MLB Extra Innings / MLB TV, Please let us know what you think about it

[RobDeer 45]

I'm thinking of ordering MLB Extra Innings this year for Directv because I will be in the Minneapolis area instead of in Wisconsin. Anyone who has purchased this please let me know what you liked and disliked. Also anyone who has had the MLB TV on the interenet, I'd like to hear about that. I have a nice HD TV so thought my best option would be getting it on Directv and I've enjoyed the NFL ticket for the last few years (eventhough it's spendy). I'd love to hear from anyone out there who has experience with these two options.

[Mass Haas]

If you get MLB.TV for your PC/MAC, pay the extra for MLB.TV Premium.

 

Just look at what they're adding for 2009 -- fantastic!! DVR functionality, Radio Option for the Brewer Call if it's the Opponent TV feed, and much more...

 

Play the DEMO at this link.

 

My wife's an R.N. and is normally in bed early; my normal routine is MLB.TV until she and the kid are tucked in, and then downstairs to the big screen for Extra Innings (yes, I treat myself to both).

 

Thank you, technology!

[Tailgat0r76]

Wow! Those new features look absolutely awesome. I especially like the live player look-in to players that you're interested in seeing their at-bats.

 

Now, it is to my understanding if I live in WI; I will be blacked out for many of the games correct? I've thought about buying something like this because I live in La Crosse during the school year and go to school there, and when games are on WMLW and it's during the Bucks' season, we don't get those games (we don't have WMLW up here, and FSN will show the Bucks); and I once logged into to someone elses Mlb.tv account and it was blacked out. Am I correct in these statements?

 

I've also thought about buying a slingbox and having the games slingboxed from my TV's at home in Waukesha; and that's a possibility, but I don't really have a use for a $100+ Slingbox besides this one application.

 

Any help is appreciated.

[Mass Haas]

I think you're out of luck on the Wisconsin blackout rules, and using an out-of-towner's account won't help, and will get you in trouble with MLB.

 

Here's a summary of what's available with Premium, which of course, is a big help to me at office time as well:

 

PRODUCT FEATURES: Now you can watch HD Quality Picture (where available) of LIVE games on your Mac or PC (choose either home or away team broadcasts). The new DVR functionality allows you to pause, rewind, and fast-forward during LIVE games. Watch up to 4 games at once with Mosaic view. Follow a second game or watch real-time highlights with Picture in Picture. Track all of your favorite players with Player Tracker. Archived games are posted approximately 45 minutes after the game has ended and are shown with no blackout restrictions. Condensed games are posted the day after the game (catch the game in a fraction of the time).

 

Note this year you can pick home or away broadcasts, which is new. So the radio option is more for if you really like Uecker and the new guy over Brian and Bill; I imagine they'd synch it up so they're in line with the MLB.TV video feed.

[Tailgat0r76]

That's sort of what I had figured. There's no way to try and sign up as a MN resident or anything like that is there to avoid blackouts? It's probably all based off IP address?

[Tailgat0r76]

Nevermind, Just found my answer:

"Reminder: When you are traveling and accessing your MLB.TV subscription, you will be subject to that area's local blackout restrictions and not your home territory blackout restrictions."

[bklynbrewcrew]

I actually order both packages just so I can see the weekday afternoon games at work. I absolutely love the Extra Innings package and would not live without it. I also like the mlb.tv version but it does have a lot of techinical issues such as the picture freezing.

[GoudaBrew]

I've had MLB.TV the last 2 years and I like it. It allows me to sit and watch the games with my girlfriend while she watches whatever she wants on TV. It looks like they knocked around $10 off the price too.

 

As far as blackouts go, you can go to the link MassHass provided and type in your zipcode to find out which teams are blacked out for you. They used to determine your location based on the billing information associated with the credit card that you pay with. Therefore, I WAS able to watch the Brewers on MLBTV when visiting Wisconsin. Maybe that's changed....

[GoudaBrew]

I actually order both packages just so I can see the weekday afternoon games at work. I absolutely love the Extra Innings package and would not live without it. I also like the mlb.tv version but it does have a lot of techinical issues such as the picture freezing.

Huh, I thought that was just my crappy computer struggling to keep up with technology. I hope that's improved.

[joepepsi]

I live in La Crosse and have DirecTV. Last year when the games were on WMLW, they were carried on an alternate channel on DirecTV, not on FSN. The only way to find it each time was to flip through all the RSNa channels. Fwiw, Charter Cable seems to carry the WMLW games on their FSN channel. So if you're old enough you can go to most bars in town (and there are plenty of those!) to watch the game, or a friend's house.

