MLB.COM Broadband

Philliesfan980 · 04-23-2003, 02:27 PM

Does anyone know if this subscription is worth the $19.95 pricetag? It has a lot of nice goodies:

1. MLB TV - They claim that they are going to offer 60 games a week. Currently I have the MLB package with Indemand and it shows 35 games a week.

2. GameDay audio - Every game's radio broadcast

3. Postgame tv - looks like a nice feature. Longer than the average "sports center" capture of each game. About 3 minutes each with commentary.

4. MLB TV archives - Throw away the VCR

5. Condenced games - Cool for teams I don't really care about. Takes about 20 minutes a game. Shows the "payoff pitch" for each batter.

6. Press Pass - Doubt I'll actually ever read these.

7. Highlights Direct - Shows clips of my selected players - Might be nice for my fantasy league

8. Baseball's best - radio/tv broadcasts of classic games. Might be nice for nastalgic purposes.

9. MLB Radio - 9 to 5 radio talk show. I always listen to ESPNRadio or occassionally sporting news radio, I doubt I'll ever use this.

Bottom line is it worth $20 a month? Does anyone have it? It seems that MLB TV might be a great feature, but I'm worried about the quality of broadcast. Do things get out of sync after about 10 minutes of viewing the stream? Too many users may cause for major problems. I have a DSL line and get about 800k downstream, so the 350k downstream that MLB TV requires shouldn't be a big deal.

And as always - I apologize if this subject has already been discussed!

Thanks

samifan24 · 04-23-2003, 02:31 PM

I paid $15 for a month-long trial of MLB.TV. I can get all live games except for the two in my market (BAL & PIT, who I can only see on tape) It's nice if you watch a lot of games. The picture is clear, but it can get choppy at times and I've found that the network at my school can really bog things down a bit. If anything, I'd recommend you try the monthly subscription (it doesn't automatically renew) and see how you like it.

Philliesfan980 · 04-23-2003, 02:39 PM

Samifan24;

That sounds like a good idea (Giving it a shot for a month). At $20 for a month, the risk isn't too high. I have a pretty good network connection at my house, so hopefully the problem was with your university's server being bogged down rather than MLB.COM's servers being bogged down.

Alan T · 04-23-2003, 02:51 PM

I did the free trial of MLB.tv during spring training and liked it alot. I ended up paying $75.00 for the entire season for any games except local market Red Sox games for the most part. I have more choices of games than I do on the digital cable subscription, so that is a nice thing.

I have a really good internet connection both at work and at home, so never have had any problems with choppiness or performance that I know of. I have probably watched about 30 games so far this year on it and think it was some of my better spent money this year.

I would only recommend people buying it who meet the following:

A. Want to see teams other than your local team. You never will get to watch them on this from what I can tell.

B. Want to watch alot of baseball, or like watching alot of baseball. There are tons of games on tv now adays without paying anything extra. From ESPN/Fox regional channels, and others I get a good 15 games aweek anyhows without this.

C. Like Variety of being able to flip around to find the game you want to watch the most.

D. Have an internet connection capable of a sustained average of over 350kbps. That is what it appears to stream at. If your bandwidth is less than that, you might have problems. (Cnet has a bandwidth tester you can use to check your connection.)

Philliesfan980 · 04-23-2003, 03:58 PM

Alan T;

Thanks alot for your analysis. I just ran the cnet.com bandwidth test and got 637kbps so I guess I'm good to go. I'm really glad to hear that MLB.COM doesn't have any server problems like I was originally worried about (or atleast they haven't surfaced during your 30 games that you've watched so far).

On a side note, does anyone here get significantly better than 637kbps? I have verizon DSL.

samifan24 · 04-23-2003, 05:29 PM

I just ran the cnet.com bandwith test as well. My college network scored 2,693 KBS, so I don't know where the problem is.

Alan T · 04-23-2003, 05:37 PM

Let me clarify... There is more to a good connection to something like mlb.tv than just alot of bandwidth.. Without going into alot of details about peering points and what not.. picture this:

Imagine you are driving your car down a 10 lane interstate... and there was a different 10 lane interstate leading up to a store that you wanted to drive to. You would assume baring any accidents, that you should have a smooth drive there.. This is what I experience...

Now what if there is just a small one lane road connecting the two highways that alot of people want to take.. That might cause traffic congestion.. You may unfortunatly be experiencing something where the connection between you and Cnet is great, but the connection between you and MLB is poor. In those cases, you sometimes can contact your provider, ask them for help in finding the problem.. but it could be tough to track down.

Just as a note, my home connection is also around 2.8Mbps (2800Kbps) as well.. but to mlb.tv, I usually average around 500kbps.

Anthony · 04-23-2003, 06:42 PM

i wish the NFL would come out with something like this. although i wouldn't want to watch football in my home office on a 17" flat screen monitor when i could lounge on my couch and see games on a 32" screen.

oykib · 04-23-2003, 07:37 PM

I have the package. But I haad to consider it carefully before I bought. In America, you get a blackout of your local team. In Japan all teams are blacked out. That's true even tough they only show Yankee and Mariner games out here.

