Sling TV Is 2015's Best Of CES Winner

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It looks like Sling TV brought home the award for Best Of CES 2015. Engadget posted an interview with the CEO of Sling TV after the big win.

Sling TV managed to snag two individual awards from the official Best Of CES 2015 plaudits, but it also came out with the coveted Best of the Best award. Why? Because it could well revolutionize TV habits. As Senior Editor Richard Lawler put it, Sling TV is the first non-traditional alternative that looks like it could really work -- and it's coming this month.
 
>"Internet TV hasn't supplanted the cable hegemony yet, but this is the first significant strike -- and it's a good one."

>Have to subscribe to a company in that hegemony for DISH... I mean... Sling TV service.
 
I don't get it. All it looks like to me is the same old approach applied to streaming content. A set package "broadcast" over a new (For TV) medium. Crap.

If you can't tailor the package, select your channels, and then select what a specific channel you want to view at any given time you wish, then crap.

We need to be able to choose the channels, then choose the actual shows, ie... If I put together my package and I pick Fox TV as one of those channels, then any time I want I can browse up and watch some Space Above and Beyond, binge watch the heck out of it, then move on to Married with Children, The Simpsons, The X-Files, and on and on.

For that capability I'll pay and I bet you guys would as well.
 
I don't get it. All it looks like to me is the same old approach applied to streaming content. A set package "broadcast" over a new (For TV) medium. Crap.

If you can't tailor the package, select your channels, and then select what a specific channel you want to view at any given time you wish, then crap.

We need to be able to choose the channels, then choose the actual shows, ie... If I put together my package and I pick Fox TV as one of those channels, then any time I want I can browse up and watch some Space Above and Beyond, binge watch the heck out of it, then move on to Married with Children, The Simpsons, The X-Files, and on and on.

For that capability I'll pay and I bet you guys would as well.
I certainly would. I think I only watch 3 or 4 shows from TV regularly these days. The old concept of a television "lineup" has been dead to me for a long time. In all honesty, though, I'd rather buy a Blu-ray of a season and watch with high-quality sound and audio without commercials than deal with broadcast compression and streaming artifacts.
 
I've been all over Netflix for awhile now and I really like it.

Netflix isn't the best picture quality.
It's not the best sound either.
It's still has problems now and then with the stream.

But it's what I want when I want it and that trumps everything else that doesn't offer the same and I am not signing up for anything less again.
 
I don't get it. All it looks like to me is the same old approach applied to streaming content. A set package "broadcast" over a new (For TV) medium. Crap.

If you can't tailor the package, select your channels, and then select what a specific channel you want to view at any given time you wish, then crap.

We need to be able to choose the channels, then choose the actual shows, ie... If I put together my package and I pick Fox TV as one of those channels, then any time I want I can browse up and watch some Space Above and Beyond, binge watch the heck out of it, then move on to Married with Children, The Simpsons, The X-Files, and on and on.

For that capability I'll pay and I bet you guys would as well.

While I agree with your end state wishes, imo you are down playing the importance of this...

Entry point is $20... With ESPN (which is huge for many), which btw is NOT available for Dish's normal $20 line up. while double what nextflix etc is charging its not a surprising price.

No service area etc It's an option/alternative for all.

Seems like the add on bundles are more theme based, news, children etc. Instead of some arbitrary list of channels that is always missing a few good channels until you hit the top tier. Though I admit, don't know the details of which channels are where and the prices, those could seriously hinder feasibility.

No DVR is very disappointing... first step I guess.

While I would love it, I don't think it's a realistic expectation to have all normal cable content available on-demand, without commercials for the same price as currently, about $100 per mo. If you were selling a service would you just reduce your income (commercials, fluff channels) just because? Probably not, but these changes we are see is due to the cord cutters, the more people that cancel the more the services will change. Pretty much just like the music industry and mp3's/streaming, and they are still whining about it.
 
I've been all over Netflix for awhile now and I really like it.

Netflix isn't the best picture quality.
It's not the best sound either.
It's still has problems now and then with the stream.

But it's what I want when I want it and that trumps everything else that doesn't offer the same and I am not signing up for anything less again.

Upgrade to a good router and that should solve it. Also insure your net speeds are 15 mgps minimum. (netflix says 8, but get 15)
 
I've been all over Netflix for awhile now and I really like it.

