I Put Sling TV to the Test! Pros, Cons and Is It Really Worth It?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ม.ค. 2025
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If you want a live TV streaming service but TH-cam TV is too expensive, Sling TV may be a money-saving option. I break down the pros and cons in this updated review.
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Should You Get Sling TV? I Created a Free Checklist to Help You Decide: michaelsaves.com/streaming/sling-tv-checklist/
I just got a TH-camTV price increase over 15% to $82.50 I’m gone Sling here I come
Sling definitely has pros and cons. You can do a pretty awesome ala carte by combining Blue, Orange, the full add on deal, Freestream and AirTV. You can customize a Favorites list to your liking and another member, like your spouse, can customize hers. The AirTV pulls in all your Free OTA channels and integrates them into the Sling Guide. You get the biggest selection of channels at a great price! With that said Sling still glitches out from time to time. The guide can sometimes gray out or it mixes up the channels so you click on it and it’s not the station it’s supposed to be. Other times it freezes right at the pivotal moment of a show. It drives my wife crazy. Most of the time the picture quality is excellent! But when it does glitch it can be annoying.
Hi Michael I can get my local channels here in the northeast Pa. on Sling. I just sign up for tge Paramount deal for a year half off after seeing your review here.Glad you also posted the deal here too.Thanks again Michael for letting us know the deals for streaming
Sling Blue plus the Total TV option ($61/mo total) was by far the cheapest way to get all of the 10 or so channels my wife wanted when we cut the cord in March 2023. Most of those channels only had a single show she liked. Overall, Sling could use a bit of a refresh with its guide and DVR, although Sling has one of the few cloud DVRs I know that will retain a recording indefinitely (assuming you don't use up all of the allotted DVR space).
Good point! And you can lock the recordings.
Have had sling for over 3 years. It is great has the channels I like and TCM which my sister loves. Added the sports and movies extra packages and was still under 100 dollars with taxes. Locals do no matter to me, use Locals for news. Settting up your favorites is one of the simplest around.
They've got TCM?! Thank you for mentioning that! That's been one of the main channels I've been wanting to watch
@@GTONeko It is in one of the add on packages for like 6 bucks
@@GTONeko Sling offers TCM as an add on. It is NOT in either basic package.
I was thinking about going back but heard about the pricing increase.
I love Dish Scapes, Cool that they added that to Sling and call it Sling Scapes.
We live in a smaller market - central New Mexico - so no local stations on Sling but we found that our NBC affiliate in Albuquerque has a Roku app for free news and weather which is all we need. Worth checking.
also, be sure to check your credit card rewards because many seem to offer $5 or $10 off at least one month
You’re a DC boy! Me too brother 💪🏼
We have had sling over a year but here lately it is freezing, stalling, buffering, and at times the words don’t match the picture and that part is really bad. However, my husband told me they’ve gone up in price while the service has all these problems. Wondering if others are experiencing the same?
My biggest issue with Sling TV is that I can’t listen with the screen off. Sometimes I’m driving and would like to listen to sports or news in the car. It would be cool (like You Tube premium) to listen with my device off. Otherwise, it’s a good value & pretty much gives me what I need.
Only watch car racing and other channels and no locals. Have OTA antenna if we ever need to. I use Philo $28.00/month which has unlimited DVR and Peacock$14.00/month for the Indy races....and then Pluto, You tube, and other free APPS....not you tube TV. So for $43.00 a month we have way more than we can/want to watch.
Got compare blue orange plan together to get all sports $55 for both and yes they are going up with sports extra its about $75
My wishlist for Sling is to increase the storage limit. Also with ESPN direct-to-consumer service coming in 2025, will this mean Sling will eliminate the Orange package and will only focus on the Blue package and add-ons?
I think it's too early to say what will happen with Sling when the ESPN DTC service launches. There will be an incredible amount of changes over the next 12-18 months.
AEW Dynamite - RECOMMENDED FOR YOU - yeah baby!
