Mix-wise, I actually prefer having the crowd noise lower and the announcers louder. The only times where I'd make an exception to this is if the crowd's chanting something - then, I usually want to hear what it is. (Of course, the 1 time out of 10, it's probably a variant of one of the famous Carlin words, so NESN would turn it down.)
The video does drive me nuts. A few years ago, the video totally cut out one time, and bless him, Jack immediately went into full-blown radio mode. The cameras are too far, but that's on the Garden, not the network. And "The Edge" has to go. (Well, not The Edge - he was actually pretty damn good when I saw him at the Garden on Friday.) That damn ticker on the bottom of the screen has no informational value at all - and hence has no advertising value at all, either. My eyes have been trained to ignore that spot on the screen...but I'm still annoyed that valuable real estate is being taken up. It reminds me of this:
(Both because the viewing area is so small, and it feels like NESN is kicking me in the balls.)
While we're on production, I kind of like the idea having a third voice behind the glass, like on the NBC broadcasts. No, not Pierre per se. But I think Jaffe was down there for one game last year, and it was nice to have a third perspective. Not sure who would do it - Dale has to get up to the fifth floor for the intermission shows, and it would mean at least two other people besides Dale working every night.