My Streaming Life

I don't watch ESPN except during college football season. That's the reason I only subscribe to a live streaming service during football season: to get ESPN. I usually go with Sling TV (Orange) but if another service has a special price, I'll jump around. Does that make it confusing for finding ESPN on my streaming devices? No, not really. There's a little housekeeping involved, but the app is always the same. I use the ESPN app authenticated against whatever streaming service I have. My default live streaming service is Sling TV, because it's cheaper than the others. Unless the others are running a promotion, in which case, I authenticate against the cheaper service. Yes, that means that once a month, I may have to log out of the old service and log in using the new service. But it's once a month. I can deal with that. And so can you. That way, when I want to watch ESPN, I use the ESPN app. I hardly ever use the streaming service app, whatever the service is I...

If you're a college football fan, you've been looking forward to this upcoming weekend all season. It's the conference championships. Of course, if your team didn't make the conference championship game, this weekend might not be all that big of a deal. Just kidding, it's a big deal. If your team didn't make it, you can hate on the team that made it in place of your team. That's football, right? This weekend, there are ten conference championships, and as a streamer, you can watch the games. Here are the networks carrying the different games, and how you can watch those networks with your streaming device. ABC Pac-12 Conference, Oregon vs Utah, Friday, 8:00 pm. Big XII Conference, Baylor vs Oklahoma State, Saturday, Noon. American Athletic Conference, Houston vs Cincinnati, Saturday, 4:00 pm. Atlantic Coast Conference, Pittsburgh vs Wake Forest, Saturday, 8:00 pm. You can view ABC via: Antenna (free) Vidgo ($55) Hulu+Live TV ($70) ...

I've spoken before about how I solved my network issues . Essentially, I tried several things, but ended up getting a mesh network setup. It wasn't cheap, but it worked. Now, there are all kinds of things you can do to try to resolve any network issues you have. The worst solution is to let your ISP talk you into a faster Internet speed. Doing that will speed up your Internet speed, but it won't do diddly squat about network connectivity. To be sure, I'm not saying your ISP would be trying to scam you. There are instances where a slow connection is the issue, not a weak network connection, but that's usually not the case. Even is your network connection shows as good, and the performance is bad, it could be a device on your network interfering with other devices. Or, it could even be a device that's on a totally different network interfering, if that other network is on the same channel. You can tweak your network settings and resolve some of this. Or, you can g...

One of the tips that should be considered by cord cutters -- and I feel strongly about this -- is to subscribe to a service only when it has something you want. For example, right now, I'm using Disney+. I mentioned this past summer that I wasn't subscribing to Disney+ because there was very little I would watch on it . But right now, there is. You may have picked up that I'm a Beatles fan. When I set up my new Plex server, the first music I added was my catalog of Beatles music . It took a while to get it all in because I have a lot. I have all of their US albums and their UK albums, at least from their official catalog. And I have both the mono and stereo games. If you're a die-hard Beatles fans, you understand the reason for that. For the uninitiated, even though their albums were released in stereo, the Beatles themselves only participated in the mono mixing of their recordings until their last few albums. Those were versions the Beatles themselves thought of as the...

Just a couple of days after I was fussing about Hulu's price increase. Hulu+Live TV, actually, but that till is a form of Hulu. Well, now I feel I should mention a great deal Hulu is running for Black Friday. Subscribers -- new and existing -- can get the standard Hulu service for 99¢/month for a year. Hulu actually did this three years ago, but then changed it to $1.99/month for the past two years. And, you couldn't get it if you were already a subscriber. It was for new subscribers only. This year, anyone can get it. The only downside would be if you have the Disney Bundle. There's no plan that takes this Hulu deal into consideration. Still, it's a heckuva deal. If you were thinking of the Disney Bundle with standard Hulu, it may be cheaper to go this route. However you do it, it's a great way to include Hulu in your Streaming Life.

Thanksgiving Proclamation Issued by President George Washington, at the request of Congress, on October 3, 1789 By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation. Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and—Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:” Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or th...

