# sling PQ Horrible



## Andrew Sullivan (Dec 7, 2017)

I just signed on this morning and I am shocked at the terrible PQ on ESPN and ESPN2. Haven't had time to explore all of the channels but MLB and NBA look OK. But ESPN is almost unwatchable.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Andrew Sullivan said:


> I just signed on this morning and I am shocked at the terrible PQ on ESPN and ESPN2. Haven't had time to explore all of the channels but MLB and NBA look OK. But ESPN is almost unwatchable.


I've used Sling a couple times in other homes and wasn't impressed. From reading, I have the impression that you'd be better off with ATT TV. PQ is a big deal and it certainly sounds like ATT has pretty good PQ.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Andrew Sullivan said:


> I just signed on this morning and I am shocked at the terrible PQ on ESPN and ESPN2. Haven't had time to explore all of the channels but MLB and NBA look OK. But ESPN is almost unwatchable.


If ESPN is bad, what must sports on Fox look like? Fox is the worst channel for PQ and sports. That's not an opinion.

Rich


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## Andrew Sullivan (Dec 7, 2017)

Rich said:


> I've used Sling a couple times in other homes and wasn't impressed. From reading, I have the impression that you'd be better off with ATT TV. PQ is a big deal and it certainly sounds like ATT has pretty good PQ.
> 
> Rich


Why would anyone cut the cord to save money then pay almost twice as much for ATT TV over Sling? If it's for content or PQ you may as well stay with Dish or "D".


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Andrew Sullivan said:


> Why would anyone cut the cord to save money then pay almost twice as much for ATT TV over Sling? If it's for content or PQ you may as well stay with Dish or "D".


Simple math! I pay $50/month out of pocket for ATT TV with HBO Max included. Keep it a year, cancel and pay ETF and the average true cost for the year I have it is $57/month. Can't do that with any cable/sat service I know of.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Andrew Sullivan said:


> Why would anyone cut the cord to save money then pay almost twice as much for ATT TV over Sling? If it's for content or PQ you may as well stay with Dish or "D".


Yup. Still haven't found a satisfactory replacement for D*. Sounds like you're having that problem too. In my case, it's not about trying to save money.

Rich


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Rich said:


> Yup. Still haven't found a satisfactory replacement for D*. Sounds like you're having that problem too. In my case, it's not about trying to save money.
> 
> Rich


I keep thinking that a good alternative to cable/sat in the streaming world when it comes to sports will come along after they have the prices pushed up. Right now I don't think any of the streaming providers are making enough profit to add things like multi-screen/pip and so forth.

There is no argument to the fact that cable/sat is much more convenient to use with features that streaming just doesn't have yet.


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## Andrew Sullivan (Dec 7, 2017)

Rich said:


> Yup. Still haven't found a satisfactory replacement for D*. Sounds like you're having that problem too. In my case, it's not about trying to save money.
> 
> Rich


Not sure why anyone would cut the cord and go with a streaming service if it wasn't to save money.


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## Andrew Sullivan (Dec 7, 2017)

lparsons21 said:


> Simple math! I pay $50/month out of pocket for ATT TV with HBO Max included. Keep it a year, cancel and pay ETF and the average true cost for the year I have it is $57/month. Can't do that with any cable/sat service I know of.


I'm not comparing ATT TV to sat or cable service but to Sling at $30 mo


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Andrew Sullivan said:


> Not sure why anyone would cut the cord and go with a streaming service if it wasn't to save money.


Saving money certainly is part of it, another part is the ease to sub and cancel when you want, which also can save money. Makes it easy to mix 'n match content.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Andrew Sullivan said:


> I'm not comparing ATT TV to sat or cable service but to Sling at $30 mo


Sling is at that price for a skinny bundle of cable channels, just like Philo in that respect. Saves a lot of money if those channels are all you need, not so much if they don't.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

Andrew Sullivan said:


> Why would anyone cut the cord to save money then pay almost twice as much for ATT TV over Sling? If it's for content or PQ you may as well stay with Dish or "D".


No local channels on Sling is one reason.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Andrew Sullivan said:


> Not sure why anyone would cut the cord and go with a streaming service if it wasn't to save money.


