TV/Streaming video

[jaxhawksfan]

Opinions please.  I purchased GameCenter Live last season.  I was disappointed in the performance.  Too much lag and buffering, even though my internet runs about 18mbps. I have the ability to watch from PS3, Roku or laptop and every single game it seemed either the PS3 or Roku feeds were having issues.  I rarely had a problem with the laptop, but still choppy/laggy from time to time.</p>


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I know some were talking about a different pay service called hockey feeds or something like that.  Anyone have suggestions?  I also didn't like the fact that they didn't show preseason or postseason games.</p>

 

[Chief Walking Stick]

I tried GCL one year and HATED IT!!!</p>


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Ended up paying a bit extra for Center Ice the following year and loved having almost every game I cared about in HD.  And able to choose home or away broadcast.</p>


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My vote is for Center Ice for sure.</p>


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AND you get to watch on your main TV with no buffering garbage.</p>

 

[jaxhawksfan]

Yeah, thanks Grim.  That's what I've purchased in the past, and had no issues with it, but I have U-Verse and it isn't available.</p>

 

[winos5]

I had the on-line NHL product last year.   Was good for the most part.   We've ditched most of our cable package now, so I will be missing some games this season.   Plan to do the online product again.</p>

 

[jakobeast]

I tried hockey streams last year. It wasn't terrible. Some times there were buffering issues, although that may have been the ISP. If I remember right, the times it was worst was those times that many folks would be online. They usually had the HD feeds. And if you feel saucy, they have not only NHL games, but AHL, QMJHL, OHL, and WHL, along with other games. </p>


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I am gonna sign up with them again. Even with the slight issues that arose, you could change the location of the server. That was nice, cause sometimes one server would be just overloaded, while a different one was virtually unused. A lot of time, that would clear up any issue.</p>


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And bonus, you don't have to listen to Pat and Eddie. A lot of the time, I would watch the other teams feed. It was nice to hear a different view on the teams. I like the Colorado guys. They always seemed pretty balanced to me. A few times I thought they were fellating the Hawks a bit much, actually.</p>

 

[LordKOTL]

I'm surprised GCL caused as much problems as is did for you, Jax, but hey, i'm not in your shoes.  GCL to me has been more stable than Hockeystreams; the only time I got issues was when my wife was streaming something huge and it was saturating the network.</p>


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Anyhow, my take on your other "options"</p>


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HockeyStreams is not bad--and probably one of the better options for those in a blackout areas since being "greymarket" means they don't get affected by blackout rules. they do have a lot of "aded value" in that they do play more than just NHL. The problem is that since they aren't exactly above the board completely, you're usually paying for access, and if their access is not good (it was bad for about a 1/4 of a season right in the middle), you're basically SOL (then again that's not much different than any 100% legal stream). the twist of the knife came from a...surprise!...Red wings fan Admin who was a bit of a douchenozzle about trying to get feeds back during that time. When it works it's great--when it doesn't you're hosed.</p>


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Center Ice for me at least has only 2 HD feeds; the rest are SD. Further, much like the radio feeds on XM, you only get the home feed. Probably the most solid "connection" (it will go down as much as your cable/satellite/fiber feed) you can get. Unfortunately, it's not portable; you pretty much need to be connected to your cable system. I'd recommend if you wanted the no fuss/no muss ease of using a channel flicker and usually watched games parked on your own couch.</p>

 

[winos5]

There is about a 5 minute lag between cable/TV broadcast and the GCL stream.   Makes the chat less fun during the game.</p>

 

[Chief Walking Stick]

What chat?

 

[LordKOTL]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="winos5" data-cid="235928" data-time="1411401055">
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There is about a 5 minute lag between cable/TV broadcast and the GCL stream.   Makes the chat less fun during the game.</p>
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</blockquote>


What you use to access GCL matters.  My PC's web interface the max lag I've gotten was about 20 seconds off of real time.  the NHL's "push" notification of goals happen after I see it happen.</p>


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When I use my mobile device or my 360, the lag is much more substantal--like you said--matter of minutes and the "push" notification of a goal happens before I see it.</p>

 

[winos5]

this site used to have a game chat once upon a time.</p>

 

[MassHavoc]

he was using purple.</p>

 

[winos5]

no he wasn't......biatch</p>

 

[MassHavoc]

I mean he was being sarcastic. not literally using purple.</p>

 

[winos5]

Are you sure....</p>

 

[MassHavoc]

Yeah. because he's the one that usually ruined the chat.</p>

 

[jaxhawksfan]

So I don't know about all this tech stuff, perhaps some of you IT guys can chime in.  But, I just signed up for GCL at a one time payment of $99.95.  I was able to do this after signing up for adfreetime.com. I guess it is a hybrid of a vpn dns server mask?  I don't know the details, but it worked.  Anyone wanna tell me how?</p>

 

[EspoForever]

I pretty much would echo what Jacko said about Hockeystreams...not many issues for me from it. On a mid season weekend night there will be like 50 games on or more. Fun to watch prospects that way...of course I get to see Iacopelli live again this year 15 minutes from my house. I have even watched portions of Hawks games in LC Walker Arena's wifi on my iPod. I love hockeystreams.</p>

 

[thanson1990]

I am a huge fan of hockeystreams, and after cutting cable I'll be buying the full season package.  I use the app on my Roku, and 90% of the time I get good HD streaming.  They ran into some issues in the middle of last season because they grew too quickly and their servers couldn't keep up, but they capped registration for a while so they could get it all sorted out.  I use it to watch NHL games, plus the Hogs and Peterborough Petes, so that's a bonus too.</p>

 

[winos5]

I've used it before (hockeystreams), but do it at your own risk, it definitely violates laws outside the Netherlands where they are from.   The terms of use page on the site spells it out plain and simple.   It's legal in the Netherlands and international visitors use the product at their own risk and they (HockeyStreams) will not be held liable in way shape or form. </p>

 

[JOVE23]

I love hockeystreams</p>