 

I subscribed to ExtraInnings the last 4 seasons, but am seriously considering not getting it this year. In La Crosse you get every televised Twins home game (the away games are blacked out!) and all televised Brewers' games. With MLB network also carrying a weekly game, I'm thinking there will be plenty of baseball for me to watch without having to tune to the weekly ESPN Yankees and Red Sox' games. Plus MLB Network is running a highlights show every night from the start of the first games out East until the completion of the last West Coast game.

 

ExtraInnings is a great package, but I just haven't gotten my money's worth the last couple summers. If you live near Mpls/St. Paul, but near the Wi border, you may get the Brewers'

broadcasts without subscribing to ExtraInnings.

[Tailgat0r76]

Sadly I'm only 19, but yeah we have Charter so it usually works out that we get to see the game, but if there is a Bucks' game on that night the Bucks have precedent (for reasons unbeknown to me).

 

I may still try mlb.tv to watch other teams' games and for archived games. Pretty chunk of change though.

[nodakfan17]

Great Thread Idea!

 

I have some questions regarding MLB Extra Innings. I'm currently living in North Dakota. The home market team is the Minnesota Twins. According to my cable provider's website, MLB Extra Innings would provide "up to 80 out of market games each" week? Assuming that there are about 90 MLB games played per week, that should mean that I will get almost all Brewer games, right? Also- do most cable providers offer half season rates? I have school through the middle of May and don't want to devote full evenings to baseball until the semester is over. Our rate here is $199 / season. Is that consistent with other markets?

 

Thanks for the input. My cable provider's website says "check back next season for more information."

[TooLiveBrew]

I had E.I. for the first time last season, living in the Pac. NW. It is awesome, nodakfan. Get it. The only think I can think of is that you get game broadcasts only... so no pregame or postgame stuff. But if, say, an interview is done on-field or in the dugout prior to the broadcast switching to its postgame stuff, then you get to watch that.

 

Iirc $199 is the going rate. It's worth every penny.

 

 

Also- do most cable providers offer half season rates?

 

I don't believe so, no. Hopefully I'm wrong on this.

[ewizabeff]

I remember they did the free preview after the all-star break last year. I assume if you ordered at that point it would be cheaper, but I didn't look into it.

[Schlitz001]

I am almost certain that Extra Innings does not offer a monthly or half season rate. MLB.TV on the other hand does offer a monthly rate if you want it.

I have been subscribing to MLB.TV for the last 3-4 years and am quite satisfied with it. I spend about half of my time away from home for business and for this reason I don't get Extra Innings. With MLB.TV your picture quality is going to be lower. Even when the picture streaming to my computer is "HD", the framerate would often slow down or the feed would stutter. It's highly dependant on your connection speed. Also, in the rare instance that something does go wrong with MLB.TV I've found their customer service to be quite terrible.

All things beging equal I would invest a little bit more money into the Extra Innings package for the ease of use and picture quality, but if you travel a lot or live with a TV hog, having the games on your computer is a nice option too. Also, MLB.TV comes with all home and away radio broadcasts too.

[Tator3223]

I am now also in the Pacific NW, in Salem, Or. I have comcast and they DO have a 1/2 season rate. It kicked in about 3 games after the ASG break last year. TooLiveBrew, where abouts are you located?

[bobskube]

I love Extra Innings. I live in Chicago with cub manure and it keeps me away from watching Kermit the Frog (Len) and idiot Brenly.

 

MLB.TV still has some glitches. I watch it when out of town on business trips and sometimes it works great and others it does not. A little annoying.

[pitchleague]

I had E.I. for the first time last season, living in the Pac. NW. It is awesome, nodakfan. Get it. The only think I can think of is that you get game broadcasts only... so no pregame or postgame stuff. But if, say, an interview is done on-field or in the dugout prior to the broadcast switching to its postgame stuff, then you get to watch that.

 

Iirc $199 is the going rate. It's worth every penny.

I will second TLB's comment here. We live in Arizona and the Extra Innings package is heaven. However, I would recommend adding the Sports Pack, too. Sure, it's another $12/month (something like that) but then you DO get the pre- and post-game shows on the FSN channel (669 for the Brewers--at least it was last year). I didn't get the Sports Pack until 2 years ago. Prior to that, it was frustrating as all heck to watch an exciting finish, have a post-game interview with a player begin, you're just as pumped up and excited as the players are, and then BOOM the channel goes black. It royally sucked. Big time.

