[skunark]

So for the past several years my viewing habits have been mostly over the air antenna, and either Netflix, Showtime, HBO, along with the occasional video on demand show/season and in the fall, a sports bar to catch my favorite college football team.   During this time, my viewing costs were anywhere from $10 to $30 for a given month, and luckily I don't have a lot of eyes to feed, so I do realize this is unusually low compared to others.   I will point out that months of October and November have been rather difficult for the last decade since my college team is in a different region, so this year I decided to try SlingTV and have mostly been disappointed.  I'm not disappointed with the occasional freezing of the much needed ESPN channels for the key two months of the year, but I'm really disappointed with the other channels offered by SlingTV, most of them are just a binge of seasons that you can get on netflix.    I honestly see no value after ESPN for slingTV, i don't even see value for FS1/2, so I now put them in the same horrible light as comcast and other cable companies.

I don't understand SlingTV, i like the idea of "live streaming tv" so i can just have noise in the background, but those shows should also be on-demend, I do wish Netflix and HBO would also do that.   It seems that Showtime has the recipe that I like,  two live channels (east coast and west coast) with the show available on demand as soon as the first live airing of the show. 

Through my Amazon Prime shipping membership I have watched The Americans on my xbox (with the annoying screensaver dimming issue that I hope other xbox users have experienced), but I feel its worse off than Netflix and SlingTV.

Next year I might try out Playstation Vue if there's not a better offer to watch college football, but i'm still trying to figure out why they need to know my address, phone number, etc., when all these other services don't. 

Pretty much all of these streaming services have worse audio and video (highly compressed) when compared to a blu-ray or over-the-air channels.

I'm curious of your experiences with the streaming, especially compared to the PlayStation Vue since I might give them a go next month if i can figure out how not to give Sony my contact information yet again to be hacked.

Jim

[lokie]

I haven't tried sling but have been very curious. It seems to good to be true. thanks for the review, as your observations confirmed my suspicions.

Sports is the killer component when trying to cut the chord. We tried it for over a year and I finally gave in when my 12 year boy said..." You can't have proper upbringing without cable."

I laughed but he was right. No football, no soccer, no Olympics, etc., etc..  I know, I know, there are work arounds and we have computers on all our TV's. But they are a huge hassle and

don't really work.

So... we just bought the cheapest cable package and are a happy family again. We were just not going to miss the Olympics this summer and College football has been great this year.

[Nick B]

I have Sling tv. It is poor at best. Their ESPN 3 has a very, very poor selection of college games. Mostly schools that I've never heard of or care about. I have been looking at Sony Vue and that appears to be much better. Now that I've cut the cable cord, the cable company is offering great deals. Maybe gouging their customers resulted in losing quite a bit of business.......

[randytsuch]

Sports is the killer component when trying to cut the chord. We tried it for over a year and I finally gave in when my 12 year boy said..." You can't have proper upbringing without cable."

That's too funny 

We just switched from time warner cable to directv.  Sorry, didn't really cut any cord.  But I was really tired of the cable bill creeping up every month.  So far, happy with directv.  Buy through costco and get a good rebate.  Also, the confirmation email said the promotional pricing is good for 2 years, normally the promo pricing is just for one year.

Randy

[ernest787]

We cut the cable almost 2 years ago.  I debated long and hard about cutting it b/c of sports.  Here is my experience:

- Initially I went with Sling and used an antenna to pick up local channels.  Sling is solid for what it is.  He is a bit buggy and I did have times when it dropped out or would go down for an extended period of time  This was a major disappointment bc you can only watch Sling live.  There is not way to record anything.  Sling does have an on-demand service for certain programs but I found this to be shakey at best and not very reliable.  That said, I was usually able to watch the Monday Night football game, watched all the NBA playoffs, and was able to catch every other nationally televised sporting event.  Sling coupled with an antenna (needed for local channels) and netflix or other streaming service was the first viable streaming solution for live TV, imo.

