SLING vs VU

[hahler2]

Good to know. I didn't catch that. So that makes the price difference even larger. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[tigerfan33]

I'm checking out Sling on a free trial this week to compare to Vue.
The pq has definitely improved since the last time I tried Sling last year. Video noise has almost been eliminated. Good job Sling.
Now to get a new guide grid and the soon dvr.
Now I wouldn't hesitate to switch between Vue and Sling once the dvr feature goes live.
DIRECTV Now is not even in the mix with all the bugs and no dvr at this time.
To me Sling pq has pushed slightly ahead of Now to move into 2nd place just behind Vue.

 

[andy_horton]

Since working on cutting the cord, I have figured out I do not need a cloud dvr, so I spent a lot of time trying out Netflix, Amazon, Vue and Sling on my Fire tv (2nd gen) and Roku Ultra.

For amazon tv shows, the Roku Ultra trumps the Fire tv, where I see banding and contouring during not so hot content on the Fire, the Roku looks fine like my UHD disc player. For Sling, with the all channel package, sports and lifestyle, it works well, and having the sling button on the remote is very good for the wife.

I am probably going to stick with Sling mainly because I like the Roku Ultra better as the one stop shop, the Sling button on the remote, and Sling has Max. I need all 4 premiums at different times. You can get Starz and Showtime thru Amazon for cheap, and of course HBO Now by itself, but Max is only on Sling. I also added HBO with sling, and their VOD PQ is very very good. I did some testing on the first episode of Westworld, and it looked great.

Some of the Vue channels like TNT, AMC, and a few others I tried looks very very good on the Roku, but then like FX wasn't so hot. Not bad I mean, but it could have also been the older movie I was watching. Blade Trinity was on one of those channels and it looked great, really surprising how streaming tv has gone, especially when you have a decent internet connection.

The main thing is I can watch every channel I need, drop packages easily when football is done, and it will be a lot less than my upcoming $170 directv bill.

When I look at FX on Sling TV, seems to me the pq is just not hardly as "crisp" or good looking as say TNT or TBS or say Cinemax. My opinion but I've compared not to Vue, but to cable and cable blew it out of the water for some reason. But that alone wasn't enough to keep me subscribing to cable

 

[andy_horton]

I see that now with the Ultra plan. I missed that. I did a search for Cinemax to go basically when I was hunting and for some reason got an earlier article where it was only on Sling. The premiums and ESPNs were what kept me away from cutting, but now there are plenty of options.

Ill go this route most likely:

• Sling Tv Orange + Blue
• Sports pack only while college football is on
• Lifestyle Plus all the time for DIY and others
• HBO, Max and Starz via Sling as needed for originals
• Showtime as needed via Amazon

Will save money for sure.

Now we wait to see what others bring out, like Directv. No contract and making account changes easily online is a HUGE plus.

I have orange and blue full time
Cinemax full time ( love the movies)
Lifestyle, Comedy, Hollywood, News full time
Sports for football part time (maybe a little basketball but most of those on ESPN)

 

[andy_horton]

For me Vue is by far the better value. Sling is 40 dollars for orange plus blue. Plus 5 dollars each for kids channels and sports channels. Puts me at 50 dollars for sling. Plus none of the 4 major networks are available in my area with Sling so another 8 dollars a month for Hulu and 6 a month for CBS All Access. Puts me at 64 a month!

Vue I'm on the 35 dollar plan. Get all the channels I want including ABC, NBC, and FOX on demand. Plus regional sports and cloud DVR. So then just another 6 a month for CBS all access. 41 a month there. That's a big price difference.

Also for me I don't care for watching TV outside the house. If I'm not at home chances are I'm doing something where I don't need to be watching TV. And if I do, I can just use my Vue log in for almost any channels app. Yeah it means I have to download a bunch of different apps but that doesn't bother me much for as little as I do it.

That's what I love about all these new streaming services. We have choices. And they're choices that we aren't locked into for 2 years. So next week if something changes and I decide that Sling, or Directv Now is the better option there's nothing stopping me from switching.

Definitely a good point about being able to switch!! Also, with what I want being different from you, Sling is a better option for me. But that's the cool thing...there are CHOICES AND COMPETITION!! To me, that's critical so this doesn't turn into another monopoly like Comcast or Charter