# Playstation Vue the good and the bad



## 1948GG (Aug 4, 2007)

I 'cut the cord' a month ago, after a long look at alternatives. I already had decent internet service, but wanted something close to what I had with 24+ years of Directv. 

I chose Playstation Vue (one of my neighbors has had it for months) and as I already had several roku boxes I was ready to go. 

The learning curve to get things all up and running was more than a bit steep, as a lot of the documentation on their web site was/is outdated as pertaining to roku boxes. A couple of times I had to call customer service to get hints on things, not even their blog had the answers. But the CS people did, so why weren't the web pages updated? Typical programmers, love to code but hate to document what they did.

One local network (abc) was missing in their channels, but a week in it was added; this caused a weeks worth of flacky service, but it finally settled down. The last 3 weeks has been pretty stable, adding dvr series and adding individual programs and movies went well, and had no problems playing anything back - the 'unlimited' dvr worked well.

Until this weekend. Out of the blue, the 'series' button on the program listing disappeared, and many (but not all?!?) series I had set previously had 'disappeared'. At the same time, their blog was taken down for 'maintenence'. And of course, they have no CS support on the weekends.

In short, it appears they suffer from the same affliction as many 'high tech' companies these days, programmers who would fail as contestants on 'are you smarter than a fifth grader'. 

I'll be first in line on their CS line when they open tomorrow a.m.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

1948GG said:


> I 'cut the cord' a month ago, after a long look at alternatives. I already had decent internet service, but wanted something close to what I had with 24+ years of Directv.
> 
> I chose Playstation Vue (one of my neighbors has had it for months) and as I already had several roku boxes I was ready to go.
> 
> ...


I tried PSV early this year. I used a Nvidia Shield and had no problems. I didn't use it enough to make any other comments on it. I don't see the need for a cable replacement service, just my opinion.

Rich


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## goldwing (Aug 25, 2006)

I wish more streaming services had American Hero's Channel (old military channel). That's a "must have" channel for me so my only option is DirecTV Now which sucks because its buggy as hell. (at least with firestick/firebox)


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## mjwagner (Oct 8, 2005)

I had tried PSVue on Roku when I first started with it. It was the worst of all the streamers from a UI perspective for PSVue. I found my Shields and my FireTVs had a much better UI for PSVue. I haven’t used any Roku devices in a long time (since that initial experience in fact) since I decided to standardize on Android for all my streaming devices (I mostly use Shields but do have 2 tvs with FireTV devices) so it is certainly possible, actually probable, that they have improved the PSVue UI on that platform. Unfortunately the PSVue UI is not standardized across all the devices that PSVue supports.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

mjwagner said:


> I had tried PSVue on Roku when I first started with it. *It was the worst of all the streamers from a UI perspective for PSVue.* I found my Shields and my FireTVs had a much better UI for PSVue. I haven't used any Roku devices in a long time (since that initial experience in fact) since I decided to standardize on Android for all my streaming devices (I mostly use Shields but do have 2 tvs with FireTV devices) so it is certainly possible, actually probable, that they have improved the PSVue UI on that platform. Unfortunately the PSVue UI is not standardized across all the devices that PSVue supports.


This should upset many folks: I think what I highlighted would make a good blanket statement about every one of the Rokus I've had. Easily the worst streaming boxes I've tried and I've only tried the high end Rokus. Just my opinion, haven't tried a Roku in over a year, who knows, they might have changed. I don't think I'd buy another Fire Stick either. I'll have the new Fire TV Cube next week, that should be a keeper.

Rich


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## mjwagner (Oct 8, 2005)

Rich said:


> This should upset many folks: I think what I highlighted would make a good blanket statement about every one of the Rokus I've had. Easily the worst streaming boxes I've tried and I've only tried the high end Rokus. Just my opinion, haven't tried a Roku in over a year, who knows, they might have changed. I don't think I'd buy another Fire Stick either. I'll have the new Fire TV Cube next week, that should be a keeper.
> 
> Rich
> 
> Rich


Based on the specs the cube is the same as the 4k "dongle" with an Echo Dot added on. I think the one to go for is the new 4k stick that is supposed to start to ship on 10/30. It actually has improved hw (faster processor and improved gpu).


