Is Apple’s new TV show, WeCrashed, actually a documentary on the company’s first broadcast of a Major League Baseball game?
You could excuse some fans from thinking that this morning after Apple TV+’s debut stream of an MLB game last night crashed repeatedly in the third and fourth innings of the New York Mets-Washington Nationals game. The screen suddenly shifted back and forth from the action to an error message that said, “Video Not Available.”
Considering that Apple TV+ was showing the game exclusively as part of a new Friday night doubleheader deal with Major League Baseball, the technical glitch, which is still common for high-profile live streaming events, was met with great derision on social media sites. Fans had no other way to watch the game which featured the Mets’ Max Scherzer’s return to Nationals Park after pitching for the Nationals for nearly seven years.
A single crash for Apple TV’s MLB debut will overshadow whatever else they show tonight, for better or worse.
— ✏️Jacob Feldman (@JacobFeldman4) April 9, 2022
Damn you, live streaming!!!! #AppleTV+ pic.twitter.com/MerOoIBYwG
— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) April 9, 2022
Apple TV+’s first ever MLB broadcast crashing, thereby playing into the exact fears leagues and fans have with sports migrating* to streaming platforms, is poetic.
*This will get better in time.
— julia alexander (@loudmouthjulia) April 9, 2022
As Julia Alexander suggested, live streaming continues to experience technical headaches with viewers often complaining of buffering and/or crashing while watching during highly viewed events such as the World Series, Super Bowl and season-ending episodes. As sports leagues issue more exclusive contracts to streamers, the problem could actually get worse before it gets better. More viewers means more strain on servers which can trigger meltdowns.
But Apple TV+’s stream did seem to stabilize after the fourth inning although the Nationals’ pitching did not, allowing the Mets to win going away, 7-3. But the two-inning snafu did indeed overshadow a broadcast that otherwise would have been known as one that delivered an exceptional picture.
Apple has not commented on whether the game was streamed in 4K, (I asked multiple times), but many fans remarked on Twitter and elsewhere that the picture was very detailed and crisp, far more so than your typical HD presentation. It appeared from this veteran eye that the stream was 1080p (the highest level HD), a conclusion held by some other industry watchers. But some people seemed ready to swear on Bibles that it was 4K. That’s how good the picture was.
What did you think of the Apple TV+ picture? Comment below.
Editor’s Note: WeCrashed is actually an Apple TV+ series starring Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway as high-flying entrepreneurs whose company collapses due to hubris. In case you were wondering.
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@tvanswerman
Was interesting. I was watching Nats vs Mets on Comcast/Xfinity, LG TV AppleTV+ app. When the streaming trouble started I grabbed my IPad after the TV stream had crashed several times. No problem whatsoever on iPad while TV continued to pixalate and freeze momentarily for a couple of innings. Both connected to same home wifi.
It was a shit show and the announcers made it like watching a baseball game with the audio of The View in the background. They also came back from a commercial break after some pitches were thrown. These exclusives are just another example of how bad the MLB has become under Commissioner Rob Manfred.
Yes like the View or Mystery Science Theater 3000. Non Stop Yapping
Watching the Dodger game on Jackie Robinson Day. OMG these people are terrible, as described above. They have nothing at all to say about the game we’re watching. Total nincompoops, and I’m just learning about the game myself. We have muted the sound and are listening to the radio broadcast, which is 10 seconds ahead of the tv picture—but still it is preferable to listening to those airheads.
The second game (Angels/Astros), picture was not as good. SD at best.
Nah, something was wrong with your stream, Rex. I watched the last couple innings of the latter game and its picture was excellent, HD/nearly-4K quality as described in the above article.
I found the picture grainy and not as good as MLB.TV on same Sony TV. But the announcing team was annoying. They were more interested in yakking among themselves than calling game or imparting useful information.Plus they never stopped to relish a particular moment.
Yes, it was worth the headache of the glitches.. Beautiful picture!
I was surprised that Apple did not try to show the game with a different slant…using stats on stream or offering the option for comments or just something different. I also was surprised to see commercials as Apple has been so anti commercial. Of if commercials offer the advertiser different ways to communicate i.e. longer format by pressing for more information, coupons, etc.
I myself am tired of the same camera angles year after year. How about something different occasionally like a shot from the dugout showing the pitcher on one side of the screen and the batter/catcher/ump on the other side. They do show that but always cut to the boring shot from center field just as the pitch is being thrown. Or outfield cameras at field level so it looks like we’re sitting front row instead of in the upper deck. I should direct baseball game broadcasts, dammit!!
Unfortunately I was unable to watch the Apple TV+ free games on Friday, April 8 on Roku. I could not figure out how to create an Apple ID. I finally figured out how to create an Apple ID two days later, but I also need an iTunes account just to log into the Apple TV+ Roku App. I am an Android phone user. I have no way to create an iTunes account even though I have an Apple ID now. Thankfully I have MLB Audio with the Big Inning and MLB Network on Sling TV so I at least have live look ins of the Apple TV+ games on Fridays and every MLB game Live Radio broadcast.
The picture was fantastic. The graphics were okay, but minimalist. Along with pause, rewind, fast-forward, and replay not being an option, there was no scrolling scores or stats anywhere. Baseball is a game of stats and they’re important to have displayed. But aside from the technology, let’s talk about the announcers. In my 48 years of watching baseball, I’ve never experienced such poor commentary. The commentators talked way too much, they were off topic for 90% of the broadcast, and they sounded like they didn’t know a thing about baseball. There were way too many commentators in that booth. At most you need two really good announcers, one for play-by-play call and another for color commentary. Apple put THREE people in the booth at once and then ANOTHER one on the field! Consequently, all you could hear was the uninformed bantering of the announcers through the ENTIRE game. They would not shut up. It was like listening to people in the stands who were attending their first ever MLB game and they had no idea how the game was played so they just talked gossip with each other. Just atrocious. They should fire every one of those announcers and hire a replacement crew.
Thank you for your comment — I agree wholeheartedly! I seriously felt like the announcers had just been randomly picked up off the street. There was no coherence to anything they said in terms of how it related to the game. It was the absolute worst commentating of a baseball game I think I have ever seen. I would not watch another of these games for this exact reason, even if I paid for Apple TV!
The pictures were pretty, and I thought the minimalist graphics still told me most everything I needed to know and looked modern. The probability stats in the bottom-right corner of the screen were goofy though and inadvertently told us more about the pitfalls of analytics – in one case the “out” probability went from a percentage in the 40s or 50s to 4% after the batter took a second strike. But all of that was overridden by the absolutely terrible announce team, a couple of whom probably should have never been put in that situation to begin with, and a couple of others who were not ready for prime time. I canceled my Apple TV subscription a few months ago because of not enough good content and too much bad/woke content. Getting it to work again without paying in order to watch this free game took a lot of gymnastics and navigating through several screens of unclear choices. MLB needs to do much better, and the best thing they could do is let this deal with Apple expire and not renew it.
The picture quality on my TV for the Dodger game was horrible. It was very dark. The night before game on the Dodger network was very clear. Should not have to adjust anything when the games are on Apple TV. Want to know who I can complain to. Glad I didn’t have to pay to watch it. Very disappointed