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NHL on Apple TV

The Cable Oligarchy. You can't compete with big cable. This sucks too, because I would totally dump cable if I could get local games from the NBA and NHL. Watching the Hawks tonight on CSN.

I guess that proves my point though. And without cable, the pro leagues would die, so I get the thinking. But they need to figure out what it would take to get internet only games. I'm tired of giving RCN so much money every month for so very little usage.
 
blackouts

Yeah, blackouts are BS...but that's the way NHL wants to sell their game, will never change.

I hadn't seen any blackouts yet on my ATV, but the Leafs game last night was, and tonight I think the Jets game is. The more games TSN shows (they add more every season), the less value this package has. Stupid NHL.

Anyway, I don't have the new ATV software update yet, so blackouts don't have anything to do with the latest software.

Incidentally, I watched the first half of tonight's Leafs game on my PS3, in almost perfect quality, no skips, my best GCL experience yet! Then it started choking and skipping and looping and changing quality constantly, so I bailed and watched the rest on the ATV. Anecdotally, the ATV seems to be smarter about buffering. It was still lower quality than earlier tonight, but it stayed the same quality, and no looping and hiccups. Always good to have several streaming devices in the house. The PS3 NHL app has a few more features, but ATV has better buffering, which is what it's all about. I've had mostly horrible experiences on the GCL web site...pure hiccups.
 
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SandboxGeneral said:
They blacked out the Red Wings game too tonight! That makes me so angry because we PAID the NHL for content. They shouldn't be able reserve the right to black out a game when we've specifically paid for it.
Click to expand...

i agree...this is BS. We PAID for this...it is a premium service and should be exempt from blackout rules.

My days of paying for CI are numbered. This may be my last season.
 
Blackouts after 4.4.2 update

Eradik said:
Now, regarding blackouts. I have yet to test this further, but there was an NHL Network broadcast game (which should be blacked out) a week or two back that I had access to on my ATV. It did NOT work on my iPhone or on the computer (said it was a nationally televised blackout), yet it loaded and played just fine on my ATV. Wonder if it was just a bug or what. It'd have to be, and I seem to remember it being the day 4.4 came out so ATV was new to NHL, but still... it did work!
Click to expand...

Hey guys. I'm new here but I wanted to throw in my two cents. Hopefully it'll help someone come up with an answer. Until Fri (Nov 4) I had been on firmware v4.4. I could watch every single game on my ATV (although they were blacked out on my macbook and iphone). I must have watched 20-30 games. As soon as I updated to 4.4.2, suddenly all my games were blacked out on the ATV – missed the Leafs, Oilers, and my boys the Jets live yesterday as a result.

After a bit of Googling I found this (http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/archives/oct11/102411.html)

QUOTE: They left out this note regarding NHL from the 4.4 update. "Live and on-demand games require a NHL subscription. Blackouts apply. See nhl.com/appletv for details.".

So I think you might be right Eradik. The 4.4 firmware didn't have blackouts! I donno if you guys jailbreak but could that be a workaround to get the old NHL app (with no blackouts from 4.4) working again on ATV 4.4.2?

Thanks guys and keep up the good work!
 
That has been my recollection too. I don't think either local or away black hawks games were blacked out prior to the update.

Q. Can you revert to the previous version on an Apple TV?

Also here's a tid bit.

When I was able to view Black Hawks games on the Apple TV I could not see them thru my Samsung TV. So the Samsung TV was enforcing the black outs but the Apple TV was not.

creativelyrich said:
Hey guys. I'm new here but I wanted to throw in my two cents. Hopefully it'll help someone come up with an answer. Until Fri (Nov 4) I had been on firmware v4.4. I could watch every single game on my ATV (although they were blacked out on my macbook and iphone). I must have watched 20-30 games. As soon as I updated to 4.4.2, suddenly all my games were blacked out on the ATV – missed the Leafs, Oilers, and my boys the Jets live yesterday as a result.

After a bit of Googling I found this (http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/archives/oct11/102411.html)

QUOTE: They left out this note regarding NHL from the 4.4 update. "Live and on-demand games require a NHL subscription. Blackouts apply. See nhl.com/appletv for details.".

So I think you might be right Eradik. The 4.4 firmware didn't have blackouts! I donno if you guys jailbreak but could that be a workaround to get the old NHL app (with no blackouts from 4.4) working again on ATV 4.4.2?

