Digital Concert Hall - what a joke

Fiddle Faddle

Member
Aug 7, 2015
548
2
16
Australia
With a free 7-day voucher sitting around, I decided to redeem it given I had a bit more free time on my hands over Easter. Now I don't have the fastest internet connection on the planet, but it does run at a solid 25 Mbps all the time. I can stream Netflix with absolute perfection. I could easily get a 100 Mbps connection if I really wanted to and was prepared to pay for it, but without a 4K TV, there is simply no point whatsoever in having anything faster than what I have now - and even that is more than fast enough to stream two Netflix HD programs at once flawlessly and with plenty of remaining bandwidth to spare...

So last night I tried to watch a live Berlin Philharmonic concert via the Digital Concert Hall and it was just a complete joke. With my internet connection sitting around twiddling it's thumbs waiting for the Australian server (and then I guess the one in Berlin) to actually send me something, I just gave up. I had to stream the thing at such an appallingly low quality, people's faces looked like melted, glistening bubblegum (well, I've never seen melted glistening bubblegum, but I reckon if I did, that is what it would look like).

Yet these concerts are not nearly as demanding as a Netflix movie, even if they do take care to preserve an acceptable level of audio quality (and they do, I will grant them that).

But I find this ridiculous statement in their FAQ:

https://help.berliner-philharmonike...t-play-well-but-concerts-from-the-archive-do-

Seriously? Do they think their patrons are complete technical neophytes? To my way of thinking, the above is just another way of saying "our servers are inadequate and therefore can only cope with the relatively random traffic generated by archive viewing. But with a live concert, because there are many more clients connected, our infrastructure cannot cope, even if those of our clients can".

Honestly, what a joke. This wouldn't have been an excuse 5 years ago, let alone in 2017. Here in Australia, we are the butt of jokes because of our low-tech NBN. But so long as our Retail Service Providers purchase adequate CVC (as at least mine has), even the lowliest fibre-to-the-node connection here in Australian can stream Netflix HD flawlessly 24 x 7 and still leave more than enough bandwidth for regular net surfing on top of that. Sure during peak periods many people's connections slow down considerably, but so long as you are a customer of a decent ISP like I am, you will always have more than enough bandwidth for anything that any streaming company can throw at you.

In other words, if I can get flawless 4K Netflix should I choose to (and I could if I wanted it), then no-one has any excuse - Netflix prove it can be done.

The only two reasons I can personally come up with as to why a live concert can't stream versus an archived one are (a) their servers simply cannot cope with the client traffic and / or (b) they can't adequately encode MP4 at the quality they want on the fly. Neither are even remotely acceptable excuses and I really have to wonder how on earth they think this standard of service is OK.

All I can say is that I am sure glad I did not have to buy a monthly ticket as I would have asked them for a refund.

I have no idea of what sort of streaming quality other countries receive as it relates to the Digital Concert Hall, but so far as Australia is concerned, I honestly have no idea why anyone would be prepared to pay for it. But you have to provide an acceptable product before people will pay. You can't sell a poor quality product and hope that your customers will pick up the tab so you can eventually provide a half decent one! But since I cannot find mass complaints regarding the Digital Concert Hall, I can only assume hardly anyone uses it or this is just an Australian thing.
 

R Johnson

Well-Known Member
Jul 24, 2010
188
43
933
Chicago, Illinois, USA
It's disappointing to read of your experience with the LIVE stream. When I go the the Metropolitan Opera's "Live in HD" I usually attend the "encore". And often just watch the TV broadcast a few months later. For example, my PBS station broadcast the October 8, 2016 performance of Tristan last Sunday.

I'd be perfectly happy with "archived" concerts. Your thoughts / experience with archived concerts?
 

beaur

Fleetwood Sound
Oct 12, 2011
459
165
950
60
Brooklyn
I have had no tech issues for the past 3 years either live or archived.
 

Fiddle Faddle

Member
Aug 7, 2015
548
2
16
Australia
It's disappointing to read of your experience with the LIVE stream. When I go the the Metropolitan Opera's "Live in HD" I usually attend the "encore". And often just watch the TV broadcast a few months later. For example, my PBS station broadcast the October 8, 2016 performance of Tristan last Sunday.

I'd be perfectly happy with "archived" concerts. Your thoughts / experience with archived concerts?

I had already experienced the archive concerts prior to posting and they were fine. It is just the live streams that do not work. And for that reason then I guess I was a little harsh, though for my money there is nothing as exciting as a truly live concert experience (even if I am watching it on a TV or computer). But that said if they still need to put in their FAQ that live concerts may not stream optimally, perhaps they could have less expensive subscriptions for customers who only wish to access the archives. It is pretty obvious to me that they have not invested in an infrastructure that can handle live streaming in my country, so if they are spending less on the technical infrastructure, I think it only fair to charge less for the associated subscriptions.
 

Fiddle Faddle

Member
Aug 7, 2015
548
2
16
Australia
I have had no tech issues for the past 3 years either live or archived.

Thanks. Well that suggests to me that the Australian server cannot cope with live streaming. I know there is no problem at my end since my internet connection consistently runs 24 hours per day about 8 times faster than is required for the Digital Concert Hall. Perhaps the number of customers is too small in Australia for them to invest in something better (this would not surprise me with such a small population). Of course, where you are in the US, I am sure there would be many more customers, as would be the case with Europe.
 

R Johnson

Well-Known Member
Jul 24, 2010
188
43
933
Chicago, Illinois, USA
... though for my money there is nothing as exciting as a truly live concert experience (even if I am watching it on a TV or computer). ...
In my experience with the Met's "Live in HD" operas, your opinion is in the majority. The "Live" Saturday matinee shows are often sold out while the Wednesday evening "Encore" is usually lightly attended.
 

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