My Streaming Life

I posted recently that I was testing the Onn Streaming Stick from Walmart . When I test a new device, I always intend to give it at least a week of exclusive use, getting familiar with the device, and settling in on using it. Sometimes, though, it doesn't take a week. And, when it doesn't take a week, that's not a good thing. You see, if something starts out really well, say I get my hands on a device I really like, I won't stop testing. I'll let the love affair run the full week, maybe even longer, before deciding on how much I'll use the device. I want to give it plenty of time for the ugly bits to appear. I want to experience the device under all circumstances. So, if I'm liking the device, I'll keep testing for at least the full week. Using the device daily, and I do use a streaming device daily, lets me get a good feel for it. The testing of the Onn Streaming Stick didn't go a full week. That's a bad thing. The first issue was how sluggish t...

I cut the cord in 2011, at the end of the college football season. Since then, I've watched cable ... not at all. Well, that's not true. I actually watched cable this past week. Only, I didn't really want to. Let me tell you about it. I took one of my grandson out of town to a baseball game, and stayed the night to visit an attraction in that city the next day. That night, when we got to the hotel and got ready to call it a night, my grandson, who is six, wondered what was on TV. Being a good Papa, I found the remote and turned on the set. He asked me to find the kids shows. That makes sense, as he is used to the Apple TV that my son uses, and knew that the remote wasn't the same, and the display wasn't the same. So, he wanted me to find them. He really didn't know nor care that it was cable. It was TV, but it wasn't Apple TV, but he figured Papa knew how. Well, yes Papa did because I remember the days of cable. It was different, using the cable guide, and...

When you have cable, it's really easy to watch news. Or what passes for news these days. You can tell I don't think much about cable news services, can't you? When I want news, I want news, not some silly propaganda outlet that spouts one political party or the other's agenda. It's hard to find real news, with facts, and with all the facts. They're all bad about presenting unsupported statements as news, about leaving out any information that doesn't fit their agenda. Yeah, I don't care much for cable news. So, I don't really miss it. I did, when I first started streaming and dropped cable. Watching the talking heads was a regular thing. So, when I dropped cable, that went away, and I went through withdrawal. I got over it. I didn't have a choice. I could either do without, or subscribe to cable again. There was no Sling TV, no YouTube TV, no Fubo, no anything like that. So, I did without, and got over it. And I'm better for it. However, I...

Earlier this month, I talked about Xfinity Flex . It's a decent first streaming device, particularly for an Xfinity cable customer who is switching to streaming. For those customers, it will make the transition very smooth. For experienced streamers, or really anyone who has streamed for any period of time, it's an okay device, but nothing more than okay. If you get Xfinity Flex service on your account, the Flex device is included, and you get all the benefits, including free Peacock Premium service. The thing is, Xfinity/Comcast expects you to actually use the Flex device. And that makes sense. If you aren't going to use it, return it and let someone else use it. In fact, I got a couple of emails about my not using the box, and Xfinity/Comcast saying they wanted it back. Thank you for trying Xfinity Flex Flex box serial number: XX0000XX0000* This is just a reminder that it's been a while since you’ve used Xfinity Flex. If streaming with Flex isn't for you, please r...

I got a new toy to play with. It's Walmart's onn. FHD Streaming Stick.  Yeah, it's weird that the brand name has a period in it. So, I'll call it Onn or ONN from now on. Or at least, for now. Anyway, I got the Onn FHD Streaming Stick. Why? Because I wanted it. I like to check out other devices, even though I always know I'm going to go back to Roku. Maybe one day I won't.  I do like to know about the different devices that are out there. And, the price for the device is pretty good at $25 (actually, $24.88). This isn't a review. I'm going to be using the device for the next week or so, exclusively, so no jumping back and forth between it and Roku. It's the Onn Stick for the next several days. Okay, I actually began using it exclusively on Thursday. Got it Wednesday, but I'm not counting that day. Full exclusive use began Thursday. So, for the next few days, it's that device, and that device alone. Then I'll tell you what I think. Well, un...