Thanks guys and keep up the good work!
Click to expand...
 
Today I reverted my Apple TV 2 back to version 4.4

we'll see if tonights game is blacked out or not.

If you're on 4.4.2 and in Chicago report back here if the Hawks game tonight was blacked out for you or not.

steffi said:
That has been my recollection too. I don't think either local or away black hawks games were blacked out prior to the update.

Q. Can you revert to the previous version on an Apple TV?

Also here's a tid bit.

When I was able to view Black Hawks games on the Apple TV I could not see them thru my Samsung TV. So the Samsung TV was enforcing the black outs but the Apple TV was not.
Click to expand...
 
Is there a free trial? I entered my gamecenter credentials and i can watch games... But didn't pay yet for the season, how come?
 
big samm said:
Is there a free trial? I entered my gamecenter credentials and i can watch games... But didn't pay yet for the season, how come?
Click to expand...

Did you pay for gamecenter? If so, you can use that login on your apple tv, roku, etc to watch NHL.
 
But more crazy than the inexpensive MLB deal at $79 for all games. Now that is a deal.
 
darster said:
Did you pay for gamecenter? If so, you can use that login on your apple tv, roku, etc to watch NHL.
Click to expand...

No i didn't pay yet! I just logged in with my gamecenter credentials from last year and i can see every game! :-0
 
big samm said:
I don't think so! I didn't subscribed online but rather with the in purchase in the app, which there's no auto renew thing!
Click to expand...

Even if by chance you have auto renew, the TOS states they would notify you via email prior to charging you. So if you havent recieved an email yet, you wont get charged.
 
4.4.2 and blackouts

steffi said:
Today I reverted my Apple TV 2 back to version 4.4

we'll see if tonights game is blacked out or not.

If you're on 4.4.2 and in Chicago report back here if the Hawks game tonight was blacked out for you or not.
Click to expand...

Hey steffi. I'm curious to hear how things worked out for you last night. I'm contemplating reverting back to 4.4 and testing it out next weekend (when all the Canadian teams are blacked out here in Toronto because of CBC broadcast rights).

On the plus side, I did find that all the 4.4.2 blacked out games from Saturday were available on Apple TV the next morning (Sun), unlike on the gamecenter website which usually takes 48-72 hours. I can live with that, but I still want to get what I paid for and see games live!
 
Sign up for http://www.unblock-us.com/ and try it for 7 days free, its $5 a month but it eliminates blackouts for residents of Canada. I am using netflix america on apple tv & ps3.. It also lets me watch the Jays games while in Canada to. Works perfect. ALso enables sites like hulu.com , cbs.com, fox.com etc
 
I have subscribed to this service both from the cable service and via Internet.

The cable provider service offers the smoothest service but the quality is surely not hd from charter.
I also have the Internet subscription.
Regardless of the service the quality is all the same.
4g Verizon
3G AT&T
Charter cable internet 30 meg service; apple tv, Samsung tv, Panasonic tv, Panasonic and samsung bluray players.
What I see is stutter, choppiness, quality shifts, lock ups.
I love the service and usually watch over 150 out of network games.
My cost per game is about $2 a game.
I am going to 1 bruins game, so far, $215 for my seat.
$2 a game for 150 games or 1 game at $215. Wheres the better value?
 
Yes, hockey streaming sucks. If they could stream at 5 Mbs like MLB does, the quality would be better. NHL has yet to figure it out.
 
I've gotten this service 2 seasons in a row. LOVE IT. I'm out of town a lot, so Its the only way to see local games, hookup your HDMI laptop to a big screen, and its great. Your quality is only as good as your internet speed, but I've never had a big issue with it, not matter where I travel.

ONLY thing you need to watch out is if you are at the end of the season, make sure to cancel it. It automatically renews, and if you don't cancel it yourself, you may be paying for another year you didn't expect to.

But the quality in my opinion is top notch. Yes $160 ain't cheap but you do get all the games, lots of replay ability, and I think the quality is damn good.
 
Anyone know if you can sign up to game centre and watch ice hockey in the in the uk?

I used to be able to watch games on Channel 5 over here but they stopped it a year or so ago :( it would be great if I could watch on my TV or iPad!!!
 
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