If you're a cord cutter, or wanting to be, one thing I would suggest is getting a TV antenna. Depending on where you live, that can be an easy thing or a hard thing. For me, it was not easy. I live around 40 miles (not less than, but not much more than) from the major TV towers that serve my area. Picking up a good, clear, consistent TV signal means an outdoor antenna for me. That may or may not be the case for you. So, how do you determine this? There are a few of different Websites that are popular for this. I like different aspects of both, but found that, at least in my case, one give a more accurate picture of what I needed. One that's highly recommended is TV Fool . It does a pretty good job, However, it underestimated my antenna needs. I tried an indoor antenna -- it called it a "set top antenna" -- but that didn't get me what I was after. Another thing it didn't quite get right was the actual frequency of one of the Savannah station. It said WSAV is ...

It seems like just a couple of months ago that Hulu announced a price increase. That's because it was . And now, word is that Hulu is upping its prices. But it's not exactly "another" increase. Let me explain. In September, Hulu announced that its pricing of their standard plan was going up by a dollar a month. Rather than $5.99 it would be $6.99 each month. Still a good deal, but a price increase is a price increase, and that's never fun. Now, word is that Hulu is upping the price of their Hulu+Live TV plan is going up by $5/month. I haven't seen a notice from Hulu, but Engadget is reporting the increase will happen in late December, but will include an offset that might make it more palatable : Disney plans to add Disney+ and ESPN+ to your subscription, and you have no choice in the matter. On Friday, the company sent an email to current subscribers informing them of the impending change. Starting on December 21st, all Hulu + Live subscriptions will inclu...

I'm don't normally post information about sales here. But these are a couple of good deals. And, in the interest of transparency, I can earn a commission on one of the two. But I'm not posting for that reason. I'm posing because it's a good deal. What brought this up is I had a conversion this week with someone who is interested in streaming. I recommended a Fire TV Stick 4K, or a Roku stick. At the time, I didn't know about this first deal. This is a good price. I don't have a link, because the deal isn't until later today, and there is no link. Just go to the Walmart Website, or your nearest Walmart store, and take advantage of this deal. Walmart is (or will be, at the time this is first posted) selling a Roku device for $15. No, it's not a top of the line device, but it is a Roku streaming device, and it's a good price. The device is listed as a Roku LE. That's not a standard name for a Roku device. Some years back, they brought back the R...

As I complete moving my movie collection from the old Plex server to the new one, I'm moving movies into collections. As part of my library, I decided a while back to get all of the movies that won the Academy Award for Best Picture. I wrote about that recently . Best Picture winners aren't the only collections I have, though. A couple of decades ago, they added a new category: Best Animated Feature. The resurgence of animated films was the reason for the category. In 1991, for the first time, an animated film was nominated for Best Picture: Beauty and the Beast . In 2001, the Academy added the new category, with Shrek taking the award. When I decided to add Best Animated Feature to my library, I already had many of the movies that had won the award, but not all. However, once I made the decision, it was easy to get the ones I didn't have. Well, most of them. Spirited Away , which won in 2002, was hard to find at the time, but can be found easily today. It was the last o...

I've not watched AMC in years. In fact, the last time I watched it, it was still American Movie Classics. Well, mostly. I liked the old network, as well as Turner Classic Movies. The reason? Classic movies. Or movie classics. I love old movies. And when I had two great classic movie channels from which to choose, I was happy. It hasn't gone by American Movie Classics in quite some time. I've never watched a show on AMC. Now, I have watch a show that aired on AMC, but I didn't watch it on AMC. I watched Breaking Bad , Better Call Saul , and Low Winter Sun . I started with catching up Breaking Bad after hearing good things about it, liked it, and bought the episodes. So, I watched them, but not on AMC. Same with Better Call Saul . When it was announced, I bought the episodes as soon as they went on sale. I'm trying to remember how I ran across Low Winter Sun . Probably on Amazon. I think they has a free preview of it. I liked it --Mark Strong and Lennie James are gre...

I promote myself as a long time cord-cutter/streamer. And I am that. And the streaming device I use the most is Roku. I've been a participant in Roku support forums for much of that time. Recently, there have been a lot of reports form people complaining that their Roku devices aren't working properly after getting the update to OS 10.5. Roku announced the update in September , and it is getting around to everyone's devices. Roku rolls out updates over a period of weeks and months. Not everybody gets it at the same time. That's probably in case things go bad, you don't have millions of users impacted all at once. If that is the reason -- and yes, I believe it is -- then that recognizes that things can go wrong. That's not actually a bad thing, the acknowledgment that things can go wrong. Things often do go wrong, and it's nice that they aren't arrogant enough to say it will be perfect, and any problem isn't their fault. Of course, just because it can...