Around a week ago, I talked about my problem with MLB.TV  in that it won't let me watch Braves games live. It finally occurred to me a couple of days ago that I never told how I do watch Braves games, since MLB.TV is a no-go. Here's how I watch Braves games. I don't. If I'm a Braves fan, why not? Well, simple. It's expensive, and I'm not willing to pony up the money to watch Braves games streaming. But I could. But I won't. But what if a streamer does want to watch Braves games, or some other team's games? It's possible. Just expensive. How expensive? $85/month. That's how much AT&T TV Choice package costs. That's $20/month more than YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, or Fubo TV live streaming services, which isn't really a lot. Unless, of course, you don't normally subscribe to a live streaming service. And I don't use a paid live streaming service. So, switching to AT&T TV during baseball season wouldn't change my monthly ...

Last week, I said I'd be focusing on using Tablo as my DVR rather than Air TV. I have both, running at different households for which I manage streaming. So, for the last week, I used Tablo rather than Air TV. I said I thought I would like Tablo better, and that has proven true. But did my preconception impact my results? Maybe. But I think not. After all, I came to this preconceived notion from somewhere, right? Well, it came from my use of the two different systems, albeit briefly. Well, I've now used Tablo a lot more. And the more I use, it the more I like it. Don't get me wrong, there's still a lot to like about Air TV. If you're a Sling TV subscriber, it's really nice to have it all in that one interface, rather than having to launch a separate app. But, for me at least, the integration isn't as important as to how well the DVR works. They both record content as expected. The respective interfaces are both easy to use, but there's one thing about T...

One of the most popular streaming services is Hulu. I've subscribed to Hulu ever since there were two Hulu plans: free and paid. Way back then, the free Hulu plan was for watching content in your Web browser. The paid plan was for watching Hulu Plus via a streaming device such as Roku. The catalog of shows was different for each plan, at least at first. Shows were either part of the free Hulu service, or they were part of the paid Hulu Plus service, but not both. That eventually changed, and Hulu became just Hulu. Did that simplify things? Not really. Hulu no longer has a free plan and a paid plan. Hulu has four different paid plans. Two of the plans are "no ads" plans. And even the "no ads" plans can have ads. It's complicated. Probably more complicated than it needs to be. But, here's what's going on, and why. There are four plans. The first is... Hulu . Plain old Hulu. It's the classic service of on-demand content of current TV shows and som...

With the dispute between Roku and Google over the YouTube TV app, what do you do if you don't already have the YouTube TV app installed? Are you out of luck? No, not really. You can still watch YouTube TV on Roku without the YouTube TV app. You do it through the YouTube app.  Scroll down to the bottom of the menu on the left and select the YouTube TV item.  Click that.  Go to YouTube TV. It will load.  Then the splash screen.  And there it is. To sign in, click Sign In. Congratulations. You're now watching YouTube TV through the YouTube app on your Roku device.

I frequent some help forums for different things related to streaming. One common complaint across almost every help forum is people losing network connection. Related to that is when people have an issue that can be explained by network issues. Most of the time, people don't like the suggestion that their network is at fault. That is akin to saying they wasted money in setting up a poor network, and nobody likes to be told they wasted money or otherwise made a bad decision. The thing is, people do waste money and make bad decisions. I do. You do. We all do. We just don't like being reminded of that. So, rather than tell you that you made a bad decision about your network, let me tell you a good decision I made about mine. Oh, and if your network is working just fine and you have no issues with your streaming devices, then you made a good decision. Working is the goal, and if it works, you met the goal. You did good. However, I had network issues that it took me a while to solv...

I mentioned before that Plex is a good way to stream your DVDs. Actually, I don't stream my DVDs, but rather the content of my DVDs. I mentioned that it's not that hard to do , and that's true, unless tedium is hard. Tedium isn't hard, it's tedious. And those aren't the same thing. If you think tedium is hard, you really won't do well with hard. But, yeah, it's tedious. My statement that "it's simply a matter of launching Handbrake, inserting the DVD, picking the format (I used MP4) and starting the conversion" did not sit well with me. So, I decided that the next time I ripped a DVD, I'd document it and show what's involved. If this seems complicated, it's really not. For some time, I've been looking for streaming episodes of Police Squad. I've not been able to find it. So, I finally decided that I wanted it more than I wanted to wait for it to ever show up in a streaming format, so I bought the DVD intending to rip the...

