I had a lot of fun with DirecTV today. With the lead-up to the start of the 2011 NFL football season, I read this article, which said that DirecTV was going to start selling their NFL Sunday Ticket package to people who didn't have DirecTV (in an effort to increase their customer base). I have zero interest in getting a satellite dish, and even if I did, there is no way I could stick it on the outside of my apartment building. But I do have an interest in watching any NFL game that I like legally, so this year I decided to pry open the wallet and give it a shot.

Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to buy just the NFL Sunday Ticket To Go (the version that works on the Mac, iOS devices, and PS3), without also buying satellite service. So I called DirecTV, and after rattling around in their various sales queues, I was told that I had to have a technician come on site, and verify that I didn't have line of sight for the dish. Even when I protested that this didn't matter — I could have all the Southern exposure in the world, but my landlord still won't let me install a dish (leaving out the part that I didn't want one anyway), but DirecTV held firm.

So, I decided to buy the version that works on the PS3. The deal is this: for \$350, you can get a version of the NFL Sunday Ticket that works on pretty-much any device: PC/Mac, iOS, PS3, even some Android and Windows Phone 7 phones. Or, for \$340, you can get a version of the NFL Sunday Ticket that only works on the PS3. Obviously, the former is a much better deal, but I sucked it up and went with the PS3-only version.

And of course, that was a total disaster. This blog chronicles the issue, but in short, I spent more time waiting to see football, then actually watching any. The picture quality was really grainy (sub 480p), and it would only stream for a minute or two, before pausing for 5 or more minutes. It seems like DirecTV wasn't prepared for this onslaught of new users (which their twitter account basically admitted to). I tried again for the late game, and things were slightly better, the picture quality was near 720p, but there were still frequent drop-outs.

And of course, I have finally uncovered the link that would let me buy what I originally wanted, standalone NFL Sunday Ticket To Go. So, I think I'm going to see if I can cancel the PS3 version, and try the experiment again next week.

-Andy.