NHL Gamecentre Live...raw deal for Saskatchewan.

So...they (the NHL) would like $160 for a season long subscription to NHL Gamecentre Live (they spell it Center).

At first glance, that's not even so bad...until you realize that nationally broadcast games are NOT included. This means all Hockey Night in Canada games, and all NHL on TSN games. As someone looking to replace cable, that's a large chunk of the hockey I'd be watching...I don't have as much time during the week).

But, I have a USB tv tuner card for my Mac, I can capture the low-def over the air feed of Hockey Night every weekend, plus fast forward all the nonsense. If that fails, CBC streams HNIC games on their own site as well.

TSN rarely streams games, mostly ones featuring two American teams, probably cause it's cheaper to get those rights in Canada, since none of us care much for the Texas Puckriders, Beverly Hills Implants, Mississippi Queens, Phoenix Coyotes, and other such fictional expansion teams.

Also not included in the so-called GameCentre Live package...all REGIONAL Sportsnet games. Well, you say, that's no big deal, I live in Saskatchewan, days away from any NHL team! Not so, dear reader, not so...because Saskatchewan is kindly lumped in with Alberta, into the Sportsnet West broadcast region. So...no Oilers or Calgary games with NHL Gamecenter Live in Saskatchewan. Well that's fucking outstanding.

But wait, Gamecenter also includes "select playoff games"...basically any American matchups from the first round or two (since CBC and TSN will spilt the Canadian matchups). Boy...not sweeting the pot any with that one.

This is the sound of one hand clapping...'clap'...'clap'...for the NHL and their infinite broadcast wisdom, and being so tuned in with what their audience wants to watch. One would think they had an elite product or something.

Congrats on blacking out your hardcore fans from giving you money. Looking forward to putting my $160 somewhere else yet again this season.


Ok...now that that's out of the way, thought I'd re-share (or shamelessly plug, as is the way these days) my old NHL parody video from a couple years back...we're almost at 100k views, people! My deepest thanks, I never thought I'd get 10...LOL. :)

Silverlight vs Mac, Round 2, FIGHT!

Ok, well, I'm calmed down since that last post. And can even offer a little speculative clarity, now that I've done hours of research (Google is my friend).

In the interest of being right all the time, first I have to admit I was wrong. Silverlight does in fact work on the Mac. Long story short, based on what I know now, it looks as though TSN/CTV doesn't have an up to date SDK which contains a better "Silverlight.js" file they need in order for Mac users to not get the beloved "please install Silverlight" screen of death every time. For more on this, check out Tim Heuer's blog on why this file makes peace instead of war. Far be it from me to tell Big Media how to run a web site LOL...but up to date software sounds like good sense, especially in these days where video on the web is as common as spam. And since Silverlight is beta to begin with, those updates are very very important.

Now, whether or not TSN will someday update their Silverlight, who knows. Hopefully for Canadian Mac users/TSN fans, they will soon. Maybe they'll even read this post, and hire me on as Director of Not-making Ourselves Look Ridiculous Online, if such a department exists.

But, I've tested some of the sample sites Microsoft provides links to on the Silverlight page, and they indeed work, in Firefox 3, and Safari, on the Mac. Glory Be.

Nevertheless, at this point I can't say Silverlight is any better than Flash, not sure what the hype is about (I'm not a developer, just a simple content consumer). Microsoft always seems to come in to markets that are already dominated and make outlandish claims about 'innovation' and promising the moon (and delivering a stalled rocket), but because of their massive install base (mostly pirated copies), gain just enough traction to cause these kinds of headaches. We, the end-user, then have to put our lives on hold while web sites around the world try and play nice with MS' new file formats, plugins, 'standards', etc.

My guess is that Silverlight provides the ability to do live event streaming, so TSN would be interested in that, what with their shiny new NHL streaming rights. Well, they better get on the ball, cause right now, their implementation doesn't work. I'd sure hate October to roll around and sure enough, "please install Silverlight"...I need a t-shirt with that on it, after all this.

