MLB TV Comes To The Roku: Hands On Demo, With Video

At midnight last night, Roku and MLB publicly announced that baseball fans who have a MLB.TV Premium account can now stream live and on-demand games to the Roku. For those in the Roku developer program, the MLB.TV app showed up a few weeks ago and we've all been eagerly awaiting to try it out. My Roku unit got the upgrade a few hours before it went live (thanks Roku!) and I got to spend a few hours testing out the interface and studying the video quality.

Like everything else on the Roku, the interface is easy to use with the MLB.TV app icon showing up on the home screen alongside Netflix and Amazon. Once you connect your Roku to your MLB.TV account via the computer, you then have the option of picking live games or those on-demand simply be scrolling through the date at the top of the Roku screen. All game match-ups are shown with team logos and when you select a live stream, you have the option of starting the game from the beginning or joining the game live in progress. Just like on the PC, you have the option of selecting the home or away feed and as expected, the same blackout restrictions that apply on the PC apply via the Roku. One thing that doesn't work on the Roku is the audio only stream when you are in a blackout area. For audio only streams, the Roku delivers you a message telling you to access the audio stream via your PC.

As for the video quality, it's really good. On a 50" plasma the quality is impressive and while not clearly as good as the HD broadcast TV signal, that would not be a fair comparison since the Roku stream maxes out at 3Mbps. While I noticed a slight lag at times and very slight pixelation, I would imagine that on a smaller TV, it would look even better. That said, the quality is really very good and I can't see any baseball fan having anything to complain about. The one thing I did notice that is different than watching a movie via Netlfix is that when you fast-forward any on-demand game, you don't get the little screen grabs at the top that shows you where you are in the video. I would imagine that since the screen grabs of a baseball game would look the same no matter what inning the game is in, it would be pretty useless as compared to a movie.

While I've always personally been a fan of MLB's video service, it's something that to date, you've always had to watch on your computer. Being able to move the experience to the TV, which is the whole reason I bought a 50" screen to begin with, really makes the experience that much better. Overall I can't find a single thing wrong with the offering and over time, I imagine the video quality will get even better as MLB continues to encode the games at higher bitrates.

While some have said the Roku box is simply too "dumb" to really be successful, since it can't play games or store content like some of its more expensive competitors, the fact it's still only $99 and does one thing really well is the whole reason why it can succeed.

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Comments

[Tom Streeter]

This has made my day. I've been an MLB.TV subscriber in the past, but didn't do it this year because, as nice as the service is, I wanted to watch it on my TV. I renewed my subscription, forced the update to my Roku box and within 10 minutes (including getting a forgotten MLB.TV password reset) I had it up and going. Looks great.

Big, big win for Roku and MLB.TV.

[Dean Collins]

It's great to see MLB.tv implementing innovative functions, things like this and www.LiveBaseballChat.com are changing the way fans interact with each other while watching the games online.

Cheers, Dean

[InTheKnow]

First, what I don't get about the Roku is why wouldn't I rather have an AppleTV or MacMini connected to my flat sceen instead of the Roku? That way I can still watch content from YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, etc. What is the attraction for yet another STB via Roku, Vudu, Sezmi, Zillions, NValeo, etc.

Second, where is the talk about the business of video in this post? Did you know that Ensequence stopped being the vendor for mlb.tv because they couldn't make any money supporting the application? Is MLB using a new vendor to build applications? How is everyone getting paid? Does Roku get a bounty on new MLB subscriptions?

[Dan Rayburn]

Comparing the Roku to a Mac Mini is not fair. Many may want a Mac Mini over a Roku but a Roku is $99 and a Mac Mini is $599. Two very different devices at very different price points. Plus many only want to use Roku for Netflix, something a Mac Mini won't help you with.

Roku does not get any "bounty" on new MLB subscriptions, as per someone I discussed this with at MLB. Don't know if that will change down the road, but as of now Roku does not make money from MLB other than selling the devices.

As for Ensequence, they signed a three year deal in 2008 with MLB and still support the current MLB app. Maybe that will change going forward, but when I interviewed MLBAM CEO Bob Bowman a few months ago, he said MLB was still working very closely with Ensequence.

[Greg]

I signed up for an MLB.TV after hearing they partnered with Roku. I must say that the quality of both the live and archived games are quite good. The downside is in my area I get blacked out on live games for 4 different teams (Philly, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Washington) even when the games are not televised in my area. I don't have cable and really don't like sitting in front of my computer to listen to the audio streams.

As far as the screen grabs when fast-forwarding, it would be nice to have during commercial breaks on the archived games since you just sit there staring at a screen that says "Commercial Break" for several minutes.

[Matt Potthoff]

I currently hook my mac book up to my 46" LCD Tv using VGA cable. Would it be dumb to get ROKU for this purpose instead? It is quite cumbersome to always have to connect the laptop and get down on the floor to fastforward or pause, etc. Also, the laptop fan runs constantly and gets very hot along with the power supply. Does the ROKU have these heat/fan problems? I have also thought of a Mac Mini full time under the TV with wireless mouse and keyboard. Arrghhh, too many options.......any insight would be greatly appreciated.