Bumping last year's thread (I changed the subject on the lead post accordingly) rather than starting a new one.
I gather there is still no progress on being able to stream MASN, so my latest question is: Has anyone used a VPN or Unlocator type thing with an Amazon Fire TV Stick to watch MLB.tv? I gather this is feasible but am interested in hearing any practical commentary. I picked up one of those devices for the master bedroom earlier this month when it was on sale. Also have a Fire TV Cube on the family room TV, although I understand that device won't work with VPNs because it pulls the GPS data from the Alexa app on your phone, so I may spring for a refurbished Apple TV to add to that TV. I suppose I could just swap the Cube to upstairs and the Stick to the family room, too.
We did a free trial of Vue this January and are doing a free 30-day trial of Sling now (bought the Fire Stick at Best Buy and it came with the 30-day trial). We like Vue a lot better than Sling with the exception of the on-screen program guide—Vue's vertical format is strange and wastes screen space compared to Sling's, although Sling's seems to put the stations in some random indiscernable order. No Channel 7 or Channel 9 on Sling, either. Once I resolve the Nats issue, I think we will probably drop DirecTV in favor of Vue. I still have a sticking point in that the rec room TV is old; while it supports 1080i, it doesn't have an HDMI connection, so I'm trying to figure out whether an Apple TV or Fire Cube would work through an HDMI-to-component adapter until I upgrade that TV later this year. That TV is less important for the Nats, but my wife watches it a fair amount for PBS when she's ironing.
Can't stream PBS easily, but we have Passport access from donating to WETA. I'm thinking about getting an Amazon Fire Recast DVR for upstairs. It's essentially a DVR for the antenna and you then stream it to your other devices. There are other devices that do similar things, like Tablo, but the Recast is highly-rated in reviews and I'm thinking the interface is likely to be similar to the Fire TV devices, which would be good for my wife. One reason for augmenting the PBS Passport thing with the OTA DVR is that WETA's Passport access doesn't include all the programs she likes because she also watches MPT a lot, but she doesn't donate enough to them to get Passport access. Plus using the antenna lets you access various subchannels—she loves British comedies, so if I set up a device that lets her stream WETA UK outside the master bedroom she will be happy.
Yes, this has all taken me a long time from the first post in this thread. I do a lot of research before doing this sort of thing. The main thing that is motivating me to change providers now is a billing dispute I had with DirecTV last year where they sent me a letter saying I didn't need to return an old DVR that broke, but then they billed me $135 for not returning it (eventually I got the charge removed when I returned it; I had already disputed the charge with American Express when DirecTV refused to remove the charge, and then after Amex ruled in my favor DirecTV billed me again because my card had "been declined"). When I called to complain, they said the letter was wrong and I should not have followed its instructions. Go freak yourselves, DirecTV. How the freak is the customer supposed to determine that a letter on your letterhead with your account number is a lie?
BTW, for anyone else interested in the whole cord-cutting thing, a guy on another forum recommended an outstanding website to me. See link below. You select all the channels you consider to be "must-haves" and then you drag them up and down in order of their importance to you. The site will then recommend TV providers.
http://www.suppose.tv