Eir Sports Stream - technical question

Johnboy1951

Eir makes available their sports channels to all broadband customers without charge.
Unfortunately there are technical limits for receiving these channels.

For instance only one browser in each of two operating systems are capable of displaying the streams ...... "you must use IE11 for Windows PCs or Safari for MacOS" with the Silverlight plugin.

OK, that is fairly clear. Users of other browsers or operating systems without Silverlight are excluded by the limitations.

The situation regarding the Android app (which is also available) for receiving the streams is much less defined.
Apparently it works on Android phones and some other devices - maybe.

I have been unable to determine what 'other devices'; to find a list of compatible devices; or to otherwise get some detail about the limitations that would allow one to purchase a suitable device in the full knowledge that the app will work on it.

Best I can find is this

Note: Some lower end Android devices are not supported including those devices with the following chipsets: MediaTek, Intel (some models of x86) & RockChip

From the bottom of this page
https://www.eir.ie/support/eir-sport/how-to-watch-eir-sport/

I understand the app is intended primarily for phones, but the implication here is that it should work also in some other devices (or more accurately not work in some devices?).

Can anyone here add any useful information?
I tried the Eir talk to but got nowhere.
https://www.boards.ie/ttfpost/105425245

To put it in more practical terms ...... can this app work in any device other than a phone and if so how can one determine beforehand if a device is compatible? (Note that the quote above mentions 'devices' and not specifically phones.)

ED E

Itll either be hardware h264 decoding or some kind of HDCP/similar protection thats a mandatory requirement.

If you can find a few people who couldnt run it then you'll know.

Johnboy1951

ED E wrote: »

Itll either be hardware h264 decoding or some kind of HDCP/similar protection thats a mandatory requirement.

If you can find a few people who couldnt run it then you'll know.

From what little I have heard, the app refuses to install on some devices, rather than fail to run correctly.

ED E

It may be worth sideloading to see if that works, but really it seems like a dire app. Just like Silverlight managed to somehow suck more than Flash.

Johnboy1951

ED E wrote: »

It may be worth sideloading to see if that works, but really it seems like a dire app. Just like Silverlight managed to somehow suck more than Flash.

I agree with your sentiments on Silverlight, with the added frustration that with it MS deliberately kept other OSs from accessing content that used it.
All part of their 'master plan'.
I am very glad it, for the most part, has now failed ..... with the exception of a few like Setanta/Eir.

Anyway, sideloading an app, even if it worked would not really help with what I am trying to get at, I think.

I would like to know how the app decides whether it will install or not .... or is it some 'decision' that is taken before the app can be even downloaded. If so how is that implemented?

This is not really for any practical application, but more for knowledge about how they make such decisions.

ED E

Devs can select for features in the Play Store. Google play services reports device info to the store so can filter you in and out. Thats how Netflix doesnt appear on rooted phones (but can be sideloaded).

Its not that it wont install, its that it wont install from the play store - in most cases. That I know of APKs dont contain any install checks other than the perms in the manifest (read contacts etc).

Johnboy1951

ED E wrote: »

Devs can select for features in the Play Store. Google play services reports device info to the store so can filter you in and out. Thats how Netflix doesnt appear on rooted phones (but can be sideloaded).

Its not that it wont install, its that it wont install from the play store - in most cases. That I know of APKs dont contain any install checks other than the perms in the manifest (read contacts etc).

Thanks for that info.
I know nothing of Android and sideloading .... or how to do it.

So the checks would be done at the Store to prevent the app being downloaded to 'unapproved' devices. That seems clear enough ..... and the parameters for that decisions would be determined by the app owners (I guess) and applied by Google Store when a user attempts to install the app.

Is there anything 'dodgy' about sideloading such an app?
I understand it might not work or work badly and even corrupt something .... but is it a legal grey area to sideload an app like the Eir app?

On the same tack, how would a user of an unapproved device even get hold of the app to sideload it if they cannot download it from the store?

I must read up on sideloading now, but I expect one would need root privileges to 'sideload' an app?

Thanks for all the info and help.
As I said Android is unknown to me, so this is a bit of a learning curve .... never thought much about this previously.

Johnboy1951

I did a few tests using the Eir sports app.
(I do have eir sports on a Sky STB as I am an eir customer and got a box free from a relative)

Sideloading is not much more than installing the app after allowing outside apps to be installed.
Much more simple than I expected.

I attempted to log in using my eir credentials but failed.
It threw the following error

... your account is not eligible to use this app. Check our FAQs on line for valid account types.

So it appears there are other hoops to jump through also.
I have failed to find out what is meant by 'valid account type' in this context.

I wonder is it necessary to have a mobile account with eir to use the app?

