Do you have to have cable to watch TV
Sarah Tew/CNET
Can I pause live TV or skip commercials?
Not on most channels. The pause, rewind and fast-forward commands don't work at all when watching any of the ESPN channels (including the SEC Network), AMC, TNT, TBS, CNN, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, any of the Disney channels, ABC Family, Boomerang, HLN, IFC or Sundance TV.
What about the other channels?
On the other channels the pause, rewind and fast-forward buttons work as expected. You can pause a current show and rewind all the way to the beginning. You can also fast-forward, even through commercials, to catch back up to live time.
Most of channels also feature "3 Day Replay, " allowing you to watch any show aired within the past three days. You can't easily skip commercials on those past shows, however.
The rest, including the Epix movie channels, Universal Sports, beIN Sports, Bloomberg TV, Baby TV and Duck TV, allow you to watch any show or movie that aired in the past 7 days.
Can I use my Sling TV account to authenticate other TV apps, like Watch ESPN?
Yes, to a certain extent. Sling TV subscribers get a stripped-down version of Watch ESPN app access if they authenticate using their Sling TV log-in credentials. They can watch live streams of ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN3. Even subscribers to the Sports Extra pack cannot get those extra channels live via Watch ESPN.
Watch ESPN is still subject to the single-stream restriction, so you can't watch live TV via the Watch ESPN app on one device at the same time as you watch any live TV via the Sling TV app on a second device.
Sling says similar apps, like Watch Disney and Watch TNT, will be available to authenticate sometime after launch. It didn't specify whether they would also be subject to the single-stream restriction, but we expect they will.
Does the picture look as good as cable?
Not quite, but it's still very good. In our testing Sling TV came close to Verizon Fios' HD channel quality at its best, but did look slightly softer. It did briefly drop in quality when moving to a new channel, and there were other occasional picture quality drops, but on our high-speed connection it was mostly delivered at the highest quality with excellent stability. Picture quality on smaller screen devices was also very good.
What about sound?
Although Sling originally said the TV channels would be available in 5.1 surround sound where available, it now says 5.1 is restricted to video-on-demand (VOD) content. Live TV is stereo-only.
What VOD content is available on Sling TV?
Aside from 3 Day Replay channels it's pretty sparse at the moment. The selection is restricted to pay movies, the same kind available on other services such as iTunes, Amazon and Google Play store, with a few free offerings sprinkled in.
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