While I don't use a live streaming service year-round, normally getting a service during football season only, I have tried all the major ones. One of my favorites is Philo. It has a good selection of channels, and is one of the lower priced services. With Philo, there are no sports or news channels, but that's actually a good thing, in my mind. I used to watch a lot of TV news shows, but have since found that I'm happier not watching it. I still read the news, but I don't watch talking heads telling me what to think. If news was treated as news, that's one thing. But we have news being treated like a reality show. So, I don't care to watch it, as I think I get less informed watching news than how I get news today. So, with news not a priority for a live streaming service, Philo is one of the best. And its getting better. Remember how last month, it was announced that Frndly.TV was adding GAC Family and GAC Living to their lineup? Well, Philo has GAC Family alr...

I have subscribed to Hulu for ... well, since it was called Hulu Plus and there were two different Hulu services. In other words, for a while. But, during my purge earlier this year, I dropped Hulu. It turns out that I hadn't watched anything on it for some time. So, even though it was only $6/month, that was me paying $6/month for a service I wasn't using. "Heck," I said to myself, "I'll resubscribe in the fall when the new shows start." I figured in September, I'd resubscribe. But, I didn't. I don't think it even crossed my mind. October came and went. Now we're halfway through November -- yes, we are half-way through November as of this past Monday -- and I still haven't subscribed to Hulu. I suppose I'm waiting on the new episodes to start. Well, I actually don't know when the new episodes start. But I accidentally found out that some have started. The Rookie, that police show with the guy from Firefly on it, has started. ...

My Roku Ultra died. It's the second Roku I've had go bad in nearly 11 years. And, the other one was a Roku Ultra, too. Until recently, it was my primary Roku device. When I replaced my defective sound bar with a Roku Streambar, the Ultra was assigned to a secondary TV. Well, this weekend, I went to use it, and I couldn't get it to work. It had power, but there was no output to the TV. I changed HDMI cables and ports, but it wouldn't work. I was able to get a Roku Premiere+ (the Express form factor, model 3921) running, so the TV has a Roku on it, but my Roku Ultra isn't working. In 2017, a Roku Ultra (model 4660) I had went bad, not long after I got it. Roku replaced it without issue. The device worked well for another four years. That is, until this weekend. I don't think I'm going to replace it, at least, not yet. The Streambar works well, and the three-year-old Premiere+ works well. This is the first time since I got my first Roku that I haven't had a...

I've mentioned before that Sling TV was the first live TV streaming service I tried. The reason for that was simple. At the time, it was the only live TV streaming service. I tried it, thought it was alright, then canceled. Why did I cancel? I wasn't really watching it. I only used it during college football season, and when the season was done, I canceled. Actually, when I first subscribed, it was early in the year, I did a month, just to see what it was all about, then I canceled, then I signed up again when football season started. After the season, I canceled again. Ever since then, I would subscribe during football season and cancel after the season. But, Sling TV wasn't the only service I would use. Other services would offer specials that were a better price than Sling TV, and I'd try them. Then, when the special was over, rather than pay the higher price, I would go back to Sling TV to finish the season. Right now, in fact, I'm not subscribed to Sling TV....

I've got a decent movie library, totaling 1,690 films. That doesn't include short films, cartoons, TV shows, and such. Part of my library consists of movies I just like and bought. Wait. Did I just imply that I may have movies I don't like? Well, I do. Some, I didn't know at the time. I thought I would like them, so I got them, either on DVD (which I later ripped into my Plex library) or purchased a digital copy (which I later ripped into my Plex library). So, I found out I didn't like some of them after I bought them. But I'm okay with that. I gave the film a shot, and if I didn't like it, that's just how it is. Along the line, though, I decided I wanted to include in my library certain collections. I decided I wanted all of the movies that won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. I checked my library -- it wasn't all in Plex at the time -- and found that I had a good number of them. So, I looked into getting the rest. And I did. As of this writi...

