Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

UPDATED - APRIL 30TH, 2018: ========================= Just an update that about six months ago I stopped using PlayStation Vue. This review has been very popular, and had thousands of views, so I want to leave a note here warning viewers that it's also outdated and may not reflect how the service and/or app operates today. We did not leave Vue angrily, we left for two reasons: 1) I was in a job that required near-weekly business travel, and the out of home restrictions were burdensome to me at that time, since I spent a lot of time holed up in a hotel wishing I could watch more of my Vue. They've actually come a LONG way in that regard, and it shouldn't be considered as big a negative anymore. Most content works fine albeit only from a mobile device or laptop. Streaming sticks like Roku can’t be used out of the home and in home simultaneously. Using YouTube TV now specifically for this feature. 2) They dropped just a couple of channels that were important to me. BeIN and Comedy Central, specifically. We’ve given up on getting BeIN for now and supplement YTTV with Philo to get Viacom (and much more) channels. UPDATED REVIEW, AUGUST 30TH, 2016: ================================= Five months is a long time in the cord cutting industry these days, so I want to update my review which has become quite popular but a bit dated. The biggest change in the last few months is increased competition. Sling has upped their game with tons of new channel offerings, and the capability on many (but not all) channels to offer more than one simultaneous stream. SFN TV is out (although as of this writing signups are temporarily halted due to technical problems on their web site). Hulu, DirecTV, Comcast and others are bringing new cord cutting options to the market. YouTube is getting into the space as well, although with non-traditional channels. And Dish, in addition to owning Sling, is now starting to market a "skinny bundle" Satellite package, a clear indication that the cries of the cord cutting crowd are being heard. It's not all that skinny of a bundle, but ... it's a start! AVAILABILITY: An equally crippled Android app joins the crippled iOS app. There's still tons of content you can't view from your mobile or tablet, but at least now it isn't an Apple-exclusive lousy app party. Android fans can join the party, for what it's worth. In addition, the PS3, PS4 and Fire TV apps are joined by a Roku app. The Roku app has no guide, and a quirky interface, but it's incredibly fast to launch, incredibly fast to start streaming, and incredibly fast to rewind/fast forward. The Guide on the Amazon app is still kind of slow (Gen 2 Fire TV), slow (Gen 1 Fire TV) and unbearable (Fire TV Stick). I do not have a PS3 but have added a PS4 to the household, and the Guide is superior. It's about as fast, maybe a tick faster than on a Gen 2 Fire TV, but also has some color coding to it, to indicate if a given program is available on DVR, Catch Up, or On Demand, which makes browsing the past better than on the Amazon platform. On Amazon, you can browse backwards and click on a program, but until you click, you won't know if you can play it. On PS4, this is evident before you click. SLING CATCHING UP: Besides some channels you just can't get on Vue (HBO, A&E, BBC America), they've caught up with the Orange & Blue combined package, offering well over 50 channels. They're starting to offer some of the broadcast networks as well. And if you add the channel packs, you'll get right up around Vue's channel count, although your bill might be $80 to get there. That said, they may have just the right channels for you, and if you're a bilingual household, their Spanish language content is incredibly complete. Many (but not all) of the Sling channels are now available with more than one stream at a time, which is a family-friendly move. Nothing compares to Vue's five streams at a time, no restrictions on channels. Vue continues to dominate with access to a DVR, and forward/reverse on every channel, and excellent On Demand coverage. Sling continues to dominate on app availability (most TV streaming boxes). In addition, Sling can be taken outside of the house with no limitations, and can be watched live without restrictions on phones, tablets, and desktop computers. Vue can be taken out of the house, but just for a little bit until they see your new IP and cancel your account, unless you use the iOS or Android apps, of which much content is blocked. Lastly, Vue owns Sling in terms of authenticating to third party apps. Just about every channel offered has an app, and when you go to sign in to your cable provider, Vue is almost always there. Sling has some of this, Vue has over 90% coverage. Some other random notes: 1) Watch your Internet bandwidth usage if you don't have unlimited. Vue looks great, and streams at up to 10mbps. If you watch a lot of TV, or have multiple households streaming to multiple TVs this adds up quickly. Most cable companies offer a monthly bandwidth limit, and for a fee, unlimited. 