Netflix isn't the best picture quality.
It's not the best sound either.
It's still has problems now and then with the stream.

But it's what I want when I want it and that trumps everything else that doesn't offer the same and I am not signing up for anything less again.

Should also mention that the source matters. My Roku 3 solved some Netflix issues that I had with a Sony SDP 590 bluray player, such as bad quality (pixelating).
 
Interesting. Still a dumb name, likelihood of confusion. :confused:
It might be the point though, Sling has a pretty good name in the public mind and instantly give the new service some credibility.
 
Cable internet = ~$60/month
Sling TV = ~$20+

still paying cable tv prices with less content.

So you are saying you don't have Cable Internet now?

A lot of people have cable/sat + cable internet + 1 or more streaming... So the $20 sling is actually competing against $30-70 TV plans. Yes probably less content but ESPN and some other channels (like in my house Food Network) might just be enough to cut the cord.

While I understand your point, imo many people already have the internet connection to support other streaming services.

This product might just add a few more % points to the cable cutters market share, the more people do the more the content companies will start to get on board.
 
also I so very much hate comcast that I would be willing to spend more so they don't get my money.
 
So you are saying you don't have Cable Internet now?

A lot of people have cable/sat + cable internet + 1 or more streaming... So the $20 sling is actually competing against $30-70 TV plans. Yes probably less content but ESPN and some other channels (like in my house Food Network) might just be enough to cut the cord.

While I understand your point, imo many people already have the internet connection to support other streaming services.

This product might just add a few more % points to the cable cutters market share, the more people do the more the content companies will start to get on board.

I haven cable internet... I just just see the SlingTV another cable service without calling it cable tv. The base is $20... but I'm sure with other channels and what not it can end up being more than a decent cable tv package... then still having to pay for internet access on top of it.

But I agree... more "steaming services" the more support for better service.
 
I just want to be able to pay a streaming service like hulu extra money to remove commercials on my favored shows. Until then I refuse to pay for that service. They don't even need to do it for all shows, just charge an extra 2 dollars per show per month that you want a commercial free experience for, and up the quality to 1080p+ while you're at it. That additional revenue can go directly to the content owners and site running the shows in lieu of the commercial revenue, and so many more people would find the service tolerable.


But no, hulu is an ad company more than anything else, they cannot see beyond ads and refuse to change course.
 
I just want to be able to pay a streaming service like hulu extra money to remove commercials on my favored shows. Until then I refuse to pay for that service. They don't even need to do it for all shows, just charge an extra 2 dollars per show per month that you want a commercial free experience for, and up the quality to 1080p+ while you're at it. That additional revenue can go directly to the content owners and site running the shows in lieu of the commercial revenue, and so many more people would find the service tolerable.


But no, hulu is an ad company more than anything else, they cannot see beyond ads and refuse to change course.

If they went al a carte, I wouldn't touch the service unless membership dropped to a trivial administrative cost like $1 or $2/ mo.

Paying for content twice is the root of the current problem with cable TV. We pay by watching commercials, we pay for the content supposedly to the content owner, we pay again for content delivery supposedly to the Cable Company. I don't want to go down that route again.
 
Commercials?
Unfortunately this. I tried watching The Strain on TV when it first aired, but gave up on that a few episodes in because the commercials were literally coming at you after every 2-5 minutes. I couldn't take it, so I just waited until it came out on Blu-ray. Syfy is pulling the same shit with Helix this season...

I remember when hour-long TV shows were around 48 minutes long on average after the commercials. Now it's more like 37-40 minutes. Retention rate is probably falling through the basement.
 
I've tried it only on my S4 so far. The app works great. It's smooth, simple, and pretty sharp. There aren't any extra bars or anything across the screen while playing. Video is smooth on Version 4G with 3 bars, I'm in a hotel so I haven't tried WiFi playback yet. You can choose stream speed and it tells you how much data it will use for each option. 1.1 mb/s with best quality no limit streaming. Overall it's very nice so far.
 
I got it all setup on the Roku last night. Seems to work well enough, but until they improve the interface, it'll be left on a single channel more often than not. Video quality is at least as good as Hulu. They have an option to zoom SD content to fit 16X9. There are four or five resolutions to pick from, I stuck mine on unlimited. The movie selection is decent, 95% of it is rental though, the free movie selection sucks... but that's what I have Netflix for.
 
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