Playstation Vue

[lightsout]

Been wanting to cut the cord for a while and what do you know, Playstation Vue is released nationwide earlier this week.

For those who aren't aware, it's essentially a better version of Sling TV for Playstation owners. Slightly more expensive, but with more channels and a built in, cloud-based DVR. Started the 7 day trial and I am really impressed, for the most part. Great user interface, allows for very easy browsing and searching.

The drawbacks are slight. One, missing a couple of channels that I watch from time to time. But, the big ones that I watch a lot are on there, including AMC. Also, they haven't completely rolled out the local channels. In select areas they have apparently, but not in the Charlotte area. Also, they base your listing on your location, which is based on IP. The problem is they require your zip that you list as "home" and your credit card to be the same, and for the IP to matchup. The problem here, is my Charter internet is pulling from Spartanburg, SC from all the way up here. And it jumps around, so it may be Concord next week. That has caused error messages for some, and me initially until I decided to just roll with the upstate SC zip code.

Anyway, anybody else use this? I'm digging it.

[GRWatcher]

My son is on the week trial now too (Charlotte area) & he loves it, says he's staying with it. He'll add the local stations when available in Charlotte but we can watch the on-demand for the broadcast stations. He had Sling & it got stale as if they got fat & happy & decided to not upgrade anything (Sling casts from my android phone in sd). Gets it to his tv with a Fire Stick & both he & my daughter-in-law have iPhones so they are very happy. Once they get it on android, I'll have the app on my phone too & I have chromecast. For now I can use the individual station apps with the Vue sign in. Watched the tournament today with the March Madness app. I cut the cord 3 years ago & haven't missed much because there's always a way but Vue has channels I liked like SyFy & USA & Disney (yes, Disney). The only channel I really, really miss is BBC America. Not on any streaming service yet.

[lightsout]

1 hour ago, GRWatcher said:

My son is on the week trial now too (Charlotte area) & he loves it, says he's staying with it. He'll add the local stations when available in Charlotte but we can watch the on-demand for the broadcast stations. He had Sling & it got stale as if they got fat & happy & decided to not upgrade anything (Sling casts from my android phone in sd). Gets it to his tv with a Fire Stick & both he & my daughter-in-law have iPhones so they are very happy. Once they get it on android, I'll have the app on my phone too & I have chromecast. For now I can use the individual station apps with the Vue sign in. Watched the tournament today with the March Madness app. I cut the cord 3 years ago & haven't missed much because there's always a way but Vue has channels I liked like SyFy & USA & Disney (yes, Disney). The only channel I really, really miss is BBC America. Not on any streaming service yet.

Has he experienced the same thing with his IP address and the Vue service putting his "home" as something out of the Charlotte area? I only ask because I don't want to be catching Spartanburg news when the local channels become available. Doesn't do me much good when I'm a full county away from the SC line. Not sure if that'd effect Panthers broadcast maps for certain games either, which would be unfortunate.

[GRWatcher]

He's had no problem with his "area" identified by his IP. He lives in Mooresville, has Time Warner internet with a static IP. They would also consider me in the Charlotte area if that made a difference (Statesville); I checked.

Do you know why your public IP address reps upstate SC? Did you choose that or was is it that it was previously 'registered' to that location? You can change your public IP at your router. Or get Charter to do it.

[C47]

Vue is really intriguing to me, but I need them to add NFLN before I can cut the cord. 

[Jase]

You don't need a PlayStation. Anyone can sign up.

[lightsout]

On 3/18/2016 at 7:05 AM, GRWatcher said:

He's had no problem with his "area" identified by his IP. He lives in Mooresville, has Time Warner internet with a static IP. They would also consider me in the Charlotte area if that made a difference (Statesville); I checked.

Do you know why your public IP address reps upstate SC? Did you choose that or was is it that it was previously 'registered' to that location? You can change your public IP at your router. Or get Charter to do it.

 

I live near Charlotte, so I would guess that I'd be Charlotte area. I'm closer to Charlotte than upstate SC. I live in apartments though, so they had everything laid before I signed up. Literally just reconnected my apartment unit and setup my internet and cable box. 

 

I have no idea how to change things with my router. Guess I need to figure that out. Went to charter (local branch is near my apartment) and they just gave me a number to call. Said she couldn't do anything from her end.

 

Also, my vue started screwing up. Would stop every few minutes, tell me to try again. Became unwatchable.

[Zaximus]

I tried it for a week, on a few devices, each time it felt really clunky.  DVR is weird, it's hit or miss and doesn't always let you fast forward.    I will say that when something is actually PLAYING I had no issues at all, so it's pretty cool.  

[lightsout]

So Charter was fuging useless in helping. They only do static IPs for businesses and they can't manually change my IP manually. Guess I'm calling PS Vue's tech support.