Every baseball season since I started streaming -- maybe not quite that long, but for some time -- I get offers and notifications about MLB.TV and how I can watch my team. Well, I can't. You see, I'm a Braves fan. I've been a fan of the Braves for many years. I remember the excitement of watching Hank Aaron's chase of Babe Ruth's home run record in the 1970s. I remember the Braves losing to the Mets in three in 1969. I remember when Milo and Ernie were the broadcasters. And, of course, the classic broadcast team of Skip, Pete, and Ernie. And Don. And Joe. Those broadcasters were as big stars as many players. I listened to the Braves on radio, and every so often, watched them on TV. Then came Ted Turner and WTCG. That became WTBS and it made it to cable systems, allowing me to watch nearly every Braves game. During the days of cable, it was easy to watch the Braves. But now I'm streaming. I can subscribe to live streaming services and get many of the Braves games...

I've rarely watched hockey. Growing up in southeast Georgia, ice hockey wasn't big around here. A friend of mine went to some hockey games when he went off to college and loved it, so it's not like we were unable to enjoy the sport, we just didn't have much opportunity to attend. The only way to watch a hockey game was on TV. In fact, around here, that's still the only way to watch a hockey game. As a streamer, what are my options? Well, not bad, really. Because NBC Sports is carrying the NHL playoffs, and they've made the semifinal games available to streamers via Peacock TV. Yes, I'm kind of late on this, as the semifinals are already underway. But, as each matchup is a series, the games will go on for at least another week. Peacock is carrying the games : Peacock announced the service will stream all remaining Stanley Cup Semifinal games, starting Monday, June 14 at 9 p.m. ET with Game 1 in the Semifinal between the Montreal Canadiens and Vegas Golden Kni...

I mentioned a few weeks back that deciding between an Air TV or a Tablo to replace TiVo would be  a tossup . I'm not sure I feel this way any longer. The more I use Tablo, the more I like it better than Air TV. Part of it is the interface. I don't think I am particularly enamored by the Tablo interface, but I really don't like the Air TV interface. Actually, the Air TV interface is Sling TV. Don't get me wrong, I think the Sling TV service is a good service. Of course, you don't need a Sling TV subscription to use Air TV. You can use the free Sling TV service and it will add the antenna channels right there. The thing is, I really don't like the Sling TV interface. Again, that's not to say I really like the Tablo interface. It's more like I dislike Sling TV's interface so much more. That's a little unfair, but I'll go into all the details later. I'm not sure when. The point of this post is to share that I'll be doing a deeper look at ...

I've been a fan of Hulu since the days it was a free Website service, and had a streaming box sister called Hulu Plus. If you don't know about that, briefly there were two related Hulu services. One was, as I said, free and watchable in a Web browser. The other was a paid service and you could watch it on a streaming device, such as on a Roku. In fact, Roku and Apple TV were the only major devices with a Hulu Plus app. Amazon Fire TV didn't even exist. There was no Chromecast. Anyway, the point is, I've watched Hulu content for a long time. And I just noticed that Hulu has made a change that I find significant. Well, I do now that I discovered the change. Perhaps it's not all that significant to me, despite my thinking it is. Let's find out. Hulu has long had categories for its content, both TV and movies. Adventure, Comedies, Drama, Family, Kids, Mystery, and so on. There was also a category called Classic. Maybe it was Classics. Yeah, let's go with Clas...

