I want to get a bit of a collective look at what center ice is delivering to different people, in different regions, with different cable providers. Of course we wont know the deal for a few days, but I'm looking at the lineup for TWC online, and it seems they have a bunch of channels dedicated to it, the last two being specifically for HD, the rest i'm assuming are all going to be SD, unless they treat them as flexible between SD and HD, and have the HD tag on the last two to indicate they will ALWAYS be HD. Anyways, it looks like this for me:

555 MLB Extra Innings/NHL Center Ice
556 MLB Extra Innings/NHL Center Ice
557 MLB Extra Innings/NHL Center Ice
558 MLB Extra Innings/NHL Center Ice
559 MLB Extra Innings/NHL Center Ice
560 MLB Extra Innings/NHL Center Ice
561 MLB Extra Innings/NHL Center Ice
562 MLB Extra Innings/NHL Center Ice
563 MLB Extra Innings/NHL Center Ice
564 MLB Extra Innings/NHL Center Ice
565 MLB Extra Innings/NHL Center Ice
566 MLB Extra Innings/NHL Center Ice
567 MLB Extra Innings/NHL Center Ice
568 MLB Extra Innings/NHL Center Ice
569 MLB Extra Innings/NHL Center Ice HD
570 MLB Extra Innings/NHL Center Ice HD 2

If there are 4 or 5 games on a specific night and time, I wonder how they'll choose which games to show in HD. I wonder what MSG will deliver to the various networks, or providers, or however the hell the picture goes from buffalo to wherever.

So, Center ice users, do you have a similar setup? Are you getting more specifically HD channels?

I've had Center Ice for going on my fourth season now. What they do is they will have (for example) channel 665 SD and 665-1 HD. I had it on Direct TV so this will be my first year with Dish Network.

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I've had Center Ice 7 or 8 times now. I didn't have an HD TV until last year, so I didn't pay as much attention to that aspect. But I can tell you the way you describe it is similar to my experience. My cable provider is Comcast, and they have channels 457-470 for Center Ice/Extra Innings (they double up those two packages on the same channels. It's not really a conflict until April), so that's 14 channels. 2 channels are HD-only. What I've found is that the HD channels regularly play broadcasts of the same teams, specifically Boston, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Phoenix, and San Jose. Very few Sabres games are in HD, unless they are playing one of those aforementioned teams, in which case the game will be broadcast in HD on Buffalo's opponent's feed. If you can syncronize the Buffalo audio online with your DVR/Tivo of the game, it works fine. Otherwise you're choosing between HD or SD with our announcers' audio. Hopefully there will be more HD games from MSG on Center Ice this year, but I wouldn't count on it.

So is it a problem of MSG not wanting to supply the HD signal to our respective TV providers? I mean, there ARE high def cameras in HSBC, right? So how come we dont normally get access to that, instead we get the crappy SD home feed, what is the missing link?

Je ne sais pas moi.

cela me remplit d'ennui

Moi aussi, mais c'est la vie.

Le sigh.

DirecTV has all the games available in HD, including now (apparently) the prior lone exception with Sabres games. I'll believe it when I see it of course. There might be several games a week that aren't available on Center Ice, but those games are on NHL Network, VS, or the local channel for Hurrican't games.

If it indeed is true, then no cable or satellite provider can beat DTV.

MSG was providing 81 of the 82 Sabres' games in HD though?

Everything is going HD anyway, even if they don't offer HD hold out long enough and that will be all the offer.

That's what my neighbor did with the NFL Sunday Ticket.

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So you've actually seen/heard news that some roadblock between MSG and providers (yours at least) is gone and you'll be getting sabres home games in HD? Man...nice, if that is true it at least hints at the possibility of time warner having home games in HD too.

From wiki...

"As of January 22, 2009, the NHL and MSG had a contractual dispute which resulted in all MSG HD and MSG+ HD broadcasts being blacked out from NHL Center Ice for viewers outside of the local viewing territory for the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, and Buffalo Sabres[2]. As a result, feeds from these stations will only be available in standard definition.

Update: As of March 17, 2010 beginning with the game between the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins, MSG HD and MSG+ HD has returned to NHL Center Ice as confirmed by Gary Bettman during the NHL Hour broadcast."

!!!!!!!! HOLY SH*T! This is awesome! I hope that actually translates into me seeing home games in HD.

So time warner cable customers who live outside buffalo and have center ice will get HD games?!?!?! FUCK YES!!!

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I ordered it for this season, it doesn't look like there is much HD content, which is disappointing.

Many years ago when I was living in big house with a few friends, we all chipped in and bought it. We also had a fridge with a keg of Labatt Blue on tap 24/7, complete with big frosty mugs. Mon-Fri night I would drink and watch hockey, usually failing to finish watching the second game of the night. The Penguins sucked back then so I would watch whatever, there was always a great game on somewhere! If you like to watch a lot of hockey and not just the ones NHLNW and VS throw at you, well it's the best! It can easily break down to a buck a game or less over the course of the season. It's always interesting because if it turns into a bad game you can flip around.

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"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger

Well that just made me happy. And ten minutes before I'm adding the Center Ice package...nice.

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Update: Two games in, no HD yet. There are two channels dedicated to HD, BOTH nights one of the HD channels was used, one was available. Both feeds against ottawa were in SD, and tonights game against the rags is in SD even though there is an HD channel available, so, I guess that was all bullshit about having worked out some problem. At least nothing seems to have been resolved at my end.

This non-HD picture looks like an efffffin HAIRY SGIT STORM OF ASS POOP!!

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"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger

Thats roughly what I was thinking. Christ, do I need to buy a tube-tv to get a decent picture from SD?

Yankee, are you with DTV? I can't remember. I had the Ottawa game in HD (as usual with any road game on Center Ice). The Rangers game was also in HD, but I always had the home Rangers game in HD anyway since that's obviously the MSG sponsered team. What was different though, was that both the Rangers and Sabres feeds were available with their respective broadcast team, so that hints to me that I'll get all Sabres home games in HD now. The real test will be the Chicago game.