My Streaming Life

This week, Amazon announced that the Fire TV Cube 2nd Generation devices -- that's the ones they've been selling since 2019 -- now support hearing aids. I don't have a Fire TV Cube to check it -- I may add that to my streaming arsenal -- and it isn't functionality of the Fire TV Stick devices. A post on the Fire TV Blog does not mention an update that contains the new functionality, so I'm not sure when it rolled out. But, as the post uses present tense, I think it pushed Thursday or before. And, since it doesn't mention anything about an update at all, it could be that rollout is complete. This makes Fire TV the first-ever streaming media player to support ASHA and allow customers to directly connect compatible Bluetooth hearing aids. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders reports that Fifteen percent (37.5 million) of Americans over the age of 18 report some hearing loss and nearly 29 million US adults could benefit from using h...

From reports I'm seeing online, two cable giants, Comcast/Xfinity and Charter/Spectrum are teaming up to become a fifth major streaming platform. A story in the New York Times from this week said the two cable giants are calling themselves equal partners in the venture, which will feature Comcast content and Charter money . Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal and operates the Xfinity cable brand, has made strides in the field over the last decade, developing X1, a set-top box system that allows customers to stream video, and the XClass TV, a connected TV sold by Walmart with an operating system developed by the cable giant. Comcast also operates Xumo, an ad-supported streaming app available on connected TVs that allows customers to watch some live TV in addition to on-demand shows. The partnership between Comcast and Charter, which owns the Spectrum cable brand, is structured as a 50-50 joint venture, in which Charter will distribute streaming devices based on Comcast’s technology, th...

Recently, I had some projects involving Raspberry Pi devices. I built a streaming device running a version of Android TV. It worked pretty well on one of my Raspberry Pi devices. A newer one has a firmware update that isn't compatible, so I'm limited to the older version, but it works. I also build a Plex server for streaming local content at a location I manage. It works well. So well that I'm planning to replace a Windows Plex server I manage with a Raspberry Pi. I've acquired the stuff, I just need the time to do it. And time is a premium. There were some hiccups along the way. My first attempt was a fabulous disaster. I even switch plans and tried out an Nvidia Shield device. However, before I deployed that, I tried Raspberry Pi running Plex one more time. It worked great. If you're not aware, the Raspberry Pi OS is a version of Linux. I haven't dealt with a Linux device in years. Years and years. I was rusty. I wasn't exactly proficient with Linux, but...

Roku launched in the USA back in 2008. It was a Netflix streaming box. In 2009, it became more that a Netflix streamer, and allowed other apps and services. Then Roku expanded outside the USA, partnering with NowTV in the UK, as well as with other companies. Roku is now sold directly in a number of countries. But not all. Not by a long shot. Roku is sold and supported in: United States Canada France United Kingdom Germany Argentina Brazil Chile Colombia Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Mexico Nicaragua Panama Peru That's it. Seventeen countries. What happens in those countries? Well, the device works, but many apps don't. And, since the purpose is generally to run apps, then severely limits the use of the device for most people outside the supported 17. How is it determined which apps are supported and which aren't? Roku leaves it up to the app developer. For example, Netflix supports their Roku app everywhere. But Amazon won't support its app outside the Suppo...

Once upon a time, the way to watch TV was with an antenna. Then along came cable. And satellite. And now streaming. The thing about streaming is that it plays well with antenna. Well, satellite does too, to a degree. Cable, not so much. Cable essentially did away with the need for antenna, because cable systems carried the local channels. And cable was how many of us watched TV. Satellite worked better with an antenna, because local channels weren't on satellite -- well, unless local was New York or Los Angeles. With streaming, there is the option to watch locals from some live streaming services, but a streamer can save money with a cheaper service if local channels are available via antenna. Even people who don't stream can watch a lot of content with an antenna, and may find that there is a lot to watch over the air. According to Neilsen, the number of people watching TV over the air has continued to increase, and is 18.6 million households, abut 15% of the country. Now, 15%...

When Roku announced OS 11 a little over a month ago, they mentioned some features that would "roll out in the coming weeks." Many people -- I'd say most people -- took this to mean that Roku OS 11 would roll out soon and would include the listed features. Only, that's not what it meant. What happened was that OS 11 began rolling out -- one of my Roku devices updated the same day as the announcement, another a week or so ago, another this week, and others soon, I expect -- but the rollout did not have the features mentioned. I asked Roku about that and was told that the features would be rolling out separately. That would have been good to know. Well, now the features have arrived. Well, the feature, not features. Because there is only one visible on the Roku screen. And that's the "What to Watch" function. The Roku Blog listed two features that would show on the Home Screen. Only one of them, Live TV, had actually rolled out with 10.5 some time earlier....

