Viewers can now pause and rewind live streams on Playback. If you’re tuned in to a live sports watch party, you can sync up the Playback stream to your TV or anywhere else where you may be watching the game.
Rewind, pause and sync up
To pause and rewind a live stream on Playback, switch to Rewind Mode where you can access playback controls like pause, scrubbing and skipping forward/backward. Rewind Mode uses a buffering live stream, the standard format on other live streaming video apps. Buffered video is continuously pre-downloaded to give viewers smooth video playback, typically adding 5-10 seconds of delay.
The most live sports streams in the world
We have historically added ~30 seconds of artificial delay to our partner broadcasts to try to match up with the average live sports stream. Now that viewers can sync up Playback streams with Rewind Mode, we are removing this delay from Live Mode entirely. Playback will have the most live NBA, MLB and EuroLeague streams in the world — yes, even more live than the official apps.
Playback’s Live Mode uses real time video with zero latency, allowing participants to interact instantly like a video chat or a multiplayer game.
Video quality and network strength
Live Mode requires a strong internet connection. If your connection is not consistent, you can consider switching to Rewind Mode to get smoother video playback.
Upcoming improvements
TV broadcasts will not be displayed in Rewind Mode at launch, but we will be adding support for this soon. We also plan to add other features like clipping in Rewind Mode and more native Airplay and Chromecast support.
We hope you enjoy the extra playback control! Want more? Watch our live announcement of Rewind Mode on Playback.
