European Championships via stream or TV: How can I watch the football game in the sharpest way?

Today at 6 p.m. our national team will play against Hungary in the European Championship. And if it turns out to be as goal-scoring as it was against Scotland, some people will be annoyed again. But only because the cheers are already coming from the apartment next door – even though they don't yet know that a goal has been scored.

Others may be frustrated because the image is blurry or even “freezes”. The decisive factor for the Football fun in the living room at home is how the TV signal reaches the end device. This is because cable TV, satellite TV, DVB-T2 or Internet TV have different transmission times and also picture quality.

Quantity beats quality

Streaming in particular causes problems from time to time because internet servers have limited capacity. When millions of people see the same thing It can be quite jerky when watching TV via the Internet (IPTV).

To ensure that the image does not “freeze” during streaming, providers therefore buy EM According to their own statements, they are using additional bandwidth from network operators.

And when it comes to the speed of the transmission, the values are spread over a wide range. While the ARD/ZDF media library is fast, other apps, for example on smart TVs, are rather slow. Measurement of the computer magazine “c't” out of here.

50 second delay after the goal

If someone watches football on their smart TV using the app “Joyn”, it can take a good 50 seconds until the goal is finally scored on the screen. Users of an Amazon Fire TV stick are 4.5 to 44 seconds behind cable TV, depending on the app used.

While the stadium is already celebrating, Joyn is still discussing – Infographic

If you want to watch the live stream on your notebook or PC, the fastest way to do so is to use the ARD and ZDF offerings in your browser. However, when checked, their signal took about 2 to 6 seconds longer than the satellite image.

Cable TV is 1.5 seconds ahead of satellite TV and three to four seconds ahead of antenna reception. According to “c't”, the reason for this is that cable network operator Vodafone transmits the TV signal faster from the stadium via fiber optics.

How does the picture get into the TV?

Because no matter how quickly the goals fall, the road to the TV screen is long. From the camera it goes into an OB van, from there via internet line or satellite to the TV station. It processes the signal, sends it to the next satellite and from there the signal then takes a short detour on earth to the next satellite, which then makes it receivable as a TV signal.