- PS Vue then came to the market.  I kicked the tires quite a bit on this b/c Vue is a little more expenses than Sling.  However, Vue does offer you the ability to record live TV (no ESPN for this though), has local channels (market dependent), and had a more robust selection of channels.  I finally decided to give Vue a try and fell in love with it.  I have used it for 6-7 months now and have not had many issues.  I think I have lost signal once or twice during that time but both resolved very quickly.  The picture quality is good.  I don't see any real difference between it or netflix or any other streaming service.  It allows up to 5 devices to be active at a time.  We only have 2 TVs in the house so it is plenty for me and my wife.  Vue does require your location b/c depending on where you are they may not offer local channels.  They are also picky on the IP address.  So once you register for your home you cannot give out your info to a friend b/c if htey long in from a different IP it'll make the entire thing stop working and you'll have to call them.  Another benefit to Vue is they offer NFL Sunday Ticket.  That was a huge plus for me.  I think it's $30 or $40 for a year, which is pretty reasonable, imo. 

Overall, Vue is hands down the winner for me.  If Vue was not available I'd tell you that Sling is a passable alternative to a traditional cable company; however, Vue is the first real threat to cable companies.  Sony offers pretty much everything a traditional company would offer without any of the hassles.  Purchase an amazon fire stick or tv, plug it in, sign up, and you're watching TV immediately.  Decide you're not watching enough or have financial hardship, just cancel it via their app and sign up at a later day if you wish.  Cannot recommend it enough.

[woodsyi]

I have internet and TV bundled with additional regional sports package.  If you cut the cord for TV, where do you get the internet?  Is it really cheaper overall?

FYI, my phone is also part of the bundle.

[chip]

I have internet and TV bundled with additional regional sports package.  If you cut the cord for TV, where do you get the internet?  Is it really cheaper overall?

FYI, my phone is also part of the bundle.

What is your bundle cost?

I pay $39.99/month for Internet. I use Ooma for VOIP(Phone) - $4/month and  have netflix streaming + 1 movie out at a time -$17.99/month.

Sports is what kills most people but when they cut the cord. There are online services for this but most stuff that is local is blackout.  I am not a huge sports fan. I enjoy watching the packers and timbers.
I watch the packers thru a slingbox hooked up at my dad's house back in Wisconsin. I watch the Timbers thru MLS live app($50 or $60) one time payment for the season. Get most games for the season with a VPN service @ not cost.

[ernest787]

I do think it is cheaper than cable even with a bundle.

I pay $40 a month for PS Vue and $40 for internet.  That's $80.  When I was with direct tv I was paying $150. 

I do not have a home phone.  Just cell phone so I don't know about that part.

But even more important for me is that I don't have any contracts.  I can cancel at any time and I can jump between services if I want.  If Sling or another services comes out that is cheaper or better than Vue, it's as simple as canceling online and singing up for that service.

[randytsuch]

I'm paying $86 a month for the entertainment package that includes sports channels.  This also includes the Korean package for my MIL, which is $31 so without that it would only be $55 a month.

And like I said, ordered through costco, and it said I get that price for 24 months, which is the length of the contract.
Its in an email that I am saving, lol.

And unlike cable, there are not a bunch of taxes and fees on the bill.

I'm still stuck with time warner for cable, which costs me $60 a month.

[skunark]

Ignoring the price differences, it seems the key advantage of PS Vue is the ability to record shows, which wasn't a feature I was after and just overlooked.  With these streaming services, I just expect every show to be available on-demand for a reasonable duration after the initial airing and this should include sporting events and of course commercial free.  Seems the "Cloud DVR" feature for PS Vue would put it a lot close to the likes of Netflix, Showtime, HBO, Amazon Prime and iTunes.  But I would still place Sling TV and PS Vue in the camp of cable companies with the commercials.  I should lump in Hulu in this list, but it's another service that requires a bit too much information to register.   

The biggest shock for me was the return of commercials, sure over-the-air shows has had them, it's free and I expect that.    I just forgot that all of these cable channels had commercials and they still edited movies to fit into timeslots, etc.   This brought back memories of the HD channels airing 4:3 content with screwed up aspect ratios and mono sound, streaming is big upgrade over "HD" cable.    The biggest shock was with the commercials for on-demand content, this is where Netflix really shines and has a huge value over SlingTV.   

