DirecTV to offer games online without DirecTV sat subscription

[nucci]

Yes, but it's not exactly the same as getting that nice HD signal directly via cable.

 

In my case, I have only VGA output on my laptop, not HDMI. So right there, I've lost a little bit in the translation. Plus, even a top-notch stream will not have the same refresh rate as an HD cable signal. And will there be hiccups in the stream from DirectTV's servers? Who knows?

 

So it's worth thinking about when you're looking at that $350 price tag. I may still pull the trigger anyway because it's still my best option, but you gotta admit that's a pretty stiff price for streaming video.

I agree the price is high for streamimg. I was just trying to give you options. You might have to suck it up for one year and see how it goes. Good luck.

[Fezmid]

You had to go to court and still don't see the downside? How about wasting your time in court?

 

I had a landlord, who was a friend, and took VERY good care of my apt. He could have easily "followed the law" and been a downright miserable landlord. There is a big difference between a landlord that does the minimum the law requires of him and a great landlord.

 

To clarify - I didn't take him to court over a dish. In fact, I didn't have DirecTV until I moved out of that apartment. I had to take him to court because after living there for 7 years, he was trying to withhold my security deposit AND charge me an extra $1,000 for things like painting the walls, caulking the tub, and replacing the carpets... Security deposit was around $500, and after taking him to court I was awarded roughly $800. In Minnesota, the penalty is twice the security deposit plus $200. Not quite sure how the judge came up with $800, but that's ok. It was a REALLY fun case - something out of People's Court. The landlord made an idiot of himself in court and people were literally laughing at him in the courtroom. I should share the story sometime...

 

He was the definition of a slumlord.

[Peace]

You know, I am actually considering signing up for this. The thing that makes me think twice is that I don't know if I can take it if I pay $350 and then the stream starts acting funny and freezing up and I miss plays. If this happens, I am going to FREAK THE !@#$ OUT! Oh, you better believe DirectTV is gonna give me my money back if it's all herky-jerky and freezy-buffery. I will go to war with their customer service people if I have to.

 

I have used it for 3 years. Year 1 was terrible. Lots of cutting out and choppiness. Vid quality was lousy--like a bad youtube video.

 

The last 2 years, they used Microsoft Silverlight as the player and the video quality was very good. Choppiness was less but still there. It's a stream--and a big one--so it will occasionally drop. I would say on average (not the first week as they gauge usage), you will miss 2-3 plays completely and a few snips of plays as the feed gets choppy and there is no vid in the buffer.

 

I will post my updated review here once the season starts. I am not sure if they are using a new player but hope they stick with Silverlight. That works well.

[nucci]

I have used it for 3 years. Year 1 was terrible. Lots of cutting out and choppiness. Vid quality was lousy--like a bad youtube video.

 

The last 2 years, they used Microsoft Silverlight as the player and the video quality was very good. Choppiness was less but still there. It's a stream--and a big one--so it will occasionally drop. I would say on average (not the first week as they gauge usage), you will miss 2-3 plays completely and a few snips of plays as the feed gets choppy and there is no vid in the buffer.

 

I will post my updated review here once the season starts. I am not sure if they are using a new player but hope they stick with Silverlight. That works well.

If this is the case there is no way they should be charging so much. Drop the price a bit until the service gets better.

[Peace]

If this is the case there is no way they should be charging so much. Drop the price a bit until the service gets better.

 

I am talking about the service they offered for the last 3 years for $100. I don't know how the new service will be.

 

But you are possibly misunderstanding the issue. It's a bandwidth thing. If you (the end user) opt for the highest res download, you increase the chance of a bandwidth problem and jittery viewing. I opt for the highest res download and pay the price with occasional choppiness. This is not a problem with DirecTV (in all likelihood). It's a problem in my own connectivity. Sure I've got the highest noncommercial plan Comcast offers but it occasionally drops down and when it does, the stream will pause.

[The Dean]

To clarify - I didn't take him to court over a dish. In fact, I didn't have DirecTV until I moved out of that apartment. I had to take him to court because after living there for 7 years, he was trying to withhold my security deposit AND charge me an extra $1,000 for things like painting the walls, caulking the tub, and replacing the carpets... Security deposit was around $500, and after taking him to court I was awarded roughly $800. In Minnesota, the penalty is twice the security deposit plus $200. Not quite sure how the judge came up with $800, but that's ok. It was a REALLY fun case - something out of People's Court. The landlord made an idiot of himself in court and people were literally laughing at him in the courtroom. I should share the story sometime...