When I first began streaming as my sole source of TV, back in 2011 when I cut cable, my primary sources for watching TV were Hulu and Netflix. I also was an Amazon Prime subscriber, but never watched it. I was an Amazon Prime subscriber for the shipping benefits, and had been for years, before they launched their streaming video. Amazon Prime Video was a later add-on and I never really watched it. So, apart from Hulu -- called Hulu Plus at the time because Hulu was something a little different; yes, streaming was different back then -- and Netflix -- that was a lot cheaper back then -- I didn't watch much else. Well, that's not exactly true. I probably spent 40% of the time watching Hulu or Hulu Plus, 40% of the time watching Netflix, and 25% of the time split among several small services or services in their early days. And yes, I know that adds up to 105%, but I watched a lot of streaming TV back then. Also, I just made those numbers up, but they feel about right. Today, t...

The flag of the United States means a lot to me. I grew up in this great nation, and for a period of time, had the honor of wearing my country's uniform. Today is Flag Day , the day that recognizes the anniversary of the first flag of the United States in 1777, as well as the anniversary of the formation of the first Army, in 1775. This is a special day indeed.

I'm a Roku fan. While I do like Apple TV, and Chromecast with Google TV, I really like Roku. I've mentioned this before, I'm certain. But, I don't like everything about Roku. One of their biggest features they promote is one I really really do not like. I will not subscribe to any service through Roku billing. Now, if I'm such a fan of Roku, why would I refuse to use one of their most promoted features? Simple. It's not what it does that I don't like, it's what it doesn't do. First, here are the good things about subscribing to content through Roku. All of your streaming billing is in one place. It's easy to find the stuff to which you have a subscription, and it's easy to cancel any subscription. You don't have your credit card on a bunch of different services. When you rent or buy something, in addition to subscriptions, it's really simple to do on a Roku device. It's super easy, barely an inconvenience . Except... There...

There's a problem I have with removing copy protection from movies. It's not that I can't do it, or find it difficult to do. I do it all the time, in fact. But, there's an ethical problem that I have. You see, there's copy protection for a reason. The reason is: people are awful. Okay, I don't mean all people are awful. Obviously they aren't. I'm not awful. You're not awful. But there are a lot of people that are. Awful people would, if they saw you drop a $100 bill, simply pick up the bill and keep walking. They know it's yours, but they don't care because they're awful. There's no different between that and not paying for a movie contrary to the owner's rights. They make up reasons to justify it, but the real reason is, they're awful. Awful people are the reason it's difficult for decent people to have a proper library of movies. If you have DVDs, how to you add it to your streamer? You have to break copy protection...

The cost of live streaming services continue to rise. That's not really a surprise, is it? Of course it isn't. Or it shouldn't be. If you didn't know that prices were going to rise, you haven't been paying attention. Prices always rise. Sometimes, things go a while before the price increase, but the price increase will come. Recently, Philo finally increased its price to $25/month, which is its second price increase ever, since its launch in 2017, nearly four years ago. Philo launched with a $16/month package, and later added a larger $20 package. A year and a half ago, Philo dropped the $16/month package for new subscribers, essentially increasing prices. Now, the $20/month package is rising to $25/month. Even at the new price, Philo is still one of the best bargains for those wanting a live streaming service. Currently, the lineup is: A&E AccuWeather Network AMC American Heroes Channel Animal Planet aspireTV AXS TV BBC America BBC World News BE...

A few days ago, we talked briefly about setting up a Plex or similar server to play movies from your DVD collection . However, there's another way that you may be able to play local movies that is a little bit easier, if you have iTunes movie purchases and an Apple TV. Although I had DVDs before I bought any Apple iTunes movies, I did purchase movies after I got my first video capable iPod several years ago. And, I kept buying iTunes movies after I bought my first Apple TV. It wasn't aware -- or at least, I didn't think about it -- when I first began purchasing iTunes movies that I could download them to my computer. Then, it hit me that I could do that, so I did. On my MacBook, I downloaded several movies I had purchased, then launched iTunes, and it showed up on my Apple TV. I was also researching Plex at the time, and tried to see if Plex would see my iTunes movies. It did. However, Plex wouldn't play them because of Apple's copy protection. But, they played f...

