Way OT: Thinking about cord-cutting- Sling TV?
So I've been enjoying Roku a lot and was wondering if I should just get rid of my Comcast cable?
I'm paying for so much crap that I don't even watch.
Is SlingTV any good? Anyone watch games with it? That's the only thing I watch on television is sporting events. All my shows I can watch on Youtube or Netflix or "another" website.
I have a Roku stick as opposed to a player. Would getting a player be better for having Sling?
February 9th, 2017 at 9:34 AM ^
Is Sling the best way to watch every Michigan game for people in the further reaches of the States?
Any M fans in Cali, AZ, etc. that never miss watching a game? Do you use Sling or is there an ESPN "Sunday Ticket" college football add on channel that gets you your Michigan games?
February 9th, 2017 at 9:36 AM ^
Except for the occasional regional flip of the ABC/ESPN2 football game, the only real question anywhere in the states is now whether or not one gets BTN. I get it here in Minnesota, so I see as much as I would if I were back home in Ann Arbor behind the Discount Tire on Stadium.
February 9th, 2017 at 9:34 AM ^
Playstation vue is the way to go.
February 9th, 2017 at 9:37 AM ^
Playstation Vue (at least right now) is far and away the better package. For $35 a month you get pretty much all the sports stations of cable. All the ESPNs (including ESPN app login), BTNs, FSx, SEC, plus all local except for ABC (use HD antenna or ESPN app for that).
Also, when I had SlingTV it was one of the worst performing pieces of crap SW I've ever used. I had major issues on Roku, PC, and Andriod with crashing, long freezes, audio not syncing, etc.
PS Vue works better if you have a PS3/PS4, but it'll work on Roku too. Both have been pretty much flawless. There's even a psuedo-DVR function.
February 9th, 2017 at 9:38 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 9:40 AM ^
All I have is a Chromecast and it works fine. I wondered at first if you needed a Playstation console to use it but you do not. It's the same sort of deal as Sling. Make an account, download the app, and then cast it to something
February 9th, 2017 at 9:41 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 10:24 AM ^
I have Playstation Vue as well and run it on the Fire TV. Haven't noticed much of a difference in picture quality or anything while watching sports, just the slight delay that others have mentioned. Also, agree that Fire TV performs significantly better than the Fire stick, though I can't speak to Roku performance.
Playstation Vue also has DVR functionality and gives you access to all the network apps.
February 9th, 2017 at 9:43 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 10:34 AM ^
35/month gets you virtually all sports i care about
(big ten net, espn family, fox sports)
no pac ten network
works VERY WELL with Roku
few other perks too:
Fx w/ all simpsons, etc.
February 9th, 2017 at 9:44 AM ^
Sounds to me like Sony needs to rebrand Vue as a legit alternative service, because more than one person on this thread was surprised to find that they could subscribe to it without owning a PSx.
February 9th, 2017 at 10:43 AM ^
This is the single biggest misconception about the service, and Sony shot themselves in the foot by calling it Playstation Vue.
February 9th, 2017 at 2:15 PM ^
Don't think it's by accident. I would think they are far more interested in selling playstations than PS Vue subscriptions.
February 9th, 2017 at 2:16 PM ^
double post
February 9th, 2017 at 2:16 PM ^
...and triple
February 9th, 2017 at 2:47 PM ^
Exactly. When Sony paid millions of dollars to sponsor the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl I assumed it would be to market Vue to people who only subscribe to cable to watch Espn. Yeah they had Vue commercials, but really missed a golden opportunity to better explain it.
February 9th, 2017 at 9:42 AM ^
If it works on Roku I might have to think about that myself. Any chance it offers NFL Redzone?
February 9th, 2017 at 9:46 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 9:58 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 9:35 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 9:44 AM ^
Totally agree with this. I got rid of my U-verse tv package and also added the $35 vue package. I would recommend having a system you can hardwire to your cable modem because sometimes the wifi takes a bit longer to load. I also like the fact that you can add "Favorite" shows to your list, and the service will automatically record to your DVR. You can also browse the channel lineup and catch up on any shows that have aired at a previous time. Never going back to cable.
