Nba League Pass

[Doc50]

Interested to know if anybody has signed up for NBA League Pass while living in Thailand?

How is the pic?

I have a new HDMI TV.

I think it is possible to hook up computer to TV to see even larger screen view.

But want to know if it is just fuzzy, jerky, reception first.

Don't want to be looking at a game where "he goes up for the block"

and then it cuts back 3 seconds later and they are running down the court the other way.

Wha happen?

True TV has rally not come through with any games yet???

Thanks for any input

Doc

[arkom]

My cousin has it, and I have to say it works pretty well. If you have a fast internet connection there should be any problems with the video stream, although it start of kinda fuzzy but after about a minute or so it is almost HD quality.

Never tried to hook it up to my TV so not sure how the picture quality is.

[jfchandler]

The NBA Playoffs start tonight, and as best as I can see from TrueVisions schedule, not a single NBA game is on their calendar...

The live broadcast TV package from the U.S., meanwhile, is a mess, with the games spread all over the place... ABC, TNT, NBA.TV, U.S. version ESPN/ESPN3.

Here's the link to the NBA online broadcast schedule:

http://www.nba.com/2011/playoffs/2011/04/13/schedule/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt2

PS - I've used NBA League Pass here in the past and it worked OK on my old True DSL 8 Mbps service, a bit of stalling sometimes... Not tried League Pass yet on my newer True 10 Mbps cable service... Assume it would run even better now... But never tried it with, and don't have, HDMI and a big screen TV at home... so can't speak to that...

I was considering subscribing to the NBA Playoffs International League Pass package this year, but they wanted $50 just for the playoffs only and 24 hour VOD capability, and $90 for the premium package with all the extras and longer VOD capability. Just didn't seem worth it, when there are other basically no-cost options available for viewing most or all of the NBA playoff games I'd want and have time to watch.

I also had a really distasteful series of email exchanges with the NBA League Pass support folks, after they sent me (and others I'd assume) a promo email offering a discounted rate on the Playoffs package a couple of weeks ago. And when I clicked through with the links on their email, there was nothing and no discount available like what was offered in their email. So I went back and forth in emails with a support staff member who must have had an IQ that you could count with the fingers on one hand. Left a very bad taste in my mouth, and ended any likelihood I was going to cough up any money for them.

[jfchandler]

Well, JFC eats his words above.... but no thanks to the NBA...

I watched a great night of basketball last night/early this morning... all of it online and none of it via the NBA League Pass....

Watched the ABC network televised game on ustvnow.com for free... and the video quality was great and smooth with my True 10 Mb cable service...

Watched a couple of the other games online directly thru ESPN, but found the video quality to be really poor and pixelated, especially on the TV screen vs. the computer monitor... Though I'm not sure why...

One way or the other, I had and have ways to watch all of the NBA playoff games LIVE for free...without ever touching the NBA League Pass...

But that isn't the end of the story... Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you view it), there were four games broadcast last night live starting at midnight and continuing through 11 am this morning, and I watched three of the four... So needless to say, today was kind of a lost day...and I felt like I had a hangover all day due to loss/lack of sleep. But the broadcast schedule of live games is the same for tonight/Sunday... And same plan for next weekend as well, from what I can see of the NBA broadcast schedule...

So today, much to my chagrin, I subscribed to NBA League Pass for the playoffs for one and only one reason... It includes a 24 hour video on demand capability that will allow me to sleep during roughly reasonable hours and then watch the games I want to see by VOD during regular daytime/evening hours here....

I'm watching the one game I missed overnight right now via NBA League Pass VOD... the Atlanta-Orlando game... Video quality is very sharp and crystal clear... with no pausing or buffering. The NBA player allows you to select your desired stream rate, 400, 800, 1600 or 3000 Kbits per sec... My True 10 Mb connection is handling the 1600 Kbps feed just fine... I tried the 3000 Kbps stream...but it kept pausing repeatedly....so my connection wasn't fast enough for that.

[jfchandler]

Apparently some NBA Playoffs games are now showing up on TrueVisions...

See the other thread:

[jfchandler]

Meanwhile, just to update a bit, I've been watching NBA League Pass online now for the past weeks... and thanks to the video on demand feature that gives access to each game for 24 hours after the live game has finished, I've been able to watch almost all of the games thus far... and not losing any sleep in doing so.

The stream is playing fine on my 10 Mbps True cable internet feed, and it's displaying fine on my living room 32 in 16x9 living room television. And that's running at the League Pass 1600 Kbps feed... They also provide a user selectable 3000 Kbps feed in their Flash player, but my internet connection won't reliably support that for video streaming, at least not via a wireless N internet connection to my TVs.

While overall it's been a good experience, there are a couple of annoyances...

1. Unlike NFL Game Rewind, the League Pass VOD broadcasts include all the (many) timeout/commercial breaks instead of editing them out. But you won't see the actual regular broadcast commercials, just the same NBA League Pass and NBA promos and canned music over and over and over again... sometimes for 2 or 3 minutes each. Not only does it significantly lengthen the time required to finish watching a game, but get's boring and endlessly repetitive... It is, however, a chance to get up and take a break and take care of whatever other business you may have.

On the other hand, unlike NFL Game Rewind where the VOD games usually don't become available until up to 24 hours after the completion of the live game, the VOD versions of the NBA games are available almost immediately after the live game has finished... So you could watch the live broadcast of the game via NBA League Pass, and then almost immediately if you wanted to, go back and watch the same entire game again via VOD.

2. The other annoyance I've noticed is the NBA video promos that air during the commercial breaks, for some reason, have a VERY VERY much higher volume level than the game broadcasts themselves... So you really get blasted by the break videos...

Based on the experience thus far, I'd subscribe again to the online Playoffs Package that the NBA offers to international customers (there is no comparable online package for U.S. domestic customers). But I wouldn't subscribe for the regular season, as the price of course is much higher and frankly, there's just too many games and too much time involved (that I don't have or want to devote) to watch that many games during the months long regular season.

Meanwhile, I should add as a reminder, the NBA continues to offer free AUDIO streaming of all their regular season and playoffs games (they call it Audio League Pass) to those who register on the NBA's All Access web site. If someone wants to catch the games but doesn't have a fast enough Internet connection for streaming video, the streaming radio broadcasts are a good alternative. And since the price is free, it's a whole lot more affordable than the NBA League Pass streaming video subscription.