CNETAnalysis: Watching the Opening Day game of your favorite baseball team today is easier than beating the Chicago Cubs in the postseason thanks to the multitude of live streaming options available. The best way to live stream an MLB game in 2013 is through one of the devices that supports MLB.TV, the league’s official pay subscription service. The roster of at-home hardware includes the PS3 , Xbox 360 , Apple TV , Roku , Boxee Box , WD TV Live , WD TV Live Hub , and Samsung, LG and Panasonic TVs and Blu-ray players. That all-star lineup is relieved by mobile devices when you’re practicing your away-game from these TV options. MLB.TV’s video streaming service also works for iPhone, iPad, iPad mini, 35 compatible Android smartphones and tablets, and Kindle Fire . The newest addition to the MLB.TV batting order is the all-touch BlackBerry Z10 . MLB.TV costs more than peanuts, crackerjack MLB.TV is the Yankees payroll of baseball live streaming. A ticket to this multi-platform service costs $130 a year or $25 a month for MLB.TV Premium, and $110 a year or $20 a month for its basic package. The difference between MLB.TV Premium and Basic is that the mobile At Bat 13 app is free, you have the ability to stream on any of the aftermentioned connected devices not just the computer, and you can switch between home and away video feeds. Not having to deal with the annoying home feed announcers when your baseball team is in the visitor’s dugout is worth the extra $20 for the season. On advanced devices like the PS3, there’s also a clutch option to silence the play-by-play and listen in on the ballpark atmosphere with a special park audio feed. Free live stream game daily Before subscribing to MLB.TV, the service gives curious baseball fans a daily practice swing by making one game free to live stream. For example, the St. Louis Cardinals vs Arizona Diamondbacks game can be live streamed for free because ! MLB.TV marked it as the “free game of the day.” This isn’t always going to be your favorite team, though, and relying on it means you’d miss the 11 other games being live streamed for Opening Day 2013. MLB.TV schedule, blackout restrictions Sports and blackout restrictions are more often paired than baseball games and hotdogs. The latter pairings in both cases sometimes don’t sit well with certain people. MLB.TV detects your local baseball club or clubs through your IP address, blacking out the games that fall under its always-tight blackout restrictions. Nationally broadcast baseball games on channels like Fox and TBS also skip the live stream, and are instead archived 90 minutes after the game ends. This means that MLB.TV isn’t meant for watching games you’re supposed to watch on local television or cable channels. Instead, it’s the ideal solution for fans who wouldn’t normally be able to root for their hometown teams out-of-state. Live streaming MLB alternatives MLB.TV has the expressed written consent to dominate live streaming in the sports world in 2013. No other professional sport compares to this full-featured package. However, not everyone wants to pay for an MLB.TV subscription, especially in cases when they just want to root for their home team. The Slingbox , which can stream your cable box to a single browser or connected set-top box, is perfect for travelers who don’t need to stream all 2,430 live out-of-market regular-season games. These remote fans can use a Slingbox compatible device like the Boxee Box, WD TV Live, Netgear NeoTV , and Sony Internet Player with Google TV to receive the cable box signal. Slingbox also supports a list of mobile devices with apps for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Kindle Fire. There are also free over-the-air antennas that capture local networks, just in case your hometown sports club still broadcasts via one of the five major television channels. The new Boxee TV adds unique DVR functionality (a! vailable ! in some cities) to the OTA antenna option, allowing you to institute your own instant replay that Bud Selig has resisted. Finding a free live stream through Google is possible too, but its quality and consistency is about as reliable as the Mets in the clutch. This makes MLB.TV the best deal for baseball fans who want to watch out-of-market teams, and do it reliably with the support of 350 compatible devices and apps. As long as blackout restrictions don’t affect your baseball viewing experience, MLB.TV has the bases covered from Opening Day 2013 onward. Posted by: Maryum
