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High performance events on Twitch require subs for HD, 480p replaced by 360p+

You should never take away things or lock features behind a paywall that your customers are used to, even if it's reasonable (not saying it is in this instance). This is the hard part of monetization, you have to figure out a way to do it that makes people want to give you money without feeling like their hand is being forced due to a compromised experience.

I won't be subscribing.
 
Seeing as it took a thread for people to realize a change that's occurred for a while, I imagine they'll keep on trucking

Well sure, but they are potentially adding millions and millions more eyes onto the service so I wonder if at some point they apply the fee to anything over 380p, personal stream or not. That would really suck.
 

megalowho

Member
Haven't noticed a change from the few things I watch on Twitch. Rarely catch big events on the service but I have no interest in viewing RTS, Fighting or MOBA games at 360p. Too much going on for that resolution.

I look forward to more developers copying and expanding upon Valve's in-game spectator client for Dota 2. As convenient as it is to have a site with different stuff on it, experiences specifically tailored to the game being played sounds like a much more interesting way forward for streaming games.
 
I always found it odd to see 1080p+ streams so I'm pleased they changed that to source.

No 480p though? 360p is the one that needs to go, I can not think when it would be useful. If I'm short of bandwidth 240p is the option to use otherwise 480p or more. 360p does not provide enough of a boost form 240p to be satisfying.

Can't wait for next year when the introduce a zero quality option (144p).

I wonder if they'll do things like more simultaneous viewers of an event, the less the quality available
 

Yasawas

Member
I actually find them quite reliable now (almost always using the iPad app) since they updated it so it actually loaded streams at all about three or four months ago. That they still haven't solved the issue on that where the chat is delayed by about a minute as the stream has to be transcoded for mobile devices is a pain though.

It's like a beta of a good service at this point and yet they're exploiting every avenue they can to scadge together some pennies - make your service work first pls.
 
So could someone explain to me how this effect streamers/viewers?

I do not really get it now, sorry if I sound stupid :O

Without paying to subscribe, you can't watch anything over Medium (if this fucks up Giantbomb's streams I'm gonna be fucking pissed). Try going to Twitch and watching a stream, if you're not subbed to the specific stream, it won't let you watch High/source streams and a screen pops up telling you to pay
 

wrowa

Member
So could someone explain to me how this effect streamers/viewers?

I do not really get it now, sorry if I sound stupid :O

If you don't want to pay, you can only watch their streams in 360p instead of 480p. As easy as that.

Though, going by that tweet I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a permanent change or is just a temporary issue for whatever problem. I honestly don't quite understand the "slang" in the tweet. :p
 

LiK

Member
Twitch live streams have been pretty bad lately. Laggy and stuttery for anything 480 and up anyway. Unless they fix that, giving them money is not worth it.
 
Without paying to subscribe, you can't watch anything over Medium (if this fucks up Giantbomb's streams I'm gonna be fucking pissed). Try going to Twitch and watching a stream, if you're not subbed to the specific stream, it won't let you watch High/source streams and a screen pops up telling you to pay
Wait what its for watching to? WTF twitch WTF :O

Even if you do not watch "big events" but some "normal" streamers you can now NEVER watch in 720p only if you pay.
 

profit

Member
Without paying to subscribe, you can't watch anything over Medium (if this fucks up Giantbomb's streams I'm gonna be fucking pissed). Try going to Twitch and watching a stream, if you're not subbed to the specific stream, it won't let you watch High/source streams and a screen pops up telling you to pay

This is not true for most streams.
I think its exactly the same as his has been for the major tournaments.

Also, this is not Twitch asking money for higher quality streams, its the streamers that implement this option.

Wait what its for watching to? WTF twitch WTF :O

Even if you do not watch "big events" but some "normal" streamers you can now NEVER watch in 720p only if you pay.

Yes you can, but a lot of doomsayers will tell you otherwise though.
 
Wait what its for watching to? WTF twitch WTF :O

Even if you do not watch "big events" but some "normal" streamers you can now NEVER watch in 720p only if you pay.

That I'm not sure, I only use Twitch really to watch GB content and have no idea if they're affected. Don't really follow any "normal" streamers
 
This is not true for most streams.
I think its exactly the same as his has been for the major tournaments.

Also, this is not Twitch asking money for higher quality streams, its the streamers that implement this option.



Yes you can, but a lot of doomsayers will tell you otherwise though.

Hmm you might be right, went back on twitch and clicked some random streams it seems to let you select quality on those streams
 

OTIX

Member
The WCS stream right now only requires subscription for source, it is still free to watch high. If other streams are really going to cap free viewers at 360p then that is absolute bullshit, it's almost unwatchable.

And of course the removal of 480p is terrible news in itself.
 

