Best way for a Brewer fan living out of state to catch every game in HD?

[The stache]

As a Brewers fan living in Texas, I often miss the Crew on TV. I sometimes catch them if they're playing on MLB Network, or against the Astros on FOX Sports Southwest. But now that the Astros are not in the NL Central anymore, I won't get to see those games anymore. So I'm looking for feedback, guys. I want to watch and blog about every single game.

 

I've looked at MLB Extra Innings, which I can get through my Verizon FIOS...but I don't have any choice as to what games I can get in high def.

 

From my research, it looks like my best bet is going with MLB.TV, and use something like Apple TV (or maybe get a Playstation 3) that can transfer the game in high def to my TV.

 

I'm sure we have some Brewer fans here living outside of Wisconsin. What are you guys doing to catch games?

 

Thanks!!

[Warning Track Power]

In Southern California, I have always used DirecTV. Typically, at the channel listing there are four channels for one game. For example, let's say the Brewers are playing the Cubs. 1 channel will be the Brewers feed in HD, 1 will be the Brewers feed in standard definition, 1 will be the Cubs feed in HD and 1 will be the Cubs feed in standard defintion. The only times there are not four channels, IIRC, is if the game is not being televised by one of the teams. I am surprised that Verizon doesn't provide the option of how you want to watch.

 

As for other options, friends who are fans of non-Southern California teams have raved about MLB.tv on the PS3. I have only seen a few games on there but it seems to be just as good of quality as the DirecTV baseball package.

[RobDeer 45]

I LOVE mlb.tv! I use the apple tv as my main way of watching games (it's only $99 I believe). I also used it a lot on my iPhone and that was great too. Not to mention you can pull up the audio in the car, it's like being back in WI!

 

I'm a huge van of this and as long as you have quality internet, it's a great option.

[nate82]

I am in AZ and have been using MLB.tv for the last two seasons. I watch and listen mainly on my PC but I also watch from my PS3. The quality is rather good. I only get blackouts when the Brewers are playing the Padres or the Dbacks. You might get blacked out when the Brewers are playing the Dbacks not sure how far the Dbacks coverage is.

[thebruce44]

I've been using mlb.tv for a few seasons now as I got tired of how bad Comcast's broadcasts were. I've used my PS3 in the past which looks fantastic. This upcoming season I will be using my the HTPC I just made since I'm cancelling cable.

[reillymcshane]

I moved to Colorado last summer and signed up for MLB.TV for the last month of the season. I streamed it through my Apple TV - which worked great. I'm planning on doing it again this year.

[TooLiveBrew]

I've had both Extra Innings & MLB.tv

 

Go with MLB.tv. It's so much better it's not even funny imo. As has been mentioned, you can watch it through numerous devices. Great value imo.

[folly412]

Had MLB.TV in the past, recently switched to DirecTV. A lot easier and less expensive if you're only interested in the Brewers + some other Fox teams. Sports pack that has all of the FSN regional networks is only $8/mo.

[mothershipconnection]

I'm in Ft. Worth and roll with mlb.tv through my PS3. I have solid but not badass internet service (speedtest has me at 12M down/2M up), and the quality is good, but it's rarely real HD quality. Most often, it just looks like a very good SD signal.

[Funketown]

I really enjoyed me some MLB.tv last season. We just got our RokuXD (they're only like $80) and haven't tried out the MLB.tv app but everything streams on it in very high quality so I suspect it will work well with MLB.tv too.

 

If you don't mind cords, you can always just plug an HDMI cable from computer/smartphone/tablet into the TV, which only costs about three dollars.

[DHonks]

I use DirecTv and Apple TV depending on where I am. Both work great

[PrinceFielderx1]

I live in Columbus, OH, and I use Direct TV, and I only miss about a handful of games a year, mainly Pirates series, but I get to watch at least 90-95% of them in HD. If you go with Direct TV I'd recommend the sports pack as an add on to get some additional games that you normally wouldn't get, and the more Brewers games the better. Hope this helps.

[twofistedslopper]

I'm in Texas as well and used mlb.tv to watch last season. Mostly streamed through my PS3 which was good for the most part. Streaming was shaky at times but that could just be due to my old system. Bought an iPad last summer and loved streaming games on it, thought the quality was phenomenal. Will definitely be doing mlb.tv again this year but will look into buying an Apple TV to stream it on my TV.

 

In Texas, all Rangers and Astros games are blacked out. If I recall correctly, the Crew will be playing both those teams this year. Hopefully they'll be on FS-SW. Fox Saturday games and games on ESPN are also blacked out (unless they're on locally, I believe).