[GRWatcher]

19 hours ago, Zaximus said:

I tried it for a week, on a few devices, each time it felt really clunky.  DVR is weird, it's hit or miss and doesn't always let you fast forward.    I will say that when something is actually PLAYING I had no issues at all, so it's pretty cool.  

On Demand is different from true DVR recording. When you are watching a show that has commercials & will not let you fast forward, you are watching from On Demand. I had uverse for a long time & a disclaimer would pop up before playing an On Demand show about no fast forwarding. You should be able to pause however. I'm using each channel's app to use Vue because they don't have an android app yet & I don't have a Playstation or Fire Stick or i-device.

A cnet review says this: "It's also worth repeating that every Vue channel allows you to pause, rewind and, if you're not watching live TV, fast-forward. And you can also skip the commercials." Maybe on live streaming only?  http://www.cnet.com/news/playstation-vue-vs-sling-tv-streaming-live-tv-compared/

[GRWatcher]

On 3/22/2016 at 0:11 AM, lightsout said:

 

I live in Lincolnton, so I would guess that I'd be Charlotte area. I'm closer to Charlotte than upstate SC. I live in apartments though, so they had everything laid before I signed up. Literally just reconnected my apartment unit and setup my internet and cable box. 

I have no idea how to change things with my router. Guess I need to figure that out. Went to charter (local branch is near my apartment) and they just gave me a number to call. Said she couldn't do anything from her end.

Also, my vue started screwing up. Would stop every few minutes, tell me to try again. Became unwatchable.

Run this internet speed test: https://www.battleforthenet.com/internethealthtest/ . Also, is your wifi password protected? I don't know what device you're using but the problem seems to be with your internet connection. If you're on a Playstation, try connecting to your router with a LAN cable instead of using wifi. If I knew what router you are using, I might be able to tell you how to set the public IP & password. It's fool proof because you can always reset the router back to the default via a tiny button on the back.

IP addresses are simply numbers to designate a physical connection. Sounds like your apartment management company has struck a deal with Charter to provide complex-wide internet & Charter is using IP addresses associated (because they've been used there before) with upstate SC because in most cases it doesn't matter. I hope Vue tech support can help with your area setup. Yes, Lincolnton is in the Charlotte area.

[lightsout]

14 hours ago, GRWatcher said:

Run this internet speed test: https://www.battleforthenet.com/internethealthtest/ . Also, is your wifi password protected? I don't know what device you're using but the problem seems to be with your internet connection. If you're on a Playstation, try connecting to your router with a LAN cable instead of using wifi. If I knew what router you are using, I might be able to tell you how to set the public IP & password. It's fool proof because you can always reset the router back to the default via a tiny button on the back.

IP addresses are simply numbers to designate a physical connection. Sounds like your apartment management company has struck a deal with Charter to provide complex-wide internet & Charter is using IP addresses associated (because they've been used there before) with upstate SC because in most cases it doesn't matter. I hope Vue tech support can help with your area setup. Yes, Lincolnton is in the Charlotte area.

 

 

I have a netgear router. It is password protected. My router is within a foot and a half of my ps4 and I've had no issues with connection in the past year.

 

Vue tech support said that technically, Vue is in beta still. He's shocked they rolled out nationwide as soon as they did. But he said that error is something that will get ironed out and not to worry. He did say that setting up my router to a static IP is something I need to do to get Vue to work properly, particularly for when they roll out local channels.

[RealBitsOfPanther]

Once my contract with DirecTv ends, i'll try vue and see how it is. I'm all for trying to cut costs while also sticking it to the cable/satellite companies (even though I've had an overall good experience with dirctv when compared to time warner). 

[GRWatcher]

On 3/23/2016 at 7:56 PM, lightsout said:

I have a netgear router. It is password protected. My router is within a foot and a half of my ps4 and I've had no issues with connection in the past year.

Vue tech support said that technically, Vue is in beta still. He's shocked they rolled out nationwide as soon as they did. But he said that error is something that will get ironed out and not to worry. He did say that setting up my router to a static IP is something I need to do to get Vue to work properly, particularly for when they roll out local channels.

Well, first let me say that I am sorry you're with Charter. I feel your pain, or I use to. Second, I hope that Vue tech is making minimum wage because he's a jerk when it comes to IT support. No, you don't need a static IP; most people don't have one and will be able to use Vue just fine. They'd never make that a requirement. You just need to be able to have yours associated in the database (yes, there's a mega database with all the IP addresses listed) with Charlotte or at least Lincolnton.

Go here & it will tell you where your IP is associated. https://www.iplocation.net/change-ip-address  It will also tell you how to change your public IP, probably at the router. When it says to power off the router, pull the power cord which gives you a harder reset than the power off button but will not change any of the router's wifi settings. Hopefully Charter has registered IP addresses to the correct area. Once you get what you want (use that website to check your address), call Vue tech support back & ask them how to change your login for your new home IP area.