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## billsharpe (Jan 25, 2007)

I don't have a Roku stick, but my Roku TV (TCL) is super-easy to use. Dedicated remote buttons bring up Amazon Prime and Netflix directly. Very easy to access Acorn TV and other apps. My FiOS remote also works and starts the TV with the FiOS channels.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

mjwagner said:


> Based on the specs the cube is the same as the 4k "dongle" with an Echo Dot added on. I think the one to go for is the new 4k stick that is supposed to start to ship on 10/30. It actually has improved hw (faster processor and improved gpu).


I use a 4K Dongle when I watch Amazon content. Easily one of the best streamers I've ever used. Have you ever had the opportunity to compare the PQ of the Apple TV Amazon Prime app to the PQ you get from a Dongle on Amazon content? Much better with the Dongle and the sounds are almost always in at least 5.1. I'm certainly gonna give the Cube a shot. I just threw out a bunch of Fire Sticks but you might have a point. Amazon has a habit of making their devices much better than previous generations. I'm probably gonna throw out a couple older Dots too, they really suck compared to my new Dot. Same can be said of our 3 new Echos, much better than they were four years ago when I got the first Echo.

Rich


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## mjwagner (Oct 8, 2005)

Rich said:


> I use a 4K Dongle when I watch Amazon content. Easily one of the best streamers I've ever used. Have you ever had the opportunity to compare the PQ of the Apple TV Amazon Prime app to the PQ you get from a Dongle on Amazon content? Much better with the Dongle and the sounds are almost always in at least 5.1. I'm certainly gonna give the Cube a shot. I just threw out a bunch of Fire Sticks but you might have a point. Amazon has a habit of making their devices much better than previous generations. I'm probably gonna throw out a couple older Dots too, they really suck compared to my new Dot. Same can be said of our 3 new Echos, much better than they were four years ago when I got the first Echo.
> 
> Rich


Yeah, I have one of the Dongles. I got it for free through some promotion or other. The picture and sound quality is actually very good and until they finally updated the Shield Amazon Prime app to support ATMOS I was using it to watch Jack Ryan. That said, I was pretty underwhelmed with the overall performance. If you look at the specs on the dongle it was only slightly more powerful than the stick and not as powerful as the gen 2 FireTV box.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

mjwagner said:


> Yeah, I have one of the Dongles. I got it for free through some promotion or other. The picture and sound quality is actually very good and until they finally updated the Shield Amazon Prime app to support ATMOS I was using it to watch Jack Ryan. That said, I was pretty underwhelmed with the overall performance. If you look at the specs on the dongle it was only slightly more powerful than the stick and *not as powerful as the gen 2 FireTV box*.


I have that box, I've compared them and I think the Dongle is better. Subjectivity, what else can I say? Aww, now I'm gonna have to get a Stick and give that a shot...Just ordered it, if I think it's better than the Dongle or the 4K box it will replace one of them. I do have a need for four 4K Fire devices. I did enjoy _Jack Ryan_.

Rich


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## mjwagner (Oct 8, 2005)

Rich said:


> I have that box, I've compared them and I think the Dongle is better. Subjectivity, what else can I say? Aww, now I'm gonna have to get a Stick and give that a shot...Just ordered it, if I think it's better than the Dongle or the 4K box it will replace one of them. I do have a need for four 4K Fire devices. I did enjoy _Jack Ryan_.
> 
> Rich


I enjoyed Jack Ryan as well. In my home theater in 4k HDR using my 4k HDR laser projector in full 7.2.4 ATMOS sound it really did showcase the state of the art in streaming entertainment.


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## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

goldwing said:


> I wish more streaming services had American Hero's Channel (old military channel). That's a "must have" channel for me so my only option is DirecTV Now which sucks because its buggy as hell. (at least with firestick/firebox)


Philo did a major upgrade for 2018 and you should be able to access Philo on your fire stick now,Philo has the American Hero's channel in their $20. a month package.