Apparently they are doing some other check, but again I have no idea what it might be.

This is fun!

ED E

With eir vision there is a number of authorized devices. Not sure if that applies to the sport app but it might.

Johnboy1951

ED E wrote: »

With eir vision there is a number of authorized devices. Not sure if that applies to the sport app but it might.

Is there a list of authorised devices somewhere?

Thanks.

I still don't know what an 'eligible account' is though

Johnboy1951

I have failed to find any further information relevant to my search.

Last chance ..... is anyone using the eir sports app on a device which is NOT a phone?

If yes, could you please provide some device details as that might help indicate where the device limitations are. Thanks.

Of course any info about this weird 'eligible account' would be appreciated also.

Sparko

I'm using it on an Nvidia Shield.

https://www.nvidia.co.uk/buy/shield/shield-tv-16-gb/

Johnboy1951

Sparko wrote: »

I'm using it on an Nvidia Shield.

https://www.nvidia.co.uk/buy/shield/shield-tv-16-gb/

Thanks for the info.

How did you install the app? ...... did you need to sideload it?

Any other info that might help discover the limitations imposed for the app?

Sparko

Yes, sideloaded the mobile app.

Can't think of anything else that could help, sorry.

Johnboy1951

I successfully loaded the app, and logged in using my credentials this morning.

I was then able to delete one device - a Win PC - and then re-log in using the Android device which became one of the two registered devices allowed.

Whatever glitch was there the other day seems to have been cleared. Magic!

As yet it fails to play a stream ..... "Something went wrong please try again"

Apparently that is a more common 'response' than my previous error message.
I will try to figure that one out.

So from the technical point of view, the app was sideloaded in an Android TV box, and allows that device to be registered as one of the two permitted.

EDIT: Thanks Sparko for the post above (arrived as I was writing).

Johnboy1951

Went back for another look at this, but the same result

The eir app opens without problems.
It shows the available channels.
I can access the 7 day EPG

Regardless which channel I select, I get the same result ...... spinning indicator on a black screen that eventually shows that very informative
"Something went wrong please try again".

No change on result no matter how many times it is retried.
Same after shut down and reboot.

I did find this from five months ago, here https://community.eir.ie/my-eir-my-app-306/can-t-login-to-my-eir-account-294364/index1.html

antonix
Newbie
Comments: 05 months ago 2

It is only happening today. I'm getting a message: "Something went wrong. Please Try again later"
Please fix this. Thanks.



0 Quote Reply eir_Isabel
Moderator
Comments: 70
5 months ago 3

Hi antonix,

Thank you for getting in touch and apologies for the inconvenience caused

We are currently working on this and are hoping to have it back soon.

Thanks,
Isabel

which implies to me the problem is on the eir side of things.

Makes me wonder if this is another 'limitation' placed there ..... or am I having bad luck with my tests?

flemob

Hi John boy, just wondering if you got around this, just setting up my android box, have loaded the app, logged in but like you I get that “something went wrong” message for any channel I try to play.

Thanks

Johnboy1951

flemob wrote: »

Hi John boy, just wondering if you got around this, just setting up my android box, have loaded the app, logged in but like you I get that “something went wrong” message for any channel I try to play.

Thanks

No, I never got anywhere with it, and essentially gave up for the present.
I thought there might be something wrong at my end ..... so am glad you posted that you see the same problem.

Hopefully we can both get a solution to this.

flemob

Yea, would be great to get it sorted. Thanks.

Johnboy1951

I cannot test this at present, but had a thought that if the Android box is rooted that might prevent the app from working (depending on checks done).

Is your device rooted?

batistuta9

Your box, especially if it's a cheap one, probably doesn't have the DRM licenses required to play the content
The nvidia shield mentioned above does.

The app probably doesn't like a rooted device either
& to top it off the actual app doesn't seem to be great either - even on phones -going by reviews in the play store.
Actually all the apps by the traditional broadcasters are rated poorly.

flemob

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I cannot test this at present, but had a thought that if the Android box is rooted that might prevent the app from working (depending on checks done).

Is your device rooted?

Thanks, the fact that the box is rooted is probably the cause alright.
I tried with the sky go app and that actually gives a specific error stating it won’t work on a rooted device.

Johnboy1951

flemob wrote: »

Thanks, the fact that the box is rooted is probably the cause alright.
I tried with the sky go app and that actually gives a specific error stating it won’t work on a rooted device.

I was reading about various firmware releases (Alpha & Beta) for the Tx3 Mini & Maxi, one of which mentioned having a built in setting for rooted and non-rooted.

So it might be worthwhile keeping a watch on developments, as I expect they will release a final firmware with the various tested options included, some time in the next few months.
Apparently they have a small number of people working on this firmware.