Top 3 Games on Twitch
Hello Gamers! As we all know, video games have become progressively more popular over the years. More and more people are playing games and viewership is skyrocketing. Many gamers are getting into streaming their own gameplay and creating their own content on a live video streaming platform called, Twitch. It’s become a lucrative career for many gamers and a source of entertainment and education for many viewers.
Here’s a list of some of the most popular games according to statistics on TwitchMetrics:
Most Watched:
League of Legends with 150,411,209 viewer hours
Grand Theft Auto V with 114,558,041 viewer hours
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) with 89,553,247 viewer hours
Most Streamed:
Valorant with 661 average live channels
Grand Theft Auto V with 655 average live channels
League of Legends with 532 average live channels
Most Popular:
League of Legends with 208,904 average viewers
Grand Theft Auto V with 159,108 average viewers
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) with 124,380 average viewers
Here’s a bit more info on the games listed above:
League of Legends has been around since 2009. It is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) created by Riot Games. The community has grown tremendously over the years in terms of players and especially viewership. In the game, 2 teams of 5 players battle on the map where each team occupies and defends their half of the map. Each person chooses a character out of over 140 to play. Like many other games, tournaments happen all year round and their competitive scene has made a big impact in the esports scene. If you are competitive, enjoy strategy and working with other people, then this game might be for you.
Grand Theft Auto V came out in 2013 – a fun interactive action-adventure game. You can complete missions with set objectives solo or freely navigate the world by foot or by vehicle. Grand Theft Auto V can be enjoyed in a first-person or third-person perspective.We think that if you enjoy games that go at your own pace and like to interact with others online, then this is the one for you.
Counter-Strike has been popular for a long time, but Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) is the fourth game in the series. This is a multiplayer first-person shooter game where players are split into two teams -Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists. Each team competes against each other to complete objectives. There are 9 different game modes with their own distinctive traits to each mode. CS:GO also has an incredible esports scene and is also one of the biggest global esports. If you’re a big fan of shooter and strategy games, this may be your cup of tea.
When Riot Games hit their 10 year anniversary, they announced to all Riot fans that they’re coming up with new games, and one of them was Valorant. Valorant is a multiplayer first-person shooter with different game modes that took inspiration from the Counter-Strike series. There are more than 15 characters that you can choose to play and are typically split into 2 teams. Just like League of Legends and CS:GO, Valorant is also active in the esports scene. Same deal, if you enjoy shooters with the chance of playing different characters, try out Valorant.
The Novus Advantage
With people playing games while streaming on Twitch or watching video streams, having a strong and reliable connection is crucial. Any delay or latency can be detrimental while you’re in a competitive game.With Novus, we offer you the fastest download speeds for gaming and symmetrical upload speeds for streaming your awesome gameplay to your viewers. All of our Internet plans also come with Unlimited Data so you never have to worry about any data overage charges! Lastly, because our Internet is connected straight to your home from our very own Fibre Optic network, you can ensure that you will have a stable connection for all your gaming needs!
Not a Novus customer? Set up an account or upgrade your account now by contacting our Customer Service at 604.642.6688.
Sources: TwitchMetric, Wikipedia and personal experience
Published: 1:36 pm on June 10th, 2022
Oscars 94th Nominations on Novus
The 94th Oscars is right around the corner and there are many exciting titles that have been nominated – We would like to highlight a couple of our favourites that are available On Demand today to Beam TV customers!
Dune
Has nominations in 10 different categories such as Cinematography, Film Editing, Best Picture and more. A sci-fi story about a young man named Paul Atredies who has to travel the most dangerous planet to ensure the future of his family and his people.
This film is not your typical sci-fi movie and is directed by Canadian director, Denis Villeneuve (Incendies, Sicario, Blade Runner 2049) with stunning visuals and the cinematography seamlessly compliments every single element you see on screen. Some have said that if Star Wars and Game of Thrones had a kid, this would be it!
King Richard
Has nominations in 6 different categories such as Actor/Actress in a role, Film Editing, Best Picture and more.
A film that is based on the true story of Richard Williams (played by Will Smith) and his two tennis champion daughters, Venus and Serena Williams. The movie does a wonderful job of portraying the unconditional love Richard has for his children despite not always getting parenting right. It shows the hardship that the Williams had gone through to get the title of champions. Definitely worth a watch as it promotes never giving up and planning for success.
Below is a list of nominated titles that are available on Novus VOD:
– Dune (10 nominations)
– King Richard (6 nominations)
– Encanto (3 Nominations)
– Flee (3 nominations)
– No Time to Die (3 nominations)
– Eyes of Tammy Faye (2 nominations)
– The Mitchells vs The Machines (1 nomination)
– Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (1 nomination)
– House of Gucci (1 nomination)
– Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings (1 nomination)
Check these titles out before the 94th Oscars on March 27th @5 pm on CTV. Beam TV customers can just press the ON DEMAND button on your remote to watch today! Not a Beam TV customer? Call us today to bundle it with your Internet service – 604 642 6688
Published: 11:16 am on March 9th, 2022
What is WiFi 6?
The next generation of WiFi is making its way into our lives as faster internet is always in demand. With more people working from home and the amount of videos, apps, and games we use with our computers, phones and tablets, we start to consume more and more bandwidth. WiFi 6 to set become the standard to help alleviate network congestion.
