Game Center, Center Ice, etc.

Postby **relantel** » Thu Oct 15, 2015 1:31 pm

One would think buying the rights on one platform would be viewable by others. We've had Centre Ice for years - since 2000-2001 season - and with the on demand features out there now would be nice if I had rights to that if I forget to record a game. But I know I won't. Same way I don't expect my MLBTV subscription to carry over to DirecTV.

Postby **nocera** » Thu Oct 15, 2015 1:49 pm

One would think buying the rights on one platform would be viewable by others. We've had Centre Ice for years - since 2000-2001 season - and with the on demand features out there now would be nice if I had rights to that if I forget to record a game. But I know I won't. Same way I don't expect my MLBTV subscription to carry over to DirecTV.

I'm probably completely wrong about this, but I was always under the assumption that NHL Center Ice is offered by satellite/cable providers and they take a large chunk of the profits. NHL GameCenter Live is owned entirely by the NHL, they get all of the profits and have essentially cut out the middleman.

Postby **tfrizz** » Thu Oct 15, 2015 2:22 pm

One would think buying the rights on one platform would be viewable by others. We've had Centre Ice for years - since 2000-2001 season - and with the on demand features out there now would be nice if I had rights to that if I forget to record a game. But I know I won't. Same way I don't expect my MLBTV subscription to carry over to DirecTV.
I'm probably completely wrong about this, but I was always under the assumption that NHL Center Ice is offered by satellite/cable providers and they take a large chunk of the profits. NHL GameCenter Live is owned entirely by the NHL, they get all of the profits and have essentially cut out the middleman.

NHL Center Ice is run by a third-party, iN DEMAND LLC. AFAIK they have full control over the service including what they charge to TV providers. When the NHL launched Gamecenter Live, they agreed to not undercut the pricing of Center Ice - presumably in exchange for the broadcast feeds that iN DEMAND has control of - so that it wouldn't steal customers away from NHLCI.

Up until a few years ago. Canadian providers had been giving a code for a free Gamecentre Live subscription when you subscribe to Centre Ice. That was a fantastic deal... too bad it stopped

Postby **Sarcastic** » Thu Oct 15, 2015 2:31 pm

I was watching the game last night using HS, and right in the middle of the game, a DirecTV error screen appeared. So it seems like HS uses DirecTV for the feeds. I ended up having to watch the rest of the game with the Montreal feed.

Yeah. The Montreal feed was actually good. I mean, the commentary. There was also another option to watch, RDS.

Postby **doublewinder** » Sun Nov 01, 2015 10:22 am

Got GCL, however my DVD player is NOT a Sony but an LG.
Wanted to know what to do so I can stream the game on my TV.

Should I get rokutv or apple tv? I'm looking for the most basic/cheapest user-friendly method with a 47 inch TV.
Alternatively, I heard rumors that since MLB tookover eventually streaming will be available on all DVDs besides Sony, so might it be better to wait?

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Sun Nov 01, 2015 12:12 pm

Interestingly enough, GCL does not work with my Sony Blu-ray player. It did a few years ago. I get aa "not supported " error message.

I recommend Chromecast for streaming. $35 and it works really well with a host of apps and services.

Postby **MalkinIsMyHomeboy** » Mon Nov 02, 2015 9:50 am

chromecast is probably the best

Postby **relantel** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 10:57 am

Game before last - Buffalo - went to watch it and it was blacked out. 721 not subscribed message. I'm like WTF, I've been a Centre Ice subscriber for 15 years and it always autorenews. DirecTV with no explanation how that happened but was able to turn it on. Still waiting on a call back telling me why it got deleted from their system.

Postby **doublewinder** » Thu Nov 05, 2015 12:36 am

I have GCL. I was trying to watch on my TV through my Sony DVD player, as I did last season.
So I turn on the DVD, go to the nhl gcl icon...click it, takes a second for the icon to fire up, but it does, loads...and then boom....GONE. It VANISHES.
I scroll all over my icon options on the Sony DVD....I see everything...netflix/hulu....but no NHL GCL...it's gone.
WTF?

This is really annoying....I have this for MLB which not only lets me stream it on any DVD, not just Sony, but I never get this ****. ANybody have this issue?

Postby **relantel** » Sun Jan 03, 2016 7:54 pm

I am liking DirecTV's Genie system and the smart season-pass setting by selecting the Penguins as the favorite team. If the primary channel is blacked out it will search for the non-blacked out feed, such as last night's Islanders game, which was blacked out on ROOT but appeared on NHLN. The Detroit game gave me ROOT & the Detroit feed recording simultaneously. Not that we have a whole slew of free space on the DVR, but it's a nice feature. Just regret I hadn't tried that at the start of the year instead of figuring it out for game 37. (Otherwise I had simply preselected ROOT by the guide on the day of)

Postby **nocera** » Sun Jan 03, 2016 7:55 pm

I am liking DirecTV's Genie system and the smart season-pass setting by selecting the Penguins as the favorite team. If the primary channel is blacked out it will search for the non-blacked out feed, such as last night's Islanders game, which was blacked out on ROOT but appeared on NHLN. The Detroit game gave me ROOT & the Detroit feed recording simultaneously. Not that we have a whole slew of free space on the DVR, but it's a nice feature. Just regret I hadn't tried that at the start of the year instead of figuring it out for game 37. (Otherwise I had simply preselected ROOT by the guide on the day of)

Wait... What? It automatically records the game?

