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There are always a number of questions concerning the NHL's streaming package and the extra package provided by cable providers. This thread hopes to consolidate the information and serve as a FAQ. What is Gamecenter Live? NHL Gamecenter Live is a suite of applications designed to let you legally (and for a fee) stream out of market NHL games to your computer, TV/set top box or mobile device. What is Center Ice? NHL Center Ice, on the other hand, is a sports package that most cable providers offer as an additional upgrade, again letting you watch out of market games, this time on your TV through your cable box. What does "out of market" mean? Basically, it means you can't watch your "local" team with either service. Your "local" team varies and can be hard to figure out if you live on a border or something. Generally, though, if you leave close to an NHL team, you will never be able to see that team unless you use "conventional" means, i.e., the regional sports network that carries the game. Use this to find what your local market is But I don't have cable! So I'm not affected, right? Haha, good one. It doesn't matter if you have cable or not, if you're in the local area of a team, you can't use either service to watch it. (Although you'd have to have cable to get Center Ice...) OK, well at least I can still watch national games with it... *See the FAQ below for Canada-specific info Wrong again. Anything on "national" TV is also blacked out. In America, the qualifying national networks are NBC, NBC Sports and the NHL Network. To summarize, a game will be blacked out for you if: - You are in the team's local area  This includes if your lovely regional provider has the rights to broadcast a game and chooses not to. The game is still blacked out in that case.- The game is on national TV (NBC, NBC Sports, NHL Network). This includes NHL Network simulcasts (which I think may be all they do), where they pick up a local feed of a game. At least the NHL doesn't do blackouts like the NFL does, where if the game isn't sold out then it's blacked out on TV--so rest easy, Phoenix fans! Another important note that is obvious but I'll spell it out anyway: you are probably in the local area of "a" team, not necessarily your favorite team. So if you have Gamecenter so you can watch the Penguins and you live in Detroit, when the Penguins play the Red Wings, the game is blacked out for you on Gamecenter, even if the game is played in Pittsburgh. (A totally random example that I just came up with out of the blue). Ok, blackouts suck, I get it. How can I access GCL? The NHL has really expanded its app lineup in the last few years. In addition to the traditional viewing on the PC, there are apps available for Android, iOS (iPhone/iPod touch, iPad and AppleTV), Boxee/Roku, PS3 and I believe this year xbox 360, as well as a couple of connected TVs too. See the full list here: http://gamecenter.nhl.com/nhlgc/cdsignup.jsp I've personally used the iPhone version. Over 3G it is acceptable (and highly signal dependant) but over WiFi it's pretty amazing. There have been reports in threads about the PS3 version sucking, but I think it's been updated. I haven't used or heard about any of the other versions. What about Center Ice? See if your cable/satellite provider has it. They more than likely do, although there are mixed reviews of it. Some people report only 1 or 2 games available in HD a night, while others (DirecTV maybe?) report many/all games in HD. How much do these things cost? Well, the price for GCL is usually $20 a month for the season (or like $160 for the year). But then they offer "great" "sales" where it's like $10 for a single day toward the end of the year. Center Ice is, I believe, about $175ish. Cable providers generally have the first two or so weeks of the season for free on Center Ice, so you can at least try it out and see how you like it. Both services have "Early Bird" sales. I'm not sure how long they last or what the discount is, but I think both prices listed above are early bird prices. For the lockout shortened season: For 2012-13, shortened to 48 games by the lockout, Center Ice and Gamecenter will both be discounted. Center Ice will cost $60. Gamecenter will cost $50. Compare the two In my (biased) mind, Gamecenter blows Center Ice out of the water. Every game is in HD (if you have a good internet connection), and it's portable. Take your laptop or phone or iPad with you and you can watch hockey while you're at some boring wedding or at some boring funeral or something. Most of the other features (DVR, choose between home/away feeds, PiP views) are shared between the two services. I mean, Center Ice itself doesn't have a DVR feature, but I'm sure your cable box does. It's not 2003 anymore. Oh, right, features: Gamecenter: DVR - Pause and rewind the action! Home and Away broadcasts - Never listen to Paul Steigerwald or Rick Jeanneret again! Classic games - A