NHL CI/Gamecenter Live

[flames 4 life]

Hey does anyone know what the pricing will be this year for CI and gamecenter live? I know it was discounted last year due to the lockout and shortened season but not sure what pricing will be this year? Also I live in BC and have Shaw Cable and was planning on subscribing to NFL Sunday Ticket as well so do cable companies normally give a package deal if you get multiple sports packages?

[sun]

Got an email from Gamecenter yesterday saying early bird price is $150 for the year. Three $50 installments.

[bubbsy]

hmm 150 is not bad at all. Does anyone have feedback on using gamecenter on an xbox 360 (wireless setup) to watch on your TV? is it choppy? good HD (limited by xbox being 720p i believe)?

I usually get CI, and loved it when a few years back CI subscription got you a Gamecenter membership for free.... ah, the good ol' days.

[jaydub74]

I'm also interested in these services.
I cut my cable line this summer and don't plan on returning. Just going to stream TV via netflix and sign up for a hockey package.
Do you get all the games with these packages?

[Rubicant]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

hmm 150 is not bad at all. Does anyone have feedback on using gamecenter on an xbox 360 (wireless setup) to watch on your TV? is it choppy? good HD (limited by xbox being 720p i believe)?

I usually get CI, and loved it when a few years back CI subscription got you a Gamecenter membership for free.... ah, the good ol' days.

I find the picture quality good, but even though it appears to be HD I noticed a bit of a choppiness whenever the camera was following the puck up ice (like when it is moving through the neutral zone).

As long as the camera didn't move too much the picture was fine but I think I will be going back to CI this season.

[bubbsy]

ya, i've become a sucker for HD.

Rubicant: Not sure if your on Rogers, I am here in TO, do you have any idea what the rates are this year?

i usually go CI or just cave and get the full sports pack so i can catch the nfl games on sunday, but it might be a poor investment this year given that we have a 5 month old baby now ...

[Rubicant]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

ya, i've become a sucker for HD.

Rubicant: Not sure if your on Rogers, I am here in TO, do you have any idea what the rates are this year?

i usually go CI or just cave and get the full sports pack so i can catch the nfl games on sunday, but it might be a poor investment this year given that we have a 5 month old baby now ...

Nope I live in the land of Cogeco - I will probably wind up getting the super sports pack even though it isn't as good as it was when I had Rogers in Toronto because there aren't as many HD channels.

Congrats on the young one! I have a two month old so I think it will be a great investment this year! Of course I am the one taking time off though...

[The Swedish Flame]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

hmm 150 is not bad at all. Does anyone have feedback on using gamecenter on an xbox 360 (wireless setup) to watch on your TV? is it choppy? good HD (limited by xbox being 720p i believe)?

I don't know if it was my internet, or if it is like this for everyone, but I experienced maybe a 45-60 second delay when watching through my Xbox last season.

[darthma]

Originally Posted by The Swedish Flame

I don't know if it was my internet, or if it is like this for everyone, but I experienced maybe a 45-60 second delay when watching through my Xbox last season.

That's typical for online streams (vs. TV feeds). At least... I'm with you on this too.

[HalifaxDrunk]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

ya, i've become a sucker for HD.

You would be surprised by the number of times I've heard a woman say that to me.

HD

[devo22]

Originally Posted by sun

Got an email from Gamecenter yesterday saying early bird price is $150 for the year. Three $50 installments.

really? if I go to NHL.com, it says $99.95 in one payment or $19.99 in five installments

EDIT: nevermind, I wrote a mail to the customer support and they replied:

Registration for GameCenter Live is now available world-wide (except in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland). All games are available on-demand. Select games may be blacked out live in some countries. NHL Gamecenter Live costs $149.99 in the United States and Canada and $99.99 overseas.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

ya, i've become a sucker for HD.

Rubicant: Not sure if your on Rogers, I am here in TO, do you have any idea what the rates are this year?

i usually go CI or just cave and get the full sports pack so i can catch the nfl games on sunday, but it might be a poor investment this year given that we have a 5 month old baby now ...

Honestly, a 5 month old isn't a bad age. My little guy liked watching hockey/football, or at least wasn't running away/jumping off furniture. Now that he is almost 2 years old, it would be burning money, because all he does is run away and jump off furniture.

[Flashpoint]

I highly recommend Gamecenter over CI. I cancelled my cable in January, and have saved $890 thus far this year. I had signed up for NHL CI for the past 5 years to the tune of about $160/ year. With the lockout Gamecenter was $50.

I use my PS3. I'd assume Xbox is comparable, but don't know for certain. Most of the games I watched were HD, and on about a 4-5 minute delay from the live broadcast. I also watched games on my phone when I was out of the house.

They have great highlight packages after the game. You can watch a 2 minute or 10 minute version for all games about 2 hours after they air. You can also watch the games in their entirety (commercial free) after they air.

Local games are blacked out for 24 hours IIRC.

Anyway, my advice is get Gamecenter, cancel your cable, and never look back.

[hah]

Hockey streams dot com is another site that shows ALL hockey with no black outs. The price goes up Sept 1, they are cheaper than Game Centre.

[The Swedish Flame]

Originally Posted by hah

Hockey streams dot com is another site that shows ALL hockey with no black outs. The price goes up Sept 1, they are cheaper than Game Centre.

Is it a legal service?

[hah]

It appears they have been in business since 2007. This will be my first full year with them.

[vicarious]

I cut cable and used game center live last year. There were a lot of technical issues early in the season or the game center app would crash but it seems like the NHL eventually sorted stuff out and everything operated quite flawlessly after the first couple of weeks.

There is a couple minutes delay from the live broadcast and every once in a while the sound would fall out of sync with the picture which was easily resolved by simply reloading the stream.

I have tried streaming on Xbox360, my 6 year old laptop and apple TV. I found the apple TV was by far the best quality picture and stream. Xbox was choppy and would buffer a lot. The laptop was a fallback as whenever there we technical issues with the devices the computer would still somehow work. I have Shaw broadband 50. Not sure if it works as well with a slower connection...

I will signing up again this season.

[skeena1]

Originally Posted by jaydub74

I'm also interested in these services.
I cut my cable line this summer and don't plan on returning. Just going to stream TV via netflix and sign up for a hockey package.
Do you get all the games with these packages?

Any game that is available on tv in your area will be blacked out on NHL game center. Also see post #14.

[Clever_Iggy]

I cut cable and went with GameCentre last year (along with MLB Package) and run everything through my Apple TV. I really liked GameCentre even though the puck appears choppy when the camera pans. There was some technical reason for it (as opposed to other sports where either the cameras are more stationary or where the ball/object doesn't move so fast). But over time, I got used to it.

OT - anyone know if there's the equivalent for NFL? There's the NFL Rewind but that sounds super lame. Do you have to have cable to get NFL streaming online?

[skippy]

So if sportsnet is showing a game, I can't watch that live on gamecenter but can watch the opposing team's broadcast? Is that how it works?