Did MLB.com's video player strike out on opening day?
Some subscribers of Major League Baseball's streaming-video service are complaining that the new player, powered by Adobe Flash, isn't ready for the big leagues.
After receiving plenty of favorable reviews from technology blogs, some MLB.com subscribers have complained about stuttering and stalling video while watching on Monday, opening day for baseball. Some of the same problems continued on Tuesday, according to reports. Subscribers of MLB.com's GameDay Audio service also reported that archived games haven't been accessible since Monday.
The irony is that Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM), the unit that oversees the streaming service, discontinued using Microsoft's Silverlight player because of chronic glitches and disagreements over how the player should function, CNET reported on Monday. In the story, Bob Bowman, CEO of MLBAM declined to go into detail about why he dropped Microsoft but said baseball is engaged in an ongoing dispute with Microsoft "because of the significant problems" the league encountered last year.
"I wonder how long before Adobe gets the boot," Timothy Thorson told CNET. Thorson said he is a longtime MLB.com subscriber and listens to the games from his home in Germany, where he works as a pianist and translator. "Baseball is one of the things I miss most about the U.S. There are others like me who get up in the morning and want to listen to the game and now we can't."
The glitches affected less than 1 percent of the company's 500,000 subscribers and were not caused by Adobe's player, said Matt Gould, MLBAM's spokesman. Gould added that as of Wednesday evening, eight games were in progress and three were completed and there were no complaints. "We didn't bat 1.000 on opening day, but there are 2,200 games remaining in the major league season. We look forward to providing the most engaging high-def experience for our subscribers."
Adobe said in a statement: "We've been in regular contact with MLB.com, and have heard nothing but praise about the Flash platform."
Gould said the malfunctions were relatively minor and were far fewer and less severe than last season, when many subscribers were unable to even log in. That was when MLB.com was using Silverlight. Gould said that delivering true high-definition streaming video is a complex task and baseball is only now working out the kinks because it couldn't fully test the video feeds from major league ballparks until opening day. Teams don't play in their home stadiums during spring training.
"We've had very small window to do end-to-end testing," Gould said.
As I discussed the situation with Gould on the phone, Charlie Wagner, a CNET photographer overheard me. He told me he was prevented from seeing a ninth-inning rally by his favorite team, the Minnesota Twins, Tuesday night when his MLB.com video player broke down.
"The video froze on me in the ninth inning," said Wagner, who has subscribed to the service for three years. "I couldn't see the finish until ESPN came on... I was mad."
Despite the problems, he Wagner said he thinks the picture quality is better.
As for Silverlight, the company declined to comment but on a blog post, Steve Sklepowich, a Microsoft executive, did challenge one of Bowman's assertions about Adobe. Bowman suggested that Adobe was a better fit for baseball because of Flash's wide consumer adoption.
"While Flash 9 may have high penetration," Sklepowich wrote, "the Swarmcast NexDef plug-in that helps power MLB's HD experience has virtually no adoption. Ubiquity here is a red herring. What customers really want are high quality solutions. Silverlight has been doing that since its inception and already supports the ability to deliver true HD using IIS Smooth Streaming with no additional plug-in required."
Perhaps Bowman described the situation best this week when he said that streaming video on the Web isn't as trustworthy yet as television. "You turn on the TV and it just works," he said. "(Internet video) still has a ways to go."
Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. He is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. E-mail Greg, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sandoCNET. 
You can code a good Player with Flash / Silverlight and you can make a Player that doesn't function properly using either technology. I've been making them for a living for the past 3 years (dsc.discovery.com/videos) and, like any piece of software, it's easier to get wrong than right - but it definitely can be done right using Flash. I assume the same for Silverlight.
If it's not working properly, they just need a better geek.
The "special" Silverlight update for MLB.TV last year was a complete joke. No other Silverlight using web site recognized the update, like CNN Video, so you had to re-load the previous version of Silverlight to watch other video (Microsoft's suggestion!) then load the "special" version to watch MLB.TV again. Yeah, I'm going to take the time to do that. NOT.
Kudos to Bob Bowman and MLBAM for making the switch to a more stable environment. Last year I spent a week in MLB.TV's discussion forums working out issues. This year, I've just watched MLB.TV.
