MLB TV reviews

[Tivoman44]

Does anyone have MLB TV that they subscribe to, preferably on their PS3?  I was thinking of trying it out but wanted to see what people thought of it before I just bought it.  On paper the deal sounds good and since I canceled cable the price would be a little less than 2 months of cable, plus supposedly all games with the exception of any local blackouts.  That sure would beat just the handful that are on WMLW and maybe 3 on Fox 6 on Saturdays.  

Obviously it uses the interest, don't know if having road runner lite would hurt the streaming aspect of it.

[kevbeck122]

Here's their bandwidth requirements and a speed test: http://mlb.mlb.com/tools/bandwidthdetect/index.html.

RR Lite is at the minimum for SD video on MLB.tv

[klwillis45]

You can't get Brewer games on .tv here, local markets are protected.

Thanks stupid MLB blackout rules.

[EmuZombie]

I have a subscription.   I have road runner 8.0mbps service.  Watching it via web browser even with their plugin installed, quality can be bad at times, mostly sound for some reason.

However, playing it in Boxee the quality is great and has little if any problems and except for the message "commercial break in progress" you'd swear you were watching it through normal means via cable, sat, or ota.

I would assume it would be comparable to boxee via ps3.

However, using road runner lite, don't expect to get anywhere near HD quality like I have.  It uses about 3.0mbps.

If you live in the Milwaukee metro area, you can use it to watch brewers games, however not live.  You will have to wait about 90 minutes after the game ends before it is available.

[Tivoman44]

Thank you very much for the reviews.  I read it said blackouts, but I thought that meant like something of no TBS games or ESPN if brewers were on FSN.

I saw with the more expensive version you could choose either home or away broadcast.  If for example the Brewers were playing in Houston, you couldn't watch the Brewers live via the Houston broadcast?

[EmuZombie]

I saw with the more expensive version you could choose either home or away broadcast.  If for example the Brewers were playing in Houston, you couldn't watch the Brewers live via the Houston broadcast?

No, the game will be completely blacked out, away and home feeds

[Tivoman44]

Can anyone give me the prices for the different road runner levels?  Like I mentioned above I have lite for $26.95 a month that is like 700 kb or so, what are the other levels and prices?

[EmuZombie]

Can anyone give me the prices for the different road runner levels?  Like I mentioned above I have lite for $26.95 a month that is like 700 kb or so, what are the other levels and prices?

No idea what it is now, but I know at one point the non-promotional pricing was

$19.99 for 768k
$39.99 for 3mbs
$49.99 for 8mbs

Promotions will change the pricing levels.

[kevbeck122]

Promotional pricing for RR standard 7Mbps is generally $29.95 per month for a year.  Add turbo (15Mbps) for an additional $10 per month.  I've been on that price for almost two years now.  For some reason when I dropped TV service February last year they renewed my RR promotional price for another year.  My price increased a little in March, but they called me to check on a service call I made and I asked if there were any deals going on... they gave me another year at the promotional price.

[ScottyB]

I have the 7Mbps Road Runner for $34.95/mo.  Works great for me, price has to be renewed each year, which is just a matter of calling them.

I can regularly get 10Mbps with it.  I don't have MLB TV, but if they got rid of the blackouts, I would subscribe in a minute.

And EmuZombie is right - all Brewer games are blacked out - home and away.  I don't think MLB realizes how much money they lose with that.  What is greater - the $25/mo they would get for MLB TV, or the paltry amount FSN gets from a cable subscriber?

Scott

[Tivoman44]

That sounds pretty reasonable at $34.99.  Do you by chance bundle with cable TV and phone?  I am just trying to figure out how much the step up from Lite would be, as I only have road runner.  And currently paying $26.85 for Lite, that extra money would be totally worth it.

[trev57]

This isn't really a review, but if you're only looking into getting MLB.tv for the Brewers, please don't waste your money with the way this team is playing.:bang:

[Tivoman44]

That is a good point, but I am a fan regardless of how they are doing.  I've been to two games so far and like to follow them.  If i was living out of state i'd subscribe in a heartbeat to get the games.

[ddysart]

I'm in the process of dumping satellite and bought the MLB.tv package and will say that the quality is very good.  I have not gotten their "NextDef" to work that well, which meaning I can't pause or rewind the game at all, but the quality is as good as the HD signal from Dish network.  Given Dish doesn't seem to carry most of the games in HD (even though other carriers do), this is a bonus.

For internet, I have the Road Runner Business class SoHo package, which is advertised as 15M down/ 2M up.

The blackout restriction is lame and MLB doesn't seem interested in getting rid of it (as a matter of fact, they bragged last year on how they received a patent for the technology they use). The location check is IP based and there are ways around it, though most certainly are in violation of the terms of service.  Plus, any nationally televised game is blacked out for the whole country (think Fox Saturday afternoon, and ESPN Sunday night games).

I also have the iPhone app, and combined with the MLB.tv subscription is pretty nice since I can watch any non-blacked out game (the iPhone app uses the iPhone's GPS for location determination)

[Chinatown]

If you have had problems with freezing, etc. download their browser. Yes it does use a lot of ram, but it is flawless. Connect it to your tv and it is just like watching  the cable/satellite package for considerably less money.