I used to go to the movies a lot. When I worked in Jacksonville back in the 1980s, I would go at least once a week to Orange Park, just south of Jacksonville, and go to the movies. There were theaters in Jacksonville, of course, but at Orange Park, there were three theaters, and around 15 different movies playing, within a couple of blocks of each other, meaning I could find something to watch. Over the years, I stopped doing that, and now rarely go out to the movies. The last couple of years haven't really had that much of an impact on me, as the movie experience isn't what it used to be. I can watch a movie on my big screen TV in the comfort of my own home. If I have to step to the bathroom, I can pause the movie and miss not one minute. Watching movies at home is a more comfortable experience. However, I do miss going to the movies. Locally, there's a theater with a very nice setup, where I can sit in a recliner and have snacks and drinks brought to me. It's nice. An...

It's a little early for this, as the Kentucky Derby isn't for a couple of weeks. Still, if you're a fan of thoroughbred racing, or just someone who watches certain races, it may be time to start planning how you're going to watch. NBC has the Triple Crown races again, as is normal, and will broadcast the races. If you have an antenna, you can watch your local NBC affiliate and see the races. This year, though, those three races are also being carried by Peacock. Subscribers to the Premium plan will be able to stream the races . And, of course, this is an opportunity for me to show my favorite horse racing video. I watched it live when it happened in 1973. It's not likely that we'll see anything like that this year, but you never know. Secretariat's Triple Crown races were all record time wins, and the record still holds. If you want to watch this year's races streaming, Peacock has you covered. You can have the Triple Crown racing in your Streaming Life...

Yesterday, I wrote about CNN+ and how it wasn't really necessary to me. I didn't find out until later Thursday that CNN had announced that the platform was shutting down. I'm not really surprised to learn that. Rumors began almost as soon as it launched that the platform was a bust. I wanted to wait and see how things really shook out, and it turns out that the rumors were right. As you would expect, CNN is putting a bit of a spin on it. They're not admitting a failure, but rather taking the approach that the new management want's everything under a single brand. The prior management team's vision for CNN+ runs counter to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav's plan to house all of the company's brands under one streaming service. Some CNN+ programming may eventually live on through that service. Other programming will shift to CNN's main television network. And while there will be layoffs, the severance package isn't too bad. Hundreds of CNN+ ...

I posted recently about CNN+ finally launching , and then arriving on Roku three weeks later. If I came across as not really excited about it, there's a reason. I'm not really excited about it. TV news channels were one of the last things holding me back from cutting cable back in 2011. And after a week of not watching TV news, I came to like not watching TV news. Oh, I still stay up on things, but I don't need the commentary from the talking heads telling me what to think. I can find the facts online. I subscribe to Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, and will rotate around dropping those and picking up New York Times, and so on. That's just the subscription, to get the entire Website content for those. But I also read other news Websites and stay informed from a variety of sources. But, if I do want to watch TV news, I have options. In addition to CNN+, which is a subscription service, I also have access to a lot of other news sources. Clicking on my Fire TV dev...

Have you ever made a silly decision? A stupid decision? A really bad decision? Have you ever wanted to take it back? Have you ever thought of something so clever that you came up with and then told everybody and they just looked at you like you had lobsters crawling out of your ears? (Bonus points if  you get the reference.) Well, that's what Amazon is going through. Or should be going through. They may be still in the phase where they don't realize what a silly thing they've done. Amazon has rebranded IMDB TV as Freevee . IMDb TV will rebrand to Amazon Freevee, beginning April 27, in addition to growing its content lineup to include Original movies and expanding internationally into Germany later this year. The ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) service has grown immensely in the last two years—tripling monthly active users—driven by rapid distribution across living room devices and mobile, an increasing slate of Originals, an always updating library of highly sought movi...

