Football enthusiasts in India had a terrible experience viewing the Qatar World Cup 2022 opening ceremony and the first game between the hosts and Ecuador online. The JioCinema video stream kept buffering, and the quality was a let down, disappointing supporters.
The FIFA World Cup is football's grandest tournament, which occurs once in four years. This year's edition is taking place in Qatar and is the first-ever on Middle Eastern soil. On Sunday, fans worldwide were glued to their devices to experience a one-of-a-kind opening ceremony and follow it up with high-octane football action as the hosts faced Ecuador at the Al Bayt Stadium in Doha. However, for most Indian football enthusiasts, it was a nightmare of an evening as JioCinema, which has the rights to live stream, experienced horrid buffering, lagging and poor quality issues, leaving supporters extremely disappointed.
The audio kept disappearing, even when the video played without buffering. Some people found it impossible to watch Qatar vs Ecuador game due to the problem. As supporters took to social media to express their dissatisfaction, more people agreed with describing the event as "awful".
Many still observed buffering problems even though their internet connectivity was of a high enough standard. Twitter was flooded with fan replies, many of which expressed annoyance that the poor live-streaming quality had marred their World Cup viewing experience.
JioCinema acknowledged the issue that users are having. "We are continuously working to give you a great experience. Please upgrade your app to the latest version to enjoy #FIFAWorldCupQatar2022. Apologies for any inconvenience," it wrote on Twitter.
Dear fans,
We are continuously working to give you a great experience. Please upgrade your app to the latest version to enjoy . Apologies for any inconvenience. |
However, fans still needed to be convinced.
One Indian football supporter noted, "At 300 Mbps broadband connection, the picture is getting stuck again & again. It is a very bad experience. Now even @SonyLIV seems superb in comparison to this. It's gonna be a horrifying experience for Indian fans. Get ready to be disappointed."
"Can't even watch 1 min. I subscribed to voot for the matches. I don't mind paying instead of this. Very disappointed," wrote another user. Another user pointed out, "Did upgrade the #JioCinema app, no improvement. Still stuck after 3-5 seconds. Awful experience," added another disappointed fan.
Some tech nerds even suggested alternatives, asking users to change the feed to 'Extended Stadium Feed' for a bufferless experience.
"Go to MULTICAM and watch the Extended Stadium Feed. It has no lag. Also try out the Cable Cam feed, it looks cool as well," wrote one fan.
After a harrowing experience on Day 1 of the Qatar World Cup 2022, football fans started trolling JioCinema again in anticipation of a horrible experience on the second Day. The lineup for November 21 is - England vs Iran (6:30 PM IST), Senegal vs Netherlands (9:30 PM IST), and USA vs Wales (12:30 AM IST).
"Mr Ambani hum aap se Better umeed kiye the #JioCinema," wrote one football fan just hours before action in Dohar gets underway on Monday.
"#JioCinema this app is very badly optimised for android tv users. Please @JioCinema team try to resolve this issue, as we football lovers are unable to watch matches anywhere else,' said another disheartened supporter.
Here's a look at some of the memes that have flooded Twitter just hours before action on Day 2 of the Qatar World Cup 2022 kickstarts:
Mr Ambani hum aap se Better umeed kiye the .... pic.twitter.com/C6wHbMjSWo
— Shadab شاداب (@shadabazmi01)We need to watch again today. Here we go again pic.twitter.com/1ND8eM8U2T
— MunishK (@TulaniMunish)Frustrated football fans to Ambani .... pic.twitter.com/zIJqjTfXmF
— Shadab شاداب (@shadabazmi01)Football fans to Mr Ambani .... pic.twitter.com/ScDoI4YXJC
— Shadab شاداب (@shadabazmi01) at its best
Bruhh Netherlands & Senegal are in Group A, not B 💀 pic.twitter.com/sJha3K75iV
Team is working to resolve pic.twitter.com/jgsm2wptwg
— Gaurav singh Rathore 🇮🇳 (@Gauravra5)in every 10 seconds : Chaliye samay ho gaya hai viram lene ka... pic.twitter.com/s4oRiUS71V
— Baba Yaga (@ktbhavsar), Horrible experience of watching FIFa World Cup through Jio home Broad band. Initially there was no commentary heard and all along streaming issues. Hope from tonight we will have seamless connectvity and broadcast. pic.twitter.com/TX5Jrd3qLC
— Ravi Sankar Vaddi (@RaviSankarVadd1)FIFA has scheduled some exciting games for today, and we're hoping that has upgraded its servers so we can enjoy the World Cup without any lag.
— Ritama Roy Chowdhury (@RitamaRoyC)This is what happens when petrol seller starts making apps🤣🤣🤣
— Indranil Biswas (@bowieforever88)Vasooli to - abe jaldi buffer ho Panvel nikalna hai pic.twitter.com/UrDn0GnSQP
— Sandeep Koul (@sandykoul007)Will miss tonight's England vs Iran match again because of the shitty app.I cannot afford to miss any of the FIFA matches😭
— Ujjwal Talukdar (@TalukdarBitopan)1987 :: Family Watching Live Telecast of Football Match On Doordarshan Without Any Interruption pic.twitter.com/yNuIMpvnrd
— indianhistorypics (@IndiaHistorypic)Me to Sony Liv after streaming on Jio Cinema pic.twitter.com/fqYr4BC17h
— Ashish kumar (ZEPIAN) (@Ashishk26146669)
sell ur rights to Sony and hotstar
You do less streaming and more buffering
your service is pathetic 🤯
it's disappointing Nd frustrating Af😤 pic.twitter.com/hntUGjCY7Z
You are incapable of streaming Fifa. Period.
You shouldn't have bid for something so big just because you have the money to bid.
Better to transfer the rights to someone who can actually deliver something other than lies ! pic.twitter.com/4FQZUc06EH
It's FIFA WC. That y'all have now completely ruined with atrocious service. If this cannot be fixed, it'll be the biggest disaster for all football fans in India.
Please Jio, for god's sake, fix this. Whatever it is, just get it done. pic.twitter.com/6H6Un224RP
right now pic.twitter.com/k3ruHvsJhX
— khel ka bhukhar (@cric_ka_fever)team looking through tweets to see if anyone has suggested a good solution to fix their buffering issue. pic.twitter.com/0BU2FYF3L0
— Rising Yeti (@RisingYeti)