NHL Centre Ice VS. Rogers GameCentre

[Split98]

It's free with my Rogers account, but it's the last resort to watch a game if I can help it.

I have a great connection, but games typically skip or skip frames. I've tried multiple TVs, and have tried 3 different ways to stream games - all the same issue. On multiple occasions, I gave up and lurked into the places-not-to-be-spoken-of to watch a game.

If on principle alone, I'd never pay for the service. Their blackouts are inexcusable, and the cut-aways from commercials and interviews are tiring. I don't know if this is still the case, but years ago I was paying for this service to catch games in Ontario. I'd cut the cable entirely, so I could not watch any Saturday night games or anything else that was available in my area. The sting of not watching my team on Saturday nights for a whole season has still not worn off.

I'd keep Center Ice. The games work, and you don't have to watch hours of rolling fog all season.

[Lumby Lager]

Originally Posted by theslymonkey

ALSO, how many devices can watch at the same time in the same household?

I haven’t checked if they have changed it this year but in the previous years it has always been up to 5 devices at once. Living in BC and being a cord cutter gamecenter has been great for me and a few buddies as we share an account and split the cost, we live in different cities as well.

[bc-chris]

i have had center ice for years and will get it again this year. i'm usually at home to catch the games and if i'm out i'm out for a reason (with friends, band rehearsal, playing hockey) so i can't really watch (stream) a game then anyways - so pvr and watch it when i get home.


i'm not overly impressed with streamed games (when i'm at buddies houses watching the games). skipping, lag time, quality seems hit or miss. they say "it's never like this"... but it always seems to be when i'm there??


the one thing i do like about game center is you can pic your home/away feed - so when the flames are playing the canucks in vancouver you can enjoy rick ball and not have to listen to the whiney canuck homers on the sportsnet pacific feed (which i would get being in bc).

[hockeyhuman]

I used NHL.TV in Vietnam last year and it was an absolute dream, could watch the games whenever I wanted and could hide the scores so I couldn't see them when I clicked play on whichever game.

[Deegee]

I have a good internet connection, but I couldn't watch on Gamecentre on my PS4 without severe lag issues. It was the only streaming service I used that had issues. A lot needs to change before I would pay for it again. Sadly, I get better results from illegal online streams than I did Gamecentre.

[DSIM420]

Originally Posted by bc-chris

i have had center ice for years and will get it again this year. i'm usually at home to catch the games and if i'm out i'm out for a reason (with friends, band rehearsal, playing hockey) so i can't really watch (stream) a game then anyways - so pvr and watch it when i get home.


i'm not overly impressed with streamed games (when i'm at buddies houses watching the games). skipping, lag time, quality seems hit or miss. they say "it's never like this"... but it always seems to be when i'm there??


the one thing i do like about game center is you can pic your home/away feed - so when the flames are playing the canucks in vancouver you can enjoy rick ball and not have to listen to the whiney canuck homers on the sportsnet pacific feed (which i would get being in bc).

If you weren't on your phone on Jer and I's Wifi posting on CP we wouldn't have Lag issues or picture quality issues! haha...

Ya that is the only frustrating part, however it has gotten better. I do like the fact if I go out for dinner and they don't have the game on, I can simply watch it on my phone or ipad if I have it.

[bc-chris]

Originally Posted by DSIM420

If you weren't on your phone on Jer and I's Wifi posting on CP we wouldn't have Lag issues or picture quality issues! haha...

Ya that is the only frustrating part, however it has gotten better. I do like the fact if I go out for dinner and they don't have the game on, I can simply watch it on my phone or ipad if I have it.

you know my wife... that sooooooooo wouldn't fly with her! bahahaha!



i will admit it is nice when you have the game going on your phone in the change room at the rink before our men's league games - especially when the flames are beating up on the oil, nucks or leafs!!!

[bubbsy]

So... I am a rogers home/wireless service customer, and usually get a free subscription for the nhl game center access.

My login no longer working.... It's still free right?!

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

So... I am a rogers home/wireless service customer, and usually get a free subscription for the nhl game center access.

My login no longer working.... It's still free right?!

Nope

https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/carrie...e-spotify-nhl/

Pretty lame, I found out by text giving me 25% off.

[LostCatalyst]

If you don’t have cable the only option is game centre live. I live out in Victoria and had a subscription last year. Half way through the season both the tv app and ps4 app would not allow me to watch games. However I still could on my iPad. Issue was never resolved as Rogers felt like it was nhl.com’s problem, nhl.com felt like it was a ip provider problem (TELUS) and TELUS felt like it was a Rogers problem.

It sucked. I’m back on cable and going to try centre ice this year

[doublej_23]

Originally Posted by bc-chris

i have had center ice for years and will get it again this year. i'm usually at home to catch the games and if i'm out i'm out for a reason (with friends, band rehearsal, playing hockey) so i can't really watch (stream) a game then anyways - so pvr and watch it when i get home.


i'm not overly impressed with streamed games (when i'm at buddies houses watching the games). skipping, lag time, quality seems hit or miss. they say "it's never like this"... but it always seems to be when i'm there??


the one thing i do like about game center is you can pic your home/away feed - so when the flames are playing the canucks in vancouver you can enjoy rick ball and not have to listen to the whiney canuck homers on the sportsnet pacific feed (which i would get being in bc).

I'm sitting with internet 300 this year, I think we'll be fine.

Also Game Centre isn't free with rogers anymore... 179.99 on sale right now.

[Huntingwhale]

I've been a GC subscriber for the past 3 seasons. And I will say that it is a great idea on paper, but executed quite poorly and IMO is a garbage product.

