I’ve had MLB.TV on my Roku Digital Video Player for a few weeks now, and have used both the Roku and Extra Innings on DirecTV to watch games. Both systems have their advantages and disadvantages.

1. Availability of games. The Roku wins on days like today, when early games are blacked out on TV due to the Fox exclusive. I’m sitting here watching the Yankees/Blue Jays, and the Mets and Cubs are also available. I believe the Roku can supply a high quality feed for every game, while sometimes EI shows a game or two in standard definition due to bandwidth restrictions. Both systems supply home and away feeds when available.
2. Quality of broadcast. DirecTV wins this hands down. While the game I’m watching in the 16:9 format, it’s not high def. The picture does not have the depth of a true HD picture. The sound is very good, and it’s much better than watching in SD, but the DirecTV picture is much cleaner and crisper. (It’s possible that with a wired connection to the router I’d get a better picture. However, I get good HD from Amazon and Netflix with my wireless connection to the Roku.)

   There is also a delay in the MLB.TV broadcast. When I’ve flipped between the Roku and DirecTV, the Roku is about one minute behind the live broadcast.

3. Ease of use.DirecTV provides three different ways to find a game. You can use their regular on screen guide. Tuning to channel 720 or 720-1 HD, the viewer gets the MLB game mix of up to eight in progress games. The remote allows you to arrow over to the game you’d like to watch and select it. Selecting a broadcast in the game mix brings up the audio on that game, so if you want to watch eight at once, you can decide which you want to hear. Finally, the score guide is brought up by one button on the remote, and not only covers baseball, but all sports on DirecTV. You can view scores, pick a game to watch and tune to the channel. Once a channel is selected, it takes two or three seconds for the DTV receiver to recognize the format of the broadcast and output a signal.

   At the moment, there is no direct way to go from one broadcast to another. If you’re watching a game, you need to up arrow twice, scroll through the games, select the game, select the feed, select watching the game from the beginning or watching live. Then you need to wait for the broadcast to be buffered, which takes from five to 20 seconds. One nice feature, if you’re coming back to a game, is to resume it where you left off.

   I use a DVR, so both have the capability of pausing the action and rewinding and rewatching plays. The Roku offers three speeds backward and forwards, DTV four. However, when you are going backward or forward with the Roku, you only see a time stamp, not fast moving video. Unlike DirecTV, the fast forward doesn’t stop when you reach the end of the recording to automatically pick up the live feed. DirecTV wins this, but new software can improve the Roku.

4. Portability. The DirecTV receiver is stuck where you put it. I can pick up the Roku and move it to any TV in my house, and if I go away I can bring it along and hook it into the internet. It’s perfect if you’re renting a vacation house. The subscription also gives you MLB.TV on your computer, so you can watch on a PC anywhere. An easy win for the Roku.
5. Archiving. With the DVR, I can record two games at once, and keep up to five on the recorder. With MLB.TV, every game broadcast during the year is always available. I’ve used the Roku to go watch a play I read about to see what actually happened. You also get that functionality on the computer.

I like the crisp picture of DirecTV, and the scoreboards and mix channels, so for now I’m sticking with that. However, for people who can’t get a dish or don’t have a provider that carries Extra Innings, this is a great product. You can pretty much watch any game, any time, stop, go back, go forward, anything else you can do with a DVR. Well worth the price of the box and the price of the subscription.