Microsoft Silverlight worst plugin ever? Why yes, yes it is.

So, how did you spend your Draft Day? Cause I spent mine FUCKING AROUND WITH BULLSHIT SOFTWARE FROM BULLSHIT PEOPLE!

Title says it all. All week I’ve been caught up in the hype for the NHL Draft, live streaming on TSN.ca at 5pm. This may be the last chance for the Maple Leafs to offer any hope of really rebuilding their cruddy franchise.

Sure enough, 5pm rolls around, click the link...15 minutes later, after un/de/re/installing Microsoft’s shame of a web-experience plugin “Silverlight”, and that includes running it in Windows XP in Parallels, by the way...I FINALLY get to start watching the show. You must know “Silverlight”...it’s the new “cross-platform” super-duper streaming media plugin that never let’s you down, even during your favourite sports draft day!

Tampa Day picks Steve Stamkos 1st overall, big surprise. Few more picks are made, life is good again.

What’s this? The Leafs and New York Islanders are about to announce a trade! Sweet, please tell me the Leafs managed to unload McCabe!

(pause)

(freeze)

(stream dies)

(click click click click click click, refresh, refresh, refresh)

(uninstall, reinstall, reboot, restart, rename, delete, defrag, format, erase, buy new Mac, buy new Windows machine)

...good times. I wish all web sites could use Microsoft products, forever until long after I’m dead and buried.

Wish I had some screenshots for you, but I must’ve forgot to take some during all my blind Hulk-esque rage.

I’ve left CTV.ca several entries on their FEEDBACK blog, not that it’ll do any good.

Anyway, that fuckin sucked. Time to regroup, and figure the best way to catch up with what I’ve missed.

MS can eat a bullet...right now. In fact, why not make it a Silver Bullet...for all your bullshit Silverlight miserable web content experience needs. Silver would take care of whatever misguided hell-beast that created this chunk of software. Then we could all drink to it's demise.

UPDATE, approx 1 hour later: Ok...I've calmed down, and more importantly, I've got this crap actually working (except in Safari...guess I owe Apple some grief too...on the other hand, if these content creating web sites would use Quicktime/Darwin Streaming Server, I likely wouldn't even be typing about this right now).

Here's a screenshot...this shows Firefox (left) and Internet Explorer (centre) in WinXP in Parallels, and, Firefox 3 in Mac OS X (right), streaming the 2008 NHL Entry Draft live from Ottawa, all at the same time. I win. All the frame rates are smooth, video is very compressed, and the audio is clean. You can even hear famed NHL Commissioner Gary "the blind rat" Bettman getting booed, which is the best part of the whole show of course.


For those keeping score at home: Firefox on the Mac is still using the Flip4Mac plugin, since Silverlight refuses to acknowledge it's installation. When TSN.ca incorrectly mis-identifies that you have not installed Silverlight, they thankfully offer a link to use the older (and much more robust, it even looks better) Windows Media stream, which triggers Flip4Mac, which does actually work, at this point in time.

Firefox and IE are using Silverlight in that screenshot...not the V2 Beta though, use V1. V2 starts to stream, but no video is seen, and no audio is heard...basically you download air. So, to sum up, MS has written an low-performance, unnecessary, platform-specific, media streaming plugin, and sold it to TSN.ca (and CTV.ca) as the future of media streaming. Man, I'd have loved to be a fly on the wall in that boardroom meeting..."Hey guys, how can we fuck up the future of online content streaming in Canada? Hmmm, Microsoft has a brand new platform that doesn't work outside of Windows? Where do I sign?!"

If I was that fly, I'd be screaming "NOOOO!" at the top of my fly lungs.

Next step is to try it out in Linux...Gawd help us all.

Clicky Mouse in "Stream Both, Will He?"

Ah, been a while. Anyway, I’m back to wrap up my experience with the NHL Centre Ice Online package, let this serve as research for any other Canadians out there who may consider this deal in the future, I’m giving you exclusive content here, circa the 2008 NHL season.