I enjoy using my Plex server for watching local content, and am still slowly checking out the new Discover feature, a content aggregator that works with a whole slew of apps and services. In all of that, I totally missed that Plex did away with Web shows and podcasts . As part of our ongoing effort to make sure we’re spending our time and energy in ways that best serve our awesome user community, we’ve made the decision to end support for Podcasts and Web Shows within Plex. We recognize this decision will impact several of you greatly, and we apologize for the inconvenience it will cause. You can continue to access these features within Plex until Friday, April 15th, 2022, at which point they will no longer be available. Honestly, I didn't notice. I never used them. And that's the problem. Most users were like me. Whether or not they removed them from the menu, I don't know. I always did when I set up an app on a device, so they didn't junk up my interface. They didn...

I'm a fan of Tablo TV. Since I cut the cord in 2011, I've used several antenna DVR setups, and I like Tablo the best. I actually had a DVR before I cut the cord. I got my first TiVo device in 2006, and really liked it. I used it to record cable TV shows, and over the air antenna after cutting the cord. At the time, TiVo devices could do both cable and OTA. Today, TiVo DVRs can't do both. There's a cable model, and an antenna model. When I cut the cord, mine did both. I used TiVo DVR, Air TV, Fire TV Recast, and Tablo. I like Tablo best, although all of them do very good jobs. For me, it comes down to the interface, and Tablo is my preference. However, all have very good, though different, interfaces. In January, Tablo announced new ATSC 3.0 DVRs for what's been dubbed "Next Gen TV." However, there is a problem. Well, two actually. The first was known up front . First, due to technical limitations, including lack of Dolby AC-4 audio support on most streamin...

It's been, gosh, days since I bashed Major League Baseball. So here goes again. If you have been following along at home, I have posted three times in the last few weeks about what I don't like about baseball and their streaming setup. Last month, I whined about how Major League Baseball doesn't want my money , because they blackout the Braves, since I'm in one of the five states in the Braves market. I'd subscribe to MLB.TV if they'd let me watch the Braves live. But they don't, so I don't. I then posted about how Amazon was providing some live in-market games to one team (not my team, though). I also talked about how there are some options for streamers , but not a full season's worth. What am I complaining about today? Well, more of the same. I saw an example of where another Website was complaining about Major League Baseball's blackout policy. Phillip Swann, The TV Answer Man (a daily read for me; see the link in the sidebar), was trying to...

The USFL opens play this weekend. I must admit, nostalgia has hold because I had attended some USFL games in Jacksonville in the 1980s. Now, this is not the same league, but this new league owns the names and logos from the old league. And though nearly 40 years separate them, just hearing the names of the teams playing brings back memories of that old league. A lot of players started their US professional football careers in the USFL, including some Hall of Fame players . I don't know if the new league will have the same quality players, but we'll find out starting tonight. The USFL kicks of its 2022 season this evening. And you can watch the games with your favorite streaming device. Fox and NBC are carrying tonight's game between the New Jersey Generals and the Birmingham Stallions. Tomorrow's game between the Houston Gamblers and Michigan Panthers will be on NBC and Peacock (Premium), Philadelphia Stars vs New Orleans Breakers is on USA, and Tampa Bay Bandits vs Pit...

Now, to be clear up front, I'm not calling all cable TV companies liars. And the one I'm talking about today is one that I have never used. In fact, I'm not calling the company in question liars at all. But I think the person who is, is right. Ryan Downey is host of The Streaming Advisor , it's a daily read for me. Enough to the point where The Streaming Advisor is one of the Websites I have listed as a resource in the sidebar here. In a recent article, he took Spectrum to task for statements the company made in advertisements that attacked DirecTV Stream. The claims were misleading at best and outright wrong at the worse, which should not come as a big surprise to those who have paid attention to cable advertising or their bills over the years. The biggest false claim, being that consumers would not be able to see the “biggest game of the year” AKA the Super Bowl is not even a stretch of the truth, it’s a lie. While Spectrum could say that it never said the Super Bowl...

There has been some coverage this week about CNN+, the subscription service that launched last month. Some of the news is good, and some of the news is bad. Maybe "bad" isn't the correct word. Perhaps "horrible" is a better word. First, the good news for CNN+. The app finally launched on Roku. For the first two weeks following the service launch, the app was not available for the largest streaming platform. But that has been remedied. The app launched this week, according to Roku Blog . The CNN channel (available now in the Roku Channel Store) will offer access to both CNN+ and live TV experiences, with easy navigation between the two. Existing pay TV customers can also enjoy the live TV experience that they’ve known for years, including access to CNN, CNN International, and HLN. The service is $6/month or $60/year. So, why did it take so long to get an app on Roku? Roku doesn't say. And CNN doesn't say. But you must remember that the four major streamin...

