Tips for watching ESPN3.com on your flatscreen

JTrain

JTrain

All-Conference
(You'll need a computer with an HDMI port. Most sold in the past 3-4 years have one. Obviously this works best with a laptop, but you can drag your desktop over to the TV too, if you have the patience.)

1. Buy an HDMI cable

Don't get ripped off by buying locally. Even Walmart sells ridiculously overpriced cables ($20-30). You can get a perfectly good 6' HDMI cable here for under $6 (that includes shipping). You might even buy 2 or 3 of them if you plan on buying a gaming system or blu-ray player in the future.

2. Use a wired internet connection

Not that wireless won't work, but wired is always slightly more reliable so you're streaming video is going to be a little less likely to skip.

3. Plug in PC to TV, Switch to appropriate input and adjust settings

If you're PC screen isn't quite filling up the whole screen on the TV, go into the advanced picture settings and adjust the zoom feature. You also may want to adjust other various picture settings for the best looking picture. Test it out with an archived game on ESPN3.com so you're ready beforehand.

4. Reset modem, router and PC

Unplug modem for 30 seconds then plug back in. Same with router. If you're router has given you problems, you can go direct connect from the modem to the PC. Restart your PC before the game so your memory is fresh.

5. Close all other windows and background programs

Free up your PC as much as you can. Check for taskbar programs like anti-virus that might be hogging resources, and close whatever you can.

Although the picture isn't in full HD, it looks better than SD, and it's in widescreen. So the overall experience is a lot better than watching the ESPN Gameplan version. I tested it a couple weeks ago by comparing the SD version of the Northwestern-MSU game to the ESPN3 version, and it wasn't even close. Plus it saves you $24.

 
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Good tutorial, but a few steps aren't necessarily needed unless you have a really bad computer/connection. Also, if you don't have an HDMI out port on your laptop you can use a VGA cable along with a normal aux. cable.

 
Is the video for espn3 in widescreen now? Last year when I used it it was only in 4:3. There was a button for 16:9, but all it did was stretch the image. I liked using XXXXXXXX because I could generally find a stream that was widescreen in near HD quality

Anyway, steps 3 and 4 are completely unnecessary unless your computer is a complete dog

Mod Edit - we can't allow discussion of illegal sources for TV watching. Sorry, but it's for the protection of the board. knapplc

 
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also...espn3 is on xbox now. so if your xbox or your sons or your friends or whoever has an xbox in the house has it and has xbox live than you're golden. I'm rewatching the mizzou game and it looks awesome.

 
ThrowinBones said:
Nhusker23 said:
Good tutorial, but a few steps aren't necessarily needed unless you have a really bad computer/connection. Also, if you don't have an HDMI out port on your laptop you can use a VGA cable along with a normal aux. cable.
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I have to second this because there are so many laptops that do not have an HDMI port.
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what's better is when you have a laptop with 1 that won't work. thanks dell.

 
ESPN3 for the PS3 is not available currently, and I am not sure if it ever will be available because I think the deal ESPN signed with Xbox (Microsoft) was exclusive. Sorry to those who have a PS3 and got screwed by the coverage maps.

 
ThrowinBones said:
Nhusker23 said:
Good tutorial, but a few steps aren't necessarily needed unless you have a really bad computer/connection. Also, if you don't have an HDMI out port on your laptop you can use a VGA cable along with a normal aux. cable.
Click to expand...
I have to second this because there are so many laptops that do not have an HDMI port.
Click to expand...
Also, if your PC has DVI, you can get a dvi to hdmi converter and it will work just fine

 
kansas husker said:
You also missed the fact that every game gives you a B****** message
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If you go to espn3.com and look at the games on Sat., you'll see a click next to it that says "(subject to B******)". If you click that link, it will tell you whether the game is blacked out in your area or not. I'm in Denver and it's not blacked out here.

 
Vuren said:
ThrowinBones said:
Nhusker23 said:
Good tutorial, but a few steps aren't necessarily needed unless you have a really bad computer/connection. Also, if you don't have an HDMI out port on your laptop you can use a VGA cable along with a normal aux. cable.
Click to expand...
I have to second this because there are so many laptops that do not have an HDMI port.
Click to expand...
what's better is when you have a laptop with 1 that won't work. thanks dell.
Click to expand...
Your computer should still have a VGA port, which looks like a trapezoid with 3 rows of 5 holes where the pins go and on some there are two holes because most VGA cables have screws you can screw into your computer to make the connection more secure.

 
RedDenver said:
kansas husker said:
You also missed the fact that every game gives you a B****** message
Click to expand...
If you go to espn3.com and look at the games on Sat., you'll see a click next to it that says "(subject to B******)". If you click that link, it will tell you whether the game is blacked out in your area or not. I'm in Denver and it's not blacked out here.
Click to expand...
Ya-blackouts are only for the games that are being shown in your area, in which case you wouldn't need to use espn3 to watch it unless you didn't want to go to a bar or something or it was on espn and you don't have cable/satellite, etc....

 
Regardless of how good or bad your computer is, it's always a good idea to restart once in a while to clear memory and refresh all its resources. Even with a brand new computer you can potentially see some slowdown if you're like me and leave it on for a few days at a time with heavy usage.

Most high-speed ISPs don't offer great upload speeds, so it's best to make sure everything on your end is running at full capacity in order to get the smoothest streaming video possible.

 
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