In April 2008, the Maple Leafs began their annual Spring attempt to sneak into the 8th spot in the Eastern Conference. Didn’t make it, as is quickly becoming tradition, but it was an exciting ride nonetheless, depending how die-hard you are.

However, in order to see the weekday games of said playoff drive, I decided to finally pony up for Centre Ice Online. It was $50 for the last few weeks of the season, I’m not sure when that price point started, but I figured if I watch the remaining Leaf games, plus any Vancouver (who was also making an ill-fated playoff drive), it’d be worth it.

So, you log in/create an account, pay the money, and they let you onto the streams.

Remember all those warnings about ‘blackouts may apply’? Well, I’d change it to “warning, most games will be blacked out, most of the time’...


First of all...you have to use Firefox. Safari resulted in bizarre behaviour at best, strange buffering issues, and if you try and use the 'mosaic' mode to watch up to 4 games at once, you get all the AUDIO FEEDS AT ONCE. In all fairness, they do warn you not to use Safari. I suppose I’m happy it works on Mac at all.

As you can see, I couldn’t watch ANY of the games on Wed April 9 2008 through NHL Centre Ice Online. Now, to explain but not excuse, Sens @ Pens and Flames @ Sharks was a rare Wednesday Night doubleheader on CBC. Rangers @ Devils and Avs @ Wild were a double-header on TSN. Thus, nationally broadcast, and therefore ”blacked out“ on Centre Ice in my ”region“. If the Flames @ Sharks (or any Oiler game) was on Sportsnet West...then that’s my ”region“ too, so no streaming allowed there either.

However, online hope was not lost. As part of CBC’s new deal with the NHL, they can stream all their games online. This was a new innovation for them this year, and a welcome one, as it allows fans to pick the game they want to watch, instead of suffering as the Leafs get raked up every Saturday, or conversely, allowing Leaf fans to see games even if you live out West.

Now, I guess the argument from the NHL’s side of things is ‘why do you even need to see a game online in Centre Ice that is shown on a ‘local’ channel in your ‘region’? Well, what if I don’t have cable, Mr. Smartass League-Rep? What if I want to move away from cable/satellite TV altogether, since all the good content is online except apparently for LIVE NHL Games? Otherwise, I’m PAYING TWICE! Once to the cable company to get the channel (although you can get low quality CBC over the air) so I can watch the game ‘locally’, and once again to ‘not’ be able to watch it online. THREE TIMES if I signed up for the cable/satellite NHL Centre ICE. The local broadcast has ad breaks, although on Centre Ice Online, the ads are mercifully blocked with a ”back in a minute“ screen. Here’s a couple pics of the lack of ads online...may it live forever:



Not a single Subway, Tim Hortons or Home Depot ad to offend the eye.

Obviously, TSN and other NHL broadcast partners pay big bucks to get the broadcast rights. Well, next year, Centre Ice Online will become an even bigger rip off, as TSN (to be confirmed) will stream all it’s National broadcast games online. This will come about since TSN recently re-upped their broadcast deal with the NHL to include these new media and streaming rights. They did a few games this year, including the immensely popular World Junior Hockey Championship in December. We’ll see if the NHL lowers the Centre Ice Online price, I doubt it, but they’ll make no bones about ”blacking out“ the games that TSN/CBC are streaming. At least the dollar is par now. Also new to the deal for TSN is that every game will feature at least 1 Canadian Team. They know what their sponsors want.

So, to sum up, all four games were available online...NOT NHL Centre Ice Online, but online at the CBC and TSN. This screenshot shows some dual-online-streaming action, as CBC and TSN both featured games:



Also, props (do people say ‘props’ anymore? ...mad respect?...) to TSN for revamping their online video pages...way overdue, and much appreciated. Now they just need to redo their comment system, but that's another rant. TSN uses Microsoft’s (yes, THAT Microsoft) Quicksilver, which is trying to replace Flash and the antiquated Windows Media on the web. So yeah, good luck Linux users...you’ll need it. Barely works on Mac. Also, that’s a Quicktime window on the right side with the CBC feed. In the ”Flip4Mac“ preferences, you can set it to open videos in Quicktime Player, instead of the browser...this allows you access to the transport control (aka Play/Pause/Bathroom Break) buttons, and allows you to line them up side by side like shown.