As for costs, I have frontier fios and the 30 for 30 plan (so $35ish), ooma voip $4/month, which makes the grand total at $45-80ish a month depending on my viewing habits.  Keep in mind I only plan to subscribe to ESPN for two months out of the year and will hit a sports bar for Dec/Jan, so the monthly average would be around $60 plus any on-demand shows I can't live without.   I am excluding Amazon Prime, but that would add $8/month if I saw no value for second day shipping.  To me this is significantly cheaper than cable tv, and with significantly less commercials and compared to the time I cut the cord, significantly better audio and video.  Movies are not edited for time, no screwy aspect ratios, and no mono audio, no contracts,..etc., etc.

Jim

BTW, SlingTV is fully aware of my region as it didn't provide any of the regional fox sports channels, so I still don't get why PS Vue needs all of that contact information.   

[ernest787]

I think you are missing what Sling and Ps Vue are trying to offer. 

Most people have cut the cord b/c they are tired of paying for channels they do not need, boxes that are unnecessary, and being given introductory prices that increase to huge amounts after certain time periods.  Not to mention most people do not want to deal with contracts if they do not have to. 

Comparing Netflix to Ps Vue is not the right comparison at all.  Ps Vue should be compared to traditional cable companies. 

Ideally, I'd like a service where I can choose exactly which channels I want and which I do not.  Unfortunately, that does not exist yet.  Instead, with PS Vue, they offer me a large selection of traditional cable channels for a reasonable price.  They do not lock me into a contract, they do not offer DVR boxes, I do not have to pay for installation, and I know my bill is not going to increase in 2 years after the introductory price ends.

So yes, PS Vue and Sling are like having cable, but without 90% of the drawbacks.  I do believe that these services will grow in popularity and will eventually force the cable companies to adapt or go the way of Blockbuster. 

[skunark]

I disagree, it's fair to compare Netflix, a streaming service, with Sling TV, a streaming service, with Playstation Vue, a streaming service.   It's just as fair to compare Sling TV a live TV service, with PlayStation Vue, a live TV service, with Cable TV, a live TV service, but without the over-the-air channels.    For the life of me, I see no advantage of traditional cable TV, Sling TV or Playstation Vue unless you want sports or access to the latest seasons of cable only shows with commercials. 

I did make the jump to Playstation Vue for the second month of college football and right away i noticed more on-demand content and the ability to pause live shows.   Maybe that's a device feature vs service difference and since I didn't use the same device for both PS Vue(PS4) and SlingTV (AppleTV) I would be curious if other devices to pause.   I didn't think about trying SlingTV on the PS4, so I would be curious to know.    For one channel and one show, i noticed that both SlingTV and Playstation Vue only kept the previous three weeks of episodes available on-demand.  In this case episodes 2-4, were available but not 1,  this week episode 5 was available on PlayStation Vue but not SlingTV.   

For sports fans, you will need an antenna to watch your games because of regional blackouts and I had a game that was on EPSN2 for the first half and ABC for the second half.   As for price PS Vue is $10 cheaper if you need both FS1/2 and EPSN1/2 and if you want ESPN News and ESPU expect to pay $10 more.

Jim

[bacobits1]

Using PS Vue can you get ABC CBS and NBC?
Don't see that.
Using Sling for now but a lot of channels I don't care about. Using Kodi and USTVNow and way too much buffering at times and I have 120mb/s Dl speed through TW. AND Kodi has been tweaked.
This is all on the Amazon FireTV box. I pay TW for internet only 43/mo

Sling is AT&T, Direct TV is AT&T it is the biggest rip off!! Don't need AT&T taking over TW!!! I think that will be stopped anyway.
Had the Direct TV and their 2 year price guarantee is false. After the first year the bill went up to over 89 here which was a 50% increase. They started charging for the equipment. I cancelled and it cost me 125 to get out for the remainder of the year. Reported them to the Attorney Generals office. What BS!

