MSG's Sabre Games: No Cable Needed Next Season

[mjd1001]

12 minutes ago, MattPie said:

Is that really true? People are really paying $100+ per month on streaming? I realize I live in a different world. We have Prime for the shipping and sometimes watch the content, and every few months we activate Netflix for a month or two but that's it.

I have a close friend who spends a ton of money and doesn't really mind (I guess?)  He has a full cable package with internet, plus a few premium packages with cable, and his cable bill is a bit over $200 per month (with internet).  Him and his wife have most of the major streaming services also. I'm guessing his total for Cable and streaming is closing in on $300 per month.  I joked with him about it a couple months ago, and his response was....they want all the options and he doesn't mind the cost.

[Marvin]

On 10/17/2023 at 12:41 PM, PASabreFan said:

Shoot me.

What vaccine do you need?

[Stoner]

13 minutes ago, Marvin said:

What vaccine do you need?

Contrarianoctogenarian by Modern.

[SDS]

1 hour ago, mjd1001 said:

I have a close friend who spends a ton of money and doesn't really mind (I guess?)  He has a full cable package with internet, plus a few premium packages with cable, and his cable bill is a bit over $200 per month (with internet).  Him and his wife have most of the major streaming services also. I'm guessing his total for Cable and streaming is closing in on $300 per month.  I joked with him about it a couple months ago, and his response was....they want all the options and he doesn't mind the cost.

That was me up into a couple weeks ago. FiOS TV, Max and Internet was $272 a month. Plus add Netflix, Hulu/ESPN+/Disney, Peacock, Spotify, SiriusXM, and Audible.

We finally dropped FiOS TV and picked up DIRECTV STREAM instead. That saved $100 mostly in equipment rental and legacy TV fees.

It’s really a great option because it gives the most cable like experience along with your regional sports networks. I’m free to share my account with my daughter in college which is a huge bonus. 

The other streaming services really lacked on regional sports coverage. 

[Weave]

3 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

This is a helpful thread. I'm going to skip MSG+, renew my VPN subscription, use my iPad, and maybe look at getting a spare laptop to connect to my tee-vee for big games.

Good luck with that.  I tried the VPN-ESPN+ combo.  It didn’t work for me.  I don’t know how they do it, but ESPN+ readily detected that I was using a VPN and blocked my precious Sabres stream.  
 

Argh!

[That Aud Smell]

20 minutes ago, Weave said:

Good luck with that.  I tried the VPN-ESPN+ combo.  It didn’t work for me.  I don’t know how they do it, but ESPN+ readily detected that I was using a VPN and blocked my precious Sabres stream.  
 

Argh!

Yah - same. The VPN helps me with ... other outlets.

[Taro T]

9 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

This is a helpful thread. I'm going to skip MSG+, renew my VPN subscription, use my iPad, and maybe look at getting a spare laptop to connect to my tee-vee for big games.

Having a laptop dedicated to streaming to the TV is a great idea.  Have been using that for ESPN+ and AHL TV and the like for a couple of years now.  Seem to finally have the settings on the laptop right to have close to satellite quality pictures on the TV.  (The text on the laptop outside the video feeds is barely legibile, but the video feeds are very crisp now.)

[SwampD]

22 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Contrarianoctogenarian by Modern.

I have always thought that that was Modern's best album. They got too commercial after that.

[SDS]

15 hours ago, Taro T said:

Having a laptop dedicated to streaming to the TV is a great idea.  Have been using that for ESPN+ and AHL TV and the like for a couple of years now.  Seem to finally have the settings on the laptop right to have close to satellite quality pictures on the TV.  (The text on the laptop outside the video feeds is barely legibile, but the video feeds are very crisp now.)

I would think any number of streaming devices would work better. I watch everything through my Apple TV with no difficulty.

[French Collection]

I guess I have become a pirate of sorts.

We cut the cord and returned our set top boxes. My mother lives down the road and still uses cable has an extra box that was in the spare bedroom. The cable company didn’t cut off our service so this box works.

My mother loves hockey and has the Sportsnet package so now we do as well.

[That Aud Smell]

10 minutes ago, SDS said:

I would think any number of streaming devices would work better. I watch everything through my Apple TV with no difficulty.

