NHL Center Ice on Satellite

[Mad City Mike]

We currently have DirecTV and we had access to all Penguin games on center ice in HD last year. For several reasons, we're thinking of switching to Dish. Can any of you who have Dish tell me if all pens games were available in HD last season? Does Dish carry both teams' feeds?

Thanks for the help.

[Batman21]

Ive had both before. The vast majority are in hd, both feeds. Once in a while ull get sd only. I think this happened 2 or 3 times.

After having center ice for 6 yrs, this season i switched to gamecenter. 1000 times better than centre ice, ill never go back.

[ffemtreed]

With Direct TV is almost a guarantee you will get the games in HD. With dish you might get most of them in HD but you can never be sure which games.

I have directv currently, I did the switch to dish to cable and back to directtv. The grass isn't always greener on the other side. Been with direct for like 5 years now and being able to use that longevity as leverage has gotten me some good deals in the past year or two.

[Mad City Mike]

Ive had both before. The vast majority are in hd, both feeds. Once in a while ull get sd only. I think this happened 2 or 3 times.

After having center ice for 6 yrs, this season i switched to gamecenter. 1000 times better than centre ice, ill never go back.

Being thetechnical dummy I am, how does one get the feed from the PC to the TV?

[Rylan]

Ive had both before. The vast majority are in hd, both feeds. Once in a while ull get sd only. I think this happened 2 or 3 times.

After having center ice for 6 yrs, this season i switched to gamecenter. 1000 times better than centre ice, ill never go back.

You are one of the very few that advocate Gamecenter.

[relantel]

With Direct TV is almost a guarantee you will get the games in HD. With dish you might get most of them in HD but you can never be sure which games.

I have directv currently, I did the switch to dish to cable and back to directtv. The grass isn't always greener on the other side. Been with direct for like 5 years now and being able to use that longevity as leverage has gotten me some good deals in the past year or two.

ditto here - been with DirecTV 12 years now, with centre ice since the getgo.

[Sarcastic]

Ive had both before. The vast majority are in hd, both feeds. Once in a while ull get sd only. I think this happened 2 or 3 times.

After having center ice for 6 yrs, this season i switched to gamecenter. 1000 times better than centre ice, ill never go back.

Being thetechnical dummy I am, how does one get the feed from the PC to the TV?

What do you mean? How do you play your PC video games on your big TV?

I hook up my video card hole to the tv hole with a cable.

monoprice.com

[It'sagreatdayforhockey!]

If I had LOS to the HD sats I wouldn't have left DTV. We were forced to change and went with FIOS. They only offered a handful of games in HD and not both feed so I decided on getting gamecenter instead.


The quality is pretty good/not perfect with gamecenter and a high speed internet connection (30MB/s). I've seen bad quality with PS3 and Apple TV. There is no app for Xbox. Never had an issue on Android phone, iPad or PC. I do believe they changed the options part way through the season and you could watch multiple games on multiple devices. National games (NBC, NBCN, Playoffs) are blacked out on gamecenter, but you can watch NBC games on NBCsports.com

You can get the equivalent of a mobile gamecenter using Slingbox or similar and connecting to your mobile devices.


I will probably stick with gamecenter instead of getting spotty HD/feed options. If I could get all games in HD and most with the Root feed I would probably switch to Center Ice.

[Batman21]

Ive had both before. The vast majority are in hd, both feeds. Once in a while ull get sd only. I think this happened 2 or 3 times.

After having center ice for 6 yrs, this season i switched to gamecenter. 1000 times better than centre ice, ill never go back.