Gamecenter subscription includes an "NHL Vault" subscription, where you can watch classic games. There are 867 games currently on the "classic" portion of NHL Vault. These range from 1959 all the way through 2010. In addition to that (as if that wasn't cool enough!) you can watch archived games and condensed games. The archived games go back to 2007-08 and include the playoffs, and the condensed games go through 2009-10 (and include the playoffs). The difference is the archived game is the whole game, the condensed game is ~10 minutes of just the exciting parts. They also offer radio broadcasts, chat (which sounds awful, to be honest) and different views, where you can put up to 4 games at a time on the screen and have a hockey overload and probably die from lack of blood to your brain cause it's all in your wang instead. Center Ice: Up to 40 out of market games a week! Some of them in HD! Usually both feeds (or sometimes all three when the Canadiens are involved. Thanks, RDS). Replays and highlights after/during the games. I think they have a "mosaic" channel too. Where do I sign up? Call your cable provider for Center Ice. For Gamecenter Live, go here Any downsides? With Gamecenter, the biggest one I notice is that the stream is almost a full minute behind. This is fine for watching the game, it won't affect you. But if you try to post in our wonderful game day threads (GDTs), you'll know what happens before it happens. That takes some of the fun out of it. Also, the quality so far has been spotty--or the experiences reported have, at least. Some people have no complaints at all, others say it barely works. It seems to matter what night of the week it is. I haven't found any place to find out the "status" of GCL. FAQ Is GCL available outside the US and Canada? Yes. Zat posted:GCL is available in those countries too but it works as a slightly customized version that can only be accessed (without extra cost) by subscribing to another service called Viaplay. But it's only available in English. So yeah, people in fuckin' Uzbekistan can watch every NHL game live in glorious HD with no blackouts, while us poor assholes in America or Canada have to deal with blackouts. I'm editorializing, I'm sorry. How does it determine your location for blackouts? Billing address? So the real question is "can I use a proxy to get around the dumb blackouts" and the answer is yes, yes you can. Blackouts are determined by IP address, not anything else. You can use a proxy and say you're in Guatemala and not be blacked out at all. However, this threatening looking guy is in their Terms of Service: quote:IF YOU CIRCUMVENT OR ATTEMPT TO CIRCUMVENT ANY BLACKOUT RESTRICTION OR OTHER USE RESTRICTION: YOUR SUBSCRIPTION WILL BE SUBJECT TO IMMEDIATE TERMINATION AND A CHARGE OF ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100.00) FOR EARLY TERMINATION WILL BE APPLIED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD; YOU MAY BE SUBJECT TO LEGAL ACTION; AND NHL ICE RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REPORT SUCH MISCONDUCT TO APPROPRIATE LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES. Use a proxy at your own risk. It will work, but you may get in trouble for doing so! Also, a note: on iOS (well, at least on the iPhone) location services must be enabled. GCL will determine your location via GPS so it doesn't matter what your IP is. I don't know if you jailbreak your phone you can lie about where you are or whatever, that's well above my pay grade. If such a thing were possible, I suppose you could get around the blackouts that way. Joe Don Baker posted:Can you have concurrent connections on Gamecenter Live. MLB.TV lets you do around 5 or so. If that's possible, sharing accounts would be rad.  You American fascist pig, what about Canada? Kreez has the goods Kreez posted:Some Canada info you can add: Further, hardtarget asked this: quote:ok Can somebody clarify this Habs RDS business for me? quote:Yes you will, as long as the game isn't also on CBC or TSN in Vancouver. (TSN Habs doesn't count). You actually won't be able to watch the RDS feed, only the opposing team feed.  Also, a thread-related note: This thread is written for the United States. I don't really know how Canada's versions work. I know that they consider TSN, CBC and the NHL Network to be national. I know their blackout rules are the same. If you live in Canada and want to watch a US team, I'd say you're pretty well set. If you live in Canada and want to watch a team from another part of Canada, I have no idea. Canada is hockey crazy, they don't show every game on national tv? Also I have never used Center Ice so the CI info could be wrong. What I'm getting at is: feel free to correct me. myron cope fucked around with this message at Feb 6, 2013 around 07:04 |
| # ? Jan 14, 2013 19:34 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 19:13 |