Poor equipment (one of the main reasons I won't ever try cable again), poor customer service (you really don't need customer service when streaming). All things being equal ATT TV sounds like a pretty reasonable way to dump D*, to me. If I got to the point where I just couldn't take D* anymore.


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## Andrew Sullivan (Dec 7, 2017)

b4pjoe said:


> No local channels on Sling is one reason.


I get all of my locals with a Leaf antenna. If you pre pay for 2 months ($60) Sling will send you a device for free to get your locals. Not sure if it's actually a antenna.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

Andrew Sullivan said:


> I get all of my locals with a Leaf antenna. If you pre pay for 2 months ($60) Sling will send you a device for free to get your locals. Not sure if it's actually a antenna.


Well that is nice for you. Are you aware that not everyone can get locals with ANY antenna?


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## Andrew Sullivan (Dec 7, 2017)

b4pjoe said:


> Well that is nice for you. Are you aware that not everyone can get locals with ANY antenna?


Of course I'm aware of that b4pjoe. No reason to get snarky. I'm simply referring to my situation.


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## Andrew Sullivan (Dec 7, 2017)

I may have been too hasty blaming Sling for my horrible PQ. I initially installed Sling on a 2019 Samsung 82Q70. I just installed Sling on my Invidia Shield and the PQ is startlingly better. Could the processor on my Samsung be that inferior?


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

Andrew Sullivan said:


> Of course I'm aware of that b4pjoe. No reason to get snarky. I'm simply referring to my situation.


Sorry if that sounded snarky. You said "Not sure why anyone would cut the cord and go with a streaming service if it wasn't to save money." and then "I'm not comparing ATT TV to sat or cable service but to Sling at $30 mo". My reply was "No local channels on Sling is one reason." Your reply was "I get all of my locals with a Leaf antenna. If you pre pay for 2 months ($60) Sling will send you a device for free to get your locals." That sounded like you were oblivious to the fact that not all people have the ability to get locals OTA. Many people switch to streaming services that cost more than Sling because they have local channels. Youtube TV, Hulu Live TV, AT&T TV Now, and AT&T TV to name some of them.


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## armchair (Jul 27, 2009)

Andrew Sullivan said:


> I may have been too hasty blaming Sling for my horrible PQ. I initially installed Sling on a 2019 Samsung 82Q70. I just installed Sling on my Invidia Shield and the PQ is startlingly better. Could the processor on my Samsung be that inferior?


2015 Samsung TV here. As I recall my TV apps were calling video settings from somewhere (very standard- just look at the video settings). Maybe video settings for ARC HDMI channel? I wasn't using that input and hadn't set anything there. Not sure where the video settings were called from but what I did when using TV apps, I'd set the HDMI input to an input I had already personalized for streaming TV.

If yours is like mine, you may find video mode set to standard and standard motion settings enabled. Terrible results.

I was subscribing to Sling + Philo. I thought the PQ was greater than sufficient. I just suspended Sling, cancelled Philo and switched to Fubo TV with family plan plus the extra add-on. Started with the trial on the existing subscriber referral invite to save $30. It's the only way to trial Fubo TV for first time subscribers. Fubo is improving since I've subscribed using my ATV4K streamers as primary device. Trial ended today so I can refer other first time subscribers too.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

b4pjoe said:


> Well that is nice for you. Are you aware that not everyone can get locals with ANY antenna?


It's hard to be aware of things like that when we have no idea where you are located. I've always thought we should put that info under our avatars. But, it is a choice.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Andrew Sullivan said:


> I may have been too hasty blaming Sling for my horrible PQ. I initially installed Sling on a 2019 Samsung 82Q70. I just installed Sling on my Invidia Shield and the PQ is startlingly better. Could the processor on my Samsung be that inferior?


Any TV set by Samsung that is a "7" something is not gonna have the best processor. Q70s, 7000s. Step down from 8000s and Q80s. And the "8s" are a step down from the "9s". Q90s, 9000s.

