Sling vs PS Vue
I’ve never been subscribed to the actual cable TV services like Comcast here in the US, but given the recent development of on-demand & live TV services with the modern devices, I thought I would give them a try.
I tried Sling and PlayStation Vue on Apple TV and Roku.
The channels I’d like to watch are for European Football (soccer) and Formula 1, which would basically make:
- beIN sports (La Liga)
- NBCSN, usa, CNBC (Premier League, Formula 1)
- FOX Sports 2 (Bundesliga, UEFA CL)
- ESPN (UEFA CL, EURO)
Sling
Sling has two tiers, Orange ($20) and Blue ($25) and a couple of add-on channels. I like this model better since I can mix and match what I want to watch. Initially I signed up with Orange to watch EURO finals, but switched to Blue so that NBC and Fox channels are available for soccer programs.
The Apple TV app is decent, although sometimes slow or buggy and keeps buffering. It’s nice that you can watch on your Mac as well so that I can open it in the office to catch up some soccer while working.
Pros:
- $25 + $5 (Spanish pack) to watch most of the channels I want except ESPN
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The app is decent, available both on Apple TV and Roku Cons:
- No DVR features, catch-up only available for some channels (beIN)
- No TV Everywhere auth
PlayStation Vue
PS Vue has 3 tiers, $40, $45 and $55 respectively. Apparently there’s a Slim package that does not provide OTA local channels, but that’s not the case in San Francisco.
$45 Core package has everything I want. DVR is nice but the UI on Roku is pretty confusing and is very difficult to navigate.
Support for TV Everywhere is really nice, so that you can log in to NBCSports and ESPN app on Apple TV using the PS Vue account.
Pros:
- DVR for 28 days
- TV
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Everywhere auth suport Cons:
- The package costs $45
- Roku app is pretty difficult to use
- The website is not functional with Chrome For now I’d probably stick with Sling because the UI is much nicer and pricing is more decent, and sports is something you would enjoy most when watching live. But the TV everywhere auth would be really great once Fox sports also launches on Apple TV app. NBC’s Apple TV app is very well made and an ability to search and watch sports games on demand is pretty nice.