Postby **dodint** » Sun Jan 03, 2016 7:57 pm

It's nice, but when you pair it with Center Ice it's a crap shoot on which announce team you'll get. I wish I could somehow tell it which broadcast I wanted. That's a fine hair to split, though. And not an issue if you're in-market.

Postby **relantel** » Sun Jan 03, 2016 8:01 pm

I am liking DirecTV's Genie system and the smart season-pass setting by selecting the Penguins as the favorite team. If the primary channel is blacked out it will search for the non-blacked out feed, such as last night's Islanders game, which was blacked out on ROOT but appeared on NHLN. The Detroit game gave me ROOT & the Detroit feed recording simultaneously. Not that we have a whole slew of free space on the DVR, but it's a nice feature. Just regret I hadn't tried that at the start of the year instead of figuring it out for game 37. (Otherwise I had simply preselected ROOT by the guide on the day of)
Wait... What? It automatically records the game?

Yep. Set by your favorite team (or teams though the only other one I had used it with was Penn State all season). Granted this is two games into it so I haven't had the opportunity to be stuck with the "wrong feed" though the CI channels do identify in the game title which feed it is.

Postby **nocera** » Sun Jan 03, 2016 9:03 pm

Man. Ive had Direct TV for 5 years (Genie for 2) and had no idea about this. Thanks.

Postby **relantel** » Sun Jan 03, 2016 9:18 pm

Man. Ive had Direct TV for 5 years (Genie for 2) and had no idea about this. Thanks.

We just got it in August after having SD-DVR for 11 years. Sorry I didn't figure it out sooner!

Postby **dodint** » Sun Jan 03, 2016 9:37 pm

It's great for baseball. Set your teams, set them to keep 1 live recording, and you always have a game ready to watch. Perfect for the casual fan.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Mon Jan 04, 2016 9:23 am

Glad this thread pops up.

I'm a GCL subscriber. One thing that grinds my gears is if I load a game before it starts (I get an alert from my Score app 15 minutes prior to the game), the stream never moves from the "Game will begin momentarily" placeholder graphic. Even though the game has already started.

My TV, a recent Samsung model, does not have a GCL app for it, so I use Chromecast via phone or iPad. I don't like how there are unnecessary clicks to get the stream to play. One to enable Chromecast, another to load the stream, and a third to actually play the game stream. Cut one of those out and it would be fine...

Speaking of GCL improvements, when does MLBAM take over? It's supposed to be this month, right?

Postby **nocera** » Sat Jan 09, 2016 7:16 pm

Man. Ive had Direct TV for 5 years (Genie for 2) and had no idea about this. Thanks.
We just got it in August after having SD-DVR for 11 years. Sorry I didn't figure it out sooner!

I've had it set for a week or so now and while it's nice not having to worry if the game is recording, it's really annoying that it records the blacked out or unsubscribed channels like Center Ice. Each game has 3 or more recordings.

Postby **dodint** » Sat Jan 09, 2016 7:48 pm

The only way to solve that is to do a keyword search tied to Root, but then you miss NBCSN games and catch all the other Pens related programming.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Tue Feb 02, 2016 3:15 pm

Well, the MLBAM NHL takeover is here.

GameCenter is now NHL.tv (which makes a lot more sense). More compatible devices (I'll need to see if they added Samsung TVs yet), and now a higher bitrate 5000 kb/s and 60 FPS! That's going to be awesome. Hockey really "pops" at 60 fps, so I'm looking forward to that.

It doesn't look like you'll be able to watch a game and listen to the radio feed like you can on MLB.tv, but that's probably because of the way the NHL teams license their local broadcasting rights. Or it isn't available yet.

Postby **nocera** » Tue Feb 02, 2016 6:43 pm

The iPad app is also greatly improved.

And Toronto/Boston is free tonight if you want to check out the new service.

Postby **columbia** » Tue Feb 02, 2016 7:14 pm

Something foo bar going on with Apple TV. It won't ever login. Everything is fine with the web interface

Postby **nocera** » Tue Feb 02, 2016 7:16 pm

Something foo bar going on with Apple TV. It won't ever login. Everything is fine with the web interface

I was able to log in on both of my Apple TVs (2 & 4). Might be something on your end.

Postby **columbia** » Tue Feb 02, 2016 7:19 pm

Yeah, I'll mess with again between periods.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Tue Feb 02, 2016 7:24 pm

Yeah, iPad app is great. Definitely 60 fps... Although, it just crashed as I wrote this post.