You are one of the very few that advocate Gamecenter.

ya i know, but im done with cable. i have basic and that's it, fortunately i get NBC Sports in HD with my basic. $50/mo for basic + 30 mb/s internet. i used to have every channel and pay a ton a month, but was only watching sports. now i cant even get dish/dtv and comcast only has 2 centre ice games in hd a night.

i love i can get games on my phone, ipad, ps3, computer. wherever i am, i can get the game. i dont need slingbox because i dont have a dvr/fancy cable, and when i've side by side'd gamcenter to sling, gamecenter was far superior. gamecenter works great on iphone 4S, prop it up on the salt & pepper shaker and i can watch at any restaurant/bar. next im getting that iphone case projector thing...sweet.

when ps3 app acts up, which is rarely, i go hdmi from macbook pro to tv.

[Sarcastic]

I recall someone saying that they have a problem with home games on Gamecenter... that they're blocked out and only watchable like 2 days later on replay? Something like that. Somebody please verify.

[Batman21]

I recall someone saying that they have a problem with home games on Gamecenter... that they're blocked out and only watchable like 2 days later on replay? Something like that. Somebody please verify.

Well ya, if u live in the blackout area where u can get the game on a regional sports channel. Or game is on national tv. Otherwise u shldnt have a problem.

My issue is when games that are not part of the national sched that is announced b4 the season are picked up last min by nhl network. I know that my gamecenter agreement says the sched can change, but i am also buying gamecenter under the impression that i will be able to see all games on gamecenter less the games announced b4 season as national. So say the pens are on national tv 15 times. I am justifing buying gamecenter based on seeing 67 games. Adding games to national sched and blacking out on gamecenter is just shady. Im cheap and dont want to spend another $40/ month for nhl network.

This is also a 'high class' problem as out of town fans of bad teams have a much lower chance of this happening.

[MelicharSux]

I had Center Ice on Dish Network. Every game was in HD from both teams.

[DelPen]

I recall someone saying that they have a problem with home games on Gamecenter... that they're blocked out and only watchable like 2 days later on replay? Something like that. Somebody please verify.

Well ya, if u live in the blackout area where u can get the game on a regional sports channel. Or game is on national tv. Otherwise u shldnt have a problem.

My issue is when games that are not part of the national sched that is announced b4 the season are picked up last min by nhl network. I know that my gamecenter agreement says the sched can change, but i am also buying gamecenter under the impression that i will be able to see all games on gamecenter less the games announced b4 season as national. So say the pens are on national tv 15 times. I am justifing buying gamecenter based on seeing 67 games. Adding games to national sched and blacking out on gamecenter is just shady. Im cheap and dont want to spend another $40/ month for nhl network.

This is also a 'high class' problem as out of town fans of bad teams have a much lower chance of this happening.

This is my problem too. Serisouly debating just using feeds instead of paying for Gamecenter.

I would love to see NBC Sports and NHL Network go to authentication like Comcast, NBC, TNT, TBS, CNN, Fox News, HBO, Cinemax, etc. use to allow content to pass if you are a subscriber.

[Pen48guins]

Ive had both before. The vast majority are in hd, both feeds. Once in a while ull get sd only. I think this happened 2 or 3 times.

After having center ice for 6 yrs, this season i switched to gamecenter. 1000 times better than centre ice, ill never go back.

You are one of the very few that advocate Gamecenter.

ya i know, but im done with cable. i have basic and that's it, fortunately i get NBC Sports in HD with my basic. $50/mo for basic + 30 mb/s internet. i used to have every channel and pay a ton a month, but was only watching sports. now i cant even get dish/dtv and comcast only has 2 centre ice games in hd a night.

i love i can get games on my phone, ipad, ps3, computer. wherever i am, i can get the game. i dont need slingbox because i dont have a dvr/fancy cable, and when i've side by side'd gamcenter to sling, gamecenter was far superior. gamecenter works great on iphone 4S, prop it up on the salt & pepper shaker and i can watch at any restaurant/bar. next im getting that iphone case projector thing...sweet.

when ps3 app acts up, which is rarely, i go hdmi from macbook pro to tv.

I have had nothing but problems with the ps3 app. So many in fact, that I no longer bother with it.




As for blackouts... there are ways around that.