Wrestling is the only reason I pay for these extra services!
I just prepaid $199 for orange and blue plus their $15 sports add on that includes red zone for 4 months. That just $49.25 a month! Best deal ever, for locals I have OTA.
That deal normally costs $280 for 4 months or $70 a month, so you save over $20 a month for 4 months if you prepay.
If you need just orange or blue plus their individual $11 sports add on, it’s $160 prepay for 4 months, just $40 a month, basically in this prepay deal you get free sports add on valued at $11 a month.
Nice!
I was just about to ask about this deal, I wanna get espn, abc and sec college football because of the Disney & AT&T dispute. So it is sling orange with sports add on for $199 for 4 months? Does it seem worth it?
@@AllyCocoBudgets Sling only has ABC in select cities - make sure yours is one of them before you commit
I had sling for years and I ended up canceling it last year two reasons one I didn’t watch most of the channels they offered and two the DVR . the few channels I did watch and record, The DVR never seemed to work. It was glitchy, shows often buffer like it was 20 years ago. Video quality was very poor and I thought for 2023 a DVR should be pretty flawless. Also when I moved to Orlando FL the only local Chanel I got was FOX .
I want to thank you. I switched my you Tube premium to Verizon to save money. I'm getting ready to do some other cord cutting options. Keep up the great work.
Thank you! You’re the first person who has told me they took advantage of that deal and I’ve mentioned it several times in videos. Appreciate the feedback.
My wife is a news junkie and I found Blue Sling the most affordable. We added extra storage for 5 bucks a month.
Micheal, do you have a glitch where sometimes I'll search for a segment, find it. When I hit play, it would jump back to the origin of the search?
Hmm, I haven't noticed that. I'm currently subscribed to Sling, so let me play around with it and see if I can replicate.
@@MichaelSaves thanks!
If I they gave me the ability to watch 3 simultaneous streams of ESPN (like I can on TH-camTV), I would possibly stay with Sling TV. But during football season, 1 stream doesn't working for me.
how did you get sling tv when you have Tmobile internet? you said they don't work together?
T-Mobile says they are not compatible and my testing has confirmed some issues. To add more context, Sling TV does work (meaning you can launch the app and watch live TV) with 5G home internet, but you may have problems with local stations showing up. This is from my experience. They can disappear from your lineup and be hard to get back. If you don't rely on Sling for locals, it may be worth trying out with your 5G home internet provider. I have contacted Sling for more specifics in the past about this issue and they give very general responses.
Yeah I’m cancelling YTTV it’s now $80 on my bank statement just way to much I’m just gonna get sling orange and a good antenna to watch local football games
Yttv is literally the comcast of the streaming world
I let yttv go this morning canceling for stream
Hello, thanks for the video. One comment I have seen quite a few times is the high volume of commercials. Are these commercials/ads only shown on on demand shows, or also live TV? Let's say im watching the Fox News Channel, whil a "Sling ad" interrupt the broadcast?
You will have ads just like you do on your current provider. Cable and broadcast TV networks have a lot of ads. If you set a recording, you can skip ads. On demand has ads. That’s why you want to set a recording instead.
My question is why are they both the same price I would think blue would be more since they offer more
Does a Sling plan + Total package have more channels than TH-cam TV?
I haven't added it up, but the Total package includes a lot of Extras so I assume it gets you to over 100 channels.
Awesome video, Michael!! 😎Not sure if Sling TV offers half off EACH month or not?? I noticed it was $26/month for me for the blue plan(plus news extra) earlier this month, and now it's back to $46. Still pretty cheap!
Usually just the first month!
@@MichaelSaves Awesome! 😎yeah, I sometimes see it at that $26 from time to time! That's what I like about Sling! :) Even the freestream channels are amazing and growing more and more! Thanks for making this amazing video!
One thing that you did not mention is that you can get all the add-ons including the extra DVR time for $21 per month. That is a great deal.