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Did they drop the price on the PS3 app? The NHL site says free, but I remember it being $10.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 19:42 |
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Great OP  Looks like there IS a 360 app for this season. Hopefully it won't be complete poo poo, as that's what I'll do the majority of my watching on. Aphrodite posted:Did they drop the price on the PS3 app? The NHL site says free, but I remember it being $10. They made you pay for the ps3 app?  E: No concurrent logins suck. I was planning on sharing this with my brother. Is it just no concurrent logins into the web interface, or does this also count for the apps on Android/360/Roku? chocolateTHUNDER fucked around with this message at Jan 14, 2013 around 20:00 |
| # ? Jan 14, 2013 19:50 |
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I haven't gotten a renewal email and I can access the Archives and watch New Jersey lose their poo poo in game 6 from last summer as much as I want. Am I good to go, or will I need to renew?
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 20:01 |
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chocolateTHUNDER posted:They made you pay for the ps3 app? It's free with Plus, but yeah.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 20:07 |
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chocolateTHUNDER posted:Great OP Counts for the apps too. I tried with both iPhone & PS3 last year.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 20:08 |
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The 360 app doesn't seem to be up on the marketplace yet Not that it matters I guess, since games haven't started yet...but I hope they put it up before the season starts. Aphrodite posted:It's free with Plus, but yeah. This article says it was made free last season and doesent mention anything about plus? http://www.shacknews.com/article/70...now-free-on-ps3 Look out Dussin! posted:Counts for the apps too. I tried with both iPhone & PS3 last year. This kinda sucks, won't stop me from trying it out for $50 though. chocolateTHUNDER fucked around with this message at Jan 14, 2013 around 20:12 |
| # ? Jan 14, 2013 20:09 |
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Paging Martytoof: How cool is it to talk about circumventing the no concurrent logins restriction for Gamecenter?
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 20:11 |
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Killa cope coming through as always. I've been a GCL customer and I didn't know half of this crap. Thanks!
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 20:15 |
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Anyone ever used this on a Roku out of curiosity?
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 20:16 |
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chocolateTHUNDER posted:The 360 app doesn't seem to be up on the marketplace yet Oh it's absolutely worth it. Once I got over that initial, stupid, knee-jerk "rah rah, gently caress the NHL" bullshit I was muttering to myself, I realized that I'll get to enjoy a quality service that I very much enjoyed last year. Anybody else have problems with the PS3 app where they wouldn't give you the "watch live" link until midway through the 1st? Look out Dussin! fucked around with this message at Jan 14, 2013 around 20:23 |
| # ? Jan 14, 2013 20:21 |
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Is there a way to test your bandwidth on gamecenter before signing up to see if you'll get full HD streams?
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 20:28 |
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myron cope posted:
Some Canada info you can add: -All Montreal games are broadcast on RDS, which is available nationally. However, the NHL doesn't consider this to count as national TV, so Montreal games that are not on CBC or TSN nationally are available on GC and CI outside of the Montreal local market. I'm not sure if "TSN Habs" picks up all non CBC/TSN Montreal games. If they don't, you may be able to watch games they don't show even while in the Montreal market, as the NHL will probably consider them "untelevised" in the region. -Many "non nationally televised" games played by Canadian teams are shown on Sportsnet regional channels that are available on cable/satellite anywhere in the country. For example you can get Sportsnet Pacific (who show many Canucks games) in New Brunswick. As everyone knows by now, bowling or poker will be shown on these channels during hockey games if you're not in the Sportsnet Pacific home territory. These games can be watched on GC/CI outside of the Sportsnet Pacific "home" region despite them being "on TV", because they aren't actually watchable, unless the guy whose job it is to sub in the bowling forgets, which happens every now and then.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 20:31 |
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Thanks, shamelessly stolen for the OP!
