NHL Center Ice 2019-20 Season

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@ComcastChad wrote:
Do you subscribe to HD service? HD is required to purchase NHL CI this year.

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ComcastChad, was this general info to the forum, or a response to my query regarding how to verify my CI purchase has actually been processed? I do subscribe to HD service.

EDIT: I stopped in at my local office today. Agent checked and the CI purchase shows up so I guess the X1 box order did work correctly. 

I used my X1 remote on Monday to sign up for Center Ice and got the same message that you did which was that it would be available in 2 hours. Well this is Tuesday and I go to channel 456 and I still get the same message I have been getting for 24 hours which is says that if I made a change to my account it is still being processed.  I also tried saying NHL Center Ice Beta on my X1 remote and it brings up the menu of all of the teams but when I click on any of the teams it says that I have to sign up which I already did.  

This is the same message I got for Extra Innings in September. When I called Comcast of course I got Mexico and they had no clue what I was talking about and I called 4 different times and got the same response each time. Nothing like getting no customer service when you call the Comcast Call Centers plus you can't understand them  because they barely speak English.

It turned out to be a software issue on the Comcast side with the Extra Innings problem that took 3 days to resolve. And this with Center Ice sound like it is a similiar problem.     

I stopped by the Comcast office this afternoon and one of the representatives checked and found no record that I had ordered the package through my X1 remote so he did it and it worked as I checked and the channels were available as was the Beta package.

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@seattle4sports wrote:

  I also tried saying NHL Center Ice Beta on my X1 remote and it brings up the menu of all of the teams but when I click on any of the teams it says that I have to sign up which I already did.     

 

@Microphone wrote:
I did mine from my X1 remote between innings just now and all the channels "work", show that message listing tomorrow's 2 Canadian games, including on the Beta channels.

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Of course it's early morning now, so I don't know what's going on since shows are at night. I get the same msg you got, but thought that related to MLB as that uses the same channels. Everyone should have the "free" preview for the next few days.

If I don't see that up-coming games screen that displays while no games are being aired, then I'll know something's not working. Sympathies on the calls--been there, which is why I wanted to avoid it (two years ago, the calls ended up with 3 subscriptions on my acct and only the last one actually got us CI. And, yes, no idea what Center Ice was.) It took at least four more calls to get the billing errors resolved. 

Now, I do see the listing page for two games for tonight on our regular CI channels (starting at 771). 

So we won't be able to get all games in HD until mid-late October or we won't be able to record them in HD until mid-late October?

I'm interested in the Sabres/Penguins game that only shows an SD channel for tomorrow night.  After watching and recording all games in HD on Center Ice with Direct TV for the last several years it would be a big step backwards to only have an SD option available.

Both, you won't be able to record in HD until the HD Channels are available in the grid guide and out of Beta. 

Last night there was no NHL Center Ice Beta channel available in the lineup.

Usually it was right above the 2nd HD game, which is channel 459.

Instead, there's a MLB Extra Innings Beta channel, even though MLB ended last week, but no NHL channel.

With there being 4 NHL games last night, all available in HD, there wasn't a need for it, but there will be a need tonight and most nights going forward.

Does this mean we'll be without the ability to watch all games in HD until the unveil the feature mentioned above where they'd be available in the grid in HD?

If so, it's highly disappointing they couldn't get this figured out in time for opening night.

The NHL Center Ice Beta channels were available for me last night.

I did the same thing I did for Extra Innings which is to say "NHL Center Ice Beta" into my X1 remote and the menu for all of the teams came up. I can also scroll down the guide and find it but I find it easier to speak into the remote. It worked that way for Extra Innings and last night for Center Ice.  

I'll try the voice activation and see if that works.

I know there was no NHL Beta channel last night on my TV.

Actually, I like the Beta. I completely get the frustration people have not being able to record games from there the Beta, but I like being able to pick the game I want to watch from there.

If I want to watch the Maple Leafs, for example, I can just click on Maple Leafs instead of trying to remember which channel they are on. Especially helpful when each channel on the grid says NHL Hockey, NHL Hockey, NHL Hockey....

And when all the channels are full of games, there's no open channel displaying the list of games, so I find it easier to go into the menu and just pick the team.

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@Microphone wrote:

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The extra steps hopping between two good game is annoying.  If it can be done for the Pac 12 channel why not Beta NHL, MLB & NBA?

 

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Thanks Microphone. I will look for it tonight.

When I hit the Last button, it shows the last 10 or show channels I watched. And for the games from the Beta channel, it shows the team logo. So if you watch the Flames game, for example, it shows a Calgary Flames logo. So switching back & forth is really easy.

But yeah, the idea of every team being assigned a channel is good too. If we have channels well into the 1000s, why can't every team have their own channel and keep it simple?