Willow.tv announces monthly subscription at $15/mo

[SaiSrini]

Hey everyone. An ad in the newspaper (India abroad) is advertising free Willow Cricket channel on Dish when you sign up for the Hindi Mega Pack. It's 60/month but you should call in and ask if you can get that channel alone.

Yes, you can get the channel alone for 20 bucks a month. But the World Cup 2011 is a different package (on Dish) and since they have a different package for WC, I dont think Willow channel will broadcast the World Cup. Thats what I am interested in - The World Cup.

 

[Cricketman]

$20 a month is not bad at all for cricket on TV!

I'm sure the online package will keep the world cup though. At least, I hope so.

 

[pcfan123]

When do we get HD

 

[SaiSrini]

When do we get HD

Ha ha, they have just taken baby steps to providing cricket for a flat and cheap monthly price on TV (here in US). HD should definitely be quite some distance away.

SaiSrini added 1 Minutes and 24 Seconds later...

$20 a month is not bad at all for cricket on TV!

I'm sure the online package will keep the world cup though. At least, I hope so.

If you have the channel on TV, do you automatically get online access for free?

 

[shravi]

Have you guys seen the new HQ stream? Not bad, huh? Not bad at all.

 

[pcfan123]

No I havent, where is it?

There are a few negatives to this package, the replays are in ████ quality and the interactive scorecard is very buggy most of the time.

Mark added 1 Minutes and 10 Seconds later...

LOL that is not HQ

anyone who has MLB or NBA passes online will know just how much we are getting ripped off. Those packages are in as good HD as ESPN HD on Tv

 

[SaiSrini]

Got Willow.tv online subscription for $5 (they are offering discounts right now, and so got it). Thought of getting the Willow channel but its only a single channel and when two games are going on at the same time, viewers have to sacrifice watching one game for the other (e.g. when CSK vs Warriors was going on, Eng vs PAK was also on and they decided to telecast Eng vs PAK). So I went for the online subscription.

Watching Champions League there. The HQ stream is a stepup from the usual cricket streams we are subjected to. But its still on beta. US viewers with 6+mbps bandwidth will enjoy these 1mbps streams. I started watching CSK vs RCB on that stream until the damn rain came in.:

 

[pcfan123]

Just ask Sohum about the quality on NBA league pass, its even better than TV HD (provided you have a good computer)

 

[sohum]

anyone who has MLB or NBA passes online will know just how much we are getting ripped off. Those packages are in as good HD as ESPN HD on Tv

Haven't checked out the supposed HQ stream but NBA League Pass Broadband is nowhere near the quality of ESPNHD on TV or even NBA League Pass on cable. It's better than nothing, though.

 

[pcfan123]

Im confusing it with MLB then, sorry.

MLB online is 1080i HD

NBA online is still HD though right?

 

[sohum]

I don't know the exact resolution. It's better than Willow, but not comparable to TV.

 

[pcfan123]

The MLB’s video player will use the Swarmcast CDN to help determine a user’s connectivity and deliver the best quality feed available ranging from 400k to 3mbps, which the company says, provides 720p quality. The league is also using Flash for its video after kicking Microsoft’s Silverlight to the curb last year.

MLB is probably the best online

Mark added 10 Minutes and 20 Seconds later...

Ok I am an idiot, I was not viewing the HQ stream. This is incredible! Its the best I have ever seen cricket on the internet

 

[sohum]

Yeah, I was going to say that the HQ is pretty good. Not HD, but a massive improvement. Probably 480P?

 

[pcfan123]

It looks better than standard definition for sure

 

[SaiSrini]

The HQ stream is a big stepup in the sense that the buffering is very low and so its almost uninterrupted and high quality! Thumbs up to Willow.tv for that. Super!