SlingTV ??

[Paul Saffold]

I would like to watch the college bowl games but don’t have cable. I get my TV with an antenna the size of a record album. That gets me anything I want to watch- which isn’t much. Jeopardy and pbs shows.
I do have high speed cable but I have a dumb tv.
I don’t want to get into buying boxes, sticks etc. or a cable tv package that I won’t watch the rest of the year.
I was looking at streaming ESPN and saw an advert for SlingTV. Looks like I can sign up for monthly service rather than by the year.
Does anyone have experience with SlingTV (orange package) or any other cheap way to watch ESPN on my laptop (MacBook)?
I want something I can get out of easily.
Thanks for helping a streaming neanderthal.

[Brian Runau]

I would like to watch the college bowl games but don’t have cable. I get my TV with an antenna the size of a record album. That gets me anything I want to watch- which isn’t much. Jeopardy and pbs shows.
I do have high speed cable but I have a dumb tv.
I don’t want to get into buying boxes, sticks etc. or a cable tv package that I won’t watch the rest of the year.
I was looking at streaming ESPN and saw an advert for SlingTV. Looks like I can sign up for monthly service rather than by the year.
Does anyone have experience with SlingTV (orange package) or any other cheap way to watch ESPN on my laptop (MacBook)?
I want something I can get out of easily.
Thanks for helping a streaming neanderthal.

Most streaming services are monthly with no contract. Brian

[Marc Fenneuff]

I got Sling a while back, and signed up for 3 months to get their AirTV package. It puts your off-air local channels into a program guide along with your Sling Orange channels. You use the Sling app for all of it. Only drawback is I think it's pricey given that it bundles a bunch of channels that I don't watch.

[Izzy Camire]

MLB puts the first round of their playoffs on TBS which I could only get on Sling through Roku. I would sign up and pay for month and at the end of the month cancel. I did this for 2 years with no problems. I would have stayed with them but they do not carry the stations that run old western movies I like. I use Fubo to get my everyday service including westerns.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Izzy, if you get GRIT over the air, they carry the old westerns, almost all day.

[Paul Saffold]

Thanks Brian, Marc, and Izzy. Glad to hear streaming is by the month and easy to cancel.
Like Bruce, I get Grit over the air. Non stop westerns. Many with great cast.

[Izzy Camire]

I get Grit on Fubo can't get much off the air here. Paul good luck.

[Michael Schuch]

I would like to watch the college bowl games but don’t have cable. I get my TV with an antenna the size of a record album. That gets me anything I want to watch- which isn’t much. Jeopardy and pbs shows.
I do have high speed cable but I have a dumb tv.
I don’t want to get into buying boxes, sticks etc. or a cable tv package that I won’t watch the rest of the year.

I only pay for one streaming service and that is PBS. $5/month for Frontline, News Hour, American Experience, Nova, etc. with many many years of past episodes. They even have a great Roy Underhill (Neanderthal woodworker guy) library. The only thing they don't have is New Yankee Workshop. I don't have any interest in sports.

If you have a dumb TV and want to stream you are going to have to buy a box or a stick. The only way around it is to buy a smart TV. I haven't used the "Smart" of my Smart TV's in many years. Smart TV's get out dated pretty quick and loose support after a half dozen years. So your best bet is to buy some kind of box to use with your dumb TV. My smart TV's have been dumb TV's for quite a while now. I started with Roku which was OK then switched to Amazon Alexa which integrates with my home automation system. Chrome (Chromecast), Apple TV and NVidia are the other major players. Which ever one you choose just make sure it supports what ever streaming service you want to use (Sling TV?).

[Paul Saffold]

Thanks Michael, lost of good info. Probably just watch on my laptop and avoid buying any planed obsolesce equipment, add-ons or do dads.

[Bill Howatt]

I have a Windows 10 laptop and a now older LG smart TV. The TV has an app called ScreenShare. I fire it up and then go to the laptop and press WindowKey and P together. P as in Project. Select Duplicate Screen and then click on "Access Wireless Display" on same little window. The TV should appear in the list. Click on it and your laptop's screen will appear on the TV. The TV has to have its wireless networking setup for the connection. Your TV and computer may have something similar.

[Tom M King]

The Firesticks sold on amazon don't cost much. Much cheaper than buying another TV. I think you do need an HDMI port on the back of a TV though. I'm certainly no expert on this type of stuff, but we do have Firesticks on our TV and all the ones in the rental houses. Some of those are smart and some not, but the firesticks are just simpler than having different methods. The simple remote that comes with them should be easy enough for anyone to operate.

We don't provide any service in the rental houses other than fast internet, and the house cleaning process between renters includes deleting the last renters information off of them. I don't think anyone yet has remembered to delete their own when they leave. It is a good example that everyone seems to have their own streaming services though.

[Mark Wedel]

Roku units are also pretty cheap. Chromecast is another option - also fairly cheap, and this lets you broadcast your computer screen to your TV wirelessly. Or if easy enough to set up, you can always plug the HDMI cable from your TV into your laptop - most TVs are going to have multiple HDMI inputs you can use for that.

Just a personal thing, but I like the rokus, as I don't have to worry about getting my laptop out and doing anything else - just use the remote to select what I want. There are other vendors (firetv, appletv, etc) - I think I just started with roku as my first one, and I am used to the interface, but that is just personal preference.

[Michael Schuch]

Thanks Michael, lost of good info. Probably just watch on my laptop and avoid buying any planed obsolesce equipment, add-ons or do dads.

You could most likely plug your laptop into your TV with just a HDMI cable if you want a big screen experience. I make my daughter plug her laptop into our 75" living room TV when I am helping her with her college math homework so I don't have to strain to view her little 14" laptop screen.

Your welcome.

[Pat Germain]

The only thing they don't have is New Yankee Workshop.

FYI, all the New Yankee Workshop episodes are now on YouTube where you can watch them for free; albeit with commercials unless you have a YouTube subscription.

As for getting ESPN with a Smart TV, yeah, you're going to have to get some type of device with built-in streaming apps; Amazon Firestick or ROKU stick, for example. These devices are very inexpensive and will work with any TV which has an HDMI port. Shoot, I have a ROKU on my living room TV which I bought in 2005. (It's a Panasonic plasma and it still has a beautiful picture.)

Then you will have to sign up for some type of service which offers ESPN. Hulu is one option which is pretty cheap and I think it includes ESPN. I use Hulu for local channels and I also have multiple ESPN channels I never watch. Hulu is owned by Disney, so you can get a Disney+ bundle with Hulu which isn't very expensive. If you're not interested in Disney+, you might have a wife who is. Disney+ has many old Disney movies from the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s which folks in their 60s and older seem to really like. It also has all the old Disney animated cartoons, which I like, as well as the Star Wars and Marvel comic movies in case someone likes those.

[Bill Howatt]

You could most likely plug your laptop into your TV with just a HDMI cable if you want a big screen experience. I make my daughter plug her laptop into our 75" living room TV when I am helping her with her college math homework so I don't have to strain to view her little 14" laptop screen.

Your welcome.

I used to do that but got too lazy to get out of my chair so I went with the wireless trick .