Actually I stand corrected. I wrote the support at ballstreams and they wrote back and informed me that once you create a free account, they add the option to pay using paypal. Looks like (fingers crossed) I'll be watching all 82 games this year in 720P.
All I want to say is: FǛĆĶ JIM CRANE. Every time I hear or read anything about him, I just want to punch him in the face. REPEATEDLY. Sorry, I just have to get that off my chest. BTW quick question about League Pass and VPN (that I'm sure is answered somewhere in here, but too lazy/don't have time to look for it), do they not look at credit card info in determining where you live? And if so, how do you get around that? Thanks.
You have to contact them to enable PayPay for you, it just doesn't automatically appear as an option in the billing page! So for any future BallStream wanna be users, if you'd like to use PayPal and not your credit card directly, you should contact them and ask them to enable the PayPal option, like they did for me! Have a great day my fella balla's!
AFAIK, when it comes to US League Pass, the blackouts are determined on the spot when you try to access a stream. For that reason, people use a VPN to make it seem like they are accessing the stream from another location. The whole point of blackouts is to funnel potential viewers to the local regional/preferred network (CSN, MSG, TNT, etc.) Just because your credit card address is based out of a specific location doesn't mean that you are there right now. If your CC address was all that mattered a really easy work-around would be to sign up for a credit card in another city. Another important bit of info is that your location only matters when you initially try to access the stream, not the entire time you are streaming the game. What this means is that folks who use a VPN are able to turn it off after the stream has started. This is beneficial because you no longer have to be throttled by the VPN and reduce the quality of your stream. Regardless, this is what was true in the past and may change if/when the NBA decides to lay the hammer down. Soap Box: why not just charge viewers directly what the regional sports network charges carriers and eliminate blackouts? I'll gladly pay $10-15/ mo to be able to stream and have DVR access to only the Rockets.
I surrender. The family got Xfinity and CSN Houston. The addition of Howard made it impossible to resist not being able to watch them all the time. I will say that I love how fast the internet is.
A letter to Les re: My efforts to try Comcast I tried Les. I really did. I love NBA basketball and the Houston Rockets. I'm a native Houstonian and have never rooted for any other team. I moved from Uverse to Comcast for the Rockets but I couldn't make it. It started with the installation. After taking for some time off from work to make the installation window, I get a call 5 minutes from the end of the window. It's the tech. He's running late and won't be there for an hour and hour and a half. That time passes. I wait 30 minutes on the line with Comcast's foreign offices. They tell me to wait another 30 minutes and call back if he doesn't show. He never does. Second installation date: After spending another 30 minutes rescheduling with Comcast and 15 more changing my cut off date with Uverse, the tech arrives on time. Installs and leaves a mess. It's simple things like picking up after himself that he can't handle. Leaving ground wire in the yard. Leaving the attic door open. Dumping plastic anchors, screws and coaxial fittings near the curb and leaving them. The coaxial cable running along the side of my house, across the back yard and into the neighbors cable box, above ground is still not buried 3 weeks later. We now have working Comcast with a lower level package than Uverse. So for the same price as Uverse my family is missing what I thought to be basic cable. The weather channel becomes my favorite channel because they show similar programming than the science channels programs on Uverse when they are not showing the weather. It had been 4-5 years since we had Comcast and the tech is installing the same DVR box. And now we remember, that we have to have a DVR box with every tv if we want to record or playback saved programs. Every box in the home is malfunctioning. The DVR reboots on average 10 times a week. The hd box in the bedroom is acting up. When I flick from channel to channel, it loses its signal only to return showing a picture with only greens and magenta. This is happening 3-4 a day. Its fixed with me getting up unplugging the hdmi cable and plugging it back it. And switching out of the cable does not resolve it. The upstairs box shows hd channels but is never able to find the mode for non hd channels. Now maybe Comcast could have resolved these box issues with me on the line for hours with tech support. Maybe they would have suggested that some of these boxes were defective and I could go and wait in line at my nearest Comcast center, but it just wasn't worth it. Less channels, less technology for the same money, more tech problems all this for the Rockets. I couldn't do it. I had to cut my losses and return to Uverse. It is a shame you have forced fans into dealing with a company that does not have their act together. And to think I could have used the $200 I spent on a modem and router on Rocket tickets. You can say this about Uverse and that about the other company that they aren't willing to work out a deal with Comcast. But it is the fans that are going without their Rockets. That sucks more than Comcast. I shared this with Rocket's contacts. I cancelled Comcast today and am back with Uverse without the Rockets.
Why is this thread no longer sticky? It should stay sticky until all the other major providers are carrying CSN. Reading Center's and others experience with Comcast is valuable to those of us on the fence of switching to Comcast.
Wow, it's really amazing to hear all these complaints against Comcast. I've been a cable subscriber since it first became available to my neighborhood back in the early eighties. So, I've been with Time Warner and now Comcast and have hardly ever had any problems that didn't get resolved. I'm getting ready to upgrade to the X1 platform where I will be able to record like 4 shows at the same time and watch from another box. This upgrade will only increase my bill like by $10 per month but will be getting an extra box. It comes with the new X1 DVR and 3 additional boxes and should be installed on Monday 9/21. I've had their newest boxes when they become available. Needless to say, I had been very satisfied with my account and can't wait for the Rockets season to start! Hope this contract issue gets resolved soon because I don't know what I would do if I couldn't watch my Rockets on tv!
They're both massive problems. The fact that none of the major providers is even TRYING to roll out fiber networks is the worst thing, IMO.
I didn't have much of a problem with Comcast either. But now I have Dish, and it is MUCH better than Comcast. I didn't realize that I was missing out. It is a LOT cheaper than Comcast for what you get. For the same price that I was paying for Comcast, I get a lot more. I was paying $127 with Comcast for hundreds of channels and HBO, 1 HD DVR box, 1 HD (no DVR) box, and 4 other rooms with basic cable (like 60 channels no HD no digital channels) into the wall. Now, I pay $130 for Dish, but I get hundreds of channels and HBO, 6 HD DVR boxes that are all connected so I can watch in any room, record from anywhere, etc. PLUS, I get an upgraded sports package that has every regional sports network, NFL Redzone, and other sports channels. The on-demand stuff is also a lot better. Tons of movies. I also have a sling adapter with my box that allows me to watch TV on my phone from anywhere. I can access my recordings, watch live TV, etc. So I can watch any channel anywhere. So before with Comcast, I only got HD and hundreds of channels on 2 TV's for $127. Now with Dish I get HD and hundreds of channels on all 6 of my TV's for $130, plus all of the other sports channels and bells and whistles. It is so much better that I can't imagine why anybody would choose cable over satellite. The only drawback is that the satellite sometimes loses signal during a real cloudy storm. But that doesn't happen too often, and when it does it only goes out for literally a minute or two before it comes back on.
i agree, i recently switched from uverse to dish because of the hopper and i love it. never really had too many issues with uverse but i definitely like dish better. will never go with comcast again.
I ordered my multi sport package with the red zone channel on dish. depressing to see that they carry csnbayarea, csncalifornia but the basterrds here can't get a deal done. =(
I have Comcast for Internet. Had a billing issue the very first month and after hours of "customer service" people telling me they couldn't do anything to correct the problem I finally got to some one that helped me. Besides that, the Internet service itself is pretty quick.
Can we start trying to do some practice runs of streaming CSN on VLC? You know, get everything up to speed before the season starts? Maybe an hour or two every night, just to get it all down before the real bullets start flying? Is that even possible?
The VLC link I normally used was from a bloke not on this board. So idk how that would be set up. If someone on here wants to start doing that, it would be pretty great.