 

Otherwise, I can not recommend NOT getting the packages for us out of state Brewers fans. And, as others have said, you get (just about) every other game, too! Vin Scully, Krukow & Kuiper, Dave Niehaus, Matt Vasgergian (oops, not in SD anymore), and the others.

[1992casey]

However, I would recommend adding the Sports Pack, too. Sure, it's another $12/month (something like that) but then you DO get the pre- and post-game shows on the FSN channel (669 for the Brewers--at least it was last year).

 

I'm glad you confirmed that. I was just about to speculate in response to TLB's post. I remember getting pre-and post-game shows when I had the sports package years ago, but I couldn't speak to the issue definitively given the lapse in time.

 

I suppose it's set up this way because pre- and post-game shows aren't blacked out like the games are. Still, it'd be a nice bonus to duplicate the pre-and post-game programming as part of Extra Innings.

 

One thing that's nice if you have both packages... instead of watching a game on the Extra Innings channel (in the 700s), you can watch the game on the Sports Package channel (in the 600s). That way, as pitchleague says, you're not interrupted when the Extra Innings channel shuts off.

 

On the other hand, during games, if you like to flip between different games, choosing to watch in the 700s is handy. The games are basically on consecutive channels, so you can easily use your up and down button.

[logan82]

It almost seems like if you want the best Brewers coverage you have to move out of state.

[JimH5]

I was trying to do the Slingbox thing, and it was going okay for awhile. . .

I'm in Singapore, and have a Slingbox hooked up to our internet and Directv in Wisconsin.

The video quality was only okay (I have an older Sony T60 Directv Satellite receiver with Tivo, and it only offers S-Video as the best output--I didn't have a spare S-Video cable, so I used the standard single yellow video out cable from the receiver to the Slingbox). I've heard from others with Slingboxes that the video is much better using the better connections.

But we're having some contractors working on our house, and they had to move all that gear around, and I lost the connection and can't connect (from 10,000 miles away). If I can't get reconnected, I won't be back until June to get everything reset. I'll address the S-Video thing then, too.

I suspect that if I went with MLB.tv, things would be better for me. . .but I was enjoying the MLB Network stuff, as well as the rest of my satellite channels and recorded programs--so the Slingbox seemed like the better idea. Though I need someone a little more tech savvy than my 70-year old father-in-law to troubleshoot when I come up with problems like this.

The other issue is that with MLB.tv, I wouldn't have to keep the Directv and internet services running while I'm away.

ESPN-Asia is terrible.

[Klements Bratwurst]

I love the MLB Extra Innings. I did get it for the first time last summer at the All-Star Break at the half season rate of $129, I believe. I had to work hard on my wife to allow me to get it as it would mean many late nights in front of the TV in the summer, and she relented based on my sell job of "hey this is the Brewers first serious run at the playoffs in 27 years" bit and viola, I had Extra Innings!!

 

I decided to wait last year to see how the season would play out to determine whether or not the Brewers would be in playoff position to make buying the package even more enjoyable and so I bought it at the All-Star Break. I thought it would be tough to buy the package at the beginning of the season, and then if they blew what was an awesome chance at making the playoffs in 2008, it would be real tough watching the Cubs and Cards battle for the title while the Brewers languished in 4th place or something like that.

 

This season, I think though, I am all in. Just another option that they do offer the half year rate (discounted from the full season a bit) if you don't want to committ right away.

[joepepsi]

On DirecTV I think ExtraInnings is free for the first week of the season, and for the first week (or 4-5 days) after the All Star break. You can subscribe for a partial year during the free period after the All Star break.

[nodakfan17]

I'm trying to piece together a national broadcast schedule to determine whether or not it is worth getting MLB Extra Innings. I'm living outside of Wisconsin for the first time, so I won't be able to catch many games at Miller Park this season. Until recently, I never have had cable television, so any games on top of the usual Fox Saturday Baseball schedule are still on novelty for me. This was the best I could with pulling together several internet sources. Any noticeable oversights?

 

3/7 Cubs (ST) - WGN

4/10 Cubs- WGN

4/12 Cubs- ESPN

5/8 Cubs- WGN

5/10 Cubs- WGN

5/24 @ Twins- ESPN

6/13 White Sox- FOX

6/20 @ Tigers- FOX

7/4 @ Cubs- WGN

9/5 Giants- FOX

9/17 @ Cubs- WGN

 

As a bonus, I'll get most Brewers / Twins matchups because I'm in the FSN North viewing area. Does TNT still pick up Braves' games?

[joepepsi]

Does your cable give you MLB Network? They will carry 26 games this year, one a week I guess, but no schedule has been published.