Veins

Unconfirmed Member
Misleading title.

There are 2 types of subscriptions on Twitch.

Some streams (usually high-production tournament events) have required that you subscribe to their stream, to access 720p and up. In this scenario, the highest res you were able to get for free was 480p. Since there is now no longer a 480p transcode, the best you will be able to get is 360p. The vast majority of streams on Twitch on any given day are not these types of events with this subscription model.

The vast majority of streamer on Twitch are individuals. They often have subscriptions you can purchase too. However, from most cases I've seen, they dont lock HD resoultions behind the subscription paywall, instead they tend to offer things like the ability to chat, or custom chat icons etc. In this situation, your resolution options will remain unchanged (unless you specifically liked watching at 480p).
 

Coolwhip

Banned
I get that it costs Twitch truckloads of money to let idiots like sodapoppin stream 24/7 but bait and switch is bad.
 

dave is ok

aztek is ok
Good. Hopefully more game will use in-client spectating like Dota 2 has. I don't understand why I can spectate my friends playing LoL but I can't watch tournament matches.
 
Misleading title.

There are 2 types of subscriptions on Twitch.

Some streams (usually high-production tournament events) have required that you subscribe to their stream, to access 720p and up. In this scenario, the highest res you were able to get for free was 480p. Since there is now no longer a 480p transcode, the best you will be able to get is 360p. The vast majority of streams on Twitch on any given day are not these types of events with this subscription model.

The vast majority of streamer on Twitch are individuals. They often have subscriptions you can purchase too. However, from most cases I've seen, they dont lock HD resoultions behind the subscription paywall, instead they tend to offer things like the ability to chat, or custom chat icons etc. In this situation, your resolution options will remain unchanged (unless you specifically liked watching at 480p).
THIS should be in the OP, that really helps and explains the story very well.

Ok so as long as the streamer allows you to watch 720p you can still do that for free.
 

eznark

Banned
Wow that basically kills any excitement I had for console Twitch integration. And that was like the most exciting thing to me. Fucking lame.
 

patapuf

Member
Misleading title.

There are 2 types of subscriptions on Twitch.

Some streams (usually high-production tournament events) have required that you subscribe to their stream, to access 720p and up. In this scenario, the highest res you were able to get for free was 480p. Since there is now no longer a 480p transcode, the best you will be able to get is 360p. The vast majority of streams on Twitch on any given day are not these types of events with this subscription model.

The vast majority of streamer on Twitch are individuals. They often have subscriptions you can purchase too. However, from most cases I've seen, they dont lock HD resoultions behind the subscription paywall, instead they tend to offer things like the ability to chat, or custom chat icons etc. In this situation, your resolution options will remain unchanged (unless you specifically liked watching at 480p).

So, the big change is that they removed the 480p option? Strange decision but whatever.
 
OP is very misleading.
There were streams that required you to pay for HD content before. The only thing that changes is that the best free option is now 360p instead of 480p. Other channels are not affected.

That sucks, but from reading the title I thought they rolled out "pay for HD" for every channel.
 

Double D

Member
I only use twitch to attempt to watch GiantBomb's stuff. I say attempt because i can only actually watch it about 30% of the time.
 

profit

Member
THIS should be in the OP, that really helps and explains the story very well.

Ok so as long as the streamer allows you to watch 720p you can still do that for free.
Agreed.
As I said before, it is not Twitch who asks for money for watching on a certain quality, it is the streamer who makes that decision.
So, the big change is that they removed the 480p option? Strange decision but whatever.
Well its not that they removed the option. They just wanted to simplify the entire quality thing.

Twitch said:
We’ll soon be changing our transcode labels from 240p/360p/etc, to “Low,” “Medium,” and “High.” Live (the actual quality set in your broadcast software) will continue being an option on web as long as partners are sending us an excellent quality stream, and will be renamed to “Source.” This is for a number of reasons, primarily to unify the Twitch experience across all platforms. We also want to shift viewers away from the idea that broadcasting at a higher resolution (without considering bitrates, framerates, hardware resources, etc) automatically translates to higher quality, which is what the current labels tend to do. Traditionally lower-res broadcasters, such as those in the speedrunning and retro gaming communities, should find this change especially beneficial as they’ll be receiving three transcodes regardless of their resolution.

There’s also the fact that we currently have two different transcode systems: one for web, and another for mobile. This means that, at the moment, we’re transcoding your streams twice, resulting in twice the work. By moving to this new system, and consolidating our transcodes, we’ll be on a singular video network, and the capacity that was being spent on transcoding twice can then be freed up for other vital needs.

Source
 

Archie

Second-rate Anihawk
I'm watching AdmiralBulldog's stream on the highest quality for free right now.

Is this only for stuff like MLG and OGN that already required a subscription?
 
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