 

He was the definition of a slumlord.

 

 

Hey , I hear that. I have had one or two crappy landlords and one or two that were probably your basic, does the minimum of what he is required, landlord. But I have also had fantastic, bend over backwards for you, really cares about his property and his tenants landlords as well.

 

My point being, for some DTV might not be a very tempting alternative, if the landlord doesn't want them to install it. Yes, you probably can get it and there may be situations where you say "Screw him/her. I'm getting the dish." But from personal experience I also think the relationship you have with a good landlord may not be worth testing, if he really doesn't want you to install the dish. Landlords do not have to break the law to be marginal, or even crappy, landlords. IMO the wishes of a good landlord should at least be considered by a tenant. If not for the landlord's interest, then for keeping a great living situation alive and healthy.

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

Unfortunately there isn't an option of HD signal via cable for Sunday Ticket. It's HD signal via DTV or this. I live in an area that doesn't have locals in HD on DTV, so am tempted to do this. I use to live in western NY , last two season used sites like Justin, Stooge TV etc to watch games. Tired of the hoping from stream to stream some wrere good quality, others you could see and hear the guy with the video camera. Actually of all the sites I thought Stooge TV had best quality while it lasted. I could get DTV and and antenna for locals, but my take is, if I'm going to get a dish, I want all the channels coming thru it, and not have to mess around with other means for locals.

 

It is alot of money, but am thinking hard about it. Is it worth the money, no but there are many things you could say that about.

 

Comparing the price of Sunday Ticket to MLB is very similar I think to prices of tickets to games. Much higher per game, but much less games. If I were a Steelers or Coyboy fan probably wouldn't bother as half their games will be doubleheader or night game. The Bills have little if any prime time games, so likely would see more games via this option.

 

Plus there are always a handful of games I did want to see but weren't on locally. (I live in Panthers home area)

 

Yes, but it's not exactly the same as getting that nice HD signal directly via cable.

 

In my case, I have only VGA output on my laptop, not HDMI. So right there, I've lost a little bit in the translation. Plus, even a top-notch stream will not have the same refresh rate as an HD cable signal. And will there be hiccups in the stream from DirectTV's servers? Who knows?

 

So it's worth thinking about when you're looking at that $350 price tag. I may still pull the trigger anyway because it's still my best option, but you gotta admit that's a pretty stiff price for streaming video.

[stevewin]

I have used it for 3 years. Year 1 was terrible. Lots of cutting out and choppiness. Vid quality was lousy--like a bad youtube video.

 

The last 2 years, they used Microsoft Silverlight as the player and the video quality was very good. Choppiness was less but still there. It's a stream--and a big one--so it will occasionally drop. I would say on average (not the first week as they gauge usage), you will miss 2-3 plays completely and a few snips of plays as the feed gets choppy and there is no vid in the buffer.

 

I will post my updated review here once the season starts. I am not sure if they are using a new player but hope they stick with Silverlight. That works well.

The FAQ says it will use Flash Player 10

 

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/content/nflstonline/faqs

 

I'm seriously considering it - just have to convince my wife the discretionary spending is worth it

 

I've been going to bars for years and years to watch games, and am at a point now where - even tough it is easier than ever before to do that w/ pretty much every sports bar having the ticket and tons of TVs to show every game (remember the old days you'd walk into a bar with a satellite dish and a couple TVs and have to beg the bartender to find the Bills game - and hope there wouldn't be other people he knew there that wanted to watch another game?), and while there is an element of fun to be watching games in that atmosphere - it's gotten to be kind of a grind (maybe I'm just getting old ). Also, as others have pointed out - I can also rationalize at least some of the $$$ by not spending as much on food/beer as well - but honestly just the convenience of being able to stay home is most appealing.

 

DTV has never really been a desirable option for me, because I have TVs in 5 rooms at my house. Not all are always used (some hardly ever), and with cable I can just have a box on our 'primary' TV and the others can still pick up the regular stations direct from the cable w/o having to have tons of boxes in my house. This actually is exactly what I've been waiting for - an option to get Sunday Ticket w/o having to get DTV.

Edited September 4, 2010 by stevewin

[Fezmid]

DTV has never really been a desirable option for me, because I have TVs in 5 rooms at my house. Not all are always used (some hardly ever), and with cable I can just have a box on our 'primary' TV and the others can still pick up the regular stations direct from the cable w/o having to have tons of boxes in my house.

