I recently signed up for PlayStation Vue. If you don't know what it is, it's a TV streaming service that provides many, if not all of the channels that you would get through your local cable or satelite provider. You must have a high speed internet connection for it to work, but most, if not all of us have that already. You can stream it through a PS3 or PS4, or through something like a Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast or Apple TV. Oddly enough, you cannot use a PlayStation TV for this service. Honestly, I'm betting that Sony wishes they hadn't wasted that name on a failed system, because the PlayStation Vue is what should really be called PlayStation TV .
So far, I've been pretty happy with it. We signed up for the smallest package which still included every channel I was getting through my old cable provider (one exeption noted below). My old cable provider was charging me $107 a month for the same channels that I'm getting through Vue for ony $29.99. Currently I'm still in the trial period, but I'm 99% sure I'm going to keep it.
Here is my list of pros and cons.
Pros:
- Nearly $80/month savings (yes, you have to have an internet connection for Vue to work, but I would have the internet connection anyway, so the cost of it doesn't really matter)
- Includes DVR and On Demand services
- DVR is cloud based, so no storage limit
- No contract
- I personally hate my local cable provider, so calling to cancel is going to make my day
Cons:
- Local channesls - This varies by region. For example, Chicago has nearly every local channel available through Vue. In the St. Louis area, we only have one channel available through Vue. However, all of my local channels come FREE through an HD antenna that I have in my attic and running a cable to ever TV in my house. So for me, this isn't an issue
- The signal quality can skip from time to time or freeze for a moment. This is rare, and to be honest, no worse then the signal quality from my local cable provider, which would also skip from time to time
- Since the DVR is cloud based, some of the older stuff will fall off the list eventually. You don't have the option to keep that one program you love forever
- Cloud based DVR is only available when the internet is working
- Some shows don't have DVR rights (I haven't found one yet, I just know that some don't have the option)
- It's only available in the US which means this doesn't help many of our members here
When it's all said and done, for me, the pros outweigh the cons. I'm happy to dump my local provider and save a lot of money in the process. Since there is no contract, I could always go back if the service turns to crap or if the price goes way up.
Anyone else using the service?