I have one "stick" in my TV's HDMI port - a Roku. It is of no use to me in broadcasting a hockey game. It's easier for me to unplug that Roku device (dongle? (I love that word)) and plug in another HDMI input (a cable running from a laptop) than it is to futz around with some additional streaming stick (which I'm not even sure how to use (would it allow Airplay from a phone?).

4 minutes ago, French Collection said:

I guess I have become a pirate of sorts.

We cut the cord and returned our set top boxes. My mother lives down the road and still uses cable has an extra box that was in the spare bedroom. The cable company didn’t cut off our service so this box works.

My mother loves hockey and has the Sportsnet package so now we do as well.

Lol - boxes. Are those still a thing in the States?

[Taro T]

22 minutes ago, SDS said:

I would think any number of streaming devices would work better. I watch everything through my Apple TV with no difficulty.

Perhaps.  But we've got it set up that pretty much everything feeds into the receiver and then video/audio streams get mixed and matched to whatever we feel like watching/listening to.  So, there really is no difficulty here either.

[SwampD]

1 hour ago, SDS said:

I would think any number of streaming devices would work better. I watch everything through my Apple TV with no difficulty.

I even use an iPod Touch. pretty much anything can stream to a Roku or Samsung TV these days.

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

I have one "stick" in my TV's HDMI port - a Roku. It is of no use to me in broadcasting a hockey game. It's easier for me to unplug that Roku device (dongle? (I love that word)) and plug in another HDMI input (a cable running from a laptop) than it is to futz around with some additional streaming stick (which I'm not even sure how to use (would it allow Airplay from a phone?).

Lol - boxes. Are those still a thing in the States?

I don't understand this. The Roku is how I watch all hockey.

[Weave]

4 minutes ago, SwampD said:

I even use an iPod Touch. pretty much anything can stream to a Roku or Samsung TV these days.

I don't understand this. The Roku is how I watch all hockey.

I’d have no problem streaming Sabres hockey on a roku without a cable subscription too if I lived out of market.  An internet connection and an espn+ subscription and good to go (mostly).

[Stoner]

Almost ready to go back to cable. I'll eat cat food to make ends meet.

MSG Plus has decided I'm in Suffolk Co., NY, based on the ASN number in my IP address. So last night I was shown college soccer. Rangers the game before that.

"Jam" claims he/she/it is the only tech support person and is indeed human. "I am human, Mark." Def. not creepy.

Jam says 11776, the ASN number, is a zip code. It is indeed the zip code for a town in Suffolk Co. It seems to be associated with my cable company.

Can anyone shed light on this?

I got the first game just fine. So I am calling BS.

[Weave]

I am more than happy to pay.  But I’ll be damned if I am going to work for it.  They can piss off until they get it right.  Until then, I’ll do what I am doing.

Thanks for the updates, PA.  Saving a bunch of us money and energy.

Edited October 22, 2023 by Weave

[Radar]

2 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Almost ready to go back to cable. I'll eat cat food to make ends meet.

MSG Plus has decided I'm in Suffolk Co., NY, based on the ASN number in my IP address. So last night I was shown college soccer. Rangers the game before that.

"Jam" claims he/she/it is the only tech support person and is indeed human. "I am human, Mark." Def. not creepy.

Jam says 11776, the ASN number, is a zip code. It is indeed the zip code for a town in Suffolk Co. It seems to be associated with my cable company.

Can anyone shed light on this?

I got the first game just fine. So I am calling BS.

I've kept cable and I'm glad I did. One, reading posts on here and two it doesn't seem I spend more with cable without sacrificing channels important to me.

[...]

On 10/19/2023 at 12:57 PM, SDS said:

I would think any number of streaming devices would work better. I watch everything through my Apple TV with no difficulty.

You would think, but the processing power and networking hardware are generally lacking compared to a laptop or proper mini computer. Depending on your circumstances, you may not notice, but it does contribute to stream acquisition and stability not to mention the user experience. Those using VPNs, a bunch of sites and/or Kodi for their content, or whose WIFI isn't great will especially benefit from the better processing power and network hardware.

[LTS]

2 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Almost ready to go back to cable. I'll eat cat food to make ends meet.

