CNBC on a tablet is way behind normal broadcast

Pekelo

Pekelo

I have been experiencing with using my tablet as a TV display, using the Xfinity Go app.
It is good when you are on the road and there are no cable channels available.

So this morning I figured I put up the tablet vs. the cable broadcast, because there is usually a few seconds delay through the air vs. cable, and I was curious just how big the difference is tablet vs. cable. Guess what, the difference is so big that first I thought they are using 2 different editions. Then I timed the difference and ended up with 70+ seconds.

So this is just a warning, be aware around news releases if you use a tablet that you are way behind the times... :)
 
Pekelo said:
I have been experiencing with using my tablet as a TV display, using the Xfinity Go app.
It is good when you are on the road and there are no cable channels available.

So this morning I figured I put up the tablet vs. the cable broadcast, because there is usually a few seconds delay through the air vs. cable, and I was curious just how big the difference is tablet vs. cable. Guess what, the difference is so big that first I thought they are using 2 different editions. Then I timed the difference and ended up with 70+ seconds.

So this is just a warning, be aware around news releases if you use a tablet that you are way behind the times... :)
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Thanks for that review, it was good timing for me as I was thinking about doing something like that.
 
I timed a couple of different channels and nothing is as bad as CNBC. ABC over the air was 33 seconds behind, MSNBC cable was only 15 seconds. (for comparison ABC over the air vs. cable is 8 seconds)

So I am guessing CNBC could be artificially delayed for business reasons. Like delayed quotes on a chart...
 
I tag CNBC off of the free-streaming sites (which come and go on an irregular basis). I have found that the more reliable the site, the longer the offset from real-time. At the same time, those sites that are more reliable also take more RAM and CPU with their (rather pernicious) ads.

I also listen to local National Public Radio -- if I listen via 'net-streaming, it's a good 5-second count behind the locally-broadcast FM.

I'm enough of a nerd to be fascinated each time I notice it, and picture the paths through which the two signals must travel, *at*lightspeed*, in order to be delayed like that. (Never a dull moment 'round 'ere....)
 
Most of the regular cable channels have a delay of 15 seconds on the tablet, including Bloomberg and Fox Business. The delay on CNBC went down to 25 seconds, but it was still way more than the other 2 business channels.

10-15 secs can be explained by technology, but 60 secs looked like it was done on purpose....
 
Wouldnt be suprised if they are purposely delaying their feed much in the same way some economic numbers are sold off to paying subscribers before it's released to the masses. Kind of makes perfect sense since cnbc has the ability to move markets.

Ps I'm joking but not really.
 
Pekelo said:
I timed a couple of different channels and nothing is as bad as CNBC. ABC over the air was 33 seconds behind, MSNBC cable was only 15 seconds. (for comparison ABC over the air vs. cable is 8 seconds)

So I am guessing CNBC could be artificially delayed for business reasons. Like delayed quotes on a chart...
More...

I sometimes watch my cable TV on my tablet or cell phone...no delays for any cable channel except for very popular events.

Therefore, I'm going to assume you're not talking about CNBC but instead are talking about the mobile CNBC Pro product that is subscription base (extra fee) ?

They have a US live stream, Asia live stream and Europe live stream. I only used the CNBC Pro product in Europe and Asia while having access to regular CNBC. I didn't test the US live stream.

I didn't see any delays but I decided it wasn't worth it. I just wanted to test it out just in case I ended up in the hospital again but this time around I would have my tablet in comparison to not having access to anything the last time.

Yet, once around during peak times of like during big events...I did see a 1 - 2 second delay. I did the same test for regular Bloomberg TV on cable versus Bloomberg on tablet...no delays in US and Europe but the commercials were different...commercials on regular Bloomberg TV versus commercials on the mobile Bloomberg TV app (I believe its still free). Also, I didn't test Bloomberg TV on TV versus Bloomberg TV on a tablet. In contrast, I tested Bloomberg TV versus their mobile content. Both almost the same except for the commercials.

Thus, I'm not sure if you're testing CNBC regular cable versus a special CNBC mobile content like CNBC Pro or if you're talking about CNBC regular cable versus the exact same cable content on your tablet for comparison side by side (tablet on a table next to a TV)...I suspect the latter because if you were talking about the mobile Pro content...you would have mentioned that.

On a side note...I did watch the superbowl on TV and watched it on tablet at the same time. There was about a 30 sec delay and the commercials were exactly the same. In contrast, a friend was watching the superbowl from his tablet and was subscribing to a mobile sports app...

He had different commercials than his regular TV and the mobile app was delayed by about 30 seconds along with the fact that during the game...the TV had different angles of the competition versus the mobile app. That told him that there was a different broadcast (live stream TV crew) by the same company versus their regular cable TV subscriber
 
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talking about the mobile CNBC Pro product
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No. I said Xfinity Go (formerly known as evil Comcast) in the OP, but that was actually replaced back in February and now they call it Xfinity Stream. You have to be a Comcast customer, so it is actually a paid product, buy I guess we could call it a derivative of the original cable service, so I could see that they are delaying it.

My tablet is an old one so that could contribute to the delay, but again, CNBC is more delayed than Bloomberg or Fox Business.

Apparently, others noted this delay too, and it is perfectly normal:

http://forums.xfinity.com/t5/X1/delay-on-live-streaming-tv/td-p/2142088

------------------

What do I gain by using the XFINITY Stream app?
The XFINITY Stream app offers all the live and On Demand TV Everywhere content found in the XFINITY TV Go app - more than 125 live TV channels and thousands of TV shows and movies to watch anywhere, including content you purchase from your TV. The XFINITY Stream app also offers the ability to watch your full lineup of live TV and even more On Demand content while connected to your in-home XFINITY network. Plus, XFINITY X1 customers can watch their DVR content and even download it for offline viewing!

https://www.xfinity.com/support/cable-tv/xfinity-tv-go-app-retirement/
 
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