I’ve loved my PSVUE since getting it a few years ago, but Sony announced today that they are killing the service. Sigh. So now I need a new cable alternative.
It seems my best choices are ATT, Hulu, Youtube and Sling. Here’s my initial thoughts:
ATT - Seems easy enough, but expensive! The DVR kinda sucks…HBO is neat though.
Hulu - Another that seems just fine. I’m not super crazy about having to pay extra for a DVR, or is that just a bigger DVR…does it come with a DVR? Kinda cool about getting regular Hulu with it.
Sling - This seems to be the only option to get my beloved NFL Network, but it seems like a bitch to work with. Do I really need an outdoor antenna that I have to pay for to get local channels? They also seems to charge for pretty much everything so I think it’ll be more expensive than it seems.
YouTubeTV - I think this is going to be my best option simply because it has a lot of things that I like without any of the hassle with special packages and whatnot. It also seems to be a bit average on price compared to the others too.
So those are my thoughts. I know we’ve had a bunch of cord-cutting threads before, but does anyone want to weigh in with their options? What do you have? What do you like about it? Don’t like about it? The only thing I can say about channel preferences is that it MUST have Bravo (for Mrs. Cups) and my number one thing to watch is sports, so ESPN, FS1, Big Ten etc. is very much preferred.
I have had Sling for some time and just decided to try Hulu + Live because some of my OTA channels were iffy at times. I love it and it appears to check off all of your boxes… Bravo, ESPN (several), FS1… not sure about Big 10 but I can get most of what I want from the big ten on the local channels.
We ditched DirecTV for YoutubeTV a few months ago and are very happy with it. The only (minor) complaint I have is regarding the DVR and CBS. If you DVR a show on CBS you get the on demand version. You cannot fast forward through commercials if it’s the on demand version. The only network that does this is CBS (that I’m aware of).
Most of the people I know that currently use Vue are switching to YouTube TV.
I would love to find a streaming service that offers the basic cable channels without any sports. I hate that I have to pay for ESPN, Fox Sports, etc. to be able to access even the most basic of channels.
We switched from DISH to Youtube TV and I don’t regret it at all. My wife does a little because they don’t offer the Hallmark channel. (I got her a separate annual subscription to it.)
The unlimited DVR is something that all content providers should offer but Youtube is the only one that seems to. It works great. I told it that I want to RECORD ALL THE FOOTBALL GAMES! And it just does it. I have no intention of going back.
It seemed like I was angling toward YouTube anyway and the responses in this thread have only pushed me there further. It really does seem to have everything I want and looks simple to use.
It’s weird not having channel numbers. You can’t just punch a number on a remote and go directly to the channel. All streaming options might be this way. IDK.
There’s no “back” button to swap back and forth from 2 different channels.
Changing channels is not instantaneous like with satellite or an antennae. But you quickly get used to it. I assume PSVUE was that way as well.
One thing that I do LOVE is that different users have their own logins and DVRs. So I can put my most watched channels at the top of my list and my wife can do the same with hers. It’s easy to switch users. At least it is on my Vizio TV running Chromecast builtin. Our other TV is an older plasma so I attached a Chromecast device to it and your phone is your remote. I also have 2 Google Home devices that are pretty good at playing what I tell them to play. The exception is Amazon shows. Amazon and Google haven’t worked out their differences yet but I understand that it’s supposed to be coming.
My quibbles with YouTube TV are much the same as Nars. Although if you push “down”, whatever that is on your interface, it brings up the most recent channels. Not as quick as a back button.
On sports they have some realtime features for stats and key plays that are interesting.
But, somebody here recommended Suppose.tv and I it is worth your time to check it out. There you can put it where you are, what channels you must have, and what channels you would like. Then you get a listing of which services will meet your needs.
I helped my brother and sister cut the cord and got both of them on YouTube TV. My brother loves it, but my brother-in-law switched to Hulu+ because the pre-season Chiefs games were blacked out on YouTube TV, as it was considered “streaming”.
Frankly, all those exist with psvue too. There was a way to have a bit of a “back” button, but it was through the app on my Fire stick, maybe that’ll work too.
The channels are listed alphebetically on vue too, which is cool because I know right where the channel is, but kind of annoying when I want to watch something on, say TBS. Although, by the sounds of it, YouTube has one of my favorite aspects from psvue with favorite channels. With the vue I could set a handful of favorite channels and they were grouped together at the beginning of the guide. Is that the same with YouTube? It was hella convenient to be able to easily bounce between espn, usa and nfl net without having to go through the letters.
Yes, you can arrange the channels in order you want. Any other users can arrange them the way they want as well. It’s all tied to your account and not the device. So when I watch on my phone, iPad, PC, or TV, they’re all right where I expect them to be.
Ooh. Ooh. I just found a new feature that’s really cool. If you’re recording a live football game, when you join (on the iPhone app anyway), it asks you if you want to catch up watching the key plays. They may all do it. I don’t know.