I Put Sling TV to the Test in 2024! Pros, Cons and Is It Worth It?

when people tell me they want a live TV streaming service but YouTube TV is just too expensive a lot of times I tell them check out sling TV I recently paid for a month of the service using a halfof deal from Michael saves deals.com and in this updated review I'm covering the pros the cons everything you need to know before you sign up let's get started number one is the pricing and this is probably the best thing that sling TV has going for it sling is priced right in between premium live TV services and budget live TV services I call it premium light now pricing can change at any time you know that but as of this recording you can get one of Sling TV's two based plans for $40 a month no contract required that is more than $30 a month less than YouTube TV I've been tracking sling TV for years the service typically does not run a free trial but what is typical discounts on the first month of service for new and returning subscribers there are also seasonal deals if you prepay for several months of service upfront number two the channel lineup sling TV is more customizable than other live TV services as I mentioned it offers two base plans and there are also add-on channel packages the base plans are called sling orange and sling blue the number one reason to consider sling orange is ESPN as well as several other Disney owned networks you won't get those with sling blue now sling blue has a better overall mix of channels it includes some sports networks like FS1 and NFL network but it can also work as a standalone bundle for non-sports fans who still want some cable TV networks sling blue channels include cable news networks Bravo USA and TLC I should also mention there are also a couple dozen channels included in both plans A&E Comedy Central Food Network HGTV TBS TNT and more I'm always looking out for your money and the best way to save with sling is to stick with one of the two base plans but if you want both you can combine them and pay a lower price there are also add-ons available for purchase these are called sling extras let me show you one popular combination sling orange and sling blue plus the sports extras and that'll get you NFL Red Zone and everything else here there's a lot ACC Network BTN FS2 golf even Tennis Channel so what's the catch well sling has always been priced below premium live TV services because it doesn't have full coverage for locals here's what you need to know the sling blue plan includes locals in markets where ABC NBC and fox own the stations no CBS stations are offered I live in the Miami market and I get NBC with sling because the local station is owned by NBC but my local ABC and fox they are not owned by the networks so I don't get those with sling TV in my hometown Washington DC NBC and fox are both owned by the networks and they're available with sling TV and there are a handful of cities including New York City where ABC NBC and fox are all owned by the networks so in that case sling TV subscribers get all three now some people view the way sling handles locals as a pro others view it as a con but the bottom line is that sling works best for people who can pick up their local stations with an antenna if you're someone who likes everything about sling except for the locals chances are you'll find what you need with a premium live TV service YouTube TV Hulu live or Direct TV stream just know you'll be paying more for full local coverage all right stick with me I've got a few quick updates before I share some of my thoughts about the user experience number three today is the cloud DVR and you don't get unlimited Cloud DVR storage with sling TV it's not even an option the base plan includes 50 hours of storage at recording time not much and you can upgrade to DVR Plus and get $200 hours $5 a month one benefit of DVR Plus the new auto record feature and this automatically records all the biggest games and gives you 3 days to watch them before they expire with all these games the recordings will not count against your 200 hours of DVR storage I've tested sling TV on all types devices TVs phones and computers but number four today stream limits you need to consider with sling orange you can only stream on one device at a time that's it now I've always assumed this has something to do with sling TV's deal with Disney since the sling blue plan is not nearly as restrictive with that plan you get up to three simultaneous streams number five sling TV now offers 4K streaming now live TV streaming services make very little content available in 4k but at least sling TV doesn't charge extra for it the service began rolling out 4K streaming in July 2024 and I streamed some of the Olympics in 4k with sling but I haven't seen much else since then and I would like an easy way to identify 4K content while browsing maybe that's something they're working on number six the user experience sling TV has made gradual impr improvements over the years but there are some changes that I'd still like to see I like that sling now lets you create additional user profiles and the main advantage of multiple profiles more personalized content for different users let's check out the home screen the top row includes a handful of recommendations and these are based on trending content also your viewing history notice that when I hover on a thumbnail a live video preview autop plays not bad the home screen has some other shortcuts to your most watched channels recent recordings also continue watching all this is fine with me one change I would like to see at the very bottom of the home screen there's this Browse by Channel section with channel logos and I only wish this was higher up on the home screen when you're navigating the sling app from a TV set click left on your remote and you're going to see the following options main sections include search home guide DVR and On Demand when I opened the live guide the first thing I noticed a growing list of filters in the channel guide now I'm guessing this is because the guide now includes hundreds of Sling free stream channels these are channels that you can access without a paid subscription and sling just keeps adding more and more of them now correct me if I'm wrong but I did not see a way to exclude the free stream channels and only see the paid channels so if you want to do that you can always use the favorites filter to only see your top channels one thing I like I can click star on my Roku remote and set a recording directly from the live guide and when you're recording a series you'll see options for a single episode new episodes or new episodes and reruns not a whole lot new to say about the DVR that I haven't already covered but I wanted to show you what this section looks like when you come here you can select a recording and either watch it or or delete it to free up some storage space there's a separate on demand section now I mostly avoid this because when you watch this content there will be advertising and you can't skip these ads of course for your DVR recordings you can always fast forward through the commercials so while we're talking about that a viewer once left me a comment about the playback speeds when you rewind or fast forward they said they were all too fast well I can tell you I completely agree I found that it takes a while to get used to and I don't really know if I've mastered it yet while you're watching live TV just click down on your remote that way you can access the playback controls as well as a mini guide with recent channels and all channels this is also where you can turn on sport scores that'll appear on the screen I've showed you what happens when you click down while watching live TV well when you click up then you'll return to browse the main live guide and the show that you're watching it'll move to the bottom right corner of the screen I'm on the settings menu now this offers a few ways to customize the service directly from your TV set this is also where you can turn on parental controls to not just restrict content but limit purchases and rentals there's quite a bit of upselling within the sling TV app number seven today a couple odds and ends that I noticed while navigating the app first sling rewards and this is a weep Saks watch 30 minutes a day and then you earn entries to win a cash prize this is open to users with either a paid or free sling account and I also noticed this sling Scapes channels they're in the live guide and there's a few of them these are just animations with relaxing music I think they're pretty cool nice to have playing in the background while working I've probably got one playing while editing this video now to my final thoughts and before you get any live TV stream in service check in with yourself and other members of your household just make sure that you're still spending time with the cable channels that are offered by these Services many people who watch my channel have cancelled cable switch to a service once like sling and then realized they don't really need it and they're fine just paying for more affordable on demand Services ones like Netflix but for those who do watch live TV sling can save you a lot of money as long as you can get your local to with an antenna and go easy on the add-ons otherwise link could end up costing just as much as YouTube TV I update streaming TV deals and more on Michael saves deals.com the best way to support this channel