MLB and the Netflix player

[PilotMan]

I literally jumped for joy yesterday when I got an email from Roku (the netflix box) people. They have have an arrangement with MLB now for any MLB Tv premium members to be able to watch games on the tv through the Roku player.

I know that the season is almost over but damn if this didn't make me happy. I felt like I was getting a big free prize, especially since I had both and didn't need to fork out anymore cash to get to take advantage of the feature.

My wife was like "yippee, more baseball. woohoo." She just doesn't see the total awesomeness of the whole thing. Three (Four really) boys in the house, she just needs to suck it up.

[stevew]

Holy shit. My dad will be stoked about this. Roku is wifi, right?

[PilotMan]

Holy shit. My dad will be stoked about this. Roku is wifi, right?

Yes it is

[Swaggs]

I have a Roku -- what do you have to do to get the MLB package (is it a pay subscription or something you just sign up for?)?

[Lorena]

I have a Roku -- what do you have to do to get the MLB package (is it a pay subscription or something you just sign up for?)?

Yeah it's $34.95 for the whole year: MLB.TV - Watch Live Out-of-Market Baseball, TV-Quality Streaming Video | MLB.com: Subscriptions (http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/subscriptions/index.jsp?affiliateId=ROKUSPLASHPAGE) I really, really hope they have a similar package for the NFL.

They're also adding blip.tv (which I don't really care about) and mediafly by the end of the year.

Live baseball comes to Roku - San Jose Mercury News (http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_13032880)

[Philliesfan980]

Can someone tell me a little more about Roku? Is it close to being a cable/FIOS killer?

[cougarfreak]

Let me know how the PQ is Pilotman, this might be an option, rather than the Directv package for me next year.

[Philliesfan980]

I will say that I have the MLB.TV premium package on my computer, and it looks great.

One of the best value's in sports in my opinion. Great product.

[Swaggs]

Can someone tell me a little more about Roku? Is it close to being a cable/FIOS killer?

Not sure exactly what info you are looking for, but I got my Roku for $100.00. Basically, it runs off your wireless signal and you can watch Netflix ("Watch Now" movies) or Amazon.com movies on your TV with it, without it tying up your computer. Now they have apparently added the MLB package and are looking to add some more features.

It hasn't been a problem for bandwidth for me (my wife and I have both been online while watching it and not noticed anything).

It is a pretty neat gadget (it is very small, which I like with my crowded entertainment stand). I'm not sure we have gotten our money's worth out of it, but we got it in mid-May and generally watch TV and DVDs more in the Fall and Winter, when the weather gets worse, so I'm sure we'll use it quite a bit in a few months.

[stevew]

Yeah it's $34.95 for the whole year: MLB.TV - Watch Live Out-of-Market Baseball, TV-Quality Streaming Video | MLB.com: Subscriptions (http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/subscriptions/index.jsp?affiliateId=ROKUSPLASHPAGE) I really, really hope they have a similar package for the NFL.

They're also adding blip.tv (which I don't really care about) and mediafly by the end of the year.

Live baseball comes to Roku - San Jose Mercury News (http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_13032880)

That's 34.95 for the "rest of the year" Normally the package is over 100 I think.

[stevew]

Hmm, and anyone know what the odds of this continuing next year are? I can't really see the cable companies(who make money off of Extra Innings) really be willing to let this happen over their data network.

My dad would buy one tomorrow I bet, but I don't want to pitch him on it, and then have it be like "MLB.TV is no longer available" next season.

[Philliesfan980]

Not sure exactly what info you are looking for, but I got my Roku for $100.00. Basically, it runs off your wireless signal and you can watch Netflix ("Watch Now" movies) or Amazon.com movies on your TV with it, without it tying up your computer. Now they have apparently added the MLB package and are looking to add some more features.

It hasn't been a problem for bandwidth for me (my wife and I have both been online while watching it and not noticed anything).

It is a pretty neat gadget (it is very small, which I like with my crowded entertainment stand). I'm not sure we have gotten our money's worth out of it, but we got it in mid-May and generally watch TV and DVDs more in the Fall and Winter, when the weather gets worse, so I'm sure we'll use it quite a bit in a few months.

Thanks for the info. Has anyone here heard anything about a major streaming TV provider (i.e. Hula) working with this company? It seems that's where the real power would be in this device (although the Streaming movies are great too).

But as Stevew alludes to below, I bet the cable companies would hire the mafia to stop that from happening.