WiFi 6 allows data to be transmitted through multiple frequencies simultaneously at a faster rate of speed providing the best, whole home coverage. We can possibly expect even faster internet speeds like 5 Gbps in the future. Novus is already offering 2.5 Gbps in select buildings and are continuing to add new buildings. A friendly reminder that speeds may vary between devices – you will not be able to expect all devices to be able to handle extremely fast speeds.
Safety and Performance
WiFi 6 will be able to support advanced encryption and authorization systems – Which means your information will be protected and stay private despite being connected to a public WiFi network. This is a great benefit of WiFi 6 since more & more people are connecting to public networks such as coffee shops, libraries, schools etc. The enhanced encryption techniques will allow us to feel safer when connected to public WiFi.
Faster
WiFi 6 as mentioned earlier provides faster speeds. The speeds should be 40% faster with WiFi 6 compared to the previous generation if only one device is connected to the WiFi router.
We’ve always told customers that the 2.4GHz band is less stable and more prone to interference, especially in MDU buildings. However, with WiFi 6, the standard speed isn’t only going to increase, the fact that it still penetrates solid objects better than 5GHz still stands – Plus, as the old cordless phones and baby monitors are no longer as popular, the interference for 2.4GHz will be less as well.
Novus WiFi 6 Routers
WiFi 6 is the future and it’s here today! Novus’ next generation routers are WiFi 6 compatible and we’re confident that they will give you the best experience. Should you have any further questions, feel free to contact our Tech Support at 604.642.6688 or reach us on Facebook/Twitter!
Published: 2:02 pm on February 10th, 2022
Difference Between HD and 4K
Difference between HD and 4K？
As technology continues to advance, we are starting to see more different types of TVs. Today we will be focusing on the difference between HD (High Definition) and 4K.
Before we dive right into it, it is important to understand that all the displays we see such as computer monitors, your phone/tablet, our TVs are all made with pixels. If you have ever had rain drops or water drip onto your phone screen and see the colorful tiny squares, those are pixels. The more pixels you put on a display the higher the resolution is, which means the nicer and more clear the video or image becomes.
HD
HD has become more and more widespread about 10 years ago, usually this meant sharper video or images that were put on a display. There are 2 different types of HD, one is a lower resolution which the display panels are capped at 720p and higher resolution of 1080p.
- 720p started to become more popular with web videos as time progresses, it is 1280 pixels wide and 720 pixels tall
- 1080p eventually became the standard for computer monitors and TV displays. 1920 pixels wide and 1080 pixels tall
4K
Nowadays you are probably seeing more and more TVs advertising that it’s in 4K – 4096 pixels wide and 2160 pixels tall. When you are watching something, you’d probably want to see it as clearly as if you were seeing it in person, for example: sports or wildlife. So with technology, we get the luxury of having nicer displays that allow us to appreciate the clear movements or details of videos or images.
Displays that have 4K technology are becoming standard now with newer TV equipment, so if you’ve purchased a TV that allows 4K, go ahead and check to see if it is set on that resolution and play a 4K video from Youtube; Or even better, try out some of the 4K channels that Novus has to offer if you are subscribed to our BeamTV service!
We have several channels including nature, space and sports that are in 4K. If you are interested in seeing which channels exactly are available in 4K, please take a look at our channel guide here. We will continue to add more 4K channels to our Beam TV lineup as they become available to us over time from the content owners.
If you are not subscribed to a specific channel that you’d like to view in 4K, feel free to contact our Customer Service at 604.642.6688 or shoot us a direct message on Facebook/Twitter to subscribe now!
Published: 11:32 pm on September 16th, 2021
Does the CRTC’s Decision About Wholesale Internet Rates Affect Novus Customers?
As a Novus Internet customer, it absolutely does not. As explained below, in order to provide you with the best experience and keep rates low, we own our own network. But first let’s back up a little bit and bring you up to speed in case you haven’t heard about this in the news lately.
Background
In 2019, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ordered that the large incumbent cable and phone companies lower their wholesale Internet rates to independent Internet service providers (ISPs) who piggy back on those companies’ networks to re-sell the Internet service as their own (Novus does not do this). This was a major win for smaller ISPs as it meant that they would be able to lower rates to consumers and be more competitive in the market.
Last week, the CRTC reversed its decision much to the dismay of many independent ISPs across Canada.
The Novus Advantage
So, how does this affect you as a Novus Internet customer? It doesn’t! Since Novus’ inception in 1996, we have invested heavily in building out our very own Fibre Optic network across Metro Vancouver. We do not rely on anyone else’s network to deliver our Internet to you. This is the major difference between Novus and most other, independent ISPs. Even back in 1996, we saw that fibre was the way of the future. We wanted to provide our customers with the best online experience possible and knew that fibre was the only way.
Our headend and facilities are all based right here in Vancouver. We own and maintain them. This has many advantages for you as a customer. One advantage is that if by chance there was an issue with your service, we are able to identify, diagnose and fix the problem quickly and efficiently. Other ISPs who piggy back on major incumbents’ networks are beholden to that company and must wait for them to diagnose the problem before they can even let their customers know what the problem is. Another advantage of owning our own network Is that we can improve on our customer experience by adding new technology and services sooner. We recently launched Western Canada’s fastest, residential Internet – 2.5 GIG as an example. And of course, by owning our own network, we don’t pay any fees to another company. We are able to pass those savings on to you.
As an independent service provider ourselves, we are dismayed at the CRTC’s decision to reverse its decision. We feel that in order for all Canadians (not just our customers) to be able to pay competitive pricing for Internet, the decision to lower wholesale Internet rates would have helped everyone across Canada.