February 9th, 2017 at 9:44 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 10:26 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 11:09 AM ^
Post an update if you get the mohu antenna - I'm in Adrian too and can't find anyone who has tried HD over the air here to tell if it works.
I dumped comcast (switched to D&P cable's 50mbit fiber intenet) and used Vue all football season without problems, then cancelled it the day after the Natl Championship game until next August. Vue, Amazon and Netflix running simultaneously on 3 tv's via FireTv boxes worked great on D&P's 50mbit internet service (which also has no monthly traffic cap).
When I got rid of comcast, I got rid of everything from them, even though their retention offer of cheaper, just-internet was less than D&P. I was pissed they didn't make that offer until I was convinced to ditch them anyway, and they kept raising fees on my basic tv & internet service.
February 9th, 2017 at 1:28 PM ^
I'm in Fremont, OH and I pick up the Toldeo networks as well. I have a huge attic where I setup a conventional antenna. I ran that cable to an amplifier / splitter to get OTA signals to my 6 TVs. I picked up everything great except for CBS. I used the online resources to get the direction of the network signals, and used a compass to point the antenna right at it. Still struggled with the CBS signal. Then I pointed the antenna to the North East, and now I'm picking up CBS and the rest of the Toledo stations well. I guess I could have some wierd interferences in my attic. So if you go this route, I suggest trial and error with your antenna orientation almost independent of where the signal is (I assume South to SouthWest of Adrian to Toledo).
Also FYI, I pick up a few Detroit networks from Fremont. So you may be able to pick up Detroit and Toldeo if you have a good antenna.
February 9th, 2017 at 9:37 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 9:39 AM ^
Sling's mobile app used to drive me nuts. The stupid side scrolling and then having to go alllll the way to the left to pick all channels or live TV was annoying
February 9th, 2017 at 9:42 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 9:38 AM ^
I had Sling and wasn't a fan so I pay for the $35/mo service with PSVue. I think it has more ESPN channels as well so for the sports enthusiast I think PSVue > Sling
February 9th, 2017 at 9:38 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 9:58 AM ^
Is having the Roku box more.........stable than having the stick?
I get buffering issues sometimes with the stick on the BTN app.
I don't want to have buffering in the 4th quarter of a game. I'll lose my fucking mind.
February 9th, 2017 at 10:12 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 10:20 AM ^
So compute power and bandwidth are your best friends. The Roku box offers more real estate for DSPs, so there should be more compute power there. You also gain power supply advantages, but I have no idea if that is really the case with Roku. Greater bandwidth insures the IP packets get to the DSPs in the required timing window. Bandwidth also provides more time to recover from bad/grabled packets that need to be retransmitted or to recover from network congestion events. If you've watched DirecTV during heavy thunderstorms, you've seen this problem.
So...in this case, "more" should be better in every way and bandwidth is always your best friend.
February 9th, 2017 at 10:23 AM ^
The box should help with the buffering issue and be a little faster overall (better specs).
I have a Roku 3 and have really enjoyed it, but if you are thinking about moving to PS Vue, there might be a better setup than Roku. As mentioned above, PS used the base template to design their Roku app. This has made the app extremely clunky and difficult to navigate in my mind. Other boxes (Amazon Fire TV, I think) let you watch TV while searching for a new channel, have a channel guide, and are a better functioning app in general.
I used the Vue trial last year to watch the UM game on BTN, but I kept my Comcast cable for now until I decide it's worth it to invest in another type of box or Vue updates their Roku app.
