Center Ice on DISH: Do I have the details right?

[krupina]

Hi all. This is my first post in the forum. I'm trying to make sure I understand what NHL Center Ice (CI) through DISH does and doesn't offer. It appears that it offers all games in standard definition (SD) except for the local team in my case the Hurricanes, and that maybe half or a little more of the games are also in HD. However, most importantly to me, the Canadian feeds are rarely available in HD. This includes CBC, TSN, etc. The Leafs/Canadiens Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC) opener this past Tuesday from CBC was in HD. And it looks like the HNIC late game this coming Saturday will be available in HD, but not the early game.

Getting the Canadian feeds in HD--particularly HNIC--is far and away the main reason I would want CI. My wife is a Maple Leafs fan, and so that's the main thing. I see that the NHL Network is televising 11 of the Leafs Saturday HNIC games this year, so that's nearly half the HNIC broadcasts. Of course that's assuming they always pick up the HNIC feed, as some of those games are against American teams with their own feed.

Can anyone bring some clarity to this for me? It seems crazy to me in 2013 that I can pay for an a la carte NHL subscription package and not have access to HD for a substantial amount of it (including the part most important to me), but that seems to be the way it is. I'd like to make sure I understand it correctly before I decide.

And assuming I'm right that I'll be dissatisfied with CI, I'll go ahead and ask a follow-up question. How is the quality of the picture with NHL GameCenter Live? I would only want it if it's good. Watching hockey that is fuzzy or has lag issues isn't worth it to me. I've done two tests of my computer download speed and they've been 15 and 16 Mbps, so I would think that's more than adequate from my end.

Thanks for any feedback on this.

 

[king3pj]

If you have a streaming device such as a Roku, Apple TV, game console, blu-ray player, or smart TV I would just use GameCenter Live. It's a little cheaper and you will get the Canadian HD feeds every night except when they are playing the team that claims your market. I use MLB.tv on my Apple TV and Roku and the picture quality is fine. Reportedly GameCenter is even smoother than MLB.tv because they stream at 60 frames per second vs. MLB.tv's 30 frames per second.

 

[krupina]

Thanks for the reply. Glad to hear you think the NHL GameCenter will be a good streaming experience. Hopefully it will work with my Sony blu ray BPD-S390. The GameCenter site says only Sony blu rays from 2012 onward can stream live games (older ones ones can do archived games). I think mine is from 2012.

 

[king3pj]

Thanks for the reply. Glad to hear you think the NHL GameCenter will be a good streaming experience. Hopefully it will work with my Sony blu ray BPD-S390. The GameCenter site says only Sony blu rays from 2012 onward can stream live games (older ones ones can do archived games). I think mine is from 2012.

You might want to try the monthly option instead of paying for the whole year at once. It looks like it only costs $2 more if you do it that way and if you don't like it or it doesn't work on your blu-ray player you are only out $18. You can always go back to Dish CI if it doesn't work out.


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[Yespage]

The one thing I hated about Gamecenter was the lack of intermission programming! And probably half the times I tried to watch the Habs, the game was blocked because it was on NHL or NBCSports.

Looking at the Dish Game Finder, it looks like most games on CI are available in HD, though the CBC games do appear to be in SD, which sucks. I think HNIC is typically on NHL Network, which would mean it wouldn't be available on Gamecenter!

 

[king3pj]

The one thing I hated about Gamecenter was the lack of intermission programming! And probably half the times I tried to watch the Habs, the game was blocked because it was on NHL or NBCSports.

Looking at the Dish Game Finder, it looks like most games on CI are available in HD, though the CBC games do appear to be in SD, which sucks. I think HNIC is typically on NHL Network, which would mean it wouldn't be available on Gamecenter!

Yep I can see how that would be a problem for hockey. MLB.tv blacks out the commercials so you have dead air for a couple minutes but there are no intermissions in baseball. If you and your wife are in to the rest of the HNIC broadcast besides the game it self you might be happier with CI. If you want to guarantee all the Canadian broadcasts in HD GameCenter is the better option though.

Lots of packages on Dish include NHL Network. If he already gets that he is covered when his team plays on NHL Network too.


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[krupina]

OK, I'm giving gamecenter a try. No games on yet tonight but just watched a bit of an archived game from two nights ago and picture quality is not good. Nowhere near HD. It noted speed of 11-12 mbps. I'll have to see how it is when the actual live games are on in another hour. I'm not optimistic.

 

[krupina]

Tried NHL gamecenter last night, streaming through my Sony blu ray. Watched Senators-Leafs. Quality was decent but certainly not great. Actually, it was very good on slow-motion replays, but for live play it was bumpy. And it only showed the game portion. No intermission reports or commercials. Very strange watching experience to have the TV go silent for several minutes at a time (a lot of minutes at the break). I've got a 5-day trial period, so I'll watch for a couple more days before deciding whether to keep or cancel the subscription.

 

[ttomni6]

Btw, Center Ice is on free preview thru 10/19

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