mlb.tv feedback!?!

by IrishPrincess on Mar 16, 2008 10:21 PM EDT

due to my current living situation
[aka: dorms with crappy cable...
the only times ill get to watch will end up being ESPN/FOX]
i have been considering buying a subscription to mlb.tv.
im just curious about how frequent the blackouts are and feedback in general.
ive heard some horror stories
so i just would like to be sure before i invest the little money i have. lol.
so guys tell me...
good... bad... worth it?

This FanPost does not express the views or opinions of Talking Chop.

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go for it

i go to uva in charlottesville, and it worked great last year. the only time i had issues is when they played the nationals, but other than that i got to see all of their other games. so if you live near a big market, you may miss those games. but it's still worth it.

by mjm7du on Mar 17, 2008 2:07 AM EDT reply actions

subject

I enjoyed having mlb.tv last year. the only thing i didn't like was when you had to sit and listen to the opposing team's broadcasters.

BRAVES

by RehabReject on Mar 17, 2008 10:36 AM EDT reply actions

Definetly worth it...

...only time that I ran into a blackout was also when they were planning the Nationals.

And yes...it can be torture listening to the opposing teams broadcaster. But it's better than watching what else is on TV.

by Smoltzs Beard on Mar 17, 2008 11:16 AM EDT reply actions

subject

yeah, can't really complain about that but it's just a minor thing that irks me. mlb.tv is def worth it.

BRAVES

by RehabReject on Mar 17, 2008 3:03 PM EDT up reply actions

big market?

Atlanta is the closest big market being about 2 hours away and some 120 miles...
will that be a problem?

sorry, i dont completely understand tv blackouts.

by IrishPrincess on Mar 17, 2008 4:36 PM EDT reply actions

A way around it

Basically, if you have access to the channel that covers the games, you probably will get blacked out. So I live in CT and have access to both SNY and YES, so those games get blacked out on mlb.tv

A way I believe you can get around this is to have someone with a billing address somewhere out of the Atlanta market be the one to actually pay for it (you could give them the money). I believe that it works off of the billing address zip code so you wouldn't be in danger of having all of the games blacked out because you are close to Atlanta.

by was385 on Mar 17, 2008 10:40 PM EDT up reply actions

mixed feelings

I have it, and it's ok... I'm in Charlottesville too (mjm, yo! Go Hoos!), and I can't get any Braves/Nats games, which sucks because they play each other a lot being in the same division. I also have a lot of trouble with a choppy signal -- often all I get is audio and every 200th frame of video or something. That may just be my connection though (ahh, gotta love stolen wifi). If you sign up for mlb.tv, you also get anything on radio, and I'm actually considering downgrading to that. Radio's great because you can always hear Skip and Pete, whereas video only comes from the home team's local broadcast. Although at one point I figured out how to watch muted video and listen to the radio stream at the same time... Anyway, if you live near Atlanta, forget it; otherwise, get radio unless you have a fantastic connection.

by stamos on Mar 18, 2008 1:11 AM EDT reply actions

i'm in hell

I live in Harrisburg, PA and get blacked out of FOUR teams games (Nats, O's, Phillies, & Pirates). So I lose somewhere in the neighborhood of 44 games a year. And some of the other times, I get the opponent's feed, so I get to listen to crappier commentary. But aside from that, MLB.TV is awesome.

by bigjoe on Mar 18, 2008 9:11 AM EDT reply actions

Blackouts suck

I paid for it last year, premium edition which I would recommend (but don't use the mosaic). The Mosaic is fine for one game viewing but the rest of the views (if they make them available) are not worth it. Might as well just click on the premium link from mlb website and launch the game in windows media player, it's basically no different. I DO NOT recommend the regular version. The download bandwidth isn't strong enough to support decent picture quality.

As for the blackouts, I live in WNC and am in the blackout area for the Braves and the Reds. I did find ways around this but they were complicated and not always reliable. My biggest problem with blackouts are during the nationally televised games. This is when MLB blackouts ALL games via mlbtv. Now that FOX and TBS are both showing games of the week it is likely to have a bigger impact on the number of games you can view this year. Example, if TBS shows a Saturday game and FOX shows a Sunday game then practically all weekend games are blackedout, at least during their broadcasts.

Hope that helps.

by scstrato on Mar 18, 2008 9:54 PM EDT reply actions

What about XM radio?

I was thinking about getting either XM or MLB.tv, so has anyone gotten XM? I have fairly crappy internet connection (broadband, but the company is atrocious), so I just don't know if it can handle it. On the flip side, I know I can get the XM games, and XM comes with a lot more stuff than just the ballgames...downside: no video. Baseball over the radio isn't bad at all unlike Basketball and Football, but I'm just wondering if someone has experienced XM service, or perhaps both XM and MLB.tv so they can compare the two?

by Something Profound on Mar 19, 2008 11:29 PM EDT reply actions

XM vs. MLB.tv

I have actually had both. I did the mlb.tv when I lived in Maryland, but now that I'm back in Atlanta I can just watch the games on tv. I did have blackouts when they played the Nationals, but other than that it worked great! The cool thing was that if I missed a game, I could watch it whenever I wanted since it saves the games to watch whenever you want.

XM is good as long as you are either in your car or you have the home adapter. You can't listen to any of the sports channels on the internet however.

It pretty much just comes down to what you want to do. I don't know what I would've done without MLB.tv when I was not in Georgia though!

by jjcollins10 on Mar 19, 2008 11:51 PM EDT up reply actions

I live by...

..both my XM and MLB.tv. Not living close enough to Atlanta to get all the other channels (i.e, I'm on the West Coast.) MLB.tv was perfect, and I love my XM like no other.

Two Teams, Two Coasts - One Obsession

by RainDelay on Mar 21, 2008 6:04 PM EDT up reply actions