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Apple event stream marred by serious technical problems
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NewsPoster
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Sep 9, 2014, 03:29 PM
 
Apple's just-concluded press event in Cupertino was hampered by severe technical problems with online streaming, widespread accounts say. Before the presentation even began, viewers reported hearing multiple songs playing simultaneously. The event itself was hampered by video repeatedly stalling, looping, or simply dropping out entirely, in some cases cutting to bars with a "TV Truck" schedule display on top. For a good portion of the event, people who could successfully tune in heard a mix of English with Chinese translation dubbed over top. At certain points, the entire Apple website displayed an "Access Denied" message.

The company is facing fierce criticism on social media. North American restaurant chain Denny's has already posted a parody on Twitter, making fun of the "TV Truck" graphic.

The problems represent some of the worst Apple has ever experienced when streaming an event. Although the company's servers are often hammered with traffic, the content itself is usually unfazed. Today's event was especially significant, given the unveiling of the Apple Watch, Apple Pay, and the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.


( Last edited by NewsPoster; Sep 16, 2014 at 07:37 AM. )
     
ricardogf
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Sep 9, 2014, 03:46 PM
 
WORST keynote ever - and underwhelming launches to boot.
Mac OS X: Because Windows Sucks
     
Fonejacker
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Sep 9, 2014, 04:05 PM
 
I had all of the above. Really, really bad on the tech side, but I guess half the planet was tuning in, web traffic etc. Loved the watch. Loved the iPhone, but not the same advancement as previous models, but will sell in the millions and be number 1, and deservedly so. Great software improvements. Guess it's incremental improvements, what next? Apple Pay should be great with an iPhone 6 or Apple Watch, plus the hotel door usage. I would hate to be the competition, with mass resignations from their tech and sales staff.
     
myramoki
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Sep 9, 2014, 04:14 PM
 
WORST stream ever! Excitement quickly turned to frustration and anger pretty quickly. Not a good way to intro the next big thing.
     
iphonerulez
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Sep 9, 2014, 05:12 PM
 
It was pretty horrible streaming in the beginning. Stalls, freezes, Chinese voiceover, blank screen, denied access. For me, everything cleared up when the AppleWatch segment began. I was able to watch it straight through to the end from that point. I was really freaked out at the start of the keynote because I thought my computer or router was at fault when I saw access denied. I had really set my heart on watching the entire keynote but I figured I could watch it later when Apple put it up for watching. No big deal but the streaming process really did suck. I also thought the possibility of overloaded streaming servers, but I thought Apple should easily be able to handle the capacity. Whatever, it's done now. I have to wait until next year to get an AppleWatch Sports. I have no choice, so I put up with it.
     
DiabloConQueso
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Sep 9, 2014, 05:36 PM
 
I wouldn't doubt it if this streaming event was Apple's initial production run of one of their new datacenters or content management systems.
     
svencito
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Sep 9, 2014, 05:53 PM
 
Somebody should get fired for this poor technical performance!
     
sibeale1
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Sep 9, 2014, 07:37 PM
 
In other news, the armageddon arrived and hell froze over. Get real, it's only a rollout.
     
msuper69
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Sep 9, 2014, 07:58 PM
 
It was pretty bizarre for a while. I was getting live audio while viewing random video clips from earlier parts of the keynote. I thought I was perhaps having a flashback for a moment. Rebooting the ATV fixed that problem but the network dropouts, stalls, etc. continued. It did clear up after a while.
     
cebritt
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Sep 9, 2014, 10:44 PM
 
Bacon? They had bacon? I missed the bacon. Rats!
     
sgginc
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Sep 10, 2014, 04:25 AM
 
I looked forward to this for a week.
Epic fail.

I thought Apple covered all eventualities.
For such an important event this was complete failure.

I missed a lot of it.
Very unhappy.
     
sunman42
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Sep 10, 2014, 01:01 PM
 
....by watching the recorded presentation on Apple's Website, but even that stalled near the end of Phil Schiller's iPhone discussion. I hadn't realized until then that the optical stabilization is only in the 6+, not the 6, and likewise for the Web scaling/Chat and Mail column display. Glad the focus pixels, &c. are common to both models, another distinction I would never have known without digging down into the Apple Website.

I wish I had a pocket large enough to put the 6+ in, but I don't like the idea of sitting on my phone.

And yes, I had the Mandarin overdub, very short viewing times between lockouts, and the same experience on both the Apple TV and an iPad. I ended up watching C|NET's live glib-fest coverage, which at least kept up with the content, even if it didn't show it.... and even if the three hipster commentators acted as though they'd never heard the term "crown" for the winding/setting knob on an analog watch, or that "dial" refers to an analog watch's face. Have people really never seen or owned an analog watch? Guess I'll have to sell the horse and buggy.
     
chucker
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Sep 12, 2014, 09:42 AM
 
Yep, "big pockets" are definitely what you need to be an apple follower
     
   
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