Disney+ Hotstar has released a “Watch with your friends” feature that lets user video call friends and family while they watch cricket. This just applies to the IPL, and it is an odd time to release with only 2 matches in which people can watch together when it arrives over the weekend. Now that the technology occurs, it is likely that it can arrive at more cricket or other sports in the coming days, but Disney+ Hotstar has said that it is a special 1-off for IPL till now.
To set this, all users have to do is to hit play on a live IPL match and then click “Start Video Call”. The option is only accessible with their device set in portrait mode, which suggests that they cannot watch the match in full screen. The user will have to add 5 friends with Disney+ Hotstar’s “Watch with your friends”. Once the user’s friends are ready, they will get access to volume knobs for match commentary and their friends’ chats, letting them decide which one the user wishes to prioritize. And if video calling is too demanding, you can simply pick the “audio-only” option.
Precisely, the user can do all of this using a 3rd-party video chat client, but the user may run into synchronization glitches. This is particularly maddening for live sports. It is not fun to have someone who reacts to a wicket or a boundary before the user, as their stream is a few seconds ahead. But fortunately, “Watch with your friends” has taken care of this, synchronizing everyone’s video stream to make sure that everyone is watching the match together.
Image from Disney+ Hotstar
There has been no talk of this feature’s arrival to non-live content though. The Disney+ application has a “GroupWatch” feature that allows users to watch any title on the service with their friends and family.
And whereas Disney+ Hotstar is focused only on social experiences, and live sports could use bells and whistles on the tech side of things. The application has suffered on 3 significant aspects which are bitrate, fps, and resolution. Indian subscription video-on-demand streaming service has averaged only 3Mbps for live sports, which makes the feed lack information and look pixelated on large screens. And it does not have support for 60fps, and it does not provide 4K resolution for sports content.
The star India operated company has said that they understand that the real magic of cricket is active when family and friends are there together, something that is problematic in this pandemic. Also, the product team took on this trial, to offer its users an exceptional social-viewing experience, whilst making sure that the cricket watching experience stays seamless. The new feature will be an exciting thing that can replicate offline behavior effectively, and will persistently modify the way fans experience cricket.
