to the screen with a considerable delay. Such latencies are particularly relevant for private public viewing in the garden: If your neighbor sees the ball land in the goal much earlier, the cheers quickly get stuck in your throat. If you choose the reception path incorrectly, you'll be cheering up to 90 seconds later than your neighbors.
For the streaming apps, the providers unpack the DVB-S data stream and re-encode the uncompressed material. This means they require less bandwidth than with satellite transmission and can also adapt the video quality to the current transfer rate by reducing the resolution or refresh rate of the video signal. They also buffer the TV signal to ensure an uninterrupted stream. However, this can result in considerable delays before the picture is output.
Cable catches up
We determined the latencies when streaming with the apps from Waipu.tv, Zattoo and Magenta TV as well as the free Joyn and the media libraries from ARD and ZDF and compared them with the classic reception channels via satellite, cable and DVB-T2. We installed the apps on an Amazon FireTV stick, an Apple TV, a Waipu.tv stick, an Android tablet and a Windows PC. All devices were connected to the same Wi-Fi network during the measurements. We also tested the latency of Magenta TV on the stationary Media Receiver 401.
The cable TV signal we received in Vodafone's Hanover network was closest to our satellite reception zero point. This is new; in the past, DVB-T2 was clearly faster, by around five seconds in the late summer of 2022. The terrestrial signal is now on a par with cable TV for ARD, while cable reception for ZDF was even a good second closer to the satellite signal. Since both reception paths on both free-to-air TV channels are a maximum of 1.5 seconds behind the satellite signal, this relatively low latency is bearable: by the time the neighbors jump up cheering and the sound spills over from their gardens, the ball is usually in the goal on their own TV.
(Image:Â UEFA)
Apps such as UEFA's "Euro 2024" keep you up to date and inform you which matches are coming up when and who has qualified and how. The UEFA app also provides background information on the European Championship teams, the video assistant referee (VAR) and the European Championship song.
Delayed cheering
The situation is very different for most IPTV streaming services. With their own TV apps, they lag 12 to 23 seconds behind the satellite signal, while ProsiebenSat1's Joyn app is unusable for live events with latencies of around 40 seconds. The media library apps were also faster here.
The latencies on Android tablets and smartphones varied depending on the picture quality setting and the measurement duration. The mobile devices buffer the data stream a second time to a greater or lesser extent in order to avoid stuttering. This quickly becomes noticeable in higher latencies.
If you can't make it in time for kick-off, you can watch live streams on the go via the media libraries of the public broadcasters conveniently using an app or in the browser on your mobile device. You should reduce the video quality for mobile access in the settings menu to save your budget. However, Telekom, for example, is granting many customers unlimited data volume as a special offer during the European Championships.
Live or media library
If you are supplying a projector or large screen from a notebook with image signals, the live stream from ARD and ZDF in the browser is the best option. The fastest way to get the TV signals onto the screen was with the ARD and ZDF media library apps. Depending on the player, it took between two and six seconds, while the ZDF media library usually took less than four seconds, with only the Android tablet showing a slightly longer delay. We did not find any ARD media libraries on the Windows PC, where the ARD live stream in the browser only lagged two seconds behind the satellite signal.
(Image:Â Amazon)
The latencies with the streaming sticks are similar, so the hardware only plays a subordinate role. Especially as the small differences with delays of over twelve seconds via Zattoo or Waipu.tv are insignificant.
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The exception here is the HDMI stick from Waipu, which the company has trimmed to shorter latencies for the European Championships. This had no effect on the Waipu app in the other devices. Waipu told c't that latency on ZDF would also be reduced in time for the start of the European Championships. We will check this in due course and update our information accordingly.
(Image:Â c't)
As RTL is also broadcasting some of the European Championship matches, we took a closer look at the delays when streaming in the free RTL+ app, which requires registration. The latencies there were consistently in the double-digit second range.
We measured all latencies two weeks before the start of the European Championships, so theoretically something could still change here by June 14. However, we only expect this to happen with the Waipu.tv stick, but not via the classic reception channels including the media libraries. To be on the safe side, we will also measure these during the European Championships. We will keep you up to date with any changes via our website.
(uk)