[Gleep52]

I seem to have a crap ton of problems with Sling TV and perhaps they are paying to keep complaints off of search providers main pages, but I'd like to know if anyone else is having issues like I am.

1) On my theatre PC, my sling tv app keeps acting like I bump the mouse, even though I haven't (it brings up the menu randomly and then goes away after a few seconds)
2) On my theatre PC, I cannot fast forward shows regardless of if it is a commercial or not (HGTV and Food)
3) On my theatre PC, on startup I get authorization errors a lot which makes me have to close and reopen the app to get a connection
4) On my theatre PC, Audio loses sync with the video and eventually starts to overlap and loop itself. Rewinding 10 seconds fixes the issue. It only has occurred after watching TV for at least 30 minutes, but happens every other time I've watched more than 30 minutes of TV.
5) On my iOS devices, Sling locks up my phone and I have to reboot if I watch TV for a while and try to go back to the TV listing to choose a different show
6) On all my devices, I get buffering issues which state "stalled" in the progress bar. Closing and opening the app usually fixes the problem, but sometimes I have to pick a different show to watch - almost as if that particular show I wanted to watch (or was in the middle of watching) suddenly lost connection to existence.

Has anyone else had these problems? If it were still beta, I'd expect stuff like this, but as a production release, I don't expect to see problems like this. I know it's still a brand new product, but some of these things like audio sync are things that just shouldn't exist anymore. And why do we have to have a stupid app for the service? Why can't we stream it via a web browser if we want?

And why does the app on my theatre PC not work WITH A REMOTE CONTROL???

 

[Kelson]

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/39-ne...-content-streaming/1835825-dish-sling-tv.html

 

[Gleep52]

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/39-ne...-content-streaming/1835825-dish-sling-tv.html

Are you suggesting I post my comment there? I didn't want there to be just ONE thread for all things slingtv related, but I suppose I can post it there... feels like thread-hijacking though

 

[tenthplanet]

Are you suggesting I post my comment there? I didn't want there to be just ONE thread for all things slingtv related, but I suppose I can post it there... feels like thread-hijacking though

Not really. The user base is small enough to warrant only one thread at this point. I haven't hit the problems you are running into but I'm using a Roku 2 XS the software behaves itself most of the time. If you have access to a recent generation Roku it would give access to the Sling service while the bugs are worked out the apps on other platforms .
See you in the main Sling thread

 

[Amcarter23]

I am having a lot of issues with Sling TV as well. I have buffering issues on my mobile devices and laptop. I have the fastest internet available, so it can't be that. I have the roku stick as well, which seems to work well without buffering issues, but it won't load the most popular channels at night like espn, espn2, AMC, TNT....basically all the good channels never load at night when the good shows are on. They will load on my iPhone however, but then I have to deal with it buffering every 5 minutes, which makes anything unwatchable.

 

[sodaboy581]

1) On my theatre PC, my sling tv app keeps acting like I bump the mouse, even though I haven't (it brings up the menu randomly and then goes away after a few seconds)

I have this EXACT issue. Video at:

I don't know WHY it's doing this. Do you have Windows 8.1? I only have two Windows 8.1 machines, no other computers or OS to test, and it does this all day while I view it. Sometimes in shorter or longer intervals...

This is my main problem with Sling and if this isn't fixed, I will have to stop using the service. Well, either that or go pay $39 for an Amazon Fire TV stick and use the Sling app that way in hopes it doesn't have the same issue... But I really don't want to buy the stick and also have to do HDMI switching just for Sling... I watch everything through my Windows Operating System, so this would be making an exception and a minor inconvenience...

 

[almostinsane]

I have those same issues with the app on Win7 and my Amazon FireTV. Its annoying, sometimes the FireTV will work perfectly for a few hours, other times it will freeze at a commercial or just not start the stream. The ESPN channels have the most issues with buffering or freezing or just not streaming at all.

IF they don't solve their issues this is just going to be a 3 month test and then I'll cancel my sub.

 

[Haywood Jablomi]

I have generally found that streaming services work better on appliances than they do on full computers.

 

[sodaboy581]

1) On my theatre PC, my sling tv app keeps acting like I bump the mouse, even though I haven't (it brings up the menu randomly and then goes away after a few seconds)

I got an e-mail back from Sling support while at work. The technician says, and I quote:

Hello Terry,

We apologize for the technical issue that you are facing.

Please turn off your screensaver under your PC settings. This should resolve the issue of the menu popping up during streaming.

Please call our customer service center between the hours of 8:00am EST - 1:00am EST, so that we can troubleshoot and resolve your issue.


Regards,

Sling TV Customer Service
1-888-893-9069
[email protected]

Sounds odd that disabling your PC's screensaver would fix this problem, but I will try it out when I get home and let you know if it does. I bought a Roku 3 last night and it didn't have any issues with Sling TV, but I will probably return it if this fix actually works.

I thought I might have kept the Roku 3 regardless, but there's really little in the way of channels I'd actually watch on the thing. The top ones that are on my channel list after configuration can all be watched just fine via PC.

I will say one thing about the Roku 3, it goes from low to high quality on the Sling stream in a matter of milliseconds where as on the PC it usually takes 10-15 seconds... which is odd since I have a 100mbps downstream, the PC is hardwired and tests on speedtest just fine as well as my *cough*torrenting*cough*. My Roku is set up wirelessly. But, alas, no need for the Roku.

