What you guys think of SlingTV?

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

Chrono

Diamond Member
Jan 2, 2001
4,959
0
71
Service is really good.... except I cancelled my subscription (through amazon/firetv) and after a month+ I'm still getting service? Anybody else having this issue?
 

mvbighead

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2009
3,793
1
81
I've been highly annoyed by it. I have *zero* issues with Netflix or Amazon prime streaming video. They take about 10 seconds to buffer initially and then are flawless after that.

Sling? Good freaking luck. Half the time the app loads I get a blank screen. The time that it does work it may run for 2-5 minutes and then stall out for 30 seconds with the "spinning circle of buffer purgatory" on screen. Then it will try and resume and I'll get some moving pixelated garbage for another minute or two until it catches up.

It's infuriating. Last night I was *trying* to watch the Bulls vs Cavs on TNT. It was aweful and I was ready to cancel my subscription right then and there. I'll wait for the series to get over so I can at least attempt to watch the rest and then cancel.

I'm done with it. And when it does work, it's got some sort of annoying frame rate issue where it's not really running full frame and it bugs my eyes out.

I'm doing this from an Xbox One. Haven't tried any other streaming platform for it.

This.

I have a very modest 10/1 connection, but netflix/Amazon work fine. I purchased Sling for the free FireStick, and while when it does work it is decent, I had to restart the app several times during the NFL draft because of everything mentioned above.

I will be canceling when my 3 months are up. I also seldom use it at this point, and while part of that is due to knowing that it'll be iffy, the other part is that I simply don't care for the channels most days nor do I have the time.

Lastly, it is disappointing that I am not able to do video on-demand of recently aired shows. It all seems to be older content. Just not worth $20/month in my opinion.
 

Spineshank

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2001
7,728
1
71
Works fine for me. Every once in awhile it has random issues but overall I'm happy.
 

boomhower

Diamond Member
Sep 13, 2007
7,228
19
81
All in all I like it but it does have some issues. Takes longer to buffer than other streaming service. I've also had issues where what's playing isn't what is listed in the guide. Hopefully it's just growing pains as it's a new service and they will get it ironed out.
 

GrumpyMan

Diamond Member
May 14, 2001
5,780
266
136
Honestly, I was interested in the idea but ultimately I do not want to watch TV anymore. I want to watch TV shows. This means I'm really only interested in the netflix model. No commercials and entire seasons at once.


Ditto, me too. :thumbsup:
 

bbhaag

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2011
7,485
3,117
146
Kind of an old thread but was wondering if anyone here signed up for the free week to see the bowl games? I did and dl'ed the app for my fire stick and was overall impressed. Had a few bumps setting it up and sometimes the quality is suspect but I can blame that on my ISP provider and their slow service. Most of the time it worked great though.

Anyway, I don't think I'll sign up for year round service but it definitely appeals to me for the football season. Maybe November through January type thing. It sure beats those crap streams on illeme or ahdtv.

What do you guys think? Worth it or not for certain circumstances?
 

mikeford

Diamond Member
Jan 27, 2001
5,671
160
106
Sling as a company, good idea, mediocre implementation, poor customer service.
 

TwiceOver

Lifer
Dec 20, 2002
13,544
44
91
Appointment viewing is dead. Their on demand selection is laughable. Questionable app and infrastructure.
 

Chess

Golden Member
Mar 5, 2001
1,452
7
81
debating on dropping direct tv for this....

right now we have netflix, which the lady is fine with.. .I am a sports junkie so I need sports fix... so espn, espn2, espnU, CSN, NFLTV, NBA, etc... TNT, TBS... is there any thing else that can do all those channels :p

Direct tv is a joke and expensive as hell
 

slayer202

Lifer
Nov 27, 2005
13,679
119
106
damn, I guess it's not worth trying

yeah, it works pretty horribly. gave it a try for 3 months (came with a free roku 2) and while the content is pretty decent for the cost (less than what it costs for basic network cable) the app is pretty bad.

however, I just noticed they have H2 (history2) so if they turn that into Viceland, I might keep it
 

Chess

Golden Member
Mar 5, 2001
1,452
7
81
Thanks fellas for informative posts...
I guess ill look to the next product LOL
 

Genx87

Lifer
Apr 8, 2002
41,091
513
126
It wasnt bad. But still has some work to do to get me re-interested in it for 20\month. I got far more value out of Netflix and Amazon Prime.
 

Chess

Golden Member
Mar 5, 2001
1,452
7
81
It wasnt bad. But still has some work to do to get me re-interested in it for 20\month. I got far more value out of Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Im with ya... I have prime and netflix as well... Problem that I have is I like enjoy watching live sports, which presents a nice challenge LOL. The lady could care less about sports ha
 

slag

Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
10,473
81
101
I have it, plus netflix, amazon prime, and hulu plus. If I could, I'd drop hulu plus and possibly netflix, however, even though I am not a fan of their service, I do like the HGTV, food network, and travel channel stuff, as well as part of the history channel they have. ESPN is a big plus also. So while I do get some buffering from time to time, not nearly as much as I did when I was wireless, I still think its a decent deal for the $21.75 I pay after taxes.