I'm sure you guys have answered this before, but is there a simple way to get the Astros in the Austin area without Direct TV?

I have Dish and really don't want to switch for one station. I'd gladly pay for the MLB TV but the Astros are blacked out and I don't have any experience with the VPN blocker stuff.

Thank you.

I'll ask a similar-but-different piggy back question since you started the thread because I tried asking this in the Astros thread but nobody answered either.

We switched to streaming only after last season, partially because I thought DirecTV Now would have AT&T Sportsnet by the start of this season, but so far, still no luck.

So as far as I know, there's still no way, if you live in Texas, to stream the Astros without either cable or satellite, is that correct?

Here is a discussion about streaming work around.

https://texags.com/forums/53/topics/2845407/replies/50348253#50348253

I stream the Astros in Houston. I have MLB.tv.

To do it, you need a Roku stick or Roku built into the TV you are watching it on. I think Apple TV also works.

You'll need an MLB.tv subscription. I went month-to-moth first to make sure it worked last year.

Then, subscribe to a Smart DNS service. It will cost you about $5/mo. I use overplay.net. The website explains setup pretty easily.

This will not work on Amazon Fire Stick or Google Chromecast. Those devices don't work properly with the Smart DNS service.

VPN also works, but for me, it really slows down my download speed.

Does /r/MLBStreams/ still put up every game?

Bobinator I am right there with you... we went to all stream a couple months ago. We use a Fire Stick and I was hopeful if I upgraded my DirecTV Now account it would provide regional sports but just has Fox Sports. So I would assume right now I am relegated to the streaming on a CPU?

I'm going to start doing agproducer's workaround on Monday. We already run our Playstation Vue service through a Roku stick on the TV so I've already got that part of the setup.

I know in my soul that the moment I hit purchase on mlb.tv that they'll put out a press release that AT&T Sportsnet is coming to DirecTV Now the next day, but oh well, it's not that much money.

bobinator said:

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I know in my soul that the moment I hit purchase on mlb.tv that they'll put out a press release that AT&T Sportsnet is coming to DirecTV Now the next day, but oh well, it's not that much money.

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If you are worried about it, do month to month. It's $25. The full single team season is $90. Last year, at the end of June, mlb had a flash sale for $10 for the rest of the season. So, if they do it this year, you could try month to month, then hope for the flash sale later this summer.

12thmanisright said:

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Bobinator I am right there with you... we went to all stream a couple months ago. We use a Fire Stick and I was hopeful if I upgraded my DirecTV Now account it would provide regional sports but just has Fox Sports. So I would assume right now I am relegated to the streaming on a CPU?

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The only way you can stream Astros in market that I know of, even on computer, is using a Smart DNS service or VPN. You can always try the Reddit streams, but I've always had issues with those.

Also, I put together all I know about streaming (with help from other Ags) in the following thread.

I hope you find it helpful.

https://texags.com/forums/30/topics/2886643

96ags said:

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I'm sure you guys have answered this before, but is there a simple way to get the Astros in the Austin area with Direct TV?

I have Dish and really don't want to switch for one station. I'd gladly pay for the MLB TV but the Astros are blacked out and I don't have any experience with the VPN blocker stuff.

Thank you.

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Have you tried Channel 674? That's where I watch the Astros on Directv.

Sorry about that, meant to say WITHOUT Direct TV. I have Dish network and they don't carry the AT&T channel to my knowledge.

agproducer said:

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12thmanisright said:

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Bobinator I am right there with you... we went to all stream a couple months ago. We use a Fire Stick and I was hopeful if I upgraded my DirecTV Now account it would provide regional sports but just has Fox Sports. So I would assume right now I am relegated to the streaming on a CPU?

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The only way you can stream Astros in market that I know of, even on computer, is using a Smart DNS service or VPN. You can always try the Reddit streams, but I've always had issues with those.

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I made my T-Mobile MLB.tv account a few days ago. Tried ExpressVPN with MLB.tv tonight and I was blacked out from ALL games. I wonder if they are on to VPNs.

Forum Troll said:

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agproducer said:

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12thmanisright said:

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Bobinator I am right there with you... we went to all stream a couple months ago. We use a Fire Stick and I was hopeful if I upgraded my DirecTV Now account it would provide regional sports but just has Fox Sports. So I would assume right now I am relegated to the streaming on a CPU?

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The only way you can stream Astros in market that I know of, even on computer, is using a Smart DNS service or VPN. You can always try the Reddit streams, but I've always had issues with those.

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I made my T-Mobile MLB.tv account a few days ago. Tried ExpressVPN with MLB.tv tonight and I was blacked out from ALL games. I wonder if they are on to VPNs.

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Check what city your VPN is based. You may have better luck routing it through Europe. Of course, your T-Mobile MLB.tv account may be locked to a Houston location.

If you are streaming through your phone, even with a VPN, that could be screwing you because even on wifi, your mobile device will still give MLB.tv your location.

If you were trying to stream through Roku only on your network with a VPN, it should work.

You may want to ask some streamers in The Nerdery if you continue to have problems.

I tried a few different locations. Every game was blacked out. Didn't matter which game I picked. I'm wondering if MLB has blacklisted some of the IPs from the more popular VPN services.

I'll try again tomorrow and may use a euro VPN.

Forum Troll said:

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I tried a few different locations. Every game was blacked out. Didn't matter which game I picked. I'm wondering if MLB has blacklisted some of the IPs from the more popular VPN services.

I'll try again tomorrow and may use a euro VPN.

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Try Smart DNS. It's cheaper per month.

I posted this question in the Nerdery forum but figured I would also ask it here.

I have a question about the DNS service. Right now I get all of the local channels through my streaming service, which is Hulu. I use Roku as my streaming device, so in order to do the MLB workaround, the DNS websites require me to change the DNS settings on my router. Will changing the DNS settings on my router prevent me from now getting the local channels through Hulu or can I still just specifically adjust the location settings for the MLB app to the UK but keep the Hulu app local?

rosco511 said:

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I posted this question in the Nerdery forum but figured I would also ask it here.

I have a question about the DNS service. Right now I get all of the local channels through my streaming service, which is Hulu. I use Roku as my streaming device, so in order to do the MLB workaround, the DNS websites require me to change the DNS settings on my router. Will changing the DNS settings on my router prevent me from now getting the local channels through Hulu or can I still just specifically adjust the location settings for the MLB app to the UK but keep the Hulu app local?

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I changed my settings on my router with overplay.net, and I have PSVue. The change on the router does not change my local channels on Vue.

Also, in overplay's website, you can make the adjustments to have the MLB.tv app routed through the UK, but keep your other apps routed normally.

Great, thanks!