Anyway, you can watch after they are complete. That's okay to me because wh wants to watch baseball at eight in the morning?

Philliesfan980 · 04-23-2003, 09:58 PM

What provider offers bandwidth of 2800kbps? I mean I'd pay for that stuff, where can you get it?'

As for the MLB.COM issue, I understand what your saying. I guess I can do a simple "ping" to mlb.com and see what happens with that. Or even better yet, I can actually TRY it and see what happens. Remember, I have no actual problems yet, I'm just speculating on what the potential problems may be

sooner333 · 04-23-2003, 10:36 PM

If you really want to, you can pay about $3 for one game, which would be good to see the stability of the site. I haven't done it...I decided the radio was the best option for me.

Alan T · 04-24-2003, 07:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Philliesfan980
What provider offers bandwidth of 2800kbps? I mean I'd pay for that stuff, where can you get it?'

As for the MLB.COM issue, I understand what your saying. I guess I can do a simple "ping" to mlb.com and see what happens with that. Or even better yet, I can actually TRY it and see what happens. Remember, I have no actual problems yet, I'm just speculating on what the potential problems may be

2800Kbps is a little less than the equivalent of 2 T1s. Depending on local loop costs, it could cost you anywhere from $700.00 to $4500.00 a month for two T1s... I have that much bandwidth thanks to my cable provider. I happen to live in a small little lake town in the middle of no where that happens to be the only town in my state that has my cable provider. We got cable internet the same time alot of Connecticut and Rhode Island did as well, but I have the advantage that there really are not that many people in my area with computers, or computers + internet desire that eat up some of the bandwidth.

For the pinging of Mlb.com , I dont think that would help you that much for this.. If I recall correctly, I believe MLB has outsourced the video hosting piece of this to other hosting companies, and the servers (there are multiple servers I have found in various places in the country) are not hosted the same location that the www.mlb.com site is.

Alan T · 05-02-2003, 06:10 PM

Just a note, for those who were looking at this, evidentally there is a free demo of mlb.tv from may 1st till may 4th. If you arent sure if you can handle it or not, you can try it evidentally for free for a few days.

k0ruptr · 05-02-2003, 07:47 PM

well damn, you still need a credit card... that counts me out.

samifan24 · 05-03-2003, 02:03 PM

Anyone else having a terrible time with this during the past few days? Today I try to watch several games and the reception is terrible. Video is clear for a few seconds, then really choppy and I lose audio. At this point I'm very glad I only paid for a month because this is a waste of money if it continues to be this poor quality. Anyone else having these kinds of problems today or during the past week?

Celeval · 05-03-2003, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Alan T
Just a note, for those who were looking at this, evidentally there is a free demo of mlb.tv from may 1st till may 4th. If you arent sure if you can handle it or not, you can try it evidentally for free for a few days.

Quote:

Originally posted by samifan24
Anyone else having a terrible time with this during the past few days? Today I try to watch several games and the reception is terrible. Video is clear for a few seconds, then really choppy and I lose audio. At this point I'm very glad I only paid for a month because this is a waste of money if it continues to be this poor quality. Anyone else having these kinds of problems today or during the past week?

This may be one reason - if a lot of people are trying the free trial, may be affecting the quality.

I've not done the MLB.tv, although I may with the free trial today - I've been getting the radio broadcasts the last few years, and that's worth it.

Kevin

Philliesfan980 · 05-03-2003, 09:06 PM

I bit the bullet and signed up for the whole bag of services @ $20 a month. So far I'm very pleased with the quality, and haven't had any major problems as of yet. I do notice a SLIGHT downgrade in quality over the past few days, but thats because of the increased usage situation due to the free trial.

04-23-2003, 02:31 PM	#2
samifan24 Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: NC	I paid $15 for a month-long trial of MLB.TV. I can get all live games except for the two in my market (BAL & PIT, who I can only see on tape) It's nice if you watch a lot of games. The picture is clear, but it can get choppy at times and I've found that the network at my school can really bog things down a bit. If anything, I'd recommend you try the monthly subscription (it doesn't automatically renew) and see how you like it. __________________ "You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball...and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time." -Jim Bouton

04-23-2003, 05:29 PM	#6
samifan24 Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: NC	I just ran the cnet.com bandwith test as well. My college network scored 2,693 KBS, so I don't know where the problem is. __________________ "You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball...and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time." -Jim Bouton

05-02-2003, 06:10 PM	#13
Alan T Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mass.	Just a note, for those who were looking at this, evidentally there is a free demo of mlb.tv from may 1st till may 4th. If you arent sure if you can handle it or not, you can try it evidentally for free for a few days. __________________ Couch to ??k - From the couch to a Marathon in roughly 18 months.