So. What did I get for my $50? 4 Leaf Games. And I think I watched 2 or 3 Vancouver games. You do the math, but I think it would have been worth it if the Leafs had been at all entertaining...unfortunately, that’s not up the NHL. ☺ They held up their end of the bargain...they provided SOME games, and ”blacked out“ a lot MORE games.

The playoffs featured several blacked out games, since most nights in the first round the CBC and TSN had you covered. I quit logging in after the first round.

Thus ends the great Centre Ice Online experiment. The quality is just par, good enough to have on in the background while you surf the web, but it’s fairly below full screen-able quality. The log in process is bizarre and can be confusing (you get used to it). The price is debatable, based on your love of the game/team, region, other entertainment options, etc.

I’m expecting big things from CBC and TSN next season, and look forward to keeping my cable canceled for good. Yeah, I won’t get access to every game, but with CBC having Saturday nights sewn up (and over the air if I really want to watch on my TV), and TSN doing their weekday games (and if they stream like I hope they do), the Internet options for LIVE NHL games are growing better every year.

P.S. If you’re really a hardcore streaming hockey fan, why not go the extra mile? I hooked up my Mac to the TV, and watched the 2007 Summit Series this past September before I had subscribed to TSN...you can see my mouse pointer on the right gray bar. Geek or Genius?



Finally...today’s title comes from the classic animated Mickey Mouse adventure, ”Steamboat Willie“. Congrats to those who caught that, cause it was a reach and a half...anyway I’m shocked Disney has that online, but I suppose it’s made all the money it’s gonna make...until the Blu-Ray release of course...then back in the 'vault' for another generation.

NHL Streaming, now on Sportsnet.ca

Sportsnet.ca will be streaming Leaf games now, but they just link to the NHL Centre Ice Online package. They claim it's $60 for 50 games...that's a good price. I guess that just gets you the Leafs games...which is all I'd want. I'll watch other teams (Edmonton, Vancouver) on TV, but no great desire to stream them.

The free preview of NHL Centre Ice has ended...I thought it was until the end of October, but it ended on Tuesday...during the Leafs game, just before the 3rd period...although they were already down 5-1 to Carolina, so I suppose I was done a favour. :)

$219 CDN they now want for the Online portion of the Centre Ice package. If you streamed 15 games per month (3 games per week, October to March), that's $2.08 per game.

But, you wouldn't need Centre Ice for that many, cause CBC is streaming all their games for free (plus they're on TV nationally, but we'll leave that for now). So, if you minus 1 game every Saturday (2 if you watch the double header), that's 88 games at $2.49 per.

And oh yeah, you wouldn't even get Leaf games, unless you spoof you IP, cause you don't live in the proper Leaf region...sigh, we're back to that again.

So, yeah, basically I can't see any possible reason why to give them one goddamn cent! I enjoyed watching the free games on my TV that I was able to, but in that case you're better off with the cable/satellite Centre Ice package, which is the same price, but much higher quality...

So, perhaps that concludes my coverage of NHL Centre Ice Online. I give it Two Swollen Thumbs Way the Hell Down! At the same time, I have to thank the NHL sincerely for trying, but they are far from where they need to be.

NHL Centre Ice Online - I'm Logged In!

Ok, so literally whilst I was drawing up an email to the NHL with several questions re: Centre Ice Online (price, blackouts, Mac support, etc), they went and updated their site! Man, I'm on the forefront of change! (There's no games on tonight, if you're wondering what the deal is with that screenshot).

So I got my answer about price...get this...you can sign up for the Free Preview, which ends after the first week of the regular season. OR, you can sign up now for the entire season, for the low low price of $200 CDN!!! ROFLLOLWTFNHLBBQ!