[marek]

I switched to directv last fall from my local cable company time warner... I ordered centerice when i had it installed... I didn't know at the time that root Pittsburgh carried the pens too... I ended up watching root most of the year instead of centerice coverage which was 50/50 home away broadcasters.

So the only reason to get centerice with directv would be to watch a team that didn't have a local network that airs on dtv... If youre a pens fan and can listen to steiggy and errey (which i dont mind) then save the $200 for centerice and just go with the dtv sports package.

[westside]

I switched to directv last fall from my local cable company time warner... I ordered centerice when i had it installed... I didn't know at the time that root Pittsburgh carried the pens too... I ended up watching root most of the year instead of centerice coverage which was 50/50 home away broadcasters.

So the only reason to get centerice with directv would be to watch a team that didn't have a local network that airs on dtv... If youre a pens fan and can listen to steiggy and errey (which i dont mind) then save the $200 for centerice and just go with the dtv sports package.

The problem with that approach is if you don't subscribe to the center ice package, all the Pens games are blacked out on Root.

... And yes, that includes the replays of the games on Root as well :(

[Batman21]

I switched to directv last fall from my local cable company time warner... I ordered centerice when i had it installed... I didn't know at the time that root Pittsburgh carried the pens too... I ended up watching root most of the year instead of centerice coverage which was 50/50 home away broadcasters.

So the only reason to get centerice with directv would be to watch a team that didn't have a local network that airs on dtv... If youre a pens fan and can listen to steiggy and errey (which i dont mind) then save the $200 for centerice and just go with the dtv sports package.

The problem with that approach is if you don't subscribe to the center ice package, all the Pens games are blacked out on Root.

... And yes, that includes the replays of the games on Root as well

Ya u'll just get the pre and post game, no games. When i had dtv i w. center ice and sports pack i think i cld only get the live game on root/fsn pitt, never the replay.

[Batman21]

Ive had both before. The vast majority are in hd, both feeds. Once in a while ull get sd only. I think this happened 2 or 3 times.

After having center ice for 6 yrs, this season i switched to gamecenter. 1000 times better than centre ice, ill never go back.

You are one of the very few that advocate Gamecenter.

ya i know, but im done with cable. i have basic and that's it, fortunately i get NBC Sports in HD with my basic. $50/mo for basic + 30 mb/s internet. i used to have every channel and pay a ton a month, but was only watching sports. now i cant even get dish/dtv and comcast only has 2 centre ice games in hd a night.

i love i can get games on my phone, ipad, ps3, computer. wherever i am, i can get the game. i dont need slingbox because i dont have a dvr/fancy cable, and when i've side by side'd gamcenter to sling, gamecenter was far superior. gamecenter works great on iphone 4S, prop it up on the salt & pepper shaker and i can watch at any restaurant/bar. next im getting that iphone case projector thing...sweet.

when ps3 app acts up, which is rarely, i go hdmi from macbook pro to tv.

I have had nothing but problems with the ps3 app. So many in fact, that I no longer bother with it.




As for blackouts... there are ways around that.

Ya ps3 wld give me probs on wknd evenings as kids are hogging the ps network with their gaming. Im usually out anyway tho watching on my phone.

Ya i know the proxy server stuff, its just its shady for the league to act that way to paying customers.

[shoeshine boy]

I switched to directv last fall from my local cable company time warner... I ordered centerice when i had it installed... I didn't know at the time that root Pittsburgh carried the pens too... I ended up watching root most of the year instead of centerice coverage which was 50/50 home away broadcasters.

what do you mean "50/50 home and away broadcasts"? I have DTV with CenterIce and I get both feeds of 99% of the broadcasts as long as it's not a nationally televised game. there are certain games that I don't get in HD such as Cryers games (like I care) and if 2 Canadian teams are playing each other and it's not HNIC (wtf?).
for me CI is worth it because I (now) live in a non-NHL town and I enjoy watching other teams which I couldn't do with CI.