Not without finding a proxy server that would allow your IP to be shown as outside of the local area. Free proxies are not worth the hassle and a good proxy will cost $10-15 per month.
Yep. Hide My Ip was a solid choice for me with my laptop last year; worked like a dream on my Windows based machine. I'm considering an iPad this year and I'm looking for a program similarly reliable. I'm wondering if hidemyass.com and their VPN package will do the trick. I'd like to be able to to get the iPad and iPhone apps this year.
I just saw that Xbox 360 has an MLB.TV app coming soon. I'm hoping that will work well.
The PS3 app is awesome. If the 360 is designed the same way you'll really enjoy it.
As long as you have your router close to the Roku box, MLB.tv runs really well. Two things to note though:
I got a roku for Christmas and have been playing with it. I have it directly plugged into my FIOS router with an ethernet cable and connected to my HDTV through HDMI. I've previously purchased extra innings through cable but I'm intrigued about switching to the MLBTV app. Is the quality going to be near equivalent to what I get through the cable? The flexibility it provides (iPad, iPhone, laptop, etc) would be nice if the picture quality is good enough.
Through my Roku, it was nearly always in full HD, and our internet connection isn't anything special.
I think it comes down to eyeballs on the broadcast and how lowering them would affect their ad rates and attractiveness to potential advertisers. There's really no calculus to pre-measure how on-line accessibility would impact NESN broadcast viewership. I think it's likely a question of the uncertainty of this risk.
I'm sure there are some legalities involved, but for the life of me, from a marketing and business standpoint, I cannot understand why networks don't offer streaming online. If NESN wants to stream its broadcasts online, charge $5-10 a month per person. That's probably (though I don't know for sure) more than it gets per cable subscriber from Charter, Comcast, whatever. And they would actually get viewers from across the country. I don't think a Sox fan living in Oregon is likely to have NESN as one of its cable offerings. But this way, NESN can reach that guy, and advertising dollars actually can go further (maybe not for local advertisers, but that can be worked out). Why every network doesn't do this, I have no idea.
It's weird, the picture quality when streaming via my PC (even in "HD") generally sucks. When streaming via my PS3, the picture quality has always been excellent the past two season. By all accounts, the Roku does similarly well, but I haven't confirmed it yet (I will this season on our bedroom tv). There have been some occasional problems with drop outs, but that was mostly at the beginning of the season both of the past two years and was mostly cleared up by the A-S break. Not sure why, but they do tend to get it fixed.
Ok, when you say "excellent" do you mean as good as HD on cable or even close? I'd hate to buy yet another box for this and have it look like crap. I would be Roku if anything.
Refurbished 1080p Rokus are selling for $60. today on Woot, but perhaps the higher p would be wasted on mlbtv?
Yes, my PS3 is 1080P but MLB only streams at 720P. The basic Roku (720P) should be all you need if MLB.tv is your primary reason for having it. Plus on a 42" Plasma, I can barely tell the difference. I suppose if you've got an 80" screen it would be more noticeable.
I do not think MLB.tv has any coupons. The only deal I have seen is that you get MLBatBat for free with a MLB.tv purchase.
Agreed 100%. I say it every year, but MLB Advanced Media has really set the standard for what a digital streaming service should be. The blackout rules are terrible and archaic, but in terms of what MLB.TV Premium and the At Bat app provides, I honestly can't think of another feature that I'd want. At less than a dollar per game to follow 1 out of market team, it's a great value. FYI, the features you listed (besides the free At Bat app) were all available last year. The "park audio" option is fantastic, and for when I do want an announcer to go with the ambient park noise, I love the fact that the service automatically syncs up your video broadcast and the radio broadcast. I'm gushing at this point, but I'd rather watch MLB.TV than a network broadcast.
I can't see how anyone would consider it pricy. You end up paying <$1/game to have access to all Red Sox games, other than ones that are on Fox/ESPN (and those you can even get with creative proxy usage). Plus you can tune into any other game you might want to watch, whether it's rooting against the Yankees or tuning into a no-hitter in progress or anything else.
I wonder how much of this has to do with how fans watch baseball vs. how they watch football. When it comes to the NFL, my favorite team only plays for 3 hours every week. For that, I don't mind going out to a bar. For $20, I can get some beer, food, and get out of the house and socialize. That, and the NFL is a near perfect TV spectacle, with its timeboxed contests and a pace of play that's conducive to commercial breaks. Doing that 162 nights a year to watch a more languid game? Forget about it.
OJ - they are touting it on the MLB.TV site. It is available Feb 29 and apparently you just login with your MLB.TV account rather than purchasing the app as we have done the last couple of years. Hoping it will be easy to "share" with the spouse person.
Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that it was expensive or not worth the cost. I could have sworn that there were a few coupons/deals out there last year, but I'm more than willing to "settle" for my $119.95 for this year.
If you use an international proxy to trick them into thinking you're overseas you can just watch the Fox and TBS feeds.
I don't think they care too much considering the money they are getting from DirecTV. DirecTV prices it high intentionally.
This might require router-side proxying - beyond my knowledge in terms of implementation or if it would work with hidemyip, but in theory rather easy.
The radio feed during a game is great. This year I'll get video (new phone). But the quality of MLB.TV improves every year so I'm very hopeful.