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## NYDutch (Dec 28, 2013)

goldwing said:


> I wish more streaming services had American Hero's Channel (old military channel). That's a "must have" channel for me so my only option is DirecTV Now which sucks because its buggy as hell. (at least with firestick/firebox)


I have the stand-alone AHC Go app installed on my Firestick.

https://www.amazon.com/Discovery-Communications-AHC-GO-Fire/dp/B071LPXMP1/


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## 1948GG (Aug 4, 2007)

Been a while since I posted, but psvue has continued the last 8+ months just about the same as I posted before, with DVR selections disappearing at random (usually around 6+ per week) and 'favorite' channels (ones that are moved to the top of the 'guide') get removed at random as well. I've complained both on their blog and to live customer service so many times *at least twice a month* it's obvious they don't know how to fix it. Of course, they really don't run their operation, they've outsourced it all to Akamai, which has a very poor rep in the business (mlb dropped them and moved to CenturyLink for one).


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## grover517 (Sep 29, 2007)

When considering what service to go with to get the channels that I watch college sports on (ESPN, CBSSN, NBCSN, BTN, etc.) I chose PS Vue over Hulu and others for the simple reason that the PS Vue app supports and integrates it's guide info into the FireTV Recast 2 week channel guide. Philo is another and was chosen to give the wife her Viacom channels. It gives the wife a one stop location to channel surf the old fashioned way. If and when YouTube TV reappears on FireTV, if they support the Recast channel guide, I will probably switch over.


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## vfourmax (Dec 22, 2018)

1948GG said:


> Been a while since I posted, but psvue has continued the last 8+ months just about the same as I posted before, with DVR selections disappearing at random (usually around 6+ per week) and 'favorite' channels (ones that are moved to the top of the 'guide') get removed at random as well. I've complained both on their blog and to live customer service so many times *at least twice a month* it's obvious they don't know how to fix it. Of course, they really don't run their operation, they've outsourced it all to Akamai, which has a very poor rep in the business (mlb dropped them and moved to CenturyLink for one).


As far as the DVR selections being removed would it have anything to do with the cloud DVR only keeps a show for 28 days on the PSVue server?

I am getting ready to go that route and my understanding is the PSVUE DVR is unlimited but it only keeps a selection 28 days and then it is automatically removed. That is what I remember about the service but it is a free service included in the package with no additional charge at least.

That may be where your DVR shows are going, timing out and being deleted.


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## 1948GG (Aug 4, 2007)

Uh, no. The 28 days retention would apply to specific showings of a daily or weekly repeating show, I've been down that possibility with customer service and it doesn't pan out. The 'deselections' are totally at random, they do appear to happen after I've added several new selections like movies and such.

Psvue says at one point in it's service guide that DVR selections are 'unlimited', then at another page says it's limited to 600 selections. Customer Service can't resolve this inconsistency, nor can they explain why the system starts 'deselecting' right around 330-350 or so; this I've confirmed by creating several profiles and adding DVR selections right up to that point. Apparently, the 'programmers' have never tested this, which does not surprise me, as psvue has outsourced virtually their entire operation, and then has deferred actually testing to see if those folks have done their job. BAMTech/BAMTech Media is the company that is supplying the code to run PSVue, Akamai is the company actually supplying the 'iron' to run the system; who they outsource national and local channel collection to I've been unable to find out, but Akamai uses CenturyLink/level3 as their internet provider, with dedicated lines to the larger ISP's (and that includes divisions of those companies, so like with comcast they have dedicated lines to major city/hubs) so the streams rarely touch the 'public' internet.

When you've decided to go down this outsource route, you easily get into the '787 syndrome', where supplier A doesn't talk to supplier B, and their code doesn't 'fit' with each other, unless you have engineers embedded with all suppliers and ramp up your testing to include every step of the operation. And the next thing you know, the amount of your product you have to sell to break even much less make s profit gets out if reach. '787 syndrome'? Boeing outsourced so many parts of the plane that didn't fit together once they came into their assembly plant in Everett, WA, that they 'may' actually start making a profit on the airplane only after selling >1400+ copies, which may be around 2025 or so, some 17 years after first flight.

