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NetworkNewb

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MontagueVandervort

Can't really say much about Sling TV. All the masses of twenty-something people I know are more into Netflix. I cut the cable so many years ago, and it's one of the best decisions I ever made. TV wastes so much time and so much money both of which can be better spent.

boxerboy1168

I just listen to podcast and read.

Violated

I had sling for a while, but the thing that drove me away from it was the lack of DVR and the quality wasn't as good as its competitors. Sure, it has on demand, but I hate wasting time on commercials. I'm currently using Playstation Vue which I enjoy much more than sling. I too hated seeing the wasted money on Directv, and now I get all the channels I want for way less.

PC509

As a service, it's great. It had some issues when it was first launched, but they resolved those (took some time, but they did). Quality is fine, speed is fine, selection is fine. It works great.

However, I did find that the reason I left satellite wasn't because of the price, it was because of the content. I can deal with commercials. It's the 8 hour marathons of Pawn Stars, Storage Wars, American Pickers, etc. on Discovery, Nat Geo, TLC... Lack of good content.

Sling, PS Vue were great. I haven't tried YouTube TV or HuluTV (newer entries, similar services), but they seemed more expensive for not much over what I was getting on Sling or PSVue. I'm just on Hulu Plus, Netflix, OTA, and I'm doing great with what I want to watch. Throw YouTube in there, and I'm doing great.

gespenstern

I don't watch TV since 1999. I have a flat TV attached to X-Box for kids, no live subscription, they just do very occasional gaming. Used very rarely.

I watch maybe 2-3 movies per year and maybe 1 episode of a TV show (usually start but they lose me quickly), sometimes buy uber-cheap DVDs @ Walmart.

My kids were born after I abandoned TV, so they never felt they need it. They do watch stuff on their devices I don't care much about, primarily teenage videoblogs on YT and stuff like that.

My monthly payment is $44 for typical ATT DSL suburban internet.

When I stumble upon what's happening on TV when I'm at a gym or visiting a friend it always amazes me how sane people can consume the crap these talking heads with seemingly serious faces are trying to feed us and pay for it.

TechGromit

Due to financial issues, I cut my cable to basic (16 channels I think) and 25 Mbps / 5 Mbps internet speed, and I still pay $80 a month. I had SlingTV before, It $20 for the basic package, and $25 for the upgraded package that included the Sci-Fi channel. I do not currently have it. The issue I had it sometimes the quality of the picture would pixel-ate, become blocky like poor streaming, I think a larger streaming buffer would solve this issue.

For Cable alternatives, try PlutoTV, some of the programming is a little off the wall, like Watching people play Minecraft on the Minecraft channel, and watching people play other games, and who can do without the Eye Candy channel, but they have some decent programming too. Several News and movies channels, Technology shows, America's funnies videos, Prank TV, Mystery Sci 3000, Texas Holdem etc, there about 60 streaming channel choices, including music channels, all for free, all in HD, but they do have commercials. This is what TV is suppose to be before the channels started getting bundled and sold to cable and satellite networks. My opinion is if your going to charge me for the service, at don't have commercials. The networks are double dipping in my opinion, they are charging your cable provider to allow them to carry the channels, which they bundle, for example you can't get the Disney channel without also buying the ESPN channel and they charge a mint for the ESPN channel even you don't watch sports and you want the Disney channel for your kiddies. Then they have commercials on too. While I have no love for providers like Comcast, it really not all there fault, in order to carry channels viewers want, they are forced to pay for channels they don't want which they pass the cost on to the consumer.

There's a Free on-demand streaming movie network as well, the name escapes me. The movies aren't the newest, but there are a few hundred free movies to pick from, and you can pay for other newer offerings, I'll get the name of it, when I get home.

networker050184

Sling isn't too bad. I've been off cable for over five years now and gave it a shot last year. Decent service, but I had access to all the same stuff through other means so ended up canceling.

I'd have to disagree on Pluto though TechGromit. Horrible and not worth a bother. Mostly the same crap on repeat.

TechGromit

networker050184 wrote: »

I'd have to disagree on Pluto though TechGromit. Horrible and not worth a bother. Mostly the same crap on repeat.

The News Doesn't repeat, and the cost is right, it's FREE, gives you more choices, even if you really don't like the choices.

TechGromit

Crackle and TubiTV are other free on demand choices. Yes it's not main stream television, but broaden your horizons.

daristotle

I have Netflix and Amazon Prime for most of my streaming. I also use Plex and a HDHomerun network TV tuner to record over the air TV. There are a few other options out there for over the air DVRs, but I already had a Plex server going. There's a bit of setup to automatically remove commercials, but it's worth it.

jmasterj206

I have been using Playstation Vue for the last year like Violated and I have been happy with it. It does have some DVR functionality. The common misconception is that you need a Playstation and that isn't true. It works on most streaming devices now.

https://www.playstation.com/en-us/network/vue/

Ryan9764

I have sling tv. It is alright but it sometimes lag on you or buffer on you. If you using it on a xbox one, it sucks. I was watching college basketball game, and it buffer on me.

JoJoCal19

I have always wanted to cut the cord but I'm a college football junkie (and sports in general) and I am always watching games that aren't on the typical local channels. Also the kids used to watch their Nick Jr and Disney Jr, but they don't watch tv as much now and are usually playing, which is good. I just came across DirecTV Now which looks incredible. The $35 package has ESPN/2, Nick Jr, Disney Jr, A&E, AMC, TNT, HGTV, and MSNBC, so it covers all our needs honestly. I'm going to research it and see how it is. Also, AT&T has been laying some huge ass cabling all down the main street from us so I am crossing my fingers we are getting fiber (Gigapower OMG). If so, it may be time to finally ditch Comcrap.

NetworkingStudent

We used to have Direct V, but it started to cost way to much. We now have have Amazon Prime and Netflix.
The only down side of Netflix is that they take movies and TV shows away each month.

TechGromit

NetworkingStudent wrote: »

We used to have Direct V, but it started to cost way to much. We now have have Amazon Prime and Netflix.
The only down side of Netflix is that they take movies and TV shows away each month.

My Parents have Netflix too and they were telling me some movies are not available online, that you have to get a DVD in the mail to watch them. This may be where some of the movies or shows are if they are not online. Maybe it's just a question of disk space for Netflix why they remove content.

Deus Ex Machina

Keep in mind you can find some channels (Fox, CNN, etc.) on YouTube live-streams for free. If you only ever watch the major channels then save your money.