2) By way of the Roku or Amazon app, you can use a Universal Remote. We purchased the Logitech Harmony Smart Control remote with the Harmony Hub from Amazon, and saved money buying refurbished ones at that. NOTE: That's the model compatible with all Amazon Fire TV and Roku Sticks. Other Harmony remotes can control a Roku, but not the Roku stick, and no Apple TV, as they don't have IR. On a Fire TV, the Harmony Hub connects via Bluetooth and acts as if it were a game pad, and through that feature, it can control the Fire TV, and in turn, the Vue app. The big win with this is it's universal, So that one remote can turn on your TV, set the right input, turn on a sound bar, and wake up the Fire TV from sleep. Very spouse and kid friendly. The downside is it won't add much in the way of new functionality, for example, you can't map the GUIDE button on the remote to the GUIDE, because there's no way to open the guide in that fashion. I did program a few sequences to unused buttons. One push to a Harmony button hits the equivalent of "right" six times, so I can fast forward a minute at a time. Another button hits "left" three times so I can go back 30 seconds. Makes getting through commercials on DVR recordings a breeze. I also programmed the power off button to first hit "HOME" on the Fire TV, which ensures that it doesn't keep streaming and sucking up bandwidth while the TV is off. 3) Amazon Echo users can add the Yonomi skill. Yonomi is an app for your Android or iOS phone which can interact with many smart devices, including Harmony. Harmony has a limited API, so right now it's activities only. So while you can't say "Alexa, turn up the volume" or "Alexa, change input to HDMI 1", you can say "Alexa, turn on the living room TV" and it will do so. 4) Local channels are still hit (non-affiliate markets) and miss (affiliate markets). Long story short, there's a GOOD but not PERFECT chance your local regional sports channel(s) are available. You WILL be able to watch ON DEMAND for ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX. You almost certainly won't get the CW. And if you live in a place where the network owns the local channel, you'll get it. For example, in Philadelphia, there are now affiliates. NBC owns the local NBC channel, ABC owns the ABC channel, etc. So you get live and on demand ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC. Check the PlayStation Vue site with your zip code to get the lay of the land. Some may not care, because they don't watch network TV, or use alternative solutions. For us, we watch a lot of sports, enjoy the news, and watch a couple of network shows including some not available via Hulu (cough CBS cough) so we're glad to have them. I didn't want the extra expense of a TiVO OTA, Tablo or ChannelMaster, nor did anyone else in the family want ANOTHER app to watch TV. To give you an idea, in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, where I live, this translates to the following: NBC, CBS, FOX - Live and On Demand. ABC - On Demand only. However, sports broadcasts are simulcast on the ESPN app so we can still watch most of their sports content. CW - Nope, no way. Sports: Besides full coverage of the major four networks, we get BeIN, BTN, ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPN U, Fox College Sports Atlantic, Central and Pacific, Fox Deportes, Fox Sports Florida, Fox Sports Sun, FS1, FS2, Golf Channel, NBCSN, NFL Network, ONE World Sports, SEC and for the highway robbery price of $40/year, NFL Red Zone (Sling charges half the price for that). If I recall from my cable days, CBS has a sports channel, but other than that, we get basically 100% sports coverage in my area. Other areas, not so much from what I've heard. Things they need to improve on: 1) Better customer service. 2) Better support for platforms such as your web browser, Apple TV, etc. 3) Negotiate with those affiliates and the CW. 4) Negotiate with those cable networks to uncrippled the mobile apps. 5) Be nice to see some extra movie channel offerings. Showtime is great, there's some stuff like Sony's own channel, and EPIX, but I can't imagine it'd be too hard to cut a deal with Starz, HBO, etc. One final note. I'm a big fan of these bundles. I didn't cut the cord because I wanted to save money necessarily. Nor because I wanted a skinny bundle. I'm not a millennial, and it seems that's the first generation that just doesn't care as much about this stuff. I grew up in the first generation that had cable, and remember before cable in fact. It's a luxury I LIKE having. What I didn't like was renting cable boxes, dealing with bad cable interfaces, the nightmare of trying to get CableCARD to work and switch to TiVo, having to call every six months when a promotion ended and beg for a discount because the bill went up $40 overnight. I also like hanging TVs on the wall and having a little tiny box or stick, and not a huge glass shelf with a heavy 8 lb cable box. I like hanging TVs where I want, and not where the cable jack was. And I like that tomorrow, I could change my mind, shut it down, and become a Sling customer. Truth be told, I pay almost the same every month... but we're much happier. ORIGINAL REVIEW, MARCH 28TH, 2016: ================================= I am a HUGE fan of PlayStation Vue. It does NOT require a PlayStation, although to sign up, you need to have EITHER a PS3/PS4, or an Amazon Fire TV/Fire TV Stick. There are clients for iPhone, iPad etc, but you must have a Fire TV, Fire TV Stick or PlayStation at a minimum to open an account. That said... the service is great. It's available nationwide, but only certain cities have live local channels. In my area, Miami, we get both local Fox Sports channels, plus CBS, FOX and NBC available live or on demand. ABC is not available live yet, but we have on demand, so we cover just about 100% of the local channels of interest. No CW network, is about the only down side. Beyond that, for $50 a month, I get 100 channels in total, including various Disney, ESPN channels, and most of the major mainstream cable channels. That plus the $50 a month I pay for cable Internet is a fraction of the $165 I used to pay to AT&T for U-Verse Internet and TV. The other big name in cord cutting is Sling, from parent company Dish the satellite