If you order league pass for your TV, you get broadband for free. Last I checked broadband costs about the same as regular League Pass so I don't see the point in just getting LP broadband. Edit: I guess if you don't want to pay for cable or satellite then it could work out for you. Never mind.
Unfortunately, I think you might be right. I live in Austin. I always get frustrated when a game is on NBA TV or TNT and it gets blacked out on LPBB.
they upped the price for league pass to like 180 and thats the 'early bird special' it used to be 150 i think the full LP BB is 150 now but you can get packages i think where you can select 1 team or 6 teams to watch online for cheaper. Which is fine since i only watched a few teams outside of the rockets last year on LP (i barely watched LP at all last year sadly) if i did the 6 it would be: rockets thunder wolves warriors knicks bulls every other team i could probably watch on ABC and if the Rockets are on tnt or espn i'll probably find an online link or just watch it at a sports bar/friends place any playoff games on cable i would probably do the same
yeah broadband choice package is like half of the price of the cable package, but it's not for local Houstonians due to blackout restrictions... and I wouldn't call the service 'fantastic'. there have been glitches with many users and their accounts, streaming issues, etc. it was very hard to get customer service in some sort of online chat to address each issue. i couldn't activate my account one year and lost out on opening night. I lost out on closing night another season because of the playoffs restrictions- they cut of my account without taking into consideration the final night of the regular season- with playoff implications on the line
Damn. I may go the nba league pass route. Kinda sucks I have to buy a box/rig to run league pass. There's nothing about watching lp on an xbox360 or ps3 is there?
I wanted to bump this and see if any of you were using the Roku with League Pass this year and how it's working for you. I'm thinking about picking one up to watch games on the TV instead of the laptop. Hooking the laptop up to the TV is massive pain in the ass, and I would prefer a simple streaming device like the Roku. It would also be nice to be able to watch Amazon Instant on the TV. I might even cancel Netflix if I can do that.
The Roku is badass. I haven't had a chance to try LPBB on it yet though. I'll let you guys know how it goes.
Warning: Do not purchase the $4.99 NBA channel just yet. I made this mistake, and it only allows access to the 2010-2011 archived LP games. the new channel has not neen released yet, as far as I know.
I live in Seattle, so I'm set. But you are correct. Looking over the NBA rules, Rocket games would be blacked out on LP if you're in the greater Houston area. They are also blacked out if the game is on ABC, ESPN, TNT, or NBA TV. That last one wiped out the Rockets on opening night for me. It's my understanding that the $4.99 channel was a late season release last year. So they just charged $4.99 for access for the last few weeks plus the archive. A current subscription should get access to live games and archived games this year (at least according to their website) without any additional fees. However, I'd love to hear a Clutch Fan say they have it working correctly. I've got the trial now, but as furious as I am with Herr Stern, I know I'll break down and buy LP so I can watch the Rockets play. Sooner423, please let us know how it works for you. My wife is off all next week, and I'd love to watch some games with her on our TV instead of huddle around the laptop.
From a Roku functionality standpoint, I have NHL Gamecenter Live (basically the NHL's version of League Pass) and the quality is fantastic. I get many games on HD and there is never any lag (but I did have to have a pretty decent internet connection). Can't vouch for the NBA's package, but I'm guessing the functionality would be the same.
With streaming, it's determined by your IP address. That can be circumvented with VPNs or proxies, though.
Apparently, you have to have to use an hdmi cable in order to watch league pass on the Roku. I just used the cable out of the box, so I haven't been able to watch the game yet. I'm planning on grabbing one today, so I'll let you guys know how it goes.
easier said than done, unless you have personally done it. http://leaguepasssupport.nba.com/ics/support/kbAnswer.asp?deptID=7801&task=knowledge&questionID=264
Just an update on my Roku-NBA League Pass experience. We set this up a few weeks ago, and it's been working pretty well for the most part. I have a 42 inch 720p Panasonic and a pretty fast internet connection (usually over 12 Mbps), and the picture is amazing. I've never had the ability to watch HD sports at home before now, and this is a very welcome upgrade. There are a few issues though: The picture will get twitchy from time to time. I expect some of this with streaming video. A brief pause from time to time for HD streaming doesn't seem too bad, but I have a problem with the game jumping forward 30 seconds randomly. Quite a few times, I'd see Kyle dribbling across the halfcourt line, flash, Rockets are set on defense. My wife and I both would go WTF? If that happens once or twice a game, I guess it's ok, but I had it happen 8 times in the fourth quarter against the Jazz. Fast forwarding over commercials is clunky. You don't really cache video and when you fast forward you don't see the picture jumping forward either. A few times I thought I was just skipping over a minute of commercials, but the game had resumed a possession or two instead. When you bring up the list of games, the scores are displayed quite prominently. So I'm constantly telling my wife to close her eyes and holding up an arm to block the bottom of the TV while I select the Rockets game. Then as soon as I select the game, I have to move my arm to hide the top 3/4 of the TV where the score is moved and enlarged to show quarter by quarter and final score in huge font. If you're not watching live, you have to be very careful not to ruin the outcome. Also on the above note, I fast forwarded over a commercial in the first quarter of the Thieves game, but that caused a hiccup and the Roku lost the game. Fair enough, but it returned to the game summary page and showed the final score. We watched the last few minutes, but we were tired and didn’t feel like slogging through a game when we already knew how it ended. Overall, I’m still quote positive on this product combo. I have zero intention of resuming cable, although I might make a one month exception to catch the Rockets in the playoffs. And watching it on the television is much nicer than huddling around a laptop or monitor. If they could tweak the game score reveals, this would instantly become a much better product. The caching will get better with time and new products.
Can anyone with a Roku provide a breakdown of some other good features you can get out of it besides Netflix, Hulu and NBALP? I'm thinking about making the switch from cable to full streaming.