 

[Gleep52]

I got an e-mail back from Sling support while at work. The technician says, and I quote:



Sounds odd that disabling your PC's screensaver would fix this problem, but I will try it out when I get home and let you know if it does. I bought a Roku 3 last night and it didn't have any issues with Sling TV, but I will probably return it if this fix actually works.

I thought I might have kept the Roku 3 regardless, but there's really little in the way of channels I'd actually watch on the thing. The top ones that are on my channel list after configuration can all be watched just fine via PC.

I will say one thing about the Roku 3, it goes from low to high quality on the Sling stream in a matter of milliseconds where as on the PC it usually takes 10-15 seconds... which is odd since I have a 100mbps downstream, the PC is hardwired and tests on speedtest just fine as well as my *cough*torrenting*cough*. My Roku is set up wirelessly. But, alas, no need for the Roku.

I don't have a screensaver on my HTPC. I cancelled sling and just use plex's channels now for HGTV and Food... NO commercials either Gosh I hate commercials.

 

[WishIWasWillie]

Try This

I had the exact same problem. I noticed that if I watched Sling TV in a window so that I could still see the Windows task bar at the bottom of my television, and I left my mouse cursor on the task bar, perfect picture. So I moved the task bar to the right edge of my tv screen, maximized the Sling TV image (so that I couldn't see any part of my desktop, tv picture only), and moved my mouse cursor all the way to the right side of the screen as far as it would go. Perfect picture. Hope this helps at least one other person.

 

[inabag]

Using SlingTV primarily on Roku3's throughout the house, but also on IOS from time to time. The experience has been solid for the most part. There have been a couple instances where ESPN was choppy, and I switched to WatchESPN and it had no issues. Also I have noticed CC is lagged very behind the video.

 

[milrtime83]

1) On my theatre PC, my sling tv app keeps acting like I bump the mouse, even though I haven't (it brings up the menu randomly and then goes away after a few seconds)
4) On my theatre PC, Audio loses sync with the video and eventually starts to overlap and loop itself. Rewinding 10 seconds fixes the issue. It only has occurred after watching TV for at least 30 minutes, but happens every other time I've watched more than 30 minutes of TV.

These are my biggest 2 annoyances so far with Sling.

 

[Cucuy]

I just got a free Fire TV stick by prepaying the service for 3 months. Setup was yesterday and was a breeze. While I don't have a lot of viewing hours yet, I have not experienced any issues you mentioned. {goes to find Sling TV and Fire TV threads}

 

[fsu1mikeg]

I recently purchased a fire stick solely for the purpose of trying out Sling TV. I was content with my Chromecast, but unfortunately it's not a supported device. Set up was easy through the Fire Stick, and it was a pleasant surprise to get two free weeks as opposed to the one free week you get if you sign up through Sling. The service worked ok most of the time until today. For some reason, it constantly buffered and eventually stopped completely. I tried switching back and forth between the 2.4 and 5.0 bands, I exited and restarted the app, I cleared the cache, I reset the device through the remote, and I even unplugged the device and tried it in a different HDMI port. Nothing worked. I tried Netflix just to see if it was the Fire Stick, but that launched immediately and flawlessly. My wifi is fast and the router is about a foot from the Fire Stick. Any ideas what could be causing this? I was really looking forward to Sling, but less than a week of trial it already has me doubting its reliability.

 

[Scarpad]

I've had buffering issue on pretty much every device I have tried, IOD, Fire TV and Xbox One, it happens enough to make me conclude the service is still not there yet.

 

[Charles R]

My wifi is fast and the router is about a foot from the Fire Stick.

Might not be relevant here but I have read numerous times the client shouldn't be too close to the router as it can cause issues.

 

[fsu1mikeg]

I tried moving the fire stick to my Sony soundbar which sits on the opposite side of the entertainment unit, about six feet away from the router. It didn't help. I will say that the service seems to bounce back after a while. It is just not very reliable at this point. I planned to give it a test so I could see if it would be a viable alternative to Directv, which I currently have on hold until football season starts. I am essentially looking to Sling as a cheaper alternative to view ESPN. The other channels are just a bonus. I can live with the lack of additional streams and dvr capability, but not having the stream fail in the middle of a live game. I guess I have two months to figure it out. I'm really pulling for Sling to improve their reliability. I'd love to drop Directv. It's nice, but really more than I need.

 

[Kelson]

It is just not very reliable at this point. I planned to give it a test so I could see if it would be a viable alternative to Directv, which I currently have on hold until football season starts. I am essentially looking to Sling as a cheaper alternative to view ESPN.

Make sure you won't get burned with blackout restrictions before you commit. Sports are the biggest carrot for pay-TV. There's a lot of money changing hands between the franchises and the cable networks and the contracts are tight and restrictive.

 

[fsu1mikeg]

Make sure you won't get burned with blackout restrictions before you commit. Sports are the biggest carrot for pay-TV. There's a lot of money changing hands between the franchises and the cable networks and the contracts are tight and restrictive.

You get ESPN/ESPN2 with no strings--just like if you subscribe to cable or satellite. ESPNU, ESPN News, SEC Network and a couple other networks are available as an add-on for just $5 more. While I'm disappointed with the reliability or lack thereof, I did just read today that a Sling subscription also gives you access to WatchESPN, which means you can log in with your Sling account and stream live games that way as well. So now I at least have peace of mind that I can stream live games reliably without having to go through the actual Sling app. I use my Chromecast with WatchESPN and it works very well. I can live with that and occasional glitches on the other channels. I figure Sling will either fix these issues or fold. There's no way they can continue without improving the product or reducing the cost significantly.