It's freaking opening day! Let's hear how its going in a bout a month, okay? What a lame hit piece done at the behest of Ballmer.
I subscribe to hear the Cubs on WGN radio. So far this year there has not been a SINGLE Cubs home game on MLB.com, so that means no archive either.
Also, the Silverlight fiasco last year was pretty bad. I could never seem to get it working well. Possibly it was my hatred of all things Microsoft, but adding Silverlight seemed to bog down my computer. I quickly removed it and used the Classic Player.
Its called competition stop being so anti-microsoft for one day.
Didn't Flash update to v. 10 at MS? I've been using it for close to 3 months already and I have several friends who just updated to v. 10 a month ago after being prompted on Youtube.
I agree that Silverlight was bad, but I hadn't heard of anyone having trouble with the Windows Media Player version in previous years. I'm not sure why they had to change Gameday Audio.
This thing is really the pits. I am back to hearing the the games on local am radio. Hey MLB.com. You struck out again......Worst product on the internet.
the spokesman told me that there isn't anyone staffing video or other important functions in the stadiums until opening day. Just an FYI
I'm convinced this video player will be the best once the kinks are ironed out, BUT.......the audio player in archive mode is almost unusable, and sadly i'm not exaggerating.
Listening live, maybe no problem. But with games at 3am UK time almost all my listening is archived. There is no fast forward, rewind, pause or indeed any other user controllable function. not even a timer to let you know how long the archive lasts or show elapsed or remaining time. So unless you can set aside at least 4 hours without being disturbed, you're out of luck.
In archived mode It is, in effect, a car without a steering wheel.
The failings are so fundimental as to be shocking. Has no-one heard as consumer testing?
I agree with bray_john and stwheeler concerning the apparent sacrifice of Gameday Audio for the MLB.tv options. One can tell based on the layout of the player and its options (or lack thereof) that it is geared for video subscribers. The lack of controls for archived audio is very shortsighted. Having been a Gameday Audio subscriber for over five years, I would have been happy to beta test Gameday Audio for the new player. Based on other comments from the MLB Support forum, I don't believe this player was adequately tested.
Mr. Sandoval, thanks for bringing attention to this matter. I hope this article will help ensure the folks at MLB work to rectify the issues for all of its subscribers.
MLB's removal of its entire informative blog is inexcusable. Many loyal subscribers had supplied helpful comments during the extended beta test. Bad judgment on MLB's part.
Who ever heard of a media player without basic navigation controls?
Visit the MLB.TV video and Gameday audio support forums* to see how "satisfied" their customers are. There are calls for class-action lawsuits, the elimination of media blackouts, the repeal of MLB's antitrust exemption and the firing of Bob Bowman. The MLB.TV fiasco is turning into a MAJOR embarrassment for MLB.
* http://www.mlbsupport.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=1
Goulds comments that the problems were rare and minor goes beyond marketing spin and into the realm of outright lying. The problems were widespread and involved MANY games plus when the audio feed was actually up and running the player would then cut out every 20 minutes or so and require a person to shut it down and restart it ... again looking at the 'support' forums it wasn't just me so ... as CS tried to tell me again ... it likely Was NOT my system or inadequate capabilities etc etc etc
From Gould's comments it is clear to see where Customer Support gets their direction and philosophy ... blame the customer first hopefully they'll go away or the problem will magically fix itselt.
Congress? It's time to break up MLB's illegal broadcast monopoly over the game of baseball! A little competiveness might result in actual service and a usable product ... ironically for making that comment in the support forum I was 'warned' to stop making insulting posts. STOP THE MLB Broadcast MONOPOLY!
- by Monkeydoes April 14, 2009 6:57 PM PDT
- As a footnote .. tonight after one half inning between the Cards and DBacks the Adobe Audio Player did what Matt Gould says it doesn't do and simply cut out and went dead requiring the window to be closed and going back to the media center and restarting the audio.
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(23 Comments)In the for what it's worth column ... the Adobe flash player has <not> malfunctioned for every single game I have <not> listened to since opening day including <not> tonight too.