No more cable. Hulu or Amazon Prime?

[gottalovepluto]

Love our Hulu add free subscription! But we mainly use it for network tv shows. They have been adding more movies lately (Hulu swiped some of Netflix's stuff when Hulu got an infusion of cash last year). Every time I want to watch something I can't find on Netflix or Hulu I think of activating a try it for free Amazon Prime but when I look what I want to watch is never a part of their service!

Both services offer free trials so why not try one out and then try the other? Then you'll know if either is a good fit for your family and it won't cost you a dime (just remember to cancel).

 

[hsmamato2]

Netflix is good for older movies and past tv series.... Hulu is good for current tv shows, though the way shows disappear sometimes is a bit annoying - Amazon is ok if you really want to watch HBO shows(I don't) but I have it for the shipping (and rearely use it to watch) We have an antenna,Netflix and Hulu. I may cancel netflix next year though,not a fan of the higher cost.

 

[GAN]

We got rid of cable 7 years ago. Right now we have an Apple TV, Netflix, and Amazon prime, as well as Sling TV. We use Netflix the most and almost never watch Amazon Prime (I have it just for the shipping). DH watches most of his sports on the Apple TV on the RedBull app. We mostly have sling because we want to support the existence of that type of service, but DH does use it to watch (or try to watch ) The Walking Dead. Sling service is pretty bad so he only gets to watch it about half the time.

And to answer an earlier question, we pay $83 a month for 150 Mbps internet service. The cheapest "bundle" we could have in our area is $179.99 a month, so we're still saving a considerable amount (Netflix + Sling costs us $30 a month). We have to have the very fast Internet service because DH needs it for his work.

I would be looking at a similar set-up as we have AppleTV, Netflix, Amazon, and have a TiVo as well. But I'm curious why you said Sling service was bad -that's probably the first negative comment I've heard.

 

[megsters]

We have Netflix, Amazon, CBS, and Amazon Prime. We had Prime long before music and movies became part of the package. I swear I still save money because it keeps me out of Target.

My favorite thing about Amazon Prime, is you're able to download movies and tv episodes to your device. It's nice to have for traveling, (or watching episodes of Dynasty) and not eat all your data.

But, we love television at our house!

 

[5kidsmommy]

I would be looking at a similar set-up as we have AppleTV, Netflix, Amazon, and have a TiVo as well. But I'm curious why you said Sling service was bad -that's probably the first negative comment I've heard.

Sling service can be splotchy, sometimes it goes out or freezes, especially with highly watched shows. It's still a great service and I can usually handle the patchiness.

 

[onenursebrandy]

You guys are so LUCKY! We don't have the option of ditching anything. There are still areas that don't have access to high speed internet. Its dial up or satellite for us....one is outrageously slow, the other is outrageously expensive.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

You guys are so LUCKY! We don't have the option of ditching anything. There are still areas that don't have access to high speed internet. Its dial up or satellite for us....one is outrageously slow, the other is outrageously expensive.

That sounds awful. Where do you live? 1995?

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Hulu seems great. It is really good for staying current on stuff. I have Amazon Prime, but really the show selection is just not that great for my interests. I mainly kept Amazon for the shipping. Also have Netflix, but I think I am going to cancel that until the new season Orange is the New Black comes out... I will probably re-subscribe for a month and then let it go. I am going to be moving into a place that has "free" cable (I know it isn't truly free, it is probably built into the rent), but I figure I can just stop the online subscriptions for a while.

It really does seem that Hulu by itself could be a replacement for cable or satellite TV.

 

[aprilchem]

I would be looking at a similar set-up as we have AppleTV, Netflix, Amazon, and have a TiVo as well. But I'm curious why you said Sling service was bad -that's probably the first negative comment I've heard.

If you look at the posts to their Facebook page (not the ones they post- the posts by their customers) you can get an idea of the issues that exist. The main problem is that they don't have the capacity to handle the number of subscribers that they have, so television shows and sporting events that are very popular often result in an entire system crash. It's happened with every The Walking Dead premiere since Sling came into existence, as well as with a bunch of other shows and important games. I know less about the other shows and games because we don't watch them, but The Walking Dead is a continual problem - last night's show is the first one that DH has been able to watch without any interruption this season. We weren't able to watch either the fall season premiere or the mid season premiere.

Sling tries to blame the outages on all sorts of things, mostly people's download speeds. You'll notice on their page that they continually tell people to restart their computers, close and reopen the program, etc. But it's really an issue with their capacity.

Another issue with Sling is that they are very slow to address issues with their service. They had an issue a few months ago with the audio balance on their channels -some channels were extremely loud, while others (AMC, for one) were so quiet that subscribers couldn't hear the dialog, but the background music was blaring. There were hundreds and hundreds of posts about it on their page. It took them over two months to fix the issue, during which time Sling was completely unusable for us. Many people asked for partial refunds (including me) but as far as I know nobody got one.

We continue to subscribe because I want to support the standalone business model for consuming entertainment, but I really am not impressed thus far with Sling as a service. We were exploring the new PS Vue service last night and may switch to that - it's fairly similar but a little bit higher in cost.

 

[GAN]

If you look at the posts to their Facebook page (not the ones they post- the posts by their customers) you can get an idea of the issues that exist. The main problem is that they don't have the capacity to handle the number of subscribers that they have, so television shows and sporting events that are very popular often result in an entire system crash. It's happened with every The Walking Dead premiere since Sling came into existence, as well as with a bunch of other shows and important games. I know less about the other shows and games because we don't watch them, but The Walking Dead is a continual problem - last night's show is the first one that DH has been able to watch without any interruption this season. We weren't able to watch either the fall season premiere or the mid season premiere.

