OT: Dish

[Bones45]

Anyone use DISH network for games/TV?

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[denis]

Anyone use DISH network for games/TV?

Last I heard, Dish doesn't carry MSG, so no Islanders games on that.

 

[Darth Milbury]

I had DISH for a few years. It was OK, and the price was reasonable. The main problem I had with it was that very few of the Center Ice games were in HD. They may have improved the situation by now, but back then, only a small number of games were on HD. Almost all the Isles games were on SD, which looks horrible on a 60" set.

I switched back to DirecTV, and have been much happier with the Center Ice package, the DVR (which I like a lot more than I liked what DISH offered), and the overall picture quality.

 

[A Pointed Stick]

I had DISH... if NHL Center Ice is the main reason you choose a package then you need to get yourself to Direct TV now. You get ALL the feeds with DirectTV, except of course blacked out stuff, NBCSN, etc.

 

[Darth Milbury]

I had DISH... if NHL Center Ice is the main reason you choose a package then you need to get yourself to Direct TV now. You get ALL the feeds with DirectTV, except of course blacked out stuff, NBCSN, etc.

DISH is not the network for sports. With Center Ice, you get one feed (or at least you did when I had it - things may have changed) and that was often SD.


With DirecTV, I get the feed from both the Isles announcers and the other team's and both are in HD.

 

[Bones45]

I don't really watch sports seriously except for the Isles (ironic, eh?), so I'm not too concerned over that.. but if they dont have MSG, then THAT would be a problem. Gotta have my Shannon.

Ill have to check it out.. Thanks guys..

 

[Bones45]

yup.. just did a chat session --- no MSG.

 

[A Pointed Stick]

DISH is not the network for sports. With Center Ice, you get one feed (or at least you did when I had it - things may have changed) and that was often SD.


With DirecTV, I get the feed from both the Isles announcers and the other team's and both are in HD.

I jumped to Gamecenter in the end and never looked back. I get them all and without a slingbox I get them everywhere there is wireless access. The best part is the family can use the big TV and I can watch on an HD large screen monitor.

 

[Darth Milbury]

With game center do you have to watch the games live?

 

[13th Floor]

With game center do you have to watch the games live?

After some time, they are archived and you can watch them. But I stick with Center Ice and DVR since I can watch whenever.

 

[PK Cronin]

With game center do you have to watch the games live?

Nope, you can watch it after the game is over. After a few hours they'll take out all the commercials and intermissions as well, which I find quite nice. Games run around an hour and 40 minutes without any breaks.

 

[13th Floor]

Nope, you can watch it after the game is over. After a few hours they'll take out all the commercials and intermissions as well, which I find quite nice. Games run around an hour and 40 minutes without any breaks.

It's crazy, and I'm probably alone, but I really don't mind the commercials and intermissions. It has been so engrained in my life that every sporting event of the big 4 sports takes 2.5 to 3 hours. Because of a combination of working late and moving away from the time zone, I have taped probably the last ~400-500 Islanders games.

I do like that it buys me about 1 to 2 hours of my life back each game. But it's almost TOO quick. I like being able to flip to other games, or refresh my beer, or go run down the street and grab more beer, etc. It's almost like an appropriate amount of time to let emotions ebb and flow as they should in real time. It's weird that I'm riled up from an end-of-period altercation when the new period starts because it happened 30 seconds ago in my life, but these guys have had the 18 or so minutes to calm down and regain focus.

I guess I find I rush myself when I have it DVRed. And watching the commercials while having it DVRed just seems so illogical that I'd never do it. I DVR out of necessity, but I feel I get to relax and enjoy the game infinitely better when I watch it live. Not to mention the anxiety of the game being spoiled for me.

I don't know why I went on this diatribe, but it often comes up with my biddies.

 

[Darth Milbury]

The DVR is really not optional for me because I live on the westcoast. I have been thinking of unplugging direct TV though. Except for news and hockey, I mostly watch stuff on Netflix.