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 20:40 |
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Oops, I just went to sign up and the sign up page has added RDS to the list of "national" networks. No idea if this has always been the case and it's just not enforced, or if this is new.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 20:43 |
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Kreez posted:Oops, I just went to sign up and the sign up page has added RDS to the list of "national" networks. No idea if this has always been the case and it's just not enforced, or if this is new. I think that's new. There was a question in the last thread about it, and I said RDS didn't count. Since I don't live in Canada and nobody else said it, I think I read it online somewhere. e: I added this bit, but now I'm not sure if it's true: quote:If it's considered national in Canada, I think that means you can't watch any Canadiens games on Gamecenter (in Canada), since I think all the Canadiens games are on RDS? myron cope fucked around with this message at Jan 14, 2013 around 20:53 |
| # ? Jan 14, 2013 20:49 |
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mr. unhsib posted:Anyone ever used this on a Roku out of curiosity? Or the boxee box?
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 20:53 |
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Can someone clear up how NHL broadcasting works? I live in Indianapolis and I'm trying to catch as many Maple Leafs games (yeah, I know ) as I can at a local hockey bar. On the Leafs' schedule it looks like there are 3 different broadcasting situations: 1. Games listed on the NHL Network. I'm assuming the bar won't have any problem picking these up 2. Games listed on Canadian Networks (TSN, CBC, RDS). This includes both games played in Canada and in the US. 3. Games listed on no networks. This includes both games played in Canada and in the US. Does anyone have any insight into whether I'd be able to catch games in categories 2 and 3 on TV? If not, I'll spring for Gamecenter Live.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 20:54 |
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Misanthrope posted:Or the boxee box? I've used it on Boxee, and it looked very good, maybe better than out of my laptop with HDMI. The Boxee scaler is pretty good, so that's probably what did it. As far as with proxy, I've no idea. I mainly use it for Blackhawks games.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 20:54 |
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Any idea on when GC's gonna be available to order?
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:01 |
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Millions posted:Can someone clear up how NHL broadcasting works? I live in Indianapolis and I'm trying to catch as many Maple Leafs games (yeah, I know I'm guessing you won't be able to see games for category 3 (Maple Leaf Network only?). I'd go for GCL just to cover category 2, because that sounds fishy. Does Indy pick up CBC or RDS broadcasts?
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:05 |
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Millions posted:Can someone clear up how NHL broadcasting works? I live in Indianapolis and I'm trying to catch as many Maple Leafs games (yeah, I know Well, there are two different NHL Networks, too, so you may not be able to see those games either. I'm not sure how much crossover there is between the US and Canada versions. If it's listed on a Canadian network, you won't be able to see it in America. Although in Detroit, I get CBC. If it's not listed on a network, it probably is on a regional sports network. I don't know what local market Indianapolis is in. I'd say Gamecenter is your best bet. Especially because it's cheaper this season--you can sort of test it out now and for next year (when it's back to $160 or whatever) you'll know if it's worth it or not.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:07 |
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mcvey posted:Any idea on when GC's gonna be available to order? It's up now.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:13 |
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Just for everyone's edification, that bit that NHL posts about circumventing proxies is verbatim the same thing mlb.tv puts in their TOS:quote:IF YOU CIRCUMVENT, OR ATTEMPT TO CIRCUMVENT, ANY BLACKOUT RESTRICTION OR OTHER USE RESTRICTION: YOUR SUBSCRIPTION WILL BE SUBJECT TO IMMEDIATE TERMINATION AND A CHARGE OF ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100.00) FOR EARLY TERMINATION; YOU MAY BE SUBJECT TO LEGAL ACTION; AND MLBAM RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REPORT SUCH MISCONDUCT TO APPROPRIATE LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES. So take that warning as you want. I am not encouraging you to break laws or whatever. Just be aware that MLB.tv, which has established it doesn't actually give a poo poo, says the same thing. Personally, I wouldn't, but I have other things to worry about other than a $100 fine. EDIT: My personal feeling is that is more there so that they can prosecute people who buy their poo poo and then put it on justin.tv etc.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:16 |
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DOOMocrat posted:I've used it on Boxee, and it looked very good, maybe better than out of my laptop with HDMI. The Boxee scaler is pretty good, so that's probably what did it. Thanks, that's good enough for me to order it for $50 for the year.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:27 |
