NHL Center Ice/Game Center worth it?

[nexguy66]

I live in Texas and am a huge Pens fan and want to see every game. I've had Center Ice for years(on DirecTV and used it quite a bit in the past. This season, however, I've been able to watch every Pens game on other channels except for just 2 which I needed to use NHL Center Ice.

Pens games come on these DirecTV channels:
Root Sports (channel 659) <-- have to pay $10 a month for
NHL Network (channel 215)
NBC (or free stream online at NBCSports.com)


Is this how it will be next year as well? I've considered switching to NHL Game Center but if I am only going to need to use it for half a dozen games it's not worth it.

[relantel]

Yes, i find CI still quite the bit worth it. (We've had CI on DirecTV since the 00-01 season)

This season is an aberration in terms of number of Pens games parroted on NBCSN and NHLN. I can't think those numbers will be near as high next season with a more normalized schedule, and the east-west matchups that aren't there this year.

[Stevens25]

This is my first year actually buying an nhl package. (always been a fan of streaming terrible feeds)
I bought the NHL.com package. I am highly impressed. Even when the Pens are not on, I will watch other Eastern conference games and listen to hometown feeds (Philly and Islanders are so home biased, like it should be ). They also give you access to a smart phone app to watch games on the road as well as being able to watch hundreds of games from your favorite teams past. I've watched a ton of games from the 91-92 and 92-93 cup runs.
Almost as good as the movie Pens Again

[Idoit40fans]

Even if I were just watching Pens games this year, it would still worth it, but its really frustrating. Its definitely worth it if you are gonna watch hockey at least 3-4 nights a week.

[pittsoccer33]

I remember running the numbers last year. Around 30 games were on either NBC, NBCSN, or NHLN.

[puckeye]

I also have DirecTV and believe the game would be blacked out on Root if you didn't have the Center Ice package.

[It'sagreatdayforhockey!]

If you have DTV, you must get Center Ice. Other cable providers don't have both feeds/HD for all, but with Directv you get every (non-national) game on root. So worth it. If you want to watch on the go get a slingbox or volkano to stream from your tv to mobile. Gamecenter is good (for people like me with FIOS), but can be choppy on certain devices, even with great internet.

As far as whether it is worth it overall, I guess that depends on how much of a pens fan or hockey fan you are and whether or not you are willing to use (possibly not legal) mostly bad quality feeds streamed free on certain websites. I like watching games in HD where you can see jersey numbers/sticks (let alone the puck) and watch more than just the pens games from time to time, so I certainly find it worth it.

[iWonTheCup87]

Never had center ice but I got Gamecenter this year being around DC and its great. It had some issues to start but its all be ironed out and its fantastic. You can replay goals because they pop up as red dots along the progess bar, you can make it go slow motion, PIP, even watch 4 games at once, HD, get to see tons of other teams play. The only down side is black outs and it sucks because the pens have like 29 games on "national tv" this short year so i only get like 19 games and watch the rest on streams. I recently found you can get around this by using a VPN service for a few $$ a month so you can see them all. I havent tried it yet but i will.

[relantel]

HD would be nice. We haven't upgraded our DVRs yet, but after having HDTVs since last summer/fall, one can really tell the limits of SD close up. Back of room, not so bad. Three more car payments until some cashflow that might allow said upgrade.

[nexguy66]

I also have DirecTV and believe the game would be blacked out on Root if you didn't have the Center Ice package.

How do you know this? I am curious as to how it works.

[DocEmrick]

No, you can't get everything you need online for free.

[nocera]

I also have DirecTV and believe the game would be blacked out on Root if you didn't have the Center Ice package.

How do you know this? I am curious as to how it works.

This is how it works. You have to be considered in the region to get Pens games on Root. I used to be in North East Ohio but they changed it this year so I had to get CI.

You can see what region you're in here: http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/co ... Id=3450006

[nexguy66]

I also have DirecTV and believe the game would be blacked out on Root if you didn't have the Center Ice package.

How do you know this? I am curious as to how it works.

This is how it works. You have to be considered in the region to get Pens games on Root. I used to be in North East Ohio but they changed it this year so I had to get CI.

You can see what region you're in here: http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/co ... Id=3450006

Well snap my buttons.. I guess I will be getting CI for life. Thanks for all the info!

edit: found the official info here.

[thehockeyguru]

NHL Network does such a nice job, if I didnt live in Pittsburgh I dont think I'd shell out for Center Ice. I'd make due with the in game updates.

[puckeye]

strange thing is that living in Columbus, the Pirate games are not blacked out on Root if you pay the $10/mo for the sports package. For some reason, Columbus is considered a Pirate market. It's a nice price to watch the games

[nocera]

strange thing is that living in Columbus, the Pirate games are not blacked out on Root if you pay the $10/mo for the sports package. For some reason, Columbus is considered a Pirate market. It's a nice price to watch the games

I'm guessing that's because Columbus doesn't have a MLB team.

[MRandall25]

strange thing is that living in Columbus, the Pirate games are not blacked out on Root if you pay the $10/mo for the sports package. For some reason, Columbus is considered a Pirate market. It's a nice price to watch the games

I'm guessing that's because Columbus doesn't have a MLB team.

Reds and Indians are much closer to C-bus than the Pirates.

[PhantomJB93]

I live outside the Pittsburgh market and between NBC, NBCSN, NHL Network, and CSN Washington, I feel like I've gotten over half the games on tv anyway. Not sure of the exact number but lately it's been almost every game is on one of those channels; on the rare occasions it's not I just find a free stream online. It's probably more because of the shortened season/Pens popularity than anything but I've never even considered paying for Game Center.

[Idoit40fans]

Yeah if you get NBCSN and NHL network, you've seen more than half of the Pens games.

[mjmmessina]

I live near Hagerstown, Md right along the MD/PA border and have DTV. For the past 10 years I've been in the regional viewing area for Root Sports and was able to watch all the Penguins game on Root with the platinum DTV package. They changed the border now so that the counties to the north of me in PA and west of me in MD are the new borders so I had to pony up and get the center ice package in order to watch the games on Root.

[Idoit40fans]

I'm surprised to learn that they have not only electricity, but they have cable service up in Hagerstown?

[Stevens25]

I live outside the Pittsburgh market and between NBC, NBCSN, NHL Network, and CSN Washington, I feel like I've gotten over half the games on tv anyway

So you know the pain that is the Caps announcers. "That's a dipsy doodle right there"

[tnt118]

GCL is overall a very nice package, but it is frustrating to not be able to watch games that are blacked out. As posted above, this year was particular bad for how many national games the Pens had (i.e. not on GCL) bringing the price-per-game to pretty much the same or higher as a normal season (despite the supposed deal they had running this year to thank the fans).

That's of course if watching only the Pens is your major use... if you want a lot of hockey all of the time, it's still pretty reasonable and the quality is outstanding. I just couldn't justify it this year considering how few Pens games I'd actually be able to watch.

[mjmmessina]

[quote][I'm surprised to learn that they have not only electricity, but they have cable service up in Hagerstown? /quote]

That's funny! I'm originally from Pittsburgh so that no insult to me!

[Inkio]

GSL is 100% worth it. I use a VPN service to reroute my IP to a european IP to load in market games and nationally broadcasted ones. Once the game has loaded i turn off the VPN to get good streaming quality. I am able to watch every single penguins game this way even if it is on NHLN and NBC. One of the best investments I have made.