Forum Discussion

Web-Junkie's avatar
Web-Junkie
Up to speed
30 days ago

Sky Sports constantly buffering through browser?

So another problem that's now reared it's ugly head, using TVGO on Windows to watch Sky Sports redirects you to Skys website, once logged in and the program starts it's plagued by buffering issues as the picture freezes and a spinning circle appears and stays there! Seeing as Sky has now deprecated the Desktop Player (which worked fine) and has now restricted you to 1 user, the experience is absolutely shocking and this is on an i5 laptop, 16GB Ram, 256GB SSD and Windows 11 Pro using Edge Browser!

Tried wired and wireless, same issue, router is in the same room and 5 feet from the laptop i'm using!

Have to constantly refresh the page to start watching again, which results in the sound muted for some reason so you have to waste time unmuting it and adjusting the volume then go fullscreen, only to have it buffer a few minutes later!

In 45 minutes of watching the current 1st half of Ipswich v Sheffield United I've managed to miss 10 or so minutes as it's buffered 12 times and forced me to refresh the page, even when it's playing in a small window on Skys site it still buffers!!

If programs throwing up 'Unavailable' while watching through TVGO wasn't bad enough, we now have 'buffering' on Sky Sports website just to rub salt in!!

Who else is having this issue and when will it be fixed?

Is there any wonder people use pirate streams when they can't even watch what they have legitimately paid for!!

13 Replies

  • broughsie's avatar
    broughsie
    Joining in
    29 days ago

    Having the same issue. On the plus side, the picture quality is better than it used to be.

    • Web-Junkie's avatar
      Web-Junkie
      Up to speed
      29 days ago

      Well, when you are looking at a static picture while it's buffering it probably does look better!!

      Currently watching West Ham v Tottenham, did start watching from about 17:05pm and now 10 minutes into the game it's not buffered (yet) in that time!

  • s9750's avatar
    s9750
    On our wavelength
    29 days ago

    Trying to watch Bayern game and have missed all 4 goals because of this problem. Does it no longer go onto the player and just play from the website?

     

    • Web-Junkie's avatar
      Web-Junkie
      Up to speed
      29 days ago

      The Desktop Player is no longer being used so uninstall it!

       I've just watched the whole of the West Ham v Tottenham game through my browser and it never buffered once so go figure why last night I couldn't watch Ipswich v Sheffield United without numerous buffering instances so I gave up and didn't watch the 2nd half because of the buffering during the 1st half!

  • s9750's avatar
    s9750
    On our wavelength
    29 days ago

    Cheers, Couldn't watch the Bayern game so switched to the Spurs one and it played fine, confusing, or what.

    • Web-Junkie's avatar
      Web-Junkie
      Up to speed
      28 days ago

      Exactly, why did West Ham v Tottenham and Brentford v Chelsea play without buffering but the previous night a Championship game was unwatchable because of buffering?

      Maybe Sky prioritise traffic for Premier League streams? Will find out when Championship side Southampton play Portsmouth at noon!!

      • broughsie's avatar
        broughsie
        Joining in
        28 days ago

        I think it's an issue with any stream other than Main Event as I've just watched the 1st half of Southampton Portsmouth on it with no issues, then switched to Football HD and got the same buffering issues as yesterday. I also watched West Ham Spurs and Brentford Chelsea without buffering, and I think they were both on Main Event.

  • Web-Junkie's avatar
    Web-Junkie
    Up to speed
    28 days ago

    So now it's buffering when watching Sky Sports Football!

    Just watched 1st half of Southampton v Portsmouth on Sky Sports Main Event without any buffering but because that is now streaming the Burnley v Liverpool game i've had to switch to Sky Sports Football to watch the 2nd half and it's now buffering and also throwing up "An error has occurred, refresh the page" so it's unwatchable and the stream is very jerky not smooth like streaming Sky Sports Main Event!

    So is this buffering problem a 'Sky Sports Football Exclusive'?

    Can someone from Virgin escalate this please as it's simply unacceptable and not getting the service I am paying for!

    • Vikki_M's avatar
      Vikki_M
      Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
      27 days ago

      Hi Web-Junkie,

      Thanks for your post and welcome back to our community. 

      We're sorry you're having some issues when watching Sky Sports on TV GO.

      Can you try this when connected to our WiFi please and then connected via mobile data, and let us know if you have the same issue?

      Please pop back to us when you can. 

      • Web-Junkie's avatar
        Web-Junkie
        Up to speed
        26 days ago

        I don't have a mobile capable of internet and it buffers on my laptop even when using wired or wireless! Other people in this thread have noted as well as myself that streaming on Main Event seems OK but Sky Sports Football suffers buffering and i've also noted jerky picture and errors about refreshing the page on that channel as well.

        Just been watching Cricket via Sky Sports website and it threw up a an error asking me to refresh the page and try again so switched to Youtube and now watching the AFC Elite League without any buffering/refresh problems as I can't watch a Sky channel I pay for!

  • mc09779's avatar
    mc09779
    Tuning in
    28 days ago

    I'm having the exact same problem for the last week with Sky Sports, Windows 11 latest build, Edge Browser latest build, after a few minutes the stream freezes showing the buffering symbol. Reload the page and it starts playing again muted for another random number of minutes. 

    What happened to the old app that was launched through the browser? It was a pain to log into and the picture was very low bitrate, but at least it worked for the duration of an event!

  • DoctorPhibes's avatar
    DoctorPhibes
    Joining in
    28 days ago

    Same here today and was the same last week.  Trying to watch the alternative NFL game on Sky Sports+ and it freezes with the need to refresh approx every 5-10 mins