Now, I'm no finance wizard, but I'm starting to know a rip off when I see one! For one thing, I could sign up through my cable company for less than that, $170 for the season, $150 at the Early Bird price! Maybe I'm stupid, but I think a cable feed to my TV is a helluva lot better quality than low grade Windows Media over the Internet! How can the Online price be anywhere NEAR the broadcast one?! That's ballz.

Not only that, but they're missing the entire 'secret' of Internet commerce: Micropayments! Ok NHL, I'm gonna say this once: $2 per game. That's what you're going to get from me. I'm not gonna watch every single game this season, therefore, I want to only pay for what I watch. And that's ONLY if I can log in from Saskatchewan and watch Leafs games...again, it's not clear.

Now, I thought I saw, during the sign up process, a reference to something called "Day Pass". I didn't get a screenshot of it unfortunately. However, that sounds like a much more reasonable option. Maybe a Day Pass option will roll out at some point and be about $2.

The NHL is seriously over-valuing its product in this case. I cannot believe it's more money than the actual cable package...that's lunacy!

Anyway, one step forward. I'll enjoy the free preview, and see where we go from here.

On a related note, the CBC will be streaming all its games online this year. They can do that because they have National rights to the games. The LeafsTV only have rights for their "region". Anyways, props to the CBC. I assume they'll use the despised Windows Media as well, but that's what Flip4Mac is for...

It's not that I want everything to be done my way all the time...it just seems like it. :)

Easy Come Easy Go

Ah, now we're seeing the true colours of the Blue & White (and the NHL): So much for my Leafs preseason games on the iMac...Today I need an account!

Ok fine, where do I sign up? Oh, the "Sign Up Now!" button...ok, my pleasure...click...oh, gosh, wait a sec here, seems they've turned on my favourite Web 2.0 feature - Geofencing:


Well, thanks for the 3 games this week fellas, but I guess that's all she wrote. Unless/until I sign up for NHL Centre Ice Online (which I previously mentioned has NO signup info on their site, no price points, nothing)...damn they're making this difficult.

Hockey Rights in Canada, plus streaming!

Well, I wouldn't have thought it possible, but the word has come down today, CBC will keep Hockey Night in Canada coming on Canadian TV sets Saturday nights for six more years. More coverage here.

To be honest, I was kinda in Bell Globemedia's corner (CTV, TSN) for the past couple years, ever since I found out the rights were up for renewal. I've grown exhausted of the overall quality (or lackluster) of CBC's production. Don't get me wrong, I love Bob Cole and Harry Neale, may they live to be 1000 years old. And Ron MacLean and Don Cherry are Canadian staples, although if I never have to watch Ron interview Colin Campbell again, I'd be alright. But, I'm talking about PRODUCTION...sound (mixing, levels, quality and creative use of), music beds, graphics, stats, interactivity, etc. On these fronts, CBC is about 15 years behind TSN, 30 years behind NBC. But that's just me.

On the other hand. CBC recently, maybe 6 weeks ago, updated all their graphics (except the GIANT in-game time clock, the most needed upgrade), some newer music here and there, and new voice overs for their production. Most of it is crap, but hey, it's newer. Here's hoping they have even newer stuff planned for next year, and keep it fresh for another 6 years. Basically, if you watch a game on NBC, and then watch CBC (or vice versa), you'll know what I'm talking about. NBC takes full advantage of the 'new NHL', including much better access to the players during games. There's an on-ice interview at the end of each period, generally you can hear the mics that the refs wear to announce penalties, and every period or so they do the "Verizon Sounds of the Game", where we get to hear what Sidney Crosby talks about on the bench. Full marks NBC!

Here's another highlight from the NHL.com article, from league commissioner Gary Bettman:

"...this coming Saturday, when Hockey Night in Canada will begin a new tradition which will only enhance the viewing pleasure for hockey fans in this country: Both games of the double-header will be provided in high definition."

