26 replies to this topic

[SteveStevens]

Hey guys, i'm new to this site. I was wondering if someone can help me. I will be going to school in Buffalo in a couple of weeks and would like to know what the best way is to watch Devils games. I am aware of Slingbox and Center Ice but I don't really know much about either. Which one do you think is better? Are there any other options available?

Center Ice isn't guaranteed to work in your dorm. I have a friend in Boston who can't get it to work and center ice said they cannot guarantee the services on campus. Oddly enough, another friend in Boston has it and it works.

Slingboxes work great from my experiences, my friend has one and we have had no problems.

[HellOnICE]

I had Center Ice in college, no problem. But that was in Syracuse.

[hystyk28]

I have had Slingbox since the day it was released. Great product, especially when combined with a Tivo and/or your phone. I have 2 actually, the original and the HD. I do not notice a differnece in the stream quality with either, as they are both superb. Of course with a Slingbox you are gonna need it connected to a source that gets the Center Ice package one way or another. So you need to either have a tv with a cable box and CI at home, or know someone that will let you watch their slinbox that has access to CI. Of course, you would then be controlling their TV. Slingbox is awesome in that you can watch it from you PC as well. So if you are doing work in the office you can open the app and have it overlay what your working on.

My recommendation is buy an origial Sling on Ebay, get another outlet on your parents cable bill(no actual tv is needed), order CI, and then stream it to school. This way you get cable in your room for free as well. However, you need to keep in mind that the stream over wireless may be not be as good due to all teh conditions that screw up wireless. Also, depending on what cable service you have, there may be a download and upload limit restriction.

Best of luck.

[nyrsuck26]

So after some initial issues connecting my new slingbox. It is finally working, and is working great. HD looks great. Even watching on my Droid the picture quality is very good. I definitely recommend it if you have the bandwidth.

Edited by nyrsuck26, 16 August 2010 - 10:41 PM.

[yanksdevs]

Thanks nyrsuck26 I think i'm going to be getting that. I still have to do some research on the bandwidth, I know I have enough at home but the school is a different story. Thanks everybdy for their input.

[PeteyNice]

One of the final things I did in NJ before I moved to Atlanta three years ago was install a Slingbox in my parents house. It is one of the best investments I have ever made.

I have never used NHL Game Center but I did subscribe to MLB.tv last year so this comparison is based on that...

- I just have an SD Slingbox and the PQ on MLB.tv was superior. Not that Slingbox PQ was awful but MLB.tv was better
- You need strong upload speed from the source. My parents have FiOS so that's not a problem but as the upload speed goes down the PQ degrades quickly.
- No built in wireless. So you either need to be able to connect it to your host network via ethernet or invest in a wireless-ethernet bridge.
- The clients for iOS and Android cost $30. That seems like a ripoff to me. That said there are uhhh ways to get around the fee but I know nothing about it.
- Their Mac client is garbage. When I first moved here I used a Mini as an HTPC. It was brutal. I have not tried in over a year so it may have improved.

The advantages are clear. No blackouts. Pre and Post game shows. Access to channels you may not get on your current cable/sat system (oh, hello NFL Redzone channel...)

You also might want to take a look at Hava. Their boxes are better in low upload speed situations, their mobile clients are cheaper and they have additional features (Built in wireless, DVR, connections to Windows Media Center, etc) that you may find compelling.

http://myhava.com/


Sure you could save cash by using only web streams. But they are hit and miss and leagues are cracking down more and more.

[Martyisth3b3st]

anyone with gamecenter experience... is it possible for 2 people to split the cost of gamecenter and just share the login/password? so if say, me and RSC both split the cost and each held the password, would we be able to each login at the same time in different locations and view all the games simultaneously?