Almost all major Dota 2 tournaments broadcast their footage on streaming platforms. Twitch and YouTube are often the two preferred platforms, but there’s also a third alternative, Dota TV.
Dota TV is an in-game spectating system that allows players to watch professional matches inside the game’s client. When players tune into a match, they’ll do so as if they just started spectating the match of someone from their friends list. The overall graphical quality will be noticeably higher than any stream output and players will still be able to listen to the casters.
The only drawback of this feature is that players won’t be able to tune into the after-match panels or check out the filler content between matches. Considering you can easily turn on the main stream once a match ends, Dota TV remains a popular alternative for players who’d like to retain the visual quality of spectating.
Though it happens rarely, Dota TV can go down, which mainly occurs after content patches.
How can you check if Dota TV is down?
When Dota TV goes down, players won’t be able to spectate tournament matches inside the Dota 2 client. An error message generally pops up when this is the case and sends players back to the main menu.
If you’d like to spend as little time as possible fixing Dota TV, you can try spectating the tournament through Twitch or YouTube until Valve rolls out a fix.
How to fix Dota TV
If Dota TV is down, there’s only a handful of fixes you can try. The Dota TV services depend on the game’s native servers and can go down due to anomalies that can arise after patches. Before attempting any of the fixes below, you should check Dota 2‘s server status. In cases when the servers are down, players have no choice but the wait for the servers to come back online.
Restart Dota 2
The patch that fixes Dota TV may already be out, but you won’t know it until you restart your game. When you close Dota 2, Steam will automatically check for new updates and install them.
Once you install the new patch, launch Dota 2 again and try spectating a game on Dota TV.
Restart your router
On rare occasions, Dota TV may stop working due to network inconsistencies on your end. Restarting your router is the easiest way to troubleshoot your home network. Doing so will assign you with a new connection route that can fix Dota TV.
Wait for Valve to roll out a fix
If you can’t seem to get Dota TV to work, chances are only Valve can return it to its glory days. Though Valve may have a history of being slow with content patches, the developer is often swift when it comes to patching out errors that affect the majority of its player base.
How to watch tournament matches on Dota TV
- Launch Dota 2.
- Click on the Watch tab.
- Choose DPC / Home.
- Select the match you’d like to watch.
- Click on Watch.
- You can also watch replays with this method.