Sweet, it's been low-def Oilers, Flames and Canucks for too long! Well done! Hopefully this doesn't mean they've stolen some HD cameras from the Leafs and will continue to offer 'fake HD', where the main camera is HD, but any side or opposite angles are decidedly standard definition. Anyways, you take what you can get in this country.

The article mentions that the CBC's beloved "Hockey Day in Canada" (the annual triple header featuring all six Canadian teams) will continue...hmmm, last I heard, the NHL was committed to its current ridiculous schedule, which doesn't even have each Canadian team meet next year!

But wait there's more. And this is the biggest news, if you ask me (from the CBC article):

"Also, a multimedia package including live and on-demand video streaming of all CBC's hockey broadcasts will be available online at CBC.ca in the near future. That means fans in Canada will be able to watch any Hockey Night in Canada broadcast on CBC.ca, regardless of what game is being broadcast in their area of the country."

Hallejujah!!!! I streamed a game off Comcast's site Friday night, and it was awesome. The game wasn't on anywhere locally, but since I was able to stream it, it DOESN'T MATTER WHERE I LIVE (unlike LEAFSTV)! I get the feeling I'm gonna be watching a lot more hockey now that I can just go to CBC.ca and click on the feed I want. Damn, I think I'm drooling. Here's hoping for a decent resolution, 30 fps, and Quicktime (Please Lord, don't let them fall into the Windows Media trap that NHL.com lives in). CBC currently uses Quicktime and Real Media (yikes...but I think that's just for the older Linux crowd).

Ok, well that's about all I have to say on this at the moment. Gotta let it sink in. I think I'm fine with CBC having the rights (not that I can do anything anyways), as long as they step up and prove that they deserve it, instead of winning it just cause they're the incumbent and "Canada's Network", despite what the numbers say. Richard Stursburg is the newly minted head of CBC Sports, so hopefully he's watched a few other broadcasts in his day (he used to run the show over at TSN, so there's hope!). Let's see some more HD cameras and much much better production. Truth be told, I didn't want to pony up to the extra tiers from my cable company just to get TSN HD (your area may vary). I'd rather cancel the cable outright, and live off the 'tubes, which as of today, has become a lot more realistic.

No, the main victory from today is the streaming games. Looking forward to it...I wonder when it takes effect, probably not until 2008? I was hoping this week, the most exciting playoff race (in the Eastern Conference) in years! Go Leafs Go!

Ah, streaming games...oh wait...

http://mapleleafs.insinc.com/

Now you too can sign up to beta test (for $4) LeafsTV's first streaming regular season game, Tuesday vs Washington. Excited? Yeah, so was I, until I looked closer. Don't get too excited, cause once again for the usual insane reasons, you have to LIVE IN THE MAPLE LEAFS REGION in order to stream the game....sigh.

The 'beta test' is limited to 5000 people anyway, but it would have been nice to at least have a shot at it. Well, maybe if the Oilers or Calgary ever stream games I can qualify for that, since they're in my 'region'. Course, with Ryan Smyth gone to the Island, there's not much point in watching the Oilers.

Nice try fellas, guess I'm saving $4 next week. Amazingly that's actually a decent price if the stream is high quality, compatible with Macs, etc. Looks like you can choose your own camera angles, etc...reminds me of the promises made back when the Information Superhighway was first being paved.

Ok, gotta go Google how to spoof my IP, make it look like I live on the corner of Bay St and the Gardiner Express Way...dunno why they don't want my money, I guess non-Leafs Region money is worth less once it gets to the GTA? Is there a provincial exchange rate I haven't been made aware of? Do I love the Leafs less than my regional-rivals?

In the future what would be cool is to go to nhl.com, and there's a huge menu there of every game, regular season and playoffs, for every team. Pick your team, pick your game, add to cart, and boom, streaming Leafs delivered to your digital door. What'd be even cooler is if they use Quicktime...Windows Media and the NHL need to get a divorce, but I feel like I've harped on that before.