Q. Will you please look into whether Comcast will have the MLB Extra Innings package in HD. I can’t find anything on their web site about it. — Michael, town unknown.
Michael, the answer is yes, but it’s a little tricky.
Before I explain, a little background on Comcast’s MLB Extra Innings plan.
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Comcast’s ‘early bird’ price for the 2018 MLB Extra Innings plan is $163.96, which is roughly $9 (and 5.8 percent) higher than its 2017 pre-season price. The package will include up to 90 out-of-market games each week.
The cable operator has carried the Extra Innings plan for several years, but prior to last year, it did not offer all the games in HD. Extra Innings subscribers were forced to watch at least two or three games each day in standard-definition.
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Considering that HDTV has been in consumer homes for nearly two decades, the lack of an all-HD Extra Innings package was a bit embarrassing. By comparison, pay TV rival DIRECTV has provided all Extra Innings games in high-def for several years.
But last year, for the first time, Comcast finally began offering all MLB Extra Innings games in High-Definition.
And that’s where it gets tricky.
To watch all the games in HD, you must subscribe to MLB Extra Innings. have a Comcast X1 set-top, and…be a very patient individual.
See, Comcast’s Extra Innings games in high-def are delivered using the cable op’s X1 “platform,” which is the company’s terminology for IPTV (Internet Television Protocol). IPTV is the delivery of programming to the set-top using streaming instead of a traditional cable or satellite signal.
So you don’t actually tune to a channel.
Instead, you watch the streamed HD games by selecting ‘MLB Extra Innings HD (Beta)’ from the X1 guide. That will launch a ‘MLB Extra Innings HD Beta Collection’ page with MLB Team logos organized by league.
When you click on a team logo, the MLB logo will be displayed while a validation check is done on-screen to determine if you have an Extra Innings subscription and the game is not subject to a local blackout.
If everything checks out, your team’s game will begin. The announcers will be for the team logo you selected. For instance, if you choose the Washington Nationals logo in a game against the Atlanta Braves, you will get the MASN broadcast with Bob Carpenter and F.P. Santangelo.
So, Michael, you can watch all the 2018 Extra Innings games in HD.
Wait a minute. There’s one more thing. Comcast says that you can’t pause, rewind or record the games streamed in high-def.
Sorry about that.
I told you that patience would be required.
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— Phillip Swann
also MLB Extra Innings HD Beta link is only in the old XXX range and not in the new XXXX range.
Also may not be all feeds just game 1-14 HD
Hi hoping you can help me when I click my teams logo it brings me right back to channel I was watching before. It never does a check to see if we are subscribed (which we are), currently we are subscribed to two packages mlb extra innings on xfinity and mlb at bat on our phone.
You’ll have to call Comcast. I can only explain how it’s supposed to work.
In my area in CT the HD (Beta) was not functional on opening day. The HD Beta did not appear on the guide as usual yet, I tried on the on-demand sports section to access. The team list appeared and when you click on a team it just goes back to the channel you were watching. The NHL & NBA are functional, but MLB was not. Same thing on MLB day 2. Also frustrating as the other user posted Comcast put all HD channels together in the 1000’s yet ALL HD Beta channels are in the 771 range in the digitial, not the 1370’s that they moved HD sports packages to.
Your explanation is spot on. However, it appears Comcast is using the NHL HD (shared NHL/MLB) Beta stream for the NHL games only. None of the MLB games are in HD. My guess is once the NHL games are done maybe Comcast moves the MLB HD stream there.
Why can’t Comcast simply televise all MLB Extra Innings games in HD just as all other cable and satellite providers do. Signing withComcast, the biggest mistake I ever made in my home entertainment purchases