Last month, I decided to give HBO Max a try . As I said then, I'd watched HBO before. When Comcast raised my price -- technically, the special they gave me ended -- I looked for a better price package, and they were running a special where I could get Internet, cable, and HBO cheaper than Internet alone. So, yeah, I did that for a year. And during that year, I watched HBO from time to time. And, when that special ended, I got a different package that didn't include cable or HBO, just Internet, because it was cheaper. I've not watched HBO since. Well, until last month. I subscribed to HBO Max to give it a try. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, I just wanted to see what it was all about. I know lots of people that use the service. I but way back on streaming services some months ago, but am willing to give one a try from time to time. Either a new one I've not done before, or one I haven't used in a long time. HBO Max is sort of both. Well, it's bee...

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Frndly.TV will offer seven channels from A+E Networks soon. That's the good news. The bad news is the price is going up. The other good news is that the increase is only $1. The Wall Street Journal says that Frndly.TV subscribers will get the new channels in about a week : Frndly TV, founded two years ago by former Dish Network Corp. DISH +0.84% executives, said Wednesday it had signed a deal with A+E Networks to carry seven of its networks—including A&E, Lifetime and the History Channel—starting Nov. 18. As a result of the agreement, Frndly TV will offer 30 live TV channels, adding to its current bundle that already includes the Hallmark Channel and the Weather Channel. The company said it would raise the basic monthly subscription price to $6.99 from $5.99. Frndly TV’s other subscription tiers will also increase. Frndly.TV lists the networks they'll carry : In addition to A&E, The HISTORY Channel and Lifetime, Frndly TV su...

Today is Veterans Day. We have observed it since the end of the first World War, and it became a U.S. holiday in 1954. The president issued a proclamation that year . Proclamation 3071—Veteran's Day, 1954 October 08, 1954 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Whereas it has long been our custom to commemorate November 11, the anniversary of the ending of World War I, by paying tribute to the heroes of that tragic struggle and by rededicating ourselves to the cause of peace; and Whereas in the intervening years the United States has been involved in two other great military conflicts, which have added millions of veterans living and dead to the honor rolls of this Nation; and Whereas the Congress passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926 (44 Stat. 1982), calling for the observance of November 11 with appropriate ceremonies, and later provided in an act approved May 13, 1938 (52 Stat. 351), that the eleventh of November should be a legal holiday...

I don't normally subscribe to ESPN+, except during football season. There are college football games that are only on ESPN+, and I want to be able to watch them. So, during football season I subscribe to ESPN+. So what's the problem? Well, it's the app. Let me explain. When I'm watching football games, I'll often open the ESPN app on my phone, and check other games. If something seems interesting, I'll switch over to it. But, that's when ESPN+ decides to tick me off. ESPN+ is big into some fight club league or something. Ultimate Fightling something something. I've never been big on fights, whether boxing or whatever this UFC thing is. Simply put, I'm not interested. If it's something you like, fine. They need to target you, not me. The ESPN app allows me to pick teams or sports in which I have an interest. I've never picked any kind of fighting league, yet every time I open the app, wanting to see the teams or sports I have marked as an inte...

Last weekend, on Saturday, I didn't watch a lot of football. I wanted to, but it just didn't work out that way. However, I was near my TV when the Georgia Tech-Miami game was winding down. I saw that it was a close game, so I decided to watch it. The game was on ESPN3, so I fired up the ESPN app on my Roku device and found the game. But, it wouldn't play. The game was blacked out in my area. From my house, I would have to drive 433 miles to go to the game. That's the shortest, most direct driving route. It would be a 6½ hour drive on a good day. And, according to the people that decide those things, I was in a blackout area for the game. That is a very frustrating thing to encounter. I'm not sure I understand why games that are 433 miles away are blacked out. I suspect if I found out why the game was blacked out, I'd want to slap the person that made the decision. Twice. Maybe more than twice. Definitely more than twice. But, that's how it is. The game was b...

One of the things I like about a Plex server is the ability to have all of my media available for me wherever I am, as long as I can get to the Internet. That means moves, TV shows, short films, and music. I've talked about my Plex servers (the old one and the new one) several times, but haven't mentioned the music aspect that much. I've got all my movies done (still need to put them into collections), and most of my TV shows done (still the new Doctor Who shows to go), and my short films (still need to put them into collections as well). The collections on the videos can wait. The most important thing was getting them on the server. Organizing into collections and playlists will be done, but I need the files moved over first. So now I'm on to moving music files. I started with The Beatles. I have all of their digital releases. Well, some of the digital packages are groupings of individuals I already have, so I may not have all of those. The individual albums, whether i...