[cnycerveceros]

You identify the important drawback with Verizon. We get very few Brewer games in HD. The HD channels seem to go to the east and west coast teams a lot, probably just because the east coast games typically start an hour earlier and then the west coast games start at 10 out here. Not to mention that Verizon customer service is pretty lousy, and they seem to have a lot of problems with Extra Innings. Last year we signed up early but they didn't tell us our box wasn't compatible with the added HD channels. We got a new box in the mail a few days after the season started (that was fast, to be fair), but then it turned out the local infrastructure wasn't set to broadcast the channels anyway (or something like that, I talked to so many people who had no clue and it was really frustrating).

 

Well, I ranted a bit, but basically I'd do Apple TV if I was going to do it again, and the iPad is a great option.

[The stache]

Thanks for the input guys. I did a little more research, and now I'm thinking a Roku 2 XD. I can also use it to watch my HBO Go, Max Go, EPIX HD and Showtime Anytime on it.

[AZBrewCrew]

Ive had Extra Innings for 6 years now,and just last year bought MLB.tv for when I travel. My question for those of you with Roku/Apple Tv, is it possible to overlay the WTMJ audio on the tv like you can on the PC? Not a deal breaker but thought it was a neat feature.

[RobDeer 45]

Ive had Extra Innings for 6 years now,and just last year bought MLB.tv for when I travel. My question for those of you with Roku/Apple Tv, is it possible to overlay the WTMJ audio on the tv like you can on the PC? Not a deal breaker but thought it was a neat feature.

 

As of last year you could still only do that on the PC. Man I really love that feature and hope they wise up and get that going on apple tv too!

 

My question off that is, can you do that on the iPad?

[AZBrewCrew]

Ive had Extra Innings for 6 years now,and just last year bought MLB.tv for when I travel. My question for those of you with Roku/Apple Tv, is it possible to overlay the WTMJ audio on the tv like you can on the PC? Not a deal breaker but thought it was a neat feature.

 

As of last year you could still only do that on the PC. Man I really love that feature and hope they wise up and get that going on apple tv too!

 

My question off that is, can you do that on the iPad?

 

I was doing a little research, and it appears the radio overlay option is possible on the PS3, so maybe it wil eventually be available on the Roku.

[DHonks]

I overlay the audio because I have a home audio system that is streamed from a mobile device (usually iPad) and I sync it to the Apple TV video. Works great

[brettac1]

I love mlb.tv as a fan of west coast teams because I can watch those games on demand the next day without having to stay up late. And the quality on my PS3 is great.

[The stache]

What about streaming the HD transmission to my TV with the Roku, and opening up the audio feed on my computer? I've got a pretty fast connection, and since both streams would be over the net, they should be in sync, no?

[kalle8]

i have MLB TV since 2005 but sometimes it shows unreal things, some years ago i happened to watch jeff cirillo pitching for the dbacks and striking out craig counsell...otherwise it's amazing.

 

only thing that is a no no is that if you don't watch the game live, the palayingtime of the stream is showed in the display on the screen, so in tight games in the 9th inning you see the stream is ending (or not) and you know if the game is/is not gone to extras...

 

don't know if i have explained it well but i tried....

[Mass Haas]

kalle8, you described that just fine.

 

There is definitely a science to catching up on a game on the MLB.TV archive. First you have to remember to turn off the show score functionality altogether, for that or other games.

 

And as kalle8 notes, knowing the full running time of the game video can be very troubling when you're hoping for a Brewer comeback, particularly on the road when you're rooting for a bottom of the 9th to be necessary, and you realize there's no way that can happen given the time remaining.

 

I love being able to DVR via the Extra Innings TV package, I love Brian and Bill but it's also nice to get the opposing announcer perspective, as you will for 50% of that package. But I also treat myself to MLB.TV for my laptop or office, and manage to make use of both. Obviously having very limited HD offerings with Extra Innings is a big bummer.

 

I have very limited other hobbies or vices that dent my "wife says it's OK" outlays, so I'm able to justify paying for both in my mind .

[TooLiveBrew]

i have MLB TV since 2005 but sometimes it shows unreal things, some years ago i happened to watch jeff cirillo pitching for the dbacks and striking out craig counsell...otherwise it's amazing.

[AZBrewCrew]

 

I love being able to DVR via the Extra Innings TV package, I love Brian and Bill but it's also nice to get the opposing announcer perspective, as you will for 50% of that package.

 

Where do you get the 50% number? The only time I have to watch another feed is when the Brewers play the Dbacks and I have to watch FSN-AZ, although now that Mark Grace (4 months jail for DUI) and Darren Sutton are gone, it might be tolerable.