All Purpose Media Thread

[darth5]

I have subscribed to CenterIce several years but I skipped last year.
I have thought about switching to Gamecenter instead-- what are the pros and cons of Gamecenter?
Can you connect from wherever you are (out of market) and still see your team's games as well as any other games you want?
Are their limits or hidden gotchas?
Interested in other people's experiences...

Click to read more...

 

[utmfisher19]

I have subscribed to CenterIce several years but I skipped last year.
I have thought about switching to Gamecenter instead-- what are the pros and cons of Gamecenter?
Can you connect from wherever you are (out of market) and still see your team's games as well as any other games you want?
Are their limits or hidden gotchas?
Interested in other people's experiences...

I had CenterIce for 4 years and now am on my 4th season with GameCenter. Here is how I break it down:

GameCenter Pros/Cons:
-- You can watch it anywhere (on your tablet, your phone, your PC, PS3/Xbox, at work, in the car, on the bus/train, etc).
-- You can watch either feed in full HD (home or away feed).
-- Depending on which program you are using, you can listen to the radio feed while watching the game rather than listen to the tv guys.
-- If you are big into fantasy sports, it allows you to follow your players stats real-time as the games are going on.
-- You don't have to DVR games if you miss them. You can go back and watch them anytime.
-- If you are late getting into a game, you can rewind to the beginning and watch the game in its entirety.
-- It shows you team's real-time stats if you are into that sorta thing (shots, hits, blocked shots, players TOI, etc).
-- You can watch 4 games at once and you get to the pick the games...
-- You can watch 1 game while another is in PiP.
-- You can connect HDMI chord from your PC/Mac to your Tv to watch it on your tv.
-- You need internet at least download speed of 5 Mbps for the video to run smoothly for just 1 game. If you want 2-4 games going at once, you will need 10+ Mbps download speed.
-- I've NEVER had issues buffering. But I have 50 Mbps download speed internet. Also, sometimes GCL people have complained about outages (I've never experienced it), but sometimes CI goes out depending on if your cable tv is out or not...


Pros/Cons to CenterIce:
-- It is already on tv and no extra HDMI chord is needed if you don't have PS3/Xbox.
-- Don't have to worry about buffering/outages.
-- You are sometimes limited on HD games.
-- You are sometimes not able to get both home/away feed.
-- You can listen to the radio feed.
-- You have to DVR games if you would like to go back and watch them.
-- You can't watch 2 games at once nor can you select which 4 games you want to watch at once.


Lastly:
-- You are blacked out of the local team's games depending on where your IP is for GCL. So if you are in Boston, you won't be able to watch the Bruins games, but you can watch the Preds games. However, if you are in Nashville, you can watch Bruins games and not Preds games. It isn't dependent on address, it is dependent on IP address. Where for CI, it is based on your address.


Personally I love GCL way more than Center Ice. But that's me... (this is coming from a person that prefers streaming Netflix over paying $100+ a month for cable tv)

 

[Fo Shea Shea]

Best thing I ever did was get Gamecenter. Watch on my xbox and my iPad. I do like it better than Center Ice.

 

[jwhouk]

I wouldn't have a choice, since I live in a "city" that has an anti-Comcast cable company.

 

[predfan98]

I used nhl gamecenter last year instead of center ice since I was going to be out of town so much.
It worked great. I watched on ipad most of the time and didn't have a problem. I never watched more than one game at time, so I can't speak to the streaming speed needed.

 

[hockey diva]

I also used GCL and liked it. The NBC, NBCsports games are usually blacked out along with Preds games. You can't watch the Playoffs on it either. But I think you get more bang for your buck with GCL.

 

[Biggun35]

Can you watch Gamecenter on multiple devices? For instance, can my son watch it on his XBox at UTC while I watch it on my laptop in Nashville?

 

[weeze]

I have had CI for several years now and it is fantastic for me. The only non-HD games have been the Canadian feed games. Other than that, if it is on one of the Tennessee stations than I get it. If not then I watch the other teams feed. Game is a blast to watch on my flat screen, surround sound man cave!

 

[utmfisher19]

Can you watch Gamecenter on multiple devices? For instance, can my son watch it on his XBox at UTC while I watch it on my laptop in Nashville?

Yup... Funny enough last year it was pretty typical of me to have one game going on my phone, another on my laptop, and another on my PS3.

 

[Cashville]

GCL and never look back. This is coming from someone who did Center Ice for four years before switching to GCL last season. It's the best choice easily; you can still watch games on your laptop/phone while traveling and I had zero connection issues last year despite pretty mediocre internet.

 

[101st_fan]

The biggest issue I've had with GCL is lag. Seeing that something happened on twitter before the video catches up is annoying on a bad connection.

CI at the house on directv ... GCL for travel.

 

[Cashville]

The biggest issue I've had with GCL is lag. Seeing that something happened on twitter before the video catches up is annoying on a bad connection.

CI at the house on directv ... GCL for travel.

Yes, this is definitely valid. You will have issues doing HFBoards / Twitter and GCL during games due to being a bit behind.

 

[Fo Shea Shea]

Any game that is on NBCSN or the NHLN is blacked out on GCL.

 

[Cashville]

Any game that is on NBCSN or the NHLN is blacked out on GCL.

It's blacked out on CI as well; at least it used to be for me. When I lived in Charlotte, I had to actually watch those games on NBCSN or NHLN.