 

[redbull]

With game center do you have to watch the games live?

Gamecenter is pretty sweet. You don't have to watch live, you can stream it during the game as well, re-start it from the beginning. I'd recommend turning off the scores so you don't see the score if the game's still on (or even if the game is over) - unless you don't care if you know the score.

The functionality is different though, depending on the device you use.

On Apple TV or PS3 apps, you can "play from beginning" or "join live" but that's not true for iPhone/iPad apps. The best functionality is on a computer/website where you can stream from beginning or live and easily rewind/fast-forward or switch between games really quickly and easily.

I prefer NHL's GCL over the other options. There's so much flexibility between devices and can accommodate any schedule.

 

[Darth Milbury]

Gamecenter is pretty sweet. You don't have to watch live, you can stream it during the game as well, re-start it from the beginning. I'd recommend turning off the scores so you don't see the score if the game's still on (or even if the game is over) - unless you don't care if you know the score.

The functionality is different though, depending on the device you use.

On Apple TV or PS3 apps, you can "play from beginning" or "join live" but that's not true for iPhone/iPad apps. The best functionality is on a computer/website where you can stream from beginning or live and easily rewind/fast-forward or switch between games really quickly and easily.

I prefer NHL's GCL over the other options. There's so much flexibility between devices and can accommodate any schedule.

What is the picture quality like? All HD?

 

[PK Cronin]

It's crazy, and I'm probably alone, but I really don't mind the commercials and intermissions. It has been so engrained in my life that every sporting event of the big 4 sports takes 2.5 to 3 hours. Because of a combination of working late and moving away from the time zone, I have taped probably the last ~400-500 Islanders games.

I do like that it buys me about 1 to 2 hours of my life back each game. But it's almost TOO quick. I like being able to flip to other games, or refresh my beer, or go run down the street and grab more beer, etc. It's almost like an appropriate amount of time to let emotions ebb and flow as they should in real time. It's weird that I'm riled up from an end-of-period altercation when the new period starts because it happened 30 seconds ago in my life, but these guys have had the 18 or so minutes to calm down and regain focus.

I guess I find I rush myself when I have it DVRed. And watching the commercials while having it DVRed just seems so illogical that I'd never do it. I DVR out of necessity, but I feel I get to relax and enjoy the game infinitely better when I watch it live. Not to mention the anxiety of the game being spoiled for me.

I don't know why I went on this diatribe, but it often comes up with my biddies.

I completely understand, but being a person who works some nights, it's nice to know that it will be archived for me and I don't need to sit up until 3AM just to watch the game. I don't do anything that might tell me the score if I missed the game. That means, no facebook, no ESPN, no sports apps, no talking to my family/friends from home, etc. I definitely try to watch the games live and then I don't mind the commercials, but often times cannot.

What is the picture quality like? All HD?

Depends on your internet connection. If you have good internet connection, it's all HD. If you have poor internet connection, it downgrades the quality automatically so it runs smoothly (unless you turn that option off).


The only thing I don't like, and it's new from the last time I used GCL, is that when I joined an already in progress game the seek bar had highlight moments tabbed on it. Some were hits and some were goals, but it was incredibly easy to pick apart the goals from hits by the icon they used...and that pissed me off because I don't want to know anything when I'm watching the game. Maybe Redbull knows how to switch that off or something...I wasn't able to figure it out, and didn't want to play with it too much because I was worried about stumbling upon the score.

 

[redbull]

What is the picture quality like? All HD?

All HD.

Sometimes if there's bandwidth issues it can be a bit choppy and lose some quality but 95% of the time it's top notch, HD, smooth.

Totally worth it.

Except, some Isles players, in HD, simply shows mistakes in better detail. I won't name names. Also, Butchie sounds much smarter - though, maybe that's my imagination.

 

[A Pointed Stick]

Usually when I get a less than HD feed I jump between the two broadcasts a couple of times and eventually it comes in well.

Then there is The Vault. You can see all the games from before in there.