Your Experiences with Sling TV

snowcat - thank you for the suggestion to use the WatchESPN Roku app! Never woulda thought of that and it seems to work much better! The commercials are even different than what you get on the Sling app and not so repetitive. ESPN is watchable again. :smile:

1 Like

Thanks all, agreed that itā€™s very much improved from, say, August. Their support has also been good to work with, and even credited part of my bill when I was having more issues.

Matt - thatā€™s good to hear. I have read some unflattering posts about their CS and was hesitant in calling them. If I continue to see problems, Iā€™ll give 'em a try.

I just emailed support@sling.com for mine. Of course, you do get the general ā€˜have you uninstalled/reinstalledā€™, but they were super fast with the replies and no fighting on credits.

Not to @TabloSupport levels, but who is?

Having the same issues as you all with ESPN during popular events. Emailed their support and am in the middle of the ā€œdo this, do thatā€ dance after I asked for some kind of credit. It sounds like at some point they will give in and offer me something?

Not sureā€¦they gave me a $5 credit (doesnā€™t sound like much, but thatā€™s 25% of my bill) immediately without any questions asked. Iā€™m not pushing for any more given it has been more stableā€¦certainly will if that changes for me.

I donā€™t know what changes they have made but Sling on my Shield tv is fantastic. I have watched MNF 3 weeks in a row without any buffering or lag. So far I am very happy.

Just a heads up, I hooked up a new Roku 4 last night and this morning I had trouble watching CNN. Screen kept going to the black screen with the time bar like it was buffering but wouldnā€™t come out of it. Happened several times. I sent an email to sling support and they said roku 4 wasnā€™t supported. I replied to ask them why there is a Sling button on the remote that came with it. Not sure Iā€™ll get a reply. Guess Iā€™ll have to keep the roku 3 next to it and switch it when needed.

Sling needs more partner agreements that allow web viewing of subscribed channels. I agree, it freezes during peak times. Watching ESPN3 online is far superior to watching the same event on Sling. I suffered during the democratic debate as Sling isnā€™t on the list of sponsors for direct website viewing.

What? Those Sling people have no idea what they are talking about. The Roku 4 is still a Roku, and Sling supports Roku. And as you pointed out, there is a dedicated Sling button on the remote itself.

Makes you appreciate Tablo tech support even more when you read things like that. :slight_smile:

My wife is starting to want more channels, so I may give Sling another try soon.

I had a tech support agent arguing with me about whether or not Android M had been released to the Nexus Player yet. I finally tweeted at their twitter team and got a refund since that is the device I bought Sling for. It was like talking to a brick wall.

Crazy, isnā€™t it? Here is the list of what they say is compatible:

At this time, Roku 4 is not one of our compatible devices. Below is a list of our compatible devices.

Watch Sling TV on your television, tablet, computer, and phone. It is available now on the following:

Android tablets and phones
iOS Devices ā€“ iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch
PC and Mac
Roku players and Streaming StickĀ¹ ( up to Roku 3 )
Roku TV modelsĀ²
Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick
Xbox One
Google Nexus Player

Yesterday I purchased and hooked up a Roku 4 and the Sling app works pretty slick.

1 Like

Sling and Tablo are a great pair.

Sling does have a few bugs, channels can sometimes lock up, but it seems to be occuring less and less.

What Sling really needs is a decent channel guide, what theyā€™ve got is slow and cumbersome. Something that looks like the leanback mode on Tablo would be a huge upgrade.

Like others have said, it really has gotten better with buffering/dropping. What I really like is itā€™s a pretty decent simulation of channel surfing, for those of us still getting weaned off ā€˜the old ways.ā€™

I also pair my Sling TV with a tablo device. I would say the latest update to Sling has been a relief and a lot of my doubts are now gone. That latest update came around the beginning of October I believe.

I currently have an Amazon fire TV wired and an Amazon Fire TV Stick connected wireless. I ā€œcanā€ watch Sling TV through the stick but I rarely do because the speed and clarity is easily noticeable and is way better when using the Fire TV. The Stick does drop connection here and there but I do believe that is due to the lack of power in the stick and the wireless connectivity.

Sling TV now allows a lot of options and shows that you can playback at any time that they didnā€™t before and I donā€™t think I have dropped a show or game that I have been watching since the update. Internet Speed and the device you use plays a big part and with respect to the other devices. My comparisons led me to purchase the Fire TV which hasnā€™t failed me yet.

For $20, Sling TV, antenna and the tablo that I use for recordings. Just have to figure out why two random shows wonā€™t record through the tablo and I will be good to go.

I use Sling for ESPN only, on Roku 3. 90+% of the time, it works very well. Periodically I get freeze-ups that require me to back out to the Roku home screen and start the app again. Also get signal degradation from time to time that results in awful picture quality, but that usually clears up in less than a minute. Finally, ESPN doesnā€™t stream commercials, but instead plays a repeating jazz fusion elevator music groove during the commercial breaks. Itā€™s IMMENSELY annoying. Never thought Iā€™d miss commercials, but I do. I mute it during those breaks.

Overall, a good service. 4/5 stars.

My 3-month initial Sling subscription is about half completed, and at this point I probably wonā€™t renew. I thought we would be using it a lot more than we do. I was a big Food Network junkie but their programming has gone into the toilet. The ESPNs plus TNT and TBS might not be enough to justify $20/mo.

I paid for a 3 month Sling TV subscription upfront so I could get a free Amazon FireTV stick. I initially thought it was a good price for what they offered but I found out that I hardly ever watched it so I canceled the subscription after 3 months.

Awhile ago I had a job that required 90% travel. I had a Time Warner Cable (TWC) subscription with HBO, Cinemax and Showtime add-ons. I first got rid of the pay channels to lower my cost since I was not at home to watch them. I then dropped down to their basic subscription that was $15 for analog channels 2 through 22. After about 2 months of that I cut the cord altogether. When I had a ton of channels I found I would just browse stations for hours looking for something to watch. The same thing happened with Sling TV. In fact I find that to be true for Netflix as well.

Another issue I had with Sling TV was even though you got many popular cable channels, some shows on those channels would be blacked out due to streaming restrictions.

They just announced today that Sling now works on Chromecast. Not sure that will matter for me.

My story is very similar to yours, I went with the 3-month sub to get the deal on a Roku 3 because we had a few Roku 2s that I wanted to upgrade. Got out of a TWC subscription when they ended my promotional rate after a year and would not offer another. When I got to the store to drop off my equipment, then they were ready to deal and I said too late.