And another thing that helps with flexibility is that you can switch between the orange and the blue plans as often as you want. They both cost the same and it depends on what day of the week I’m watching football.
Sunday I will have blue because of fox. And Monday I will have orange because of ESPN.
Thanks for the feedback!
@MarcSonnenberg801 what I do during football season is that I have blue Tuesday through Sunday and then on Monday I switch to orange. So that way I only spend $40 a month on the base plan. I do that because I am an NFL fan.
What local stations would I get for Sling?
I live in the Baltimore market.
None
What?!
@@cwlong0803 Sling TV only has local stations in cities where the network owns the stations. And no CBS at all. In Baltimore, CBS (WJZ 13) is the only station that's owned by the network. The others are affiliates.
Does Sling carry Mynetworktv and the CW?
@@cwlong0803 No, I don’t believe so
Sling's DVR seems to record what it wants to despite showing that it is recording. If you need or want a streaming service that has a fully functional DVR that you can rely on don't get SLING.
Agree
I have the same problem
I have tried Sling twice , about a year apart. In both cases the picture quality was terrible. Cancelled bcuz of this. I definitely wasn’t getting 1080p but I do get it with every other service that I have tried. 🤷♂️.
U weren't getting 1080p back in the analog tv era why trip about it now??
Hi Michael, I'm doing the 7 day free trail of Philo, and I just found out Philo doesn't broadcast in 4K or even 1080p... it's 720, could you please do a video on this subject and make people aware before they subscribe? 🤔🙏
Yes, I have mentioned PQ a lot but I need to improve how I talk about it because there's a lot of confusion. These live TV services offer zero/limited 4K programming.
I tried Sling for a month recently when they had the half price thing and my bank offered $20 cash back. Hard to beat that deal (at least for one month). But the truth is, I didn't care for it. For one thing, the DVR didn't always work properly. I tried recording a couple of movies that didn't start right on the hour and the recording started after the movie started. Being a sports fan, I tried both packages. I didn't like the fact that you get only one device with the Orange channels as there are multiple TVs in our home. What's really strange is that if you watch the channels that are in both packages you need to be aware there are both Orange and Blue feeds; if you're watching the Orange, you still only get one device at a time even though you have that channel on Blue. And just on principle I hate that they have the sports divided up into separate packages so if you're a sports fan you have to subscribe to both. It's probably fine for somebody who lives alone or is the only sports fan in the family, but it just wasn't for me.
I hear all of this feedback a lot. All fair points. You sound like someone better suited for a premium live TV service. The two base plans with Sling help to keep costs down for many of its users. Those who want all the channels in one package can get that with TH-cam TV, Hulu Live or DTV Stream.
@@MichaelSaves Yeah, I'm doing TH-cam TV right now (after leaving Fubo). But I'd really like a slimmed down, sports centric service. I don't watch TV news (I read newspapers), so I'd rather not pay for that. The Venu thing interests me or something similar from the usual providers. Sling just wasn't for me, but a lot of people love it and get by perfectly well.
I want lots of PBS channels; where do I go for that?
I would use the PBS app! It's free and they have a paid tier.
We just started with Sling. How do you select your favorite channels? I was trying to figure it out on the TV.
You heart them. Hold down by the channel logo.
I got vizio tv does that count when i go to upgrade it wants me to use my phone
Hi Thanks for this video. I am wondering if you know about how sling works if you travel. I tend to travel a lot all over the country. Can I access my drv if I recorded thing in my home town? Thanks for your time :)
I use the Sling TV app on my phone while traveling, including DVR.
😊thanks@@MichaelSaves
Slings not bad. I like YTTV better but may go back to Sling Orange with sports add on. One thing that is nice I have 2 y/o LG tv that integrates my local channels via antenna with the Sling guide. No need for the Sling Air device. I don’t know if they still offer the Air device anymore. But I can’t record from the locals tho.
