MLB.TV Alternative
So it’s baseball season and you need a way to watch the game from your computer? Like every baseball fan, trying to get his fix of up-to-date stats and news, a visit to MLB.com is the norm. The ads for MLB.TV are enticing, but the actual product leaves you feeling disappointed. (SYMBOLISM ALERT: MLB.TV = The New York Mets). Maybe it’s the price that detours you, or you live in your favorite team’s blackout zone. (How stupid is that?? Of course you live in your team’s blackout zone, or else you wouldn’t be their fan.) Regardless, MLB.TV isn’t worth $100 a year unless you ABSOLUTELY have to have HD. Enter, my solution.
I found this great site for watching baseball games for free, and now I will show you how to share my enjoyment.
Windows (XP, Vista, 7)
Go to: http://www.myp2pforum.eu/forums/22-MLB-Baseball
Save that link, bookmark it. That’s your tool. When you want to watch a game, visit that site and look for “[Streaming] MLB Today | (Day, Month, Date).” When you click that topic title, you’ll find games and a link.
(ex. 7:10 PM / 23:10 GMT / 01:10 CET / NY Mets at Atlanta Braves | Kilonet 2 TVA 500k & MaCk-TV ST 300k)
Think of those links like TV channels, but to watch TV channels, you need a TV. That “TV” is “StreamTorrent.”
“Stream Torrent is a free P2P application for streaming audio and video. Peers stream data to each other, thus saving bandwidth from the original source.” – Cnet.com
You can download Stream Torrent here.
Once you’ve downloaded the media player, install it. When that is complete, click any of those links from that P2P website that you prefer. Your browser might not understand what program it has to use to stream the link, so you’ll have to manually find it.
- In Firefox, a window pops up and you have to browse for Stream Torrent.
- Internet Explorer knows to use Stream Torrent, I beileve, but this window pops up:
Press allow.
- Google Chrome does not support this feature for some unbeknownst reason.
Once the Stream Torrent player opens, it will say “Page can not be displayed” or something to that effect. That confused me because I was connected to the internet and the video had great quality, so I kept refreshing the page, to no avail. Don’t worry, let the video buffer to anything past 40% and the stream kicks in. The stream won’t lag if your connection is strong enough.
Might I suggest locking the stream?
Locking the stream prevents you from doing something stupid like deleting it. (Which I’ve done countless times.) Click the blue/light blue Yin-Yang icon next to your computer’s clock. When the Stream Torrent window pops up, click the stream, then the lock icon. Now you can’t accidentally delete it.
This also allows you to watch another game. Later in the season, you’ll want to scoreboard watch. But why scoreboard watch when you can watch the game? Lock the stream of Game 1 and open Game 2 using it’s link. (Tip: Lock Game 2). Now you can navigate between both or watch ‘em at the same time.
Mac OS X
Step 1:
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That’s right! Stream Torrent isn’t capable with Macs. Guess you gotta pay for MLB.TV with all the mid pitch freezes! Shouldn’t be a problem though since you can afford a $1,500 laptop. Have fun not getting a virus every 8 months!
Go Braves!