I really like Tablo service. It's a great device that allows me to watch over the air antenna content on my devices on my network. I also have Fire TV Recast set up at my mother's house, as well as Air TV (using the Air TV Anywhere device). Of the three options I have for watching TV via an antenna, I like Tablo the best. I do like the way Air TV integrates the local channels into the Sling TV interface, but I like the Tablo interface better. Fire TV Recast also integrates the antenna content into the interface, but I'm not a fan of the Amazon interface. And I've mentioned the things I don't like about Fire TV before . Tablo is my go-to way to watch TV from an antenna. And, since I put up the antenna at my mother's, and I live a couple of miles away, Tablo Connect -- the feature that lets you watch Tablo from a different network -- is the way I'm continuing to use Tablo. Since Tablo Connect is supported by Fire TV, Chromecast, and Apple TV, but not Roku, I...

I mentioned last week that I was adding Doctor Who episodes  -- classic Doctor Who, from 1963-1986 -- to my Plex server. I have all of the episodes, including the Loose Cannon reconstructions of the missing episodes, and I began importing them into Plex. As I mentioned before, I had imported the first ten seasons into my old Plex server, and moving them onto the new server was relatively easy. Everything was already organized, as I found out, and it went smoothly. As I mentioned last week, I took up the task of moving the other seasons onto Plex. That actually went rather smoothly. It turns out I had already prepped several seasons to bring in, but for some reason, I never finished the task. Until now. The next few seasons went well. I had all of the Tom Baker, and many of the Peter Davison episodes ready to go. I had a few Colin Baker episodes, as well as some Sylvester McCoy episodes. All of the ones I didn't have purchased from iTunes, I had ripped the DVDs already, and they wer...

You know those people that always seem to find something wrong with everything? People that aren't happy no matter what? That seem to thrive on being difficult? That seems like me when it comes to Amazon's Fire TV. Don't get me wrong. I like some things about Fire TV, but there are some things it does that really irritate me. By default, videos start playing if I stop on them for a few seconds. I don't want to see or hear a video playing unless I tell it to play. Sure, I can go to the settings and turn that off, and I do. But it only applies to standard videos. When there's a sponsored video, it plays if you stay on it for more than one second. I timed it. It was easy to time. One Mississippi, t--- dammit! Maybe I shouldn't get so worked up about stuff playing when I don't want it to. But I don't want it to. Remember those Websites that you would go to and they'd start playing some sound? Yeah, they still exist. News sites are notorious for playing a...

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about Tablo Connect . Briefly, it's a feature with Tablo that lets you watch your Tablo content from a different network. Tablo, is of course, an over the air (OTA) antenna DVR that also makes your antenna and DVR be viewed anywhere on your network with a compatible device. And the compatible devices are Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, and Google/Android TV devices, so that means most streaming setups. Tablo Connect works on three of those four platforms. Roku doesn't support Tablo Connect, or Tablo Connect doesn't support Roku. Either way, you can use Tablo with Roku, but only on the same network. Tablo Connect lets me use my Fire TV, Apple TV, or Chromecast/Google TV devices on other networks. That means the antenna I put up at one house, I can watch it at another house with Fire TV, Apple TV, or Chromecast/Google TV. I was using my Chromecast for it, but I've not been happy with the device lately . The Chromecast has had occasional issues wit...

I recently mentioned that I was upgrading my Plex server with a newer, faster computer and a larger hard drive. And, I've mentioned some of the issues I've encountered along the way. None of the issues were directly related to Plex itself. That's been easy. It's the delay in delivery of components , issues with copying files , and of course, issues with the bloatware that companies (Dell, in this instance) put on computers. Problems? Yes, but there were also solutions, so things progressed along. I got all of my movie files moved over and loaded into Plex. I got my short film files moved over and loaded into Plex. And I have my TV show files moved over and some of them loaded into Plex, but there are sill some more of those to go. And my music files need to move over. Oh, and music videos. Movies are done. Well, mostly done. I have the movies, but not the collections. You see, I have a lot of my films in collections, such as Best Picture Oscar films all in one collect...