You're watching TV on your streaming device when the unthinkable happens. Your Internet service goes out. You have power, the lights all work, your network is still up, but there's no Internet connectivity. Now, you can't watch TV, right? Well, maybe you can. I know I can. If your Internet service goes out temporarily, you do have two or three ways to still watch TV. One is to watch from an antenna. If you have an antenna connected to your TV or to a network device -- Air TV, Tablo, TiVo or such -- you can watch TV that way. Another similar way is that if you have a DVR, you can watch content you recorded earlier. This would be from an antenna, of course, so it's a lot like the first. The only difference is the time-shifting of the content. And, there's your local library. If you've taken your DVDs and ripped them to Plex or some other local server setup, you can watch movies and TV from your local library. Actually, if you purchased downloads that are not copy...

Imagine if you will, a world where you are a Comcast/Xfinity TV subscriber. You suffer through the periodic price increases, channel changes, channel removals from your subscription tier, and the constant nagging that things could be better. However, you know that "better" involves that scariest of monsters -- Change. You are someone who either grew up on cable, or have been with cable so long that you can barely remember without it. What can you do so that you keep the monster known as Change at bay? Believe it or not, Comcast/Xfinity comes to your rescue and helps you drop cable. No, this isn't the Twilight Zone or some alternate universe where Spock has a beard. This is here and now. This is a pretty simple streaming device. There's no app store like you'll find with Roku, Apple TV, Google TV, or Amazon Fire devices. Rather, similar to the early Apple TV devices, there are a limited number of apps provided, and you can use them or not. It comes with a remot...

The focus here is, of course, streaming. To many, that means content from sources such as Netflix, Hulu, Sling TV, and so on. But, what about content you already own? If you've collected many DVDs over the years, how do you watch them? Pop them into a DVD player? Sure, you could do that. And that works as long as every TV has its own DVD player. And you don't mind getting the DVD from your library case, taking it to the TV, switching inputs, putting it in the player, switching to the DVD player remote, and watching the movie that way. I prefer to grab my streaming player remote and launching an app that accesses my DVDs, then pick one and watch it. Same for TV shows I own on DVD. How is this possible? Well, it takes some setup. And, initially, some work. A lot of work, or at least a lot of time, if you have a lot of movies. There are different applications that allow you to do this -- KODI, Servlio, Emby, and others -- but my choice is Plex   . Whichever service you choose, ...

One of my favorite apps that nobody seems to know about is Pub-D-Hub . It's all public domain content, and all stuff you can find elsewhere, but they do put a lot together in easy to find categories. It's available on Roku and on Amazon Fire TV devices. The service is free, which you might expect for public domain content. They also have a Gold and a Gold+ plan. They offer more content with those plans, and the price is really cheap. The Gold plan is $4/year. Not $4/month, but $4/year. That's cheap. I suppose it helps cover their server costs, and I'm fine paying a little to help out. I get a lot of enjoyment from the service, and it's well worth it to me, even if they didn't offer more content. I'd certainly pay $4/year to help keep it going. The Gold+ add-on, which is about another $2/year, for Gold subscribers lets you add more devices to the account, and includes access to some live streaming content, plus some parental controls. I love to watch the old ...

Today is the scheduled running of the Belmont Stakes. As I'm not a fan of horse racing, it's not that big of a deal to me, but there are a lot of people that enjoy the activity, so let's look at how to watch today's race. NBC is carrying the race, so if you want to watch the race, find NBC in your area. If you have an antenna, tune to the local NBC affiliate. If you are in one of the 33 markets served by Locast , you can view through that app. If you don't have an antenna or Locast, you can use a live streaming service that carries NBC. Hulu + Live TV , YouTube TV , and Fubo are each $65, while AT&T TV is $75/month. Vidgo doesn't carry NBC. In some markets, Sling Blue , which is $35/month, will have NBC, though not all areas. If you are a fan of horse racing, you're probably already excited about today's race. If you are a casual fan, or not a fan, watch this and see if it doesn't make you just a little excited. It's the fastest Belmont S...