So I tried Sling & like my Vue review it's mostly what I don't like about it and some things I did like and I have to say I like more things about this than Vue primarily the channels as it includes all of the "fluff" that I like and then I can add more on if I want to.
What I don't like about Sling is that you have to go online to edit your my channels section if you try and add them through the Roku app it will only let you add 2 & then the rest will flash when you select them but they don't actually select. So this issue finally stopped...not sure how or why as it happened to me on 2 different accounts & 2 different Roku models.
There's often a delay so I push the back button on my remote and nothing happens so I end up clicking repeatedly thinking that the Roku didn't receive it and then before I know it I'm completely out of the app. Vue had the same issue & I'm just hoping that over time I'll adjust. I really wish the guide would scroll around to the beginning once you reach the end otherwise if you start in the middle then you have to scroll through one half twice.
I do like that the guide actually tells you what the show is that's on rather than the episode title. It is a bit tricky trying to navigate the guide & what is on through the Roku app being that you are going right to left rather than everything listed top to bottom but if you go into the Android app you can view the guide like a cable guide with all of the channels listed on the left top to bottom & what is on (by time) to the right of the channels. -- So during my trial period they added an option to toggle the guide to look like a regular old channel guide but it's not perfect, like I said it doesn't scroll around to the beginning, it doesn't tell you the current time & if you want to see what an episode is you have to click it and I wish it would just show a synopsis below or to the side when you highlight the show. It also doesn't give you the option to set a default, for example I would like it to always default to grid with "my channels" but every time I go back to the grid I have to re-select for it to show only "my channels" and this is really annoying & big time waster (like I could do this 20+ times a day).
Like Vue I can't see what's on while I'm watching something...again, this changed during my trial. You can push "up" to see what else is on while you are watching something but it pauses what you are watching & if it's a channel that doesn't allow you to rewind/pause you miss what was happening while you were nosing around.
The DVR is easy to find and it gives you the option to only record what you want it doesn't automatically dump every OnDemand episode of that same show into your DVR. One thing that does suck about the DVR is I'm realizing you can't record every single Channel I just tried to record something on Fox and it doesn't even give me the option. It is nice though that it's my local Fox station but there's no NBC (there is OnDemand), CBS, ABC or CW. Vue did have NBC. I think this content might vary by market as their websites indicate they have most of the big networks but clearly they don't. On the plus side it doesn't really matter because they are all available with an antenna anyway.
Sling does not offer the jump back option with the Roku. When you use the quick jump button nothing happens, or it goes back to the last channel you were watching. While fast forwarding or rewinding on a DVR'd show the show continues to play and you can see the frames as the rewind or fast-forward is moving and you can change how fast it goes so that's pretty handy. While it’s handy, this is streaming so it’s hard to control where it stops and when it stops it seems like it always jumps forward a bit whereas my cable jumps back 30 seconds so I rarely have to rewind after fast forwarding. The fact that it jumps forward a bit wouldn’t be so annoying if I could use the jump back key on my roku remote. There is a -10 and a +30 (sec) option on the Android app which does make it a bit easier to skip commercials there but then having to wait for things to load often takes just as much time as waiting through the commercial.
They really need to add a myTV list in the on now section. They have comedy Drama action adventure Etc but nothing that only shows your favorite channels.
If you set a show to record all episodes it records all episodes on all channels not just the channel you have it set on. I'm not sure if that's a pro or a con I guess it depends. Also once you have done this if you want to cancel a recording it cancels all future recordings you can't just cancel the one episode...I think this may have changed but I'm not sure since I'm having DVR issues!
Some channels and shows offer you the option to start over when you go to play them if they've already started that's pretty awesome.
One thing that is very annoying is that not all channels allow you to rewind pause or fast forward and that's very frustrating you basically have to record everything you're watching on those channels...assuming you can, there are a few that don’t allow recording. For example I'm sitting here watching TV Land and my phone rings I hit pause no dice, I have to hit OK and then record.
I recorded three episodes of a TV show last night and four episodes of another one my DVR has 1 episode of each. I tweeted to Sling & they’ve been providing help which hasn’t worked but at least they are quick on responding.
Because it's web-based it does freeze up sometimes and I find it extremely frustrating. When I get that text that says oh my God so and so's on turn it on and it takes me 5 minutes to get there and I miss something that's unacceptable to me. I often find myself rebooting the Roku to get the app to stop freezing or pixelating & I shouldn't have to do that either.
While I do like the fact that it shows what show is on rather than what episode is on this sucks when it comes to the DVR because I have 20 episodes of Roseanne and have to go through each one to find out what I want to watch and then you can't just go to the next one either you have to go back and then it shoots you back to the beginning of the DVR then you have to try and remember which episode you left off on click on it and see what it is it's a pain in the ass but I'm hoping that over time this gets better & maybe a bit more intuitive.
As for recordings, it’s odd that I can setup/watch a recording on my Roku and on my phone but the Windows app doesn’t support either...this isn't the case with Windows 10 it seems. The strangest thing has been happening for the last week, Bravo shows aren't recording right. I have everything set to record all new episodes yet it will just record random episodes & not the actual new episodes. When I look at the guide it shows it as recording but when I go to my DVR it's not there. Thankfully via Twitter DMs Sling got this fixed for me.
I have decided to go with Sling for my primary TV so even though I have a lot of complaints above I still prefer it to Vue, not only for the channels but for the excellent customer support on Twitter when it comes to issues & suggestions for improvements.
I have decided to go with Sling for my primary TV so even though I have a lot of complaints above I still prefer it to Vue, not only for the channels but for the excellent customer support on Twitter when it comes to issues & suggestions for improvements.