Psvue is holding on by their fingernails at present due to these and other problems like consistant buffering, this DVR insanity, and 'favorite' channels getting randomly removed, among a host of continuing problems. Their blog s/w has been down now for a week, a system they decided to have done internally rather than go out and purchase a commercial system (like dbstalk) that is solid and run by several companies.

Obviously, Sony thinks they can plug in various parts from various vendors like a tinker toy set, and it will all run together without problems. But they are headed toward a worse syndrome, '737 Max' where the system will crash and burn in the marketplace with higher prices and lower usability until the subscribers flee in mass.


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## vfourmax (Dec 22, 2018)

Was just a thought, so you are saying that it does not give you the "deselect or removal" problems until you reach say 300 shows DVR'd?

Reason I was asking is I am planning on giving the service a go and usually I never have more than say 40 shows or movies max at any one time, mostly series stuff that I watch within a week or so and a few movies here and there so maybe that will not be something that I will experience.

I am hoping the service works for me as it has the best features and channel selection for what I want, if this fails it will be Sling getting the nod.


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## 1948GG (Aug 4, 2007)

I have a couple of profiles I keep going that have less than 50 or so DVR'd programs, daily and weekly repeating, with 10+ favorite channels. Haven't caught it deselecting anything quite literally for 10+ months on those.

I hold on to this 'service' because of the 5 streams and 3-6 channels. A/B against youtubetv, with 3 streams and without those channels (one is my local fox so can anyone say nfl?) it might work but I keep hoping (idiot?) that things will turn around. I get my locals by comcast 'instant' streaming which was extremely minimal DVR but all 30+ ota channels. Locast maybe in the future, but no DVR service (how about it hauppague?) Has made a standalone streaming dvr. Rock and hard place 100+ miles between two cities in state that allows local ota antenna restrictions. But I made the decision to dump DirecTV so i save $200/month.


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## DanG48 (Jun 19, 2007)

I've had PS Vue for 8 months now and am very satisfied with the channel selection. No problem with DVR shows I record either...they seem to be there when I need to watch them...


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## grover517 (Sep 29, 2007)

I've had PS Vue (along side Philo) now for a couple months and also have not seen any issues with the cloud DVR. So far, so good.


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## vfourmax (Dec 22, 2018)

Well I made the jump, dropped Direct TV and went to the PS Vue core package with the add on sports pack. Seems to give me the channels I want. I also have an Amazon prime subscription that can sub in some content as well. Should get my OTA antenna up in a couple of weeks and also have a standalone ota dvr for that as well so should be set.
I am really impressed with the ease of setting the new service up on the Firestick and navigating the menus, setting up your favorite channels list and the DVR on the vue service seems very well laid out and easy to use.

PQ is as good as what I was getting with Direct tv. looking forward to having some channels I was lacking with Dtv and not having any additional "fees" tacked on my monthly bill which will be about 70.00 a month less than what Direct was bending me over for. Initial impression this will work well for me and my viewing habits.


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## grover517 (Sep 29, 2007)

Opened PS Vue this morning and even though I am not in the ACC footprint, was greeted with a big splash screen announcing the addition of the ACC network to my core package without having to add a sports package at extra cost. Thanks Sony!


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## crkeehn (Apr 23, 2002)

grover517 said:


> Opened PS Vue this morning and even though I am not in the ACC footprint, was greeted with a big splash screen announcing the addition of the ACC network to my core package without having to add a sports package at extra cost. Thanks Sony!


I think ACC Network is really trying to build up viewership as they have signed with a number of streaming services, including Youtube TV. With the Wolfpack just south of me and the Blue Devils just north of me, I am in ACC country.


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## vfourmax (Dec 22, 2018)

Just added it to my favorites, I have 3 ACC affiliated schools within about 100 miles of my location. So far I am really pleased and enjoying the PS Vue experience.


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