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MLB.TV: A glimpse into the future

by Matt Smith

This season, MLB.TV subscribers have seen the introduction of 700K streaming (bringing a much improved picture) and the incredible Mosaic feature, but MLB are not resting on their laurels. At a recent Microsoft developers conference on Monday, representatives from MLB gave attendees an insight into how they are using Microsoft Silverlight Video to improve their service. Any MLB.TV fan will want to check out the fifteen minute clip here to see what is coming this summer.

The clip begins with Bob Bowman, President and CEO of MLB Advanced Media, joking with the attendees that he had signed them all up, adding: “you’ll enjoy it, and if you don’t, just try and cancel!”. Funny because it’s true.

Anyway, once his intro is out of the way we get to the forward-looking demos.

Essentially the new MLB.TV style product will allow you to control everything that sits around, and on top of, the live streaming footage. MLB.com can now get a clean video feed from the stadium, rather than picking up the feed from the broadcaster. We are used to being at the mercy of the broadcasters in regards to what graphics and information are displayed at any time, but not for much longer.

You can decide what information goes in the transparent overlay and choose from a number of different “widgets” that you can add on to the screen. The three shown in the demo are the diamond view (a neat 3D diamond showing base runners etc), player tracker (as seen in Mosaic – pick which players you want to track and it will alert you when they’re in the in-deck circle etc), and a chat widget. You can also access video clips of other big plays of the day and simply call them up in a small window at the bottom of the screen while the live game carries on streaming behind. Finally, in one viewing option you can re-size the window however you like, allowing you to tuck it away in the corner of the screen discreetly if you are watching when you shouldn’t be!

These words don’t do it justice though. Check out the clip and see how smart it all looks.

At 10.30 on the clip, for some reason it starts repeating the previous five minutes (unless it’s been fixed by the time you are reading this). This goes on to 13.50, but it’s worth sticking around to see the demo of Gameday and Player Tracker on a mobile phone. Talk about the wonders of technology!

This new MLB.TV product is streaming at 1.5MB (same as Mosaic), and Microsoft Siverlight (currently only in Beta) requires you to have Windows Vista or XP Service Pack 2 to run (or you can run it on a Mac). So you will probably need a fairly top-line set-up for it to work, but I guess that’s to be expected.

Technology moves fast these days and it looks like MLB.com are embracing this to bring us new and exciting ways to watch baseball.

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3 comments

Drood May 3, 2007 - 7:59 am

Holy cow that’s impressive! Of course, given the issues with Mosaic, I wonder how long it’ll be before it works as it’s supposed too? Regardless, MLB are pushing the frontiers of online sports coverage. Again.:)

Funny. I was only saying today to a friend about how far advanced MLB are over every other sport on the net. The discussion in particular was in regards to Formula One, whose online presence is basically a crappy Java app that shows the laptimes and splits.

I have XP on SP1, but I have a registry hack to make it think it’s SP2 (used it to install Visual Basic)…

And to answer an earlier question, no, they are not billing my credit card every time they thank me:) Of course their customer service NEVER responds to email. I wrote and asked if I can unsubscribe by email since I have no phone, and they’ve never responded. So right now I’m in baseball limbo. (Having been spoilt by MLB.TV I can’t face going back to commercials!)

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Matt May 3, 2007 - 6:07 pm

Glad to hear you’re not being re-billed!

MLB certainly are at the forefront of all this technology. Before the 2005 season I saw the adverts for MLB.TV and, while tempted, was very sceptical about how good the quality would be. Fortunately that Spring Training they showed 5 or 6 free games (without needing to enter any subscription details!) which meant I could trial it. I was very pleasantly surprised. I wasn’t expecting a crystal clear image so the picture quality looked great to me. This year’s 700K feed really does make a difference though if you can afford it.

Yes, the customer service leaves a lot to be desired, but when you take a moment to consider the product (we can sit at our PC and watch live baseball, or full archvied games whenever we like!!!) you can’t help but be grateful for it (particularly here in Britain with very limited baseball coverage).

There’s a tremendous market for being able to watch live sport via the Internet, which means there is a lot of potential money to be made. MLB.com seem to have been the ones to realise this more than most and have invested (and continue to invest) good money into constantly making their product better. It’s basic business really: if you keep producing a product people are prepared to pay for, you will make a very healthy profit on the investment. Long may it continue, because it’s us baseball fans who benefit just as much as the baseball owners lining their pockets.

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Drood May 4, 2007 - 3:03 am

The NFL online stuff is pathetic. I think it’s some absolutely ludicrous price for AUDIO ONLY.

If I was still in the UK, I’d jump on MLB.TV, I really would. But it’s about $25 Canadian, and that is a lot for me.

I am so conflicted…:)

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