So today I decided to try TSN pay per view so I can watch the Spain - Sweden Euro 2008 game. The cost is about $10 USD. It's nice to be able to watch the game, but overall it's not worth it.
The Good
+ stutter-free stream
+ I get the British commentator. Football would sound funny to me in a different accent.
The Bad
- stream is Windows only. I was trying to watch via Safari on my Mac then I figured out that it was Windows only. So I fired up Parallels and I'm watching via Windows emulation. Boo on TSN for not making a Mac stream available!
- Video looks like it's approximately half of a PAL standard (PAL = 720 x 576). So when you go half that, the pic is pretty damn small. Too small in fact. I'm having trouble following the action. When I blow it up to double size, there's all kinds of pixellation / distortion. For $10, I expect a decent quality resolution. This stream to me is only worth $2.99
- $10 per game is a lot. If they charged $4.99 per game I'd probably pay that without thinking. If they charged $100 or $150 for the whole tournament, I'd sign up in a flash. But $10 per game, particularly for this poor quality, just ain't worth it.
Overall - an interesting experience and useful if you're in front of a computer but not a TV. But not worth the cost. I will not be repeating.
The Good
+ stutter-free stream
+ I get the British commentator. Football would sound funny to me in a different accent.
The Bad
- stream is Windows only. I was trying to watch via Safari on my Mac then I figured out that it was Windows only. So I fired up Parallels and I'm watching via Windows emulation. Boo on TSN for not making a Mac stream available!
- Video looks like it's approximately half of a PAL standard (PAL = 720 x 576). So when you go half that, the pic is pretty damn small. Too small in fact. I'm having trouble following the action. When I blow it up to double size, there's all kinds of pixellation / distortion. For $10, I expect a decent quality resolution. This stream to me is only worth $2.99
- $10 per game is a lot. If they charged $4.99 per game I'd probably pay that without thinking. If they charged $100 or $150 for the whole tournament, I'd sign up in a flash. But $10 per game, particularly for this poor quality, just ain't worth it.
Overall - an interesting experience and useful if you're in front of a computer but not a TV. But not worth the cost. I will not be repeating.
