Does Anyone Have Sling Tv?

[misty8723]

I've been looking for awhile at different options to cut the cord on cable TV, but I just don't understand any of it enough to feel confident in actually making a move. I am sick of Spectrum. But it seems as though you need more than one thing to be able to get any channels, Hulu, Roku, Sling, it makes my head spin. If anyone has any advice as to what would be a good option, I'd love to hear it. We do have Smart TVs.

 

[Boris Diamond]

I have some experience here. For media sources, I have an over-the-air antenna, SlingTV and Amazon Prime. For streaming the internet, I have a Roku 3, an Amazon Firestick, a Samsung SmartTV and a Channel Master DVR, which will stream some services but will only record over-the-air channels. I rarely use the SmartTV for streaming, as it has limited apps. It streams Amazon Prime fairly well and it is useful as a regular TV. The interface is best on the Firestick and, oddly enough, with it I have access to more programming from some of the SlingTV channels I have.

The SlingTV website is not very informative. I think this website explains it much better than Sling does. Sling TV channel guide: All the programming, all the restrictions, and everything else you need to know

I tried Sling in January, but the signal was so bad I quit after the free trial. I tried it again in August and it is acceptable. I get a good and consistent signal on Firestick, OK signal on the Roku and don't watch much on the Channel Master DVR because of blurring, and freezing up. SlingTV is not available on my SmartTV. You may have different experience with which streaming device works best for you.

Sling says they are a la carte, but you must buy a package which will probably have channels you do not want. They are much cheaper than cable or satellite. You do have more options about what you can pay for or not pay for. They say they have local network packages, but as I understand it, only for some markets.

Amazon Prime streaming content is not great, and it is not the main reason I have Prime, but I do use it.

Over-the-air requires an antenna of some sort, of course. How much you have to spend depends on how far you are from the broadcasting towers and other factors. If you want an antenna, the antenna makers will give good advice about what you need.

I have friends with HULU. They like it, as it has many TV series from the last 30 years. I have had Netflix, but I did not think it was a good value for me. Others may disagree, it depends on what you want to watch.

I like sports, old movies and some new series, so that determines which services I use. You may want different things.

There are several other streaming services, but these are the ones I have experience with.

If you have any questions, I would be happy to try and answer them.

 

[misty8723]

boris diamond, thank you for your very detailed answer. I'm still not sure I have a clue what would be best. Right now we have Samsung Smart TVs, Amazon Prime, and an antenna. The antenna is great but we found we can't get ABC and there is one show I like to watch on ABC. I haven't found a lot to stream on Amazon, but we have found a few things, and it works okay on the TV. I tried Netflix and wasn't impressed, so I cancelled after the free trial. I have Hulu at the moment but haven't checked it out too much. We looked for movies and most of them didn't look like anything I would be interested in. We did put one on and it cut out in the middle, so we just gave it up. I might like the old TV series, If I can figure out how to actually find anything. I'm not a fan of having to scroll through dozens of pictures to try to find something, I'd rather search down a list. Seems no one does that anymore.

What interested me about sling is that it looked like it had the networks I would be interested in, and the local sports channel (I like to watch hockey once in a while). I don't see any way of getting the local sports network on anything else, but maybe I'm wrong. You are right, the sling website isn't very useful, so thank you for the link. I will check it out.

What do you actually get with Roku and/or Firestick? Is it the same kind of thing as Hulu? Do they do different things, so it's better to get both?

 

[Purr-fect]

Im very untech savy. So please take or discard what I have to say.

My understanding is if you want current sports, you are stuck with cable.

After many frustrating years with cable, unreliable service, constantly rising bills and increasingly poor content we finally cut the cable. I now realize I should have done this years ago.

We have a smart tv in the kitchen hooked to an antenna. We only get a dozen channels reliably, but they are crystal clear and in high definition. We use this tv to watch the news when we make dinner.

The other tv is an old sony tube tv....yes they are still going strong. We have a roku for this tv and can basically go on line with it, although we only use it for netflix. We only watch an hour or so a day, so this setup is fine for us. Netflix has some decent series and we seldom have time to watch a movie anyway. Ironically the picture quality on our old sony with netflix is better than our cable provider gave us. (Yes I know the reason why)

It was a hassle cutting the cord, but WELL worth it.

 

[Boris Diamond]

misty8723 - if you mean Fox Sports South, Fox Sports Southeast and Fox Sports Carolina, they are available on the Sling "Blue" package. I assume since you are in NC (like me) you are looking for one of the above. Sling has two basic packages, Orange and Blue. The Orange package has over 25 channels with ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN3 for sports, allows one stream and costs $20 a month. The Blue package has over 35 channels with FX1, FX2, Fox Sports Regionals, NFL Network, and NBC Sports Network for sports, allows three streams(three different programs on three separate TV's)and costs $25. You get a small discount for both at $40. There is another $5-$10 sports package that has the NHL network.

Roku and the Firestick are similar hardware devices that allow you to stream from the internet like the smart tv does. Neither has much worthwhile content but they both allow you to access content from Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Vudu, Amazon Prime, SlingTV and many others. The Firestick works best for me. The smart tv is not that good for streaming and my Samsung has very limited selection of apps.

Most services have a search function, though it can be difficult to find. I find this much quicker than scrolling through lists.

 

[misty8723]

Purr-fect - You can use Roku with a tube TV?? My sister still has one, the picture is awesome so she doesn't want to ditch it. I told her she couldn't use Roku with it. Would be cool if she could.

 

[misty8723]

Boris Diamond - I guess it is Fox Sports South? Whichever one covers the Hurricanes. I saw that you can get that channel with Sling, which was what had me looking at it to begin with. I think the package with NHL is $10 a month. One of the packages gets at least some of the local channels I believe, but we do have an antenna for that, except for ABC.
Maybe I will sign up for the free trial to see how it works. I see where you have to call them to cancel, which actually irritates me, and is about the only thing holding me back. I would have to get DH on board as well - he is always talking about hating Spectrum, but will he do anything about it? Who knows.