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So I just had a live chat with one of the NHL live support specialists about out of market games/RDS as I am a Habs fan who lives in Barrie which is like an hour north of Toronto. According to them, the only blackouts I would be subjected to would be Leafs games as we get Leafs TV in regards to Game Center Live. So all is good as far as I can tell:
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:33 |
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Just got Gamecenter since my team is across the country from me and I have other ways to watch national games. I loaded up the last playoff game and it was giving me 1600 kbps. I'm confused as to why the app isn't compatible with my android tablet though. My phone can get it just fine. Oh well.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:39 |
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CDX posted:It's up now. Great, thanks, just subscribed. I'm done with Center Ice after last year.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:40 |
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Probably a stupid question but I'm assuming there's no multiple logins like mlb.tv has? I mean, they don't exactly advertise that but I assume people here have tried to have more than one person logged in. $50 is worth it either way, just curious.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:40 |
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For 50 bones, I'm gonna give gamecenter a whirl.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:40 |
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I also just live chatted with Gamecenter support and they said the 360 app should be available "by the end of the week".JollyPubJerk posted:Just got Gamecenter since my team is across the country from me and I have other ways to watch national games. Which tablet do you have? I just downloaded it on my Nexus 7 which is running the latest version of Android (that usually means some apps are slow to update and not supported, Netflix is notorious for this).
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:43 |
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Combo posted:Probably a stupid question but I'm assuming there's no multiple logins like mlb.tv has? I mean, they don't exactly advertise that but I assume people here have tried to have more than one person logged in.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:45 |
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So, uh, they still haven't charged me any money and I still got full access to Gamecenter(I have the entire offseason). This. Is. Awesome.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:45 |
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chocolateTHUNDER posted:I also just live chatted with Gamecenter support and they said the 360 app should be available "by the end of the week". Asus Eee Pad. The app hasn't been updated since last year, so maybe I just need to wait until the end of the week for the update to push.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:50 |
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I signed up, I have some hockey watching to catch up on. I'm more a fan of the sport than one team but I'll certainly be trying to find a way to catch the Wild play this year.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:52 |
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CDX posted:So I just had a live chat with one of the NHL live support specialists about out of market games/RDS as I am a Habs fan who lives in Barrie which is like an hour north of Toronto. According to them, the only blackouts I would be subjected to would be Leafs games as we get Leafs TV in regards to Game Center Live. So all is good as far as I can tell: RDS is available everywhere, right? The line that scares me is "A game is nationally blacked out if it is playing in all of Canada". They didn't count RDS before, but they also didn't mention RDS before.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:53 |
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From what it sounds like, buying Gamecenter and proxying up on my PC is pretty simple and will get me most of my Rangers games. What about proxying via the PS3? Has anybody done that who could speak to its possibility/ease?
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:53 |
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Just signed up for gamecenter. I've gotten center ice for the past couple of years, but now that there's a 360 app it seems much more worthwhile to get gamecenter. Side note: has anyone tried the gamecenter XBMC app?
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:53 |
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titanium posted:I signed up, I have some hockey watching to catch up on. I'm more a fan of the sport than one team but I'll certainly be trying to find a way to catch the Wild play this year.  Enjoy Zach the betrayer.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:53 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 19:13 |
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JollyPubJerk posted:Asus Eee Pad. The app hasn't been updated since last year, so maybe I just need to wait until the end of the week for the update to push. Hmm, maybe try bugging them at their online support form or email and seeing if/when it'll be updated? http://gclsupport.nhl.com/m gclsupport@nhl.com
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 21:54 |
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