05-02-2003, 07:47 PM	#14
k0ruptr Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Las Vegas	well damn, you still need a credit card... that counts me out. __________________ Xbox Live Gamertag: k0ruptr My Favorite Teams : Chicago White Sox - Carolina Panthers - Orlando Magic - Phoenix Suns - Anaheim Ducks - Hawaii Warriors - Oregon Ducks

05-03-2003, 02:03 PM	#15
samifan24 Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: NC	Anyone else having a terrible time with this during the past few days? Today I try to watch several games and the reception is terrible. Video is clear for a few seconds, then really choppy and I lose audio. At this point I'm very glad I only paid for a month because this is a waste of money if it continues to be this poor quality. Anyone else having these kinds of problems today or during the past week? __________________ "You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball...and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time." -Jim Bouton

04-23-2003, 02:39 PM	#3
Philliesfan980 Banned Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Exton, PA	Samifan24; That sounds like a good idea (Giving it a shot for a month). At $20 for a month, the risk isn't too high. I have a pretty good network connection at my house, so hopefully the problem was with your university's server being bogged down rather than MLB.COM's servers being bogged down.

04-23-2003, 02:51 PM	#4
Alan T Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mass.	I did the free trial of MLB.tv during spring training and liked it alot. I ended up paying $75.00 for the entire season for any games except local market Red Sox games for the most part. I have more choices of games than I do on the digital cable subscription, so that is a nice thing. I have a really good internet connection both at work and at home, so never have had any problems with choppiness or performance that I know of. I have probably watched about 30 games so far this year on it and think it was some of my better spent money this year. I would only recommend people buying it who meet the following: A. Want to see teams other than your local team. You never will get to watch them on this from what I can tell. B. Want to watch alot of baseball, or like watching alot of baseball. There are tons of games on tv now adays without paying anything extra. From ESPN/Fox regional channels, and others I get a good 15 games aweek anyhows without this. C. Like Variety of being able to flip around to find the game you want to watch the most. D. Have an internet connection capable of a sustained average of over 350kbps. That is what it appears to stream at. If your bandwidth is less than that, you might have problems. (Cnet has a bandwidth tester you can use to check your connection.)

04-23-2003, 03:58 PM	#5
Philliesfan980 Banned Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Exton, PA	Alan T; Thanks alot for your analysis. I just ran the cnet.com bandwidth test and got 637kbps so I guess I'm good to go. I'm really glad to hear that MLB.COM doesn't have any server problems like I was originally worried about (or atleast they haven't surfaced during your 30 games that you've watched so far). On a side note, does anyone here get significantly better than 637kbps? I have verizon DSL.

04-23-2003, 05:37 PM	#7
Alan T Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mass.	Let me clarify... There is more to a good connection to something like mlb.tv than just alot of bandwidth.. Without going into alot of details about peering points and what not.. picture this: Imagine you are driving your car down a 10 lane interstate... and there was a different 10 lane interstate leading up to a store that you wanted to drive to. You would assume baring any accidents, that you should have a smooth drive there.. This is what I experience... Now what if there is just a small one lane road connecting the two highways that alot of people want to take.. That might cause traffic congestion.. You may unfortunatly be experiencing something where the connection between you and Cnet is great, but the connection between you and MLB is poor. In those cases, you sometimes can contact your provider, ask them for help in finding the problem.. but it could be tough to track down. Just as a note, my home connection is also around 2.8Mbps (2800Kbps) as well.. but to mlb.tv, I usually average around 500kbps.

04-23-2003, 06:42 PM	#8
Anthony Banned Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Astoria, NY, USA	i wish the NFL would come out with something like this. although i wouldn't want to watch football in my home office on a 17" flat screen monitor when i could lounge on my couch and see games on a 32" screen.

04-23-2003, 07:37 PM	#9
oykib College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000	I have the package. But I haad to consider it carefully before I bought. In America, you get a blackout of your local team. In Japan all teams are blacked out. That's true even tough they only show Yankee and Mariner games out here. Anyway, you can watch after they are complete. That's okay to me because wh wants to watch baseball at eight in the morning?

04-23-2003, 09:58 PM	#10
Philliesfan980 Banned Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Exton, PA	What provider offers bandwidth of 2800kbps? I mean I'd pay for that stuff, where can you get it?' As for the MLB.COM issue, I understand what your saying. I guess I can do a simple "ping" to mlb.com and see what happens with that. Or even better yet, I can actually TRY it and see what happens. Remember, I have no actual problems yet, I'm just speculating on what the potential problems may be

04-23-2003, 10:36 PM	#11
sooner333 College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Norman, OK	If you really want to, you can pay about $3 for one game, which would be good to see the stability of the site. I haven't done it...I decided the radio was the best option for me.

05-03-2003, 09:06 PM	#17
Philliesfan980 Banned Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Exton, PA	I bit the bullet and signed up for the whole bag of services @ $20 a month. So far I'm very pleased with the quality, and haven't had any major problems as of yet. I do notice a SLIGHT downgrade in quality over the past few days, but thats because of the increased usage situation due to the free trial.

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