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Watching games this year

unluckyseventeen

Well-Known Member
It will be a challenge for me, considering I cancelled my cable (never used it), and I believe NBALP Broadband blacks you out if you're in the local market.

Can anybody give me info on how I can watch games this year without cable and in SLC? I'll be happy to pay for Broadband if anybody has a reliable way I can circumvent their lame blackouts.
 
I am thinking about NBALP mobile. That way I don't get the kids all pissed at me for taking up the computer all night for a Jazz game.
 
Word.

I'd ideally prefer high definition broadcasts, which is why I'm willing to pay for LP if I can actually use it. What's the quality like on that site?

Would someone please speak to this. I recently moved to Lakerland and can no longer attend games. I'm thinking of getting league pass broadband if the quality will be somewhat decent and better than other unofficial streams.
 
Of course they're not HD quality. They're ideal for watching when in a bind. But they'll work. They usually have 3-4 links and odds are 1 of them is going to be good.
 
Use a proxy server. There are free ones but I found those to be very unreliable and slow when they did work. I used xroxy.com and chose a country in Europe, and it worked great. I live in Pittsburgh and used it to watch Pirates games on MLB.tv this year and it worked very well. I believe you can try it free for 3 days, and then its like 10 or so a month.

I will say that the NBA League Pass broadband has much to learn from MLB.tv. Who knows, maybe they improved this year's version, but here are my main complaints:
1. Clicking full screen doesn't actually make it full screen. Instead, a large banner goes across the top with the score of the game you are currently watching which is completly pointless. I had it hooked up to my 55" and it was so frustrating to have to choose between having the large banner going across, or zooming in and cutting off part of the broadcast
2. The quality is not HD. MLB.tv is damn close, and with a good broadband connection you would rarely notice you were watching a stream vs. a HD tv feed, but NBA LP Broadband's quality is weak
3. The lack of dual feeds. You only have one feed to the game, which is not a huge deal, but they seemed to rarely choose the Root Sports Utah feed. On MLB.tv you could choose Home or Away Tv. Additionally, you could choose to have the radio feed synced with the video. So for instance, you could listen to the Jazz radio broadcast synched with the Root Sports Utah video feed. Lastly, MLB.tv offered a "Park audio" option, which was the sounds of the game (crowd noise, player banter, etc.) without any announcers.

Number 3 is more wishful thinking, but 1 and 2 would be really nice to have for this year. I subscribe to NBA League Pass on Directv and so don't use Leageu Pass broadband that often, but when I need to use it, I would hope its improved from alst year.
 
I am thinking about NBALP mobile. That way I don't get the kids all pissed at me for taking up the computer all night for a Jazz game.

I think I will do this as well. Does anyone have an idea of the cost for this? They haven't posted it on NBA.com yet. $100 a season?
 
I think I will do this as well. Does anyone have an idea of the cost for this? They haven't posted it on NBA.com yet. $100 a season?

I am not sure of the price yet but I work for a local DirecTV dealer and there are rumors that any new subscribers will get LP for free.
 
This is also blacked out locally, unfortunately.

When you are mobile, how do they determine locality? Area code? I still have my Utah phone number on my personal cell even though I live in Reno, just because it doesn't cost any more to have it, most areas in the country have to use an area code to dial anyway, and I don't have to try to notify everyone in the world that my cell has changed.
 

When you are mobile, how do they determine locality? Area code? I still have my Utah phone number on my personal cell even though I live in Reno, just because it doesn't cost any more to have it, most areas in the country have to use an area code to dial anyway, and I don't have to try to notify everyone in the world that my cell has changed.

It is not merely your phone number, but it uses the location feature on your phone (you must enable it if it is set to "disable"), similar to how other programs that use "location". Examples are of course navigation, store locator, restaurant finder, etc.
 
Use a proxy server. There are free ones but I found those to be very unreliable and slow when they did work. I used xroxy.com and chose a country in Europe, and it worked great. I live in Pittsburgh and used it to watch Pirates games on MLB.tv this year and it worked very well. I believe you can try it free for 3 days, and then its like 10 or so a month.

I will say that the NBA League Pass broadband has much to learn from MLB.tv. Who knows, maybe they improved this year's version, but here are my main complaints:
1. Clicking full screen doesn't actually make it full screen. Instead, a large banner goes across the top with the score of the game you are currently watching which is completly pointless. I had it hooked up to my 55" and it was so frustrating to have to choose between having the large banner going across, or zooming in and cutting off part of the broadcast
2. The quality is not HD. MLB.tv is damn close, and with a good broadband connection you would rarely notice you were watching a stream vs. a HD tv feed, but NBA LP Broadband's quality is weak
3. The lack of dual feeds. You only have one feed to the game, which is not a huge deal, but they seemed to rarely choose the Root Sports Utah feed. On MLB.tv you could choose Home or Away Tv. Additionally, you could choose to have the radio feed synced with the video. So for instance, you could listen to the Jazz radio broadcast synched with the Root Sports Utah video feed. Lastly, MLB.tv offered a "Park audio" option, which was the sounds of the game (crowd noise, player banter, etc.) without any announcers.

Number 3 is more wishful thinking, but 1 and 2 would be really nice to have for this year. I subscribe to NBA League Pass on Directv and so don't use Leageu Pass broadband that often, but when I need to use it, I would hope its improved from alst year.

Ridiculously good information here. Thanks! Repped.
 
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