[Antmeister]

Hmm, and anyone know what the odds of this continuing next year are? I can't really see the cable companies(who make money off of Extra Innings) really be willing to let this happen over their data network.

My dad would buy one tomorrow I bet, but I don't want to pitch him on it, and then have it be like "MLB.TV is no longer available" next season.

It is becoming inevitable cable companies are going to lose money on cable TV. Right now you can provide entertainment through a number of devices from mobile devices, game systems, streaming media players (hardware and computer software).

With that said, that MLB.TV is available for the iPod Touch/Phone as well and I can actually see them trying to expand that to other devices as well (like game systems).

[PilotMan]

Let me know how the PQ is Pilotman, this might be an option, rather than the Directv package for me next year.

They advertise their premium as being in HD, but it really varies basted on your internet speed. We have Cincy Bell and it isn't that great, but we only have a standard TV, so it doesn't kill us either.

It should be super high quality all other things being good.

[PilotMan]

One other note that makes a huge impact that I have failed to mention. In market games are blacked out, so the games that are shown are only out of market games. For me, in Cincy, the Reds are blacked out.

[LloydLungs]

So does anybody have this, and if so, how's it running? Smoothly? How's it look? And how quickly can you switch between games?

[Antmeister]

So does anybody have this, and if so, how's it running? Smoothly? How's it look? And how quickly can you switch between games?

Quality is great from our end. You basically have to wait a little bit for it to preload, but that doesn't take very long and that is the same time you have to wait to switch between games. And if you want to find out how the games going before you even want to watch a game, you can preview the score and the inning beforehand. Another thing that's cool is that you can choose to hear either the home or away announcers. As PilotMan mentioned, they do blackout games in your market.

However I did notice that some teams have an option to pay to watch all their games only for the same cost as it is to watch all the out of market games. And I still don't know how it's gonna work for the post season (if there is gonna be another option at all).

[LloydLungs]

Thanks.

I have the cable Extra Innings package right now, and was thinking about getting a Roku and switching to MLB.tv. I work at home and on my computer, so I often cannot watch baseball on my computer and thus need the TV package. But I would much rather have MLB.tv, because it's cheaper, a better product, more games, home & away broadcasts, etc. So being able to get it on my TV via a separate entity like Roku is ideal for me. I just wanted to make sure it was actually working well. Sounds like it does.

[PilotMan]

I just ordered my subscription for this year. This year, for an extra $10 you can get Minor League Baseball TV as well. That's another 2000 or so games. I pulled the trigger on it. I am interested to see how it will be.

{edit- I don't think that the Minor package is available on Roku, just on the pc.}

[Landshark44]

any get arounds for directv subscribers?

i have directv, and live over an hour from philly. all philly sports teams are shown on comcast, and directv is unable to show any of those games...

if i order the baseball package, the phillies are considered in-market, and not shown....

so, i order comcast even though i have a dish. the cheapest package that shows philly sports is $65 per month....

thats a lot for one channel....

[Scoobz0202]

If I didn't live in the Reds market I'd get a Roku and ditch cable.

Sucks to pay so much for cable only for live sports, but man, I don't know what I'd do without the Reds..

[PilotMan]

You can always watch the in-market games a little later. I think it's only 90-minutes after the game and you can watch.

[Scoobz0202]

Ya, but I'd assume I'd pretty much always be a day behind. It'd be midnight each night before I could watch the game, but by then, it's bedtime.

I know you can do a proxy bypass on the computer, wonder if something like that is possible with the Roku?

[samifan24]

I just ordered my subscription for this year. This year, for an extra $10 you can get Minor League Baseball TV as well. That's another 2000 or so games. I pulled the trigger on it. I am interested to see how it will be.

{edit- I don't think that the Minor package is available on Roku, just on the pc.}

You got the minor league package with MLB.tv? I don't see that option on the website or are you referring to MLB Extra Innings?

[Scoobz0202]

You got the minor league package with MLB.tv? I don't see that option on the website or are you referring to MLB Extra Innings?

I was wondering the same thing. I did a google search for it and actually came up with a Roku forum thread. Somebody in that thread mentioned it was offered as you were paying for MLB.tv. I didn't proceed that far so maybe that is the case.

[PilotMan]

You got the minor league package with MLB.tv? I don't see that option on the website or are you referring to MLB Extra Innings?

Yeah, it only came up after I confirmed the order for MLB.TV, it gave me the opportunity to add on the minor league package for 10 instead of the 30 it normally costs.