FLO Softball live coverage--DON"T

I signed up for FloSoftball so I could watch live games at one of the the season openers, the Puerto Vallarta classic.

Wow.

Live coverage is extremely bad. There is only one camera that catches the pitch from centerfield and when the ball is hit, the camera tries to play catch-up with the play. By the time the camera is caught up after bouncing, vibrating and generally making us motion sick, the play is over. We couldn't see what happened.

Next, there is no replay so we really had no idea what happened.

Finally, hoping the commentator would fill us in a bit, it went something like this....(speaking very slowly), "Ball is HIT....she's out. Tarian Avelio gets the out."

Yes, Tar-i-an A-vel-io. Apparently, the guy hadn't seen softball before.

I requested an immediate refund of my $30/month the very next day and so far have only been offered 1/2 of the refund. I'm still discussing this with FloSoftball.

Just an independent 3rd party review and major thumbs down for the live feed product.

Yea it's not a clean or professional broadcast. Last year was worse. My wife and I watch a ton of games and if you need a fix it fills in. Keep in mind the articles and ranking lists are all included. We do an annual for I think $149 so about $13 a month.

I enjoy watching Washington and glad I was able to. Sure, there are issues, but beats not being able to watch at all.

I like Flosoftball. If they weren't streaming these pre-conference tournaments, nobody would. ESPN pretty much sticks to the SEC. I couldn't watch my local Power 5 team play most games last weekend because of the lack of a media player like Flosoftball willing to broadcast. Even if there is room for improvement, it seems like they've added more cameras and more consistent play-by-play recently and are getting better...it beats a GoPro mounted on the backstop with no play-by-play. I'll take it and am glad they are taking this on.

panthadad2 said:

I like Flosoftball. If they weren't streaming these pre-conference tournaments, nobody would. ESPN pretty much sticks to the SEC. I couldn't watch my local Power 5 team play most games last weekend because of the lack of a media player like Flosoftball willing to broadcast. Even if there is room for improvement, it seems like they've added more cameras and more consistent play-by-play recently and are getting better...it beats a GoPro mounted on the backstop with no play-by-play. I'll take it and am glad they are taking this on.

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I'm kind of partial to a GoPro mounted to to a backstop with no audio. One for obvious reasons, but also because I usually turn the commentators off. I just want the game. I can clearly determine that the "ball is hit and she is out".

I agree there's room for improvement but I thought they did a pretty good job with the tournament at Cal State Fullerton last weekend and considering it's the only place to see any of the games at Mary Nutter I think it's worth the price for the month. I will only be having it for a month though but if my kid was in one of the conferences they cover I'd be happy to pay for a yearly subscription. It does beat most of the online coverage most schools stream.

Lobster Birch said:

I enjoy watching Washington and glad I was able to. Sure, there are issues, but beats not being able to watch at all.

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I discovered UW's Leanstream web/radio broadcast and Mike Brown does a great job calling the game. We eventually defaulted to listening to that rather than watching.

Maybe it's just the camera and broadcast crew working in Mexico as it seems others have had a not-so-bad experience.

As a small business owner myself, I have a problem on principle with a company putting out a half-baked product and asking good money for it.

Sort of like buying a case of softballs, asking your cousin to be the coach cuz he's unemployed, and advertising/promoting a new Club Softball team. And charging player fees.

It's haphazard and sort of immoral. T'aint right.