First of all, the blackouts for local Flames games is 100% stupid and ridiculous. It's 2018, and we still have to adhere to blackouts? F'ing ridiculous I'm forced to use a VPN which lags the game to the point of often being unwatchable. I used the XB1 app which gives you a smooth 60fps viewing, but again if it's a local Flames game (ie not on CBC), you can't watch it.

However I was willing to suffer for it for a while to get my hockey fix and cut the cable. It's nice to be able to watch the game an hour later and skip commercials. But the real deal breaker for me this past spring was during the playoffs when I went to London and thought I'd be able to watch some playoff hockey in my hotel room. Imagine my anger when I discovered that games in London England are ALSO blacked out because of some stupid agreement the NHL has with some local London sport's channel. That's right. My GC subscription I had purchased in Canada was blacked out in my hotel room in London because I needed to subscribe to some UK sports network, which obviously the hotel didn't have.

I was pretty furious at that point. I'm a guy who has always used pirated streams and videos for all media, but recently have wanted to shift to paid services. But IMO if you have the choice between CI or GC, it's CI and it's not even close.

I think GC is really only a good option if you live in a region/country without ANY connection to an NHL team and that doesn't have some kind of contract with the NHL and their local sports broadcaster. I won't be renewing my GC subscription this season after the debacle in my London hotel room. I tried my best to do the right thing and pay for the service. However GC has way to many issues for me to even consider going back to them.

-No 60 fps stream on chrome/edge

-Local blackouts

-Have to use a VPN to get around blackouts, which results in laggy streams

-Unstable, outdated media player which often crashes or skips ahead without notice

-I've actually watched some games where I click ahead to skip in the commercial, and suddenly the game skips to live stream, which ruins the surprise. Nothing like having the game ruined for you because the damn media player sucks balls

-Overseas blackouts in some regions

-Sometimes the hide score button doesn't work

-Slow, laggy menus

Overall, I won't be renewing GC this season and will be going back to what's always worked for me; pirated streams. My only regret about doing it this way is that it's doesn't physically deduct money from the NHL's bank account.

IMO if you have the choice between CI or GC, it's CI and it's not even close.

[lazypucker]

Somewhat related question: I live in Calgary and I am a cord cutter. What is the best subscription service to watch Flames games? Sportsnet Now or something else?

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

Somewhat related question: I live in Calgary and I am a cord cutter. What is the best subscription service to watch Flames games? Sportsnet Now or something else?

I used Sportsnet Now instead of cable. Here is the good and the bad.

The bad
It isn't cheap it costs over 25 bucks a month.
The quality of the stream is often suspect, it isn't live, there is often poor quality definition.
The worst part of the service was regularly it would freeze in the first 10 seconds that I clicked on the video of the game. This problem would continue even after I re booted my computer. I would often miss the first period from this problem.
There are regional blackouts for out of town games like the canucks or sens.

The good
It streams all sports net channels.
All flames games were broadcast.
It was legal.

My verdict was that I quit half way through the season because I was really upset with A the Flames play and B the quality of the service at the price. It was often easier for me to stream illegally and the picture quality was better.
The way it worked for me, I wouldnt recommend it to anyone. That said, they may have improved the service in the last year.

[Hockey-and_stuff]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

Somewhat related question: I live in Calgary and I am a cord cutter. What is the best subscription service to watch Flames games? Sportsnet Now or something else?

Sportsnet Now is what you want if you live in Calgary. I've never used it personally so I don't know how good it is, but if it's like GCL I don't trust Rogers does a very good job.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Inferno

Nope

https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/carrie...e-spotify-nhl/

Pretty lame, I found out by text giving me 25% off.

I have had nothing but problems with Rogers and this was the last straw. Still have my cell phone under them because I am contracted for one more year but I cancelled my home phone, internet, and cable today that was all bundled together. F Rogers.Oh, you don't want to provide me with your semi crappy gamecenter anymore for free, that will cost you $300.00 a month you used to get from me. Suck it.

[Pellanor]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

I used Sportsnet Now instead of cable. Here is the good and the bad.

The bad
It isn't cheap it costs over 25 bucks a month.
The quality of the stream is often suspect, it isn't live, there is often poor quality definition.
The worst part of the service was regularly it would freeze in the first 10 seconds that I clicked on the video of the game. This problem would continue even after I re booted my computer. I would often miss the first period from this problem.
There are regional blackouts for out of town games like the canucks or sens.

The good
It streams all sports net channels.
All flames games were broadcast.
It was legal.

My verdict was that I quit half way through the season because I was really upset with A the Flames play and B the quality of the service at the price. It was often easier for me to stream illegally and the picture quality was better.
The way it worked for me, I wouldnt recommend it to anyone. That said, they may have improved the service in the last year.

Thanks for the review.
When the bolded ceases to be the case, I will happily pay. Until then I think I'll just save the money and attend more games in person.

[Burner]

just got a text message from Rogers that GCL is no longer part of my share everything plan - nice of them to tell me just after i upgraded my phone and signed on for two more years

think i might just go to center ice cause these bastards at rogers are a greedy bunch of thieves

[Scroopy Noopers]

GCL is the only reason I have Rogers.

Can anyone in Ontario confirm that I can watch all Flames and Leafs (wife) games, blackout free, on Centre Ice?

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

GCL is the only reason I have Rogers.

Can anyone in Ontario confirm that I can watch all Flames and Leafs (wife) games, blackout free, on Centre Ice?

I believe Leaf games will be blacked out but you can see all of them with basic cable anyhow.