[jparkhur]

I too was also sick of rising prices in cable and other items connected to it.  We have access to Charter and Century Link Cable, Gig for both, and all sat options.  I have a wife who likes HG tv and sports and three kids in HS and MS.  When I got rid of cable it was 125 dollars per month with internet and phone.  I have since moved to OOMA for phone, 100 start up and 4 dollars per month for taxes, no fees.  I have kept this because I want  a home phone line for my younger kid-not all kids have cells.  I then canceled cable and put an antenna on the roof from radio shack.  It was 50 dollars and I used the cable that the cable company left for the input.  It gets all of my channels, 4 pbs, nbc, abc, fox, cbs, and 10 others.  Picture is great, even being 50 miles away from one of the farthest.  I have a few ROKUs and APPLE TVs on the different tvs.  I purchased SLING about 18 months ago and have had positive success with it. My kids don't complain about channels as SLING has the majority of what they want and wife is happy also.  Sling has its issues sometimes balancing out the load of subscribers-especially during NCAA basketball time on TBS.  It is fine and I have no issues. 

Current cost-
100 for OOMA box, 4 dollars month
50 TV antenna    0 dollars per month
SLING Tv    20 dollars a month and signed up and got a free ROKU 3

Total monthly bill is 25 dollars.

I do admit I use my Mom's cable login info to access live tv on the apple tvs, so that is a benefit. 

The current political environment has got Congress moving toward making all companies offer apps and not require boxes, which is one of the reasons I left cable.  That will take about a year to get through.  We will see.

JP
FYI  I have moved 6 people in my block from cable to OTA tv, they all love it.. Some have Sling, some ROKUs some Amazon Prime....

[skunark]

Using PS Vue can you get ABC CBS and NBC?

I guess key tier 1 regions PS Vue will provide local channels, but for me i just have ABC, NBC and Fox on demand.

Jim

[bacobits1]

Thanks I will check PSVue out the weekend and let you know what I think.
I'm using UsaTv and the buffering at times is terrible it runs through Kodi is that reason.
Kodi I think is not ready for prime time. Too many server issuss. Good for movies for the most part.

[skunark]

So now that I have tried SlingTV, PS Vue and DirecTV Now during this college football season all I can say is they offered what I needed to watch college football.   Otherwise, I just can't believe how terrible the cable channels have become... an example, BBC America just seems to stream Star Trek, and most other channels seem to binge similar shows, all of which can be had for much less on netflix or like service and all without commercials. 

Live Streaming:
SlingTV - Sports, limited on-demand - occasional pauses, compressed video
PS Vue - Sports, limited on-demand, but better than SlingTV until they dropped the channels I was interested in....  - occasional pauses, compressed video
DirecTV Now - Sports was about it, - occasional pauses that required a restart of app, compressed video, some shows on certain channels were not in HD..

On-Demand Streaming:
Amazon Video/Prime - no sports but a good selection of on-demand, The Grand Tour, and first few seasons of The Americans and Mr Robot and of course 2 day shipping and streaming music service, offline mode
Netflix - no sports, just on-demand, some great original content, offline mode - compressed video
Stars - no sports, on demand currated movies.  - compressed video
HBO Now - no sports (ignoring boxing), on currated movies and original content - compressed video
Showtime Now - no sports, currated movies and original content - compressed video

The live streaming services had the worst video and smallest selection of shows to watch even if you included their on-demand offerings. I don't see how Stars will survive this race as their selection quality was just awful.... a bad movie is still a bad movie a decade later.

I'm excited to have a new season of Homeland next month on Showtime and of course the next installment of Games of Throne on HBO in spring, but I will be bouncing around the on-demand services monthly until next college football season.   I hope then ESPN and FOX Sports will offer apps that won't be impacted by blackouts, if not, I won't have an issue picking the best value of live streaming products.   

[bacobits1]

Yea all true same here.
Amazon prime, Netflix, PS Vue, and Sling for now.
Movies through Kodi.
All or most of TV is repeated drivil constantly.
History is good.
They have a lot of nerve paying the people in these shows.
Friggin garbadge.
Still here at or just 100/ mo.
You can tell I'm pissed at TV.

[vkohl]

TV = Zionist Communist Brainwashing ...throw your TV AWAY !!! ...your brain will thank you.

[Bob in St. Louis]

TV = Zionist Communist Brainwashing ...throw your TV AWAY !!! ...your brain will thank you.

Now why would you dig up a thread that's been dead for six months just to say that?