 

Keep in mind that I think a lot of cable companies are doing away with the "cable from the wall to the TV" solution. I know in the Twin Cities, Comcast did away with it. You want cable TV, you HAVE to have a box now.

 

Dish and DirecTV have the ability to output the same signal to two different TVs. I've heard Dish does it MUCH better, but I haven't tried it. You can't watch two different things at the same time though - it just outputs the same stream to both TVs.

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

Well I bit the bullet and signed up. Hopewfully everything will go smooth as far as getting games, no more hunting for quick to vanish streams. They asked three questions on the webpage:

 

Do I currently receive DTV?

 

Have I ever recieved it at my current address?

 

Can I get DTV at my current address?

 

 

Answer those questions, give them your money, and they're happy!

[SwampD]

Well I bit the bullet and signed up. Hopewfully everything will go smooth as far as getting games, no more hunting for quick to vanish streams. They asked three questions on the webpage:

 

Do I currently receive DTV?

 

Have I ever recieved it at my current address?

 

Can I get DTV at my current address?

 

 

Answer those questions, give them your money, and they're happy!

%$#@ DirectTV. They said I couldn't get it because I have already had DirectTV at this address before. Of course, it doesn't say that I could only get the SD signal and in order to get HD I would have had to cut down some neighbor's trees and the put the dish right in the middle of the front of my house. And they don't open until 8a for me to tell them this.

 

"..but I'm angry now."

Edited September 9, 2010 by SwampD

[plenzmd1]

The FAQ says it will use Flash Player 10

 

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/content/nflstonline/faqs

 

DTV has never really been a desirable option for me, because I have TVs in 5 rooms at my house. Not all are always used (some hardly ever), and with cable I can just have a box on our 'primary' TV and the others can still pick up the regular stations direct from the cable w/o having to have tons of boxes in my house. This actually is exactly what I've been waiting for - an option to get Sunday Ticket w/o having to get DTV.

Not sure this is quite applicable, but just had the whole house DVR thing set up with DTV. Man, i really like the functionality of that technology. Not sure if cable has something similiar, but I know if i was you, i would call DTV directly, ask for the whole package including the Ticket for that 5 months free gig, as well as a HD dvr and 4 other sets hooked up with whole home DVR. Pretty sure you would get it for a two year commitment.

 

BTW, i have had DTV since 95, have been highly satisfied 90% of the time.

[Peace]

Well I bit the bullet and signed up. Hopewfully everything will go smooth as far as getting games, no more hunting for quick to vanish streams. They asked three questions on the webpage:

 

Do I currently receive DTV?

 

Have I ever recieved it at my current address?

 

Can I get DTV at my current address?

 

 

Answer those questions, give them your money, and they're happy!

 

Ditto. I can honestly answer "No" to question 3 because I've tried to have it installed multiple times with every level of installer (though people on here love to lecture me that it's impossible and there has to be a way to get a signal).

 

Still, I have no idea how they check number 3 unless you already had DirecTV at your address.

 

Also installed the iphone App for this. I can't imagine watching the Bills on the iPhone but I might watch another game if I was somewhere pulling my pud on a Sunday.

Edited September 9, 2010 by Peace

[cmjoyce113]

I agree the price is high for streamimg. I was just trying to give you options. You might have to suck it up for one year and see how it goes. Good luck.

 

I think it is reasonable based on how much it is for Directv customers. Why would it be cheaper for someone to stream games? Just my opinion though.

[Cugalabanza]

I think I'm gonna do this.

[Cugalabanza]

I did it.

[birdog1960]

%$#@ DirectTV. They said I couldn't get it because I have already had DirectTV at this address before. Of course, it doesn't say that I could only get the SD signal and in order to get HD I would have had to cut down some neighbor's trees and the put the dish right in the middle of the front of my house. And they don't open until 8a for me to tell them this.

 

"..but I'm angry now."

so, the answer has to be "no" to all 3 to qualify?

[The Dean]

I did it.

 

 

What's the total nut, again?

[Peace]

What's the total nut, again?

 

$350.

[The Dean]

$350.

 

 

Honestly, it would probably save me a few dollars from going to the bar, but not much. I really prefer to watch from the comfort of home, too.

 

But as the bar is virtually attached to the complex and as there are a few nice Bills fans who I never see otherwise, I'll stick to the bar this year. But next year? Maybe DTV!