The Premier League has fully entered the digital age for the first time, with live streamed games on Amazon Prime. Since I am an Amazon Prime customer already, it’s good news for me. But what is it like?
I watched a couple of games on Amazon Prime in the past couple of days, and this has been my experience so far.
We have come far in coverage for live football. First standard TV, then satellite, it then went paid, and for a brief time PPV too with Prem Plus. We’ve dabbled a little bit in streamed football, but nothing as big as what we have now: 20 games on Amazon Prime, a proper streaming service.
It is of course not the first live streaming of football. There was an England game way back when, which infuriated people, since it was on a pay per view basis, and the stream was (apparently) terrible.
Then there’s BT/YouTube, which has streamed both the Europa League and Champions League finals for two years now. I have watched them both, with mixed results. The first year was good, however the second, which had 2 English teams in both finals was not as good. The quality wasn’t very good, and with the stream starting/stopping, it was clear that the service couldn’t cope with the demand.
Now we have Amazon Prime doing the heavy lifting, so how does it compare?
I have to say, so far it’s been very good. I watched a bit of the Crystal Palace vs Bournemouth game, and it was crystal clear, perfect, and dare I say, a better picture than I see with SKY HD. I have also watched Man City vs Burnley, Liverpool vs Everton, and some of the Man Utd vs Tottenham game too.
Faster Connection = Better Picture
This is no surprise, but a faster connection does equal a better picture. I thought that my standard ADSL would be able to handle the HD fine, but the picture was not as good as it was on another, faster connection I tried.
My standard ADSL connection handles streaming in HD on Amazon Prime perfectly fine, but when I tried the Premier League, a fibre connection provides a much better picture. This shouldn’t really be the case, and ADSL should be fast enough (since it is for films or YouTube) so perhaps it could be the sheer demand combined with my connection what caused a not-so-great picture.
The quality was going in and out, with the image being very good, with the quality then deteriorating, and going back to good again.
So in regards to the picture quality, more testing is needed.
Is Streaming Premier League (And All Football) The Future?
I dare say that streaming Premier League is the future, and I would guess that Amazon having this package of Premier League games is a test of both the medium, and the market.
If the streaming is within a subscription which you already own, it will work. So if you’re on Amazon Prime, then you’ll be happy to be able to watch Premier League. The same could be said if you’ve got another company, you’ll not mind getting the Premier League streamed, or maybe even paying a little (a very little) extra.
However I think that if a 3rd party came in offering a subscription to only Premier League football and nothing else, for quite a high price, I don’t think it would do well.
In my opinion, I prefer my football the traditional way. When it comes to streaming, there’s too many issues that can occur. Your connection can quite easily go down, be slow, or get throttled. The same can be said with the server you’re connecting to.
When you’re watching a film, it’s annoying, however you can pick it up where you left off. A live broadcast, such as football, it’s unacceptable. Imagine watching a final and you get buffering or something going down.
Verdict
In regards to the Premier League on Amazon Prime, I think it has been a success so far. They have a proper studio with guests, just like the other channels, and so far they have been good. The commentators are the same familiar voices (which you can even turn off and have stadium atmosphere if you prefer!), and the picture can be brilliant.
It’s worth remembering that these are extra games that we wouldn’t normally see, rather than Amazon Prime taking over an existing TV deal. In that respect, it’s a good thing.
Some of the games are in 4K, but apparently not all of them. I look forward to checking it out in 4K, to see what that is like.
Tonight I will watch Newcastle vs Sheffield United, which is another test for how well the service performs. Hopefully it will be a perfect stream in good quality.
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About Michael
Michael Adams is the founder and editor of Michael 84, blogger from Newcastle, UK. Sharing men's fashion tips, style advice and lifestyle information for all guys.
