ESPN buys stake in Bamtech

[Schmoe]

How does one watch local NBA games with Sling or Vue?

You're pretty much stuck with the national TV schedule. Your best bets would be local channels via digital antenna which is free or NBA League Pass which is expensive and may require a cable subscription.

This is the advantage of living in an area where the local NBA team betrayed its fanbase and its values when the owner died. We don't care about catching local games on TV anymore

If you're talking about the Jazz's deal with Root...

I'm not. I'm talking about letting a diva player run a HOF coach out. Sloan's too classy (and maybe embarrassed) to say it, but that's what happened, and I've never rooted for the Jazz since. It used to be a classy organization, run by a man with values, and it bred success. Now it's just another garbage small-market team content on barely making the post season (or barely missing it) and is run by a silver-spoon know-nothing who hasn't had to lift a finger a day in his life. In more recent bungles, they brought in a coke snorting buffoon for a coach instead of Jazz legend Jeff Hornacek.

[byufan4ever]

I've been looking into Playstation Vue more and it looks like you get access to a "cloud DVR." That's huge. I'm going to try the free 7 day trial and then see about switching from Sling TV to Vue.

[hawkwing]

I've been looking into Playstation Vue more and it looks like you get access to a "cloud DVR." That's huge. I'm going to try the free 7 day trial and then see about switching from Sling TV to Vue.

Let me know what you think, so far everyone I know who's tried both has found the Vue superior, but I haven't done it yet myself.

[byufan4ever]

So I've made the switch from Sling TV to Playstation Vue. Here is my review:

Interface: Sling TV wins this one easily. The old Sling TV is better than what Vue has now and Sling has updated theirs recently so it's even better. It's a bit of a chore to find channels on the Vue and what's playing and there's a complete lack of a guide. I've read that if you have an actual Playstation then the interface is better with an actual guide. I don't have a Playstion, but maybe'll they'll update this in the future.

Channels & Price: Ultimately where we want to get is that we pay just for each individual channel that we want, right? We're not there yet, but both of these services are much better than cable and satellite TV. Vue starts at $30 but you really need the $35 package for sports. It covers both all of the ESPNs and Fox (including FS1/FS2) and NBC Sports. With Sling, they have two separate totally different packages, blue and orange. One gets you the ESPNs and one gets you the Fox and NBC Sports, each for $25 stand alone or $40 combined. So if one is willing to constantly switch between the blue and orange packages, Sling is cheaper. However, Vue has them both together for cheaper with less hassle.

Performance: Overall I felt that the Vue streaming looked a bit crisper and clearer than the Sling stream. But not a huge difference. I did notice that when switching to a new channel it seemed to load faster (maybe 1 sec vs 3 secs) and there was definitely much fewer buffering. You could say that the buffering is a result of the ISP and not the streaming service. But this past week I only encountered buffering once on Vue while I experienced it multiple times on my other Roku channels such as BYUTV.

Technology: Vue has Cloud DVR. Sling has a few things on demand and with WatchESPN (which Vue has as well) you can watch replays, but it's not the same. The only knock against Vue's Cloud DVR is that it's not like a TiVO where you can find a show 2 weeks in advance and set it to record and forget about it. I have only been able to record the next 7 upcoming shows on a given channel. So when I wanted to record my EPL game that was going to start early Saturday morning I could not set it to record before I went to bed Friday night. Maybe with the Playstation interface this is possible, but I could not. So, Cloud DVR is not as good as TiVO, but it's better than no DVR (Sling).

Conclusion: They are both great services. I started with Sling and have now switched to Vue. But I can easily switch back to Sling if they sweeten the deal and make improvements. Both Sling TV and Playstion Vue have 7 day free trials. Both have no contracts. It really can't hurt to try them. But if you like wasting money...then keep your cable/satellite (and maybe you should work for the government too...).

[Cougarfan87]

But if you like wasting money...then keep your cable/satellite (and maybe you should work for the government too...).

Ouch.

[hawkwing]

DVR is enough of an incentive for me to stay with DirecTV for now.

I was just watching some shows from my DVR that were recorded in November, so 30 days just won't cut it.

[byufan4ever]

But if you like wasting money...then keep your cable/satellite (and maybe you should work for the government too...).

Ouch.

That was written TIC. My dad worked for the government and I work for a defense contractor.

[byufan4ever]

DVR is enough of an incentive for me to stay with DirecTV for now.

I was just watching some shows from my DVR that were recorded in November, so 30 days just won't cut it.

Spoiled, aren't we?!

[hawkwing]

DVR is enough of an incentive for me to stay with DirecTV for now.

I was just watching some shows from my DVR that were recorded in November, so 30 days just won't cut it.

Spoiled, aren't we?!

Very!