company. Here are the BIG differences, and why I think Vue trumps it: 1) It's probably cheaper than you think. Sling is $20. But.... you only get about 20 channels. Other channels are added in $5 packs, so you're probably at least $30-$35 a month before you know it. 2) Sling has had issues with streaming cut offs, especially during major sporting events. I have not had a single problem with Vue to date. 3) Sling is one stream. IE: If you are watching something, the rest of your family cannot watch anything else in another room. Vue only works on ONE PlayStation at a time, but otherwise has a very reasonable limit of 5 streams at a time. So slapping a Fire TV or Fire Stick on every TV in your house is going to work very well, and without the cable company or satellite rental fees for a box. 4) PlayStation has local channels - often. Some cities have better coverage than others, but they are adding On Demand in every market in the country while they continue to negotiate with local affiliates for live access. If you watch anything on Network TV, Sling doesn't work for you. If you live in the right areas, you'll continue to follow your local sports teams. I get 100% coverage in South Florida, other markets get SOME local sports channels, and there are some areas where you won't get anything. But Vue is seemingly signing deals faster than Sling, so if you have it today, great. If your area doesn't - it might soon! 5) PlayStation has a DVR. Sling has some limited pause (certain channels only), and some on demand (certain channels only). Vue has a true DVR (cloud based). The one knock on it is the 28 day life. Once a program hits 29 days old, it is removed automatically. But on the plus side compared to your local cable company's DVR or a TiVo is the lack of needing to watch hard drive space. You can subscribe to up to 500 different programs. And it will store every recording of that program for 28 days. For example, when I go to watch one of the late night talk shows, I see dozens of choices, not just the last 3 or 4... because I have unlimited space within that 28 day constraint. The interface to subscribed shows is excellent as well. Each show shows everything available. There's typically four things shown for a show: recorded episodes, On Demand accessible episodes, an entry for the time and date of the next airing episode (you can't watch it, but it's a helpful FYI), plus something called Catch Up. Catch Up is a bit hard to explain, but essentially, SOME channels let you do this, others don't (and it won't be visible). Let's say it's 10pm and you just realized a new show premiered at 9pm, but you forgot to subscribe to it, so it didn't record. So you subscribe, and mutter "I'll buy it for $2 on Amazon and start watching it next week on Vue". Well, if it's a Catch Up compatible program, you don't have to buy it, it will instantly appear as watchable, even though you didn't record it, and it's not available via On Demand yet. Neat feature. So, the negatives: 1) Best I can tell, the iOS apps are useless. The vast majority of content is "not available on mobile". Sling, has a more limited selection, but no mobile restrictions. 2) No desktop or laptop web browser streaming. You must play through an App or a PlayStation or a Fire TV / Fire TV Stick. Sling lets you stream from their web site. 3) Parts of the interface are not well designed for the TV. If you're quite a bit back from the TV, there are some font size choices that will leave you scratching your head. The guide can be particularly hard to read from more than ten feet back on some of my TVs. It's great on my 65", but that's not practical in every room. That said, while the channel guide isn't great, there is a view that shows what's on (lists by program, not by channel). Those are huge, graphical, and easy to read from any distance .Same thing with the DVR, easy to read from far away. I suppose they will refine this over time. 4) The guide is interesting. It's a clinic in slow. I can't speak to the PlayStation version, but on an Amazon environment, here's my experience: Fire TV Stick: Borderline impossible to use. Several seconds before the guide populates with programming data. Scrolling is painful. Original Fire TV: Sluggish but acceptable. You'll often think "why wouldn't this be a bit faster". New Fire TV with 4K: Good. Still not great, but you won't stop to think about it very often. I can't imagine a reason why they just don't download two weeks of guide data locally and speed it up already. 5) You can take Sling with you. Sony warns if you move your PlayStation or Amazon Fire TV / Fire TV stick to another location you could have your service terminated. I listen to a great podcast called CordCutters, and one of the guests there had just that happen. He had two homes, and would bring his PlayStation back and forth sometimes. He watched Vue too much from home #2 and they cut him off. I travel a lot, and still maintain a Hulu subscription, because even though I carry my Fire TV Stick and plug it into the hotel TV, I can't watch Vue from there, and as previously mentioned, the iOS app is next to useless. In summary - if you are tired of renting cable boxes, signing contracts with a satellite company, running out of hard drive room because state of the art to your provider is still a 500gb hard drive, etc - this is a great service. I'm saving money, giving up nothing for it, and am thrilled. If you're a small household and really don't care to watch much TV, it's possible Sling will work for you, but for my money, very few households wouldn't be better served by Vue, especially as they turn on more and more local channels in various metropolitan areas.