Sling tries to blame the outages on all sorts of things, mostly people's download speeds. You'll notice on their page that they continually tell people to restart their computers, close and reopen the program, etc. But it's really an issue with their capacity.

Another issue with Sling is that they are very slow to address issues with their service. They had an issue a few months ago with the audio balance on their channels -some channels were extremely loud, while others (AMC, for one) were so quiet that subscribers couldn't hear the dialog, but the background music was blaring. There were hundreds and hundreds of posts about it on their page. It took them over two months to fix the issue, during which time Sling was completely unusable for us. Many people asked for partial refunds (including me) but as far as I know nobody got one.

We continue to subscribe because I want to support the standalone business model for consuming entertainment, but I really am not impressed thus far with Sling as a service. We were exploring the new PS Vue service last night and may switch to that - it's fairly similar but a little bit higher in cost.

That's good to know -thanks for the details.

 

[jerseygirl82]

I've been wanting to ditch cable for some time, as the over $200 I pay Verizon each month for tv, phone, and Internet is vomit inducing, however, I am a little confused as to how this all works. Each tv in my house will need a Roku, yes? What about my new smart tv? And then I will only need one Hulu and/or Sling subscription for my entire home? I really want to take the plunge but I'm just a little nervous - hell hath no fury like a 5 year old without her Liv and Maddie or a 34 year old without his Chicago Fire

 

[rchampagne]

I am a little confused as to how this all works. Each tv in my house will need a Roku, yes? What about my new smart tv? And then I will only need one Hulu and/or Sling subscription for my entire home? I really want to take the plunge but I'm just a little nervous - hell hath no fury like a 5 year old without her Liv and Maddie or a 34 year old without his Chicago Fire

Each TV will need a way to connect to the internet, whether that's Roku, Chromecast, Amazon Fire, etc. If it's a smart tv, then it doesn't NEED a one of those. That being said, the interface on my Smart TV was horrible, so I still end up using Roku for it. Also, you only need one subscription to the services for your TVs.

 

[5kidsmommy]

If you look at the posts to their Facebook page (not the ones they post- the posts by their customers) you can get an idea of the issues that exist. The main problem is that they don't have the capacity to handle the number of subscribers that they have, so television shows and sporting events that are very popular often result in an entire system crash. It's happened with every The Walking Dead premiere since Sling came into existence, as well as with a bunch of other shows and important games. I know less about the other shows and games because we don't watch them, but The Walking Dead is a continual problem - last night's show is the first one that DH has been able to watch without any interruption this season. We weren't able to watch either the fall season premiere or the mid season premiere.

Sling tries to blame the outages on all sorts of things, mostly people's download speeds. You'll notice on their page that they continually tell people to restart their computers, close and reopen the program, etc. But it's really an issue with their capacity.

Another issue with Sling is that they are very slow to address issues with their service. They had an issue a few months ago with the audio balance on their channels -some channels were extremely loud, while others (AMC, for one) were so quiet that subscribers couldn't hear the dialog, but the background music was blaring. There were hundreds and hundreds of posts about it on their page. It took them over two months to fix the issue, during which time Sling was completely unusable for us. Many people asked for partial refunds (including me) but as far as I know nobody got one.

We continue to subscribe because I want to support the standalone business model for consuming entertainment, but I really am not impressed thus far with Sling as a service. We were exploring the new PS Vue service last night and may switch to that - it's fairly similar but a little bit higher in cost.

We looked at playstation vue but they don't have all the channels I like, plus it's more. I don't watch too many big shows like the Walking Dead so I don't have as many outages as others have with Sling, we do occasionally have issues with lagging when watching soccer but not so much that I would cancel. It does goes out, I know it's not my internet or my roku box as I have no issues with my other channels. But for the cost I keep sling tv because most of the time it does work well for me. I don't think I could ever go back to cable, the cost is just so high.

 

[strawberrymom2]

We have sling and did experience the problems with Walking Dead in the beginning show or 2, but have not had those problems since.

 

[minorthr]

We have been trying Sony Vue which includes locals in our area plus local sports which we never had on directv. It also includes a cloud dvr service its not perfect but at $55 is $100 cheaper then what we are paying for directv which we barely watch. There are two other packages with less channels that are cheaper as well. We could probably get away with just netflix and amazon prime which we already have, but Im not ready to go that far yet

 

[aquabone1109]

Just an FYI for those interested in HULU, you can get a while year off Ebay for about $15-$20. It's the old Bing rewards trick people use and it's legit.

We ditched cable a few months ago and it's been great. We use Kodi so we pretty much get everything we need.

 

[JaxDad]

Each TV will need a way to connect to the internet, whether that's Roku, Chromecast, Amazon Fire, etc.

You can connect through gaming systems. We use our old Wii, and it works great. We've been cable-free for 3 years with Netflix, Amazon Prime, and rabbit ears. My children (8 and 12) and I have not missed cable at all, but we're not big TV watchers.

 

[DisHmsklMom]

Just an FYI for those interested in HULU, you can get a while year off Ebay for about $15-$20. It's the old Bing rewards trick people use and it's legit.

This sounds interesting, what do I search for on ebay? I found huluplus gift cards, is that what you are talking about?

 

[aquabone1109]

This sounds interesting, what do I search for on ebay? I found huluplus gift cards, is that what you are talking about?

Just search for Hulu. You will see 9 month (commercial free) or 12 month (commercials). You will see the subscriptions.

 

[aquabone1109]

This sounds interesting, what do I search for on ebay? I found huluplus gift cards, is that what you are talking about?

So it seems like eBay has cracked down on Hulu subscriptions being sold. I know you can get free Hulu subscriptions by using Bing. Honestly I use Kodi so I no longer need to worry about any of this.