NHL Center Ice vs. NHL Game Center

[topshelf]

Looking for some opinions/advice here...

The wife and I are looking to ditch DirecTV and go the Hulu/Netflix/PlayOn route. Basically, we are paying way too much money for something we barely use. One of the main reasons I have any TV provider in the first place is to watch the Pens games, as everything else we watch we can get on Hulu, etc.

My question is, has anyone made the switch from Center Ice to Game Center Live? If so, did you stream the games to an HDTV, and if you did, via what device? How was the quality? I've read testimonials stating that the stream is great, and others stating that it is choppy.

I've had Center Ice for the last 7 years, so you could imagine why I'm a bit apprehensive. What I don't want is to make the change, and then on game one this year I have a horrible visual in front of me (that's not a knock at the team... ).

[TRazzy66]

I second this. I bought an adapter to stream my ipad to my hdtv. I was hoping the nhl gamecenter app would stream in hd. Thanks for any suggestions!

[Digitalgypsy66]

I've only used GameCenter during free trials, and it seemed to work well via PC.

A couple of caveats: Pens games against opponents in your home market will be blacked out. For instance, I lived in the TV market for the Hurricanes and Thrashers. Boom. 8 games that wouldn't be on GameCenter. If you live the Lightning or Panthers home markets, that will axe 4 games per team from your GC lineup. Same with Vs. and NBC games as well.

Also, playoff games aren't always on (from what I've understood from others on here) GameCenter. Not much of a problem if you just watch the Pens, especially the last 3 years or so...

[stinky]

I did this last year as I "cut the cord" to cable and purchased a ROKU box. The experience with Game center was "meh". First of all, the streaming most times had a "lag" effect, I can’t describe it other than it wasn’t 100% smooth. This wasn’t too bothersome but noticeable to me (for the record it had nothing to do with internet speed, etc - other people have mentioned this and I have a 20 mg connection, more than enough to stream HD smoothly).

However, the most bothersome, and frankly the reason many people hate the pens, was the insane amount of national pens games televised on NBC or NHL Network. There were over 40 games on these channels, all blacked out on Game Center. I knew this going in, but in retrospect I should have saved my money, if you don’t have NHL channel or NBC (vs.) I would be careful to check the pens national TV schedule before pulling the trigger.

The plus side to game center is the archived games, stats and etc.

[dman66]

I have had both Game Center and Center Ice. I purchased the Game Center app through my PS3 and had a lot of trouble with it. First, you don't have access to the games until after the puck drops, which stinks. Then the streaming seemed to get messed up a lot. Because of this, I streamed a lot of games from my computer to the TV via an HDMI cable and it was terrific. Every game in HD, and for the most part, little to no hiccups. We got cable back for the playoffs this year, so we won't miss the games on NBCSN and NHLN, but I won't be going back to Center Ice unless I can get all the games in HD. I have Comcast though, living in the city...

[topshelf]

I did this last year as I "cut the cord" to cable and purchased a ROKU box. The experience with Game center was "meh". First of all, the streaming most times had a "lag" effect, I can’t describe it other than it wasn’t 100% smooth. This wasn’t too bothersome but noticeable to me (for the record it had nothing to do with internet speed, etc - other people have mentioned this and I have a 20 mg connection, more than enough to stream HD smoothly).

However, the most bothersome, and frankly the reason many people hate the pens, was the insane amount of national pens games televised on NBC or NHL Network. There were over 40 games on these channels, all blacked out on Game Center. I knew this going in, but in retrospect I should have saved my money, if you don’t have NHL channel or NBC (vs.) I would be careful to check the pens national TV schedule before pulling the trigger.

The plus side to game center is the archived games, stats and etc.

This is sort of what I have been waiting to hear. I have read that some people have had flawless streaming with GCL and Roku, and other's have said it seems a big "off". I currently don't own a Roku, but can you connect it directly to your modem, or does it have to go via wifi?

[stinky]

I have it hardwired because I pretty much have it sitting on my router; plus its a blue tooth remote, so I have the Roku in the basement and run my HDMI up the wall to my tv. However, I know many a people who set it up wireless without an issue. Roku is a great deal, I pay 24.99 for Netflix, Hulu, and MOG. Plus I have HD antenna in the attic that get me my local channels. However, I do miss Center Ice on Direct TV. Just not enough to pay 90 bucks a month for TV service.

[topshelf]

I have it hardwired because I pretty much have it sitting on my router; plus its a blue tooth remote, so I have the Roku in the basement and run my HDMI up the wall to my tv. However, I know many a people who set it up wireless without an issue. Roku is a great deal, I pay 24.99 for Netflix, Hulu, and MOG. Plus I have HD antenna in the attic that get me my local channels. However, I do miss Center Ice on Direct TV. Just not enough to pay 90 bucks a month for TV service.

Thanks for the info!

When you say you miss Center Ice on DTV, what is it that you miss (that is what I currently have right now).

So your Roku is wired to the router and then the HDMI from the Roku to the TV, right? And what kind of picture do you get? Do you see a lag in the feed that I've heard about?

Thanks again for the help!

[DelPen]

I have Roku, Apple TV and PS3 and the picture seemed smoothest on the Apple TV. But the nice thing with the Roku is you can also get the Justin TV app and find the games when they are on NBC Sports or NHL Network. Gamecenter blacks those out and there were a lot of games blacked out last year.

I hardwire when I can but even over wifi I don't get any lag, Roku's are great in that regard for all their content. PS3 had issues but I didn't use it much on that platform.

The games are also behind about a minute or so so be aware of that if you call someone watching or are gollowing a game day thread.

Overall though, the picture quality is much better than cable but not quite as good as DirecTV. But the fact I can take the service with me on my iPad or iPhone or if I go to my inlaws I take the Roku with me.

I also like how Gamecenter bills you about $20 a month over 8-9 months instead of a lump payment at once. It make budgeting much easier. It's also coming to Xbox 360 this fall.

Overall, if you are invested in the Apple ecosystem get the AppleTV and use it that way. You can Airplay the Justin TV app from an iPhone so that solves that issue.

[TRazzy66]

So if you get GCL, you can use one account to access games over a multiple of platforms (iPhone, iPad, PS3) for the same price? For example, you don't have to pay extra to watch it over iPhone and iPad?

[dman66]

So if you get GCL, you can use one account to access games over a multiple of platforms (iPhone, iPad, PS3) for the same price? For example, you don't have to pay extra to watch it over iPhone and iPad?

Yes, but you can only watch on one at a time. You can't be logged into both your iPhone and iPad to watch the game, but the username is good across all platforms.

[TRazzy66]

Thanks for the help dman. My neighbor has the MLB package thru the internet and he and another person can watch games at the same time. I guess the NHL caught onto that. Haha.

Did it stream in HD on iPad or iPhone over wifi and 3g?

[DelPen]

It streams as high as the device can render. Pretty sure it did 3G as well. I'm interested to see how well the picture looks on a new iPad this fall.