 

[AintLifeGrand]

Last year I had Game Center because I didn't have cable, thus giving me no access to Perd's games in ATL.

I had to use an IP cloaking proxy to allow me to watch the Preds games on my friends Xbox.

i now have cable , and figure I'll probably get 30 or so games this season in ATL on FSS. Still deciding whether to get the game center again.

 

[RaiderDoug]

I've been a GCL subscriber every year since it came out, and it gets better every year.



CI is nice, but I don't always have access to my TV.

GC can be watched anywhere, in HD, on multiple devices - and when I'm home, I just run it through my PS3. I rarely have any problem with buffering, and I'm not on twitter so often as to ruin the game feed for me - it's only a few seconds behind.

 

[thecloser]

i love gamecenter. I was able to watch games in class whenever i had night class. Gamecenter all day.

although i do not know what CenterIce is like...

 

[darth5]

Any game that is on NBCSN or the NHLN is blacked out on GCL.

Oh, that hurts.
My legacy Directv pkg does not include NHLN

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

Been a Center Ice subscriber up til last year and am facing the same choice.

Bit of a conundrum though. We've cut our TV package down to the bare bones, since we don't watch all that much, but it makes the sports thing problematic. Now I won't have any problems with Preds games for CI or GCL, but I'd have no access to Kings or Ducks games because they are all 2nd tier programming, and NBC Sports is 3rd tier, so no national telecasts either. I really wish they would do something with the blackouts. I can sort of understand it with Center Ice being a TV package, but I don't feel there's a good enough reason for GCL to not give complete access to every game, regardless of area.

So I'm trying to figure out:

CI or GCL

or/and

2nd tier for half a year for Kings/Ducks

or/and

3rd tier for half a year for NBCS

There has to be a better way. I could be buying season tickets for what it'll cost me to watch hockey for the year.

 

[utmfisher19]

Any game that is on NBCSN or the NHLN is blacked out on GCL.

It is also blacked out on Center Ice...

However, if you are used to the online streaming of GCL, you can just go watch those games on NBCSports.com anyways, since they steam them free live online.

Been a Center Ice subscriber up til last year and am facing the same choice.

Bit of a conundrum though. We've cut our TV package down to the bare bones, since we don't watch all that much, but it makes the sports thing problematic. Now I won't have any problems with Preds games for CI or GCL, but I'd have no access to Kings or Ducks games because they are all 2nd tier programming, and NBC Sports is 3rd tier, so no national telecasts either. I really wish they would do something with the blackouts. I can sort of understand it with Center Ice being a TV package, but I don't feel there's a good enough reason for GCL to not give complete access to every game, regardless of area.

So I'm trying to figure out:

CI or GCL

or/and

2nd tier for half a year for Kings/Ducks

or/and

3rd tier for half a year for NBCS

There has to be a better way. I could be buying season tickets for what it'll cost me to watch hockey for the year.

Wife and I have done the same thing... Currently I'm paying for the sports packages of MLB, NFL, NHL, MLS, and watch EPL games live on NBCSports.com for free. The only thing we pay for is internet service, the most basic tv package (because you get internet discounted if you use two of their services), and Netflix. It has worked out really well for us because even on the most basic tv package here I can still watch Braves, Titans, and Preds games.

 

[SavageSteve]

Been a Center Ice subscriber up til last year and am facing the same choice.

Bit of a conundrum though. We've cut our TV package down to the bare bones, since we don't watch all that much, but it makes the sports thing problematic. Now I won't have any problems with Preds games for CI or GCL, but I'd have no access to Kings or Ducks games because they are all 2nd tier programming, and NBC Sports is 3rd tier, so no national telecasts either. I really wish they would do something with the blackouts. I can sort of understand it with Center Ice being a TV package, but I don't feel there's a good enough reason for GCL to not give complete access to every game, regardless of area.

So I'm trying to figure out:

CI or GCL

or/and

2nd tier for half a year for Kings/Ducks

or/and

3rd tier for half a year for NBCS

There has to be a better way. I could be buying season tickets for what it'll cost me to watch hockey for the year.

I know there are programs out there to change your IP address to somewhere in Wyoming via a VPN to get around the blackout rules for GCL... Will require some research on your part however and seems to be options on multiple platforms (Roku, XBox, PS3, etc.).

 

[gratefulpred]

Has anyone seen a promo for Center Ice yet? I have Dish Network and they are not even running ads yet. Guess I will have to go GCL if Dish does do not step up to the plate soon enough!

 

[lstcyr]

Has anyone seen a promo for Center Ice yet? I have Dish Network and they are not even running ads yet. Guess I will have to go GCL if Dish does do not step up to the plate soon enough!

I received a notice for my automatic renewal to Center Ice from my provider, Cox.

 

[NSH615]

Does anyone know if any of these options allow one in the Nashville area to watch the games that are not on tv locally? There are 4 games in October that are not scheduled to be on TV and it just so happens that none of them are in my half season ticket package.

 

[Drake744]

Does anyone know if any of these options allow one in the Nashville area to watch the games that are not on tv locally? There are 4 games in October that are not scheduled to be on TV and it just so happens that none of them are in my half season ticket package.

I'm used to having GCL, but only when I'm living outside of Nashville. Because GCL relies on your IP address, I would assume you're permanently blacked out of all Preds games even if it's the away team feed but I'm not positive.