Rich


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## crkeehn (Apr 23, 2002)

Rich said:


> It's hard to be aware of things like that when we have no idea where you are located. I've always thought we should put that info under our avatars. But, it is a choice.
> 
> Rich


Rich, I hear what you're saying but that may not even be a good indicator. I live in Raleigh NC, which one could consider a fairly decent metropolitan area. However, the layout of the antenna farms which tend to be somewhat far south of the city, and the layout of the terrain mean that I get about 1/3 of the channels that I should and that can be heavily dependent on weather. During colder weather I can pick up more channels than in the Summertime. It's easier for me to subscribe to a service that provides my locals than it would be to install the kind of antenna I would need to receive them OTA.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

crkeehn said:


> Rich, I hear what you're saying but that may not even be a good indicator. I live in Raleigh NC, which one could consider a fairly decent metropolitan area. However, the layout of the antenna farms which tend to be somewhat far south of the city, and the layout of the terrain mean that I get about 1/3 of the channels that I should and that can be heavily dependent on weather. During colder weather I can pick up more channels than in the Summertime. It's easier for me to subscribe to a service that provides my locals than it would be to install the kind of antenna I would need to receive them OTA.


I know Raleigh is in some kind of Bermuda Triangle thing when it comes to electronics. Look at a map of Verizon cell phone coverage, the only place you can't get a decent signal is Raleigh. Or it was the last time I looked at a Verizon and that had to be some time ago. What goes on down there that causes the problems?

Rich


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

I'm intimately familar with the Raleigh market and where the transmitter antennas are.

My info is from right before I moved away in August 2017. I Lived just east of Youngsville in Southwestern Franklin County (8 miles NNE of Wake Forest). I was about 22 miles at a bearing of 220 from the antenna farm.

All stations with the following exceptions are located East of Garner along I-40 (I'll call this the antenna farm). You can see the farm as you are driving along I-40 on the north side of the highway.

WUNC (although there is a small narrow beam into the center of Raleigh from the farm) - mainly located in Chapel Hill (channel 4), with other UNC stations located in Roanoke Rapids (Channel 36) and I think there is one in Fayetteville, and Lumberton.
WRPX (the ION station) - one east of Roanoke Rapids (47) (I was about 10 miles from this one - it came in like gangbusters compared to everything else) and one down in Fayetteville(62)
There is a channel out in Wilson (channel 42) . 
This leaves the following at the farm - 5,11,17,22,28, and 50)

Depending on where in the market you live, you might be able to pickup other markets' TV stations - Adjacent markets are Greenville NC and Greensboro / Winston-Salem. Up north/northeast is Richmond VA. Southwest has Charlotte, and I don't remember what is mostly south of Raleigh / Fayetteville (maybe Columbia SC ?) Wilmington may be possible from the Greenville market, but not from Raleigh.


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## NashGuy (Jan 30, 2014)

Andrew Sullivan said:


> Not sure why anyone would cut the cord and go with a streaming service if it wasn't to save money.


Most people don't care about the technology used to deliver the TV service, whether that's QAM-on-coax, DBS, managed IPTV, or OTT. AT&T TV happens to be OTT but has HD picture quality that's as good or slightly better than DTV. It comes with customized hardware that rivals modern cable boxes like Comcast's X1. It does have some trade-offs, in terms of features, channels, contract, etc., versus other cable TV services (DTV, DISH, Comcast X1, Charter Spectrum, Verizon FiOS, etc.) but it's competing against that level of service. It isn't intended for "cord-cutters". It's a full-scale cable TV service and it's priced that way. It just happens to be delivered OTT.


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## techguy88 (Mar 19, 2015)

Andrew Sullivan said:


> Why would anyone cut the cord to save money then pay almost twice as much for ATT TV over Sling? If it's for content or PQ you may as well stay with Dish or "D".


The long terms savings with AT&T TV (or AT&T TV Now's "Other Packages") comes in the forms of HD, DVR and additional receiver/TV fees. I have 3 TVs (which is a common configuration in most homes.)

DirecTV Entertainment is $74.99/mo add $15/mo for Advanced Receiver Service and $21/mo for 3 receivers (at $7/mo/ea) and you will pay a total of $110.99/mo without discounts.
AT&T TV & AT&T TV Now Entertainment is $93.00/mo. You can have up to 10 devices connected to your AT&T TV / TV Now account and watch 3 of them at the same time. The price remains at $93.00/mo.
Going with AT&T TV or AT&T TV Now Entertainment over DirecTV Entertainment represents a $17.99/mo regular savings. ($215.88/year)

So someone looking to keep a traditional cable/satellite experience but wanting to save some money can accomplish this with AT&T TV or AT&T TV Now.


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