February 9th, 2017 at 1:36 PM ^
This really comes down to your network strength in my experience. I have PS4 (well my son does), Roku 3 (wired via ethernet) and Roku stick (wifi). I hated watching the stick via wifi until I upgraded my router. Now I cannot tell the difference on sports games. I'd still recommend the wired option whenever possible. I only purchased the stick to watch on my patio TV where I did not have ethernet. Its a nice floating signal now wherever that TV goes in the winter. So only buy a stick for locations you cannot easily get a Cat6 cable.
I got lucky right around Thanksgiving when Best Buy discounted the Roku 3 boxes to from $99 to $50, so I picked up 3 of them. If you are planning to make the switch, I'd suggest adding your favorite boxes to your best buy or amazon cart and watch the prices. Maybe you will get lucky like I did and jump on it. That is what ultimately prompted me to cut the cord.
February 9th, 2017 at 5:22 PM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 9:38 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 9:40 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 9:42 AM ^
For 20/month the selection is quite good in their basic package. ESPN and ESPN2 are the featured sports channels, though Fox Sports and B1G are not included (which is annoying). I bought an HD antenna, so anything on broadcast is also available for a low, one time fee of about $15.
I have had issues with the connectivity of Sling during largely viewed games, however. My internet speed is 30MPS so I know that's not the trouble. The Cavs Warriors game a month ago lagged and I had to restart the ap a couple times. I do consider this a minor inconvenience and consider it worth the trouble.
Overall I give it a B+ for what it is.
February 9th, 2017 at 9:44 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 9:44 AM ^
I did the same exact thing a few months ago. Got tired of paying too much for cable so I cut my cable (Charter) and kept my internet. If your looking for games, PlayStationVue is the way to go. It's like Sling but PSVUE has Big Ten Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, FSN Detroit and others depending on what plan you get. I'm on the Core Slim and it has all of the above channels and more. Plus, there's on demand stuff and it keeps the wife happy with all her channels like TLC, Oxygen and others. I don't think there is a way to get Big Ten Network if you cut your cable unless you get PSVUE or buy the Big Ten Subscription (even if you do keep your internet). I could be wrong but if you cut your cable, you can't pair it with the Big Ten App.
February 9th, 2017 at 9:47 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 9:48 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 9:48 AM ^
I had PSVue for a few months and it was fine outside of being a minute behind in real time. You don't need a PS4, but you need either a PS4 or Amazon Fire TV/Stick to sign up. The only drawback outside of the aforementioned lag was that you couldn't steam all channels on your mobile device. Certain channels required you to be using your home wifi network while also streaming to your TV via chromecast/amazon fire.
WIth that said, I made the switch to DirecTV Now in December when they were running their free Apple TV offer. This also works pretty well and has a lag like PSVue does. They had a $35/month special that included basically everything I wanted and HBO is only $5 on top of that. I am not sure what the packages are at now, but it's worth looking into. The major drawback here is that they're still negotiating with some channels, so they are currently unavailable like CBS and NFL Network. I'm sure they'll eventually have those though.
February 9th, 2017 at 9:50 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 9:56 AM ^
Playstation Vue beats Sling TV.
The Core Slim package is $35 a month and you get BTN, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNNEWS, ESPNU, FSD, FS1, FS2, NBCSN, NFL Network.
And it works on playstation, amazon fire tv, roku, or chromecast devices.
When my comcast contract runs out in the fall I'm going to get WOW ala cart internet and just use my fire tv box and get the core slim vue package. All in all it should be $90 a month for that setup as compared to the double play deal I have now that is $120.
If you are skeptical try the 7 day free trial.
February 9th, 2017 at 9:53 AM ^
I've been dragging my feet on something like this (I occasionally pick up or drop cable at my convenience, handy part of Charter's operating philosophy) but I'm considering PS Vue seriously, something I never thought I'd do. So this is a good thread.
February 9th, 2017 at 9:59 AM ^
to confirm...all I need is reliable internet and either a smart TV or blue-ray (to use as the browser), I download the PSVue AP and subscribe? Instead of like $85 for HD Comcast, I'd pay $30? Thanks
February 9th, 2017 at 10:05 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 10:08 AM ^