I let youtube tv go for sling I'm gonna check sling out for a month if not to my liking going back to yttv
@@illkid86 I did the same since writing my original post. I like Sling but there are compromises. I feel like I will stick with Sling for a few months at least.
@MSDOGS1976 youtube tv is awesome but it doesn't have everything sling has stuff yttv doesn't and vice versa
@MSDOGS1976 I like that I can watch wwe aew and bow tna impact on sling and I'm gonna use my steam deck video game to watch sling
@MSDOGS1976 I bought both the orange and blue packages sling has this little brother feeling compared to yttv which is one of the top services along with hulu and fubo
I wish you didn’t have to add a bundle just to get nfl redzone.
NFL Plus offers it!
No phone customer service with sling! TH-cam tv much more customer friendly!
Watch a half hour program and see 50 commercials
Yes, like all live TV services that have cable and broadcast TV networks. At least there's the DVR!
@@MichaelSaves That's true, its justs a pain in the rear
Yep if your not used to the old cable tv or dish it’s horrendous!
@@MichaelSaves The DVR is totally unreliable.
So I’m in Ft. Lauderdale no local abc espn thanks Disney and att stream ! Do II have to have accounts to pay paramount, Netflix Hulu Apple prime etc
Hi Mark. Have you considered a free trial of TH-cam TV for now? I’m also in South Florida. If you have a window facing south, an antenna may help with some locals.
Ya thanks ch 10 is only on nextgen tv though
When will your 2024 NFL streaming video be uploaded?
I am not finished with my video yet. If you have a specific question, you can always email me.
We subscribed to Sling the last few years for football season. It was great. It turns out that the PAC-12 doesn't have any new games this year. I don't need Sling this year.
Lies! Oregon State and Washington State each had a full slate of new games this season! 😂
Does Sling (Zoom to Fit) mean it'll upscale to a 4K Screen
I let youtube tv go for sling this morning
I’ve tried multiple and while I prefer TH-cam TV I always end up coming back to sling because I get orange and blue and the entertainment package for 60s dollars gives me everything I want. But I have an antenna for television.
Does sling offer Smithsonian tv ?
No
Their DVR belongs in the Smithsonian
They need to put channel numbers on their lineup to stop making so damn confusing to find what you want to watch
Whats the free Sling??
It's called Sling Freestream. You access it from the regular Sling app.
The app is terrible for me it’s always crashing using ROKU connected using Ethernet I just gave up and went back to TH-camtv
youtube tv just raised the price by another $10 per month
Yes, unfortunate. I broke the news of the possibility on Saturday and it was confirmed today: th-cam.com/video/80_QhHQXI3c/w-d-xo.html
What happened to the video
Was there a problem with the premiere? The full video should be up now for on-demand viewing.
The interface is still garbage. You can't just search content to record. You have to go into the guide and scroll. Even the sub sections are terrible. If you select movies, it pulls up channels that sometimes carry movies, same with sports.
That being said, it's only $40. YTTV is $73. I'd rather pay $40 for Sling and do the max bundle for $70 combined or other combinations. PQ has improved a lot.
I have used the Search feature to find shows/movies to record. Do you ever use that?
@@MichaelSaves You can search by geners or movies? If you know a particular movie, you can do that as long as it airs in a week.
Damn! I don't even live in the US, I live in Africa, and I'm gonna buy a vpn just to get this slingtv! I liked and subbed anyways. Thanks!
Sling doesn’t work with a VPN. Even their website can’t be reached if you are using a VPN
I need to find a streaming service for a very frugal person, that does not watch sports, but watches alot of paranormal, where the best service for the mad (tin foil) hatters!
No locals, but documentaries, sci nonfiction
Do you have Max or Discovery Plus?
Trvl channel does these :)
Yep Sling tv has Sonic the hedgehog channel that why I signed up with Sling
Sling is trash.
What types of problems did you have with Sling?
I live in the Baltimore market and my only station that is owned by the network is CBS so I get no locals.
@@cwlong0803 Then buy an antenna.