MSG Plus has decided I'm in Suffolk Co., NY, based on the ASN number in my IP address. So last night I was shown college soccer. Rangers the game before that.

"Jam" claims he/she/it is the only tech support person and is indeed human. "I am human, Mark." Def. not creepy.

Jam says 11776, the ASN number, is a zip code. It is indeed the zip code for a town in Suffolk Co. It seems to be associated with my cable company.

Can anyone shed light on this?

I got the first game just fine. So I am calling BS.

This is quite possible as they are likely associating your location to where your IP address hits the Internet.  So, if your service provider is hauling traffic back to Suffolk then you might appear (to them) to be there.  Of course this is not how they should be determining where you are. There are far more accurate ways of determining location.

And executives wonder why television viewing is down and continues to decline...

[Fatjohn]

So have we figured out a reliable way to watch the Sabres for those of us who are local? I’d rather not pay $130 a month and ESPN+ is useless 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Fatjohn

[mjd1001]

52 minutes ago, Fatjohn said:

So have we figured out a reliable way to watch the Sabres for those of us who are local? I’d rather not pay $130 a month and ESPN+ is useless 

Unfortunately I have not. MSG Plus seems to be a mess.  You mentioned the price for Spectrum.  Pirate feeds I would take a chance on and they tend to be pretty bad also.

Just utterly amazing how difficult they can make it to see their product.

I have a few smart speakers, one in my office and one in the garage. I USED to be able to ask it to play WGR and listen to the Sabres game over it. Sometime that year that even went away.  In the past I was able to be inside the garage listiening to the game (can't get AM radio in there) over my smart speaker, and some genius with the NHL or the Sabres decided to make it even harder to do that.

[inkman]

12 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Unfortunately I have not. MSG Plus seems to be a mess.  You mentioned the price for Spectrum.  Pirate feeds I would take a chance on and they tend to be pretty bad also.

Just utterly amazing how difficult they can make it to see their product.

I have a few smart speakers, one in my office and one in the garage. I USED to be able to ask it to play WGR and listen to the Sabres game over it. Sometime that year that even went away.  In the past I was able to be inside the garage listiening to the game (can't get AM radio in there) over my smart speaker, and some genius with the NHL or the Sabres decided to make it even harder to do that.

You have no idea how terrible MSG plus is.  It sucks out loud.  Buffering, frozen screen, irrational changes to camera zoom, choppy stream, audio being several seconds ahead of video.  It’s the worst experience I’ve had streaming and it’s not close.  The awful illegal streams with all the porn ads and malware is a much better experience and it’s not close.  Thankfully I guilted my BIL into sharing his streaming credentials so I cancelled MSG plus immediately after the first game I watched.  

[Getpucksdeep]

12 minutes ago, inkman said:

You have no idea how terrible MSG plus is.  It sucks out loud.  Buffering, frozen screen, irrational changes to camera zoom, choppy stream, audio being several seconds ahead of video.  It’s the worst experience I’ve had streaming and it’s not close.  The awful illegal streams with all the porn ads and malware is a much better experience and it’s not close.  Thankfully I guilted my BIL into sharing his streaming credentials so I cancelled MSG plus immediately after the first game I watched.  

Ha. I guess this explains why cast quality sucks as well.  

[That Aud Smell]

On 10/19/2023 at 2:51 PM, SwampD said:

I don't understand this. The Roku is how I watch all hockey.

Because the MSG+ app is not available in the Roku app store.

Turns out, I'm quite thankful for that.

I've since figured out other ways to watch most games.

[Stoner]

1 hour ago, Getpucksdeep said:

Ha. I guess this explains why cast quality sucks as well.  

I have trouble casting the archived games. Not the live game. It plays for a short time then returns to the starting. I assumed it was my phone, TV and Wifi not getting along.

Another issue with MSG Plus is that the game isn't archived right after it ends. They do replay the game, but what if you miss the start? Not sure when the archived version is released; I watch the next morning. However I've already seen the highlights (never go to bed mad at your SO and never go to bed not knowing the Sabres score). 

For many reasons, it's just a terrible experience.

Edited October 31, 2023 by PASabreFan