MLB.tv
I’ve been slinging Indians games since my freshman year in college. The video quality was good but severely limited by upload and download speeds on my home and apartment networks.
Last year, I officially made the switch to MLB.tv. I chose the premium option and was immediately impressed. The feed was clear and the archived games were fantastic. As great as MLB.tv was, the technology wasn’t quite there, yet.
- Switching between Mosaic and web access was a nightmare. I probably had to call customer service 20-30 times to get access to my account
- Microsoft Silverlight has its limitations
- The games were not formatted for TV. I connect a mac mini to a 46in LCD and could not get a full 4:3 picture
- Home and away feeds were added at the end of the season
On Saturday I saw that MLB.tv was previewing the new 2009 player. I have to say it, I was totally blown away. I caught part of the game and was excited to see that the picture was a full 16:9 HD picture. The stream was extremely smooth. The 2009 release also solves the problems you see above and a few other issues I’ve had.
The technology is phenominal however, the blackout policy continues to cripple the service. Beware. MLB.tv is not for everyone.
You cannot watch local televised games nor can you watch games between 1:05-7:05 on the weekends. Watching afternoon Indians games is one of my favorite activities. The market MLB.tv tries to capture are out of market and die hard baseball fans. Out of market fans typically lose because are teams aren’t regionally televised. Hardcore fans lose because they can only watch a fraction of the games (and a fraction of fantasy players)
I’d like to see them make a strong effort to renegotiate TV contracts. Play the actual TV feed if its a blackedout game— show me the commercials. Share my information. Because of the way I’m connecting, I’m probably a more measurable audience. If this was the case, MLB could probably convert some in market fans (especially those that are thinking of cancelling their cable; recession, hello?). Come up with clever revenue sharing techniques (if you’re listening, I have some ideas). I just want to watch baseball.
MLB.tv has had issues with slingbox in the past, but its absurd blackout policy forces me to sling my weekend games.
If you can get past the blackout policy, MLB.tv is a no brainer.