I'm going to start with stuff I say all the time. I don't need a year-round live streaming service. I'll subscribe to live streaming services during college football season in order to get the sports channels I want, and use that time to also catch up with anything else on the live-streaming service. While I'll often use Sling TV, I may switch to another service for a month if there is some content with which I want to play catchup on that other service. But, I don't always have time to do a proper evaluation of the service, since I'm really focusing on something specific, and that's my priority. The rest of the year, I'll drop the live streaming services and rotate on-demand services. Paramount+ one month, Disney+ another, HBO Max another, and so on. But, I'll occasionally subscribe to a live streaming service just to check it out. And I'm doing that with YouTube TV. For the next four weeks, I'll have a subscription to YouTube TV, simply to ...

I saw an article this week stating that HBO Max was now the third place streaming service, behind only Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. The service had moved past Disney+ and Hulu (all forms) and taken hold of the number three spot. This is according to data from JustWatch. This doesn't really surprise me. HBO Max is a good streaming service. I don't like the fact that I can't turn off autoplay, but that's an app thing , not really a service thing. The content of HBO Max is really good. But here is what it all boils down to. I will subscribe to it. I'll spend my money on it. That is the way that any of us can say we like it or don't like it. I like it. Now, you may recall that I won't subscribe to services year-round. I don't need a live TV service year-round, so I don't keep a subscription 12 months out of the year. I'll subscribe to Sling TV (or another service that's running a special price) during college football season, but apart from th...

I mentioned recently that some services are streaming games in areas that MLB.TV would black out the team. Specifically, I mentioned that Amazon will be carrying some Yankees games in market . I only mentioned that service, as it specifically targets a team whose fans can't otherwise watch in-market games via MLB.TV. All teams are blacked out in market by MLB.TV. This gives Yankees fans some relief. But there are other ways of watching games, though not specifically for a specific team. For example, ESPN+ is carrying one game a day this month . Well, nearly every day. Nearly every MLB Club – 24 out of 30 – will be in action on ESPN+ during April, including two appearances by the defending World Series Champion Atlanta Braves and appearances by expected season contenders including the Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays and Houston Astros. As you can see, many clubs will get streaming time during the month. Peacock TV will carry several Sunday games this season, s...

I've spoken many times about how Major League Baseball isn't very streamer friendly , despite being involved in streaming for over a decade. MLB.TV won't stream in-market games live. I'm a Braves fan, and can't watch live Braves games through MLB.TV. Nobody can watch the live games of any team in which they are in-market via the MLB.TV app. However, this past week, we got a glimmer of hope. Amazon is going to be live streaming games for Yankees fans in that market. Now, I'm not a Yankees fan, so this doesn't impact me. But if they did this for the Braves, or other teams, then I and others would be in a better situation. It's not a perfect solution to that team from the Bronx. The Yankees have 162 games, and Amazon will be carrying 25. That still leaves 137 games not able to be streamed live by in-market fans, but it's a start. Will this lead to more games available live streaming for teams in market? I have no idea, but I certainly want that to happ...

I've never watched True Crime TV. That's not a cable channel -- I don't think it's a cable channel, and I'm too lazy to check -- but a genre, a type of show. There are comedies, mysteries, drama, "reality" (which is as real as professional wrestling), westerns, teen, romance, and a whole slew of others. And of of those others is True Crime. Why have I never watched it? Because I have no interest in it. I remember how popular Unsolved Mysteries was, and how popular many other shows such as 48 Hours, America's Most Wanted, The People vs. O. J. Simpson, Forensic Files, New Detectives, and so many more were and are. But I don't get it. Some of the shows actually served a good purpose. America's Most Wanted and Unsolved Mysteries did bring some crimes to the attention of the public, and some led to arrests. So good for them. But, and I could be wrong, my impression is that many of the shows today are simply sensational versions of the truth. The tru...

A study by a group called Interpret says that one in five streaming subscribers think they subscribe to too many services. The main focus of the report is actually talking about something we touched on this week: aggregation of content. We touched on OneFlix and Plex promoting aggregation with new apps or updates to apps. In that article , I thought that the Plex offering is better for streamers, because it's available on streaming devices, while OneFlix is limited to mobile devices, at least for now. Well, this study by Interpret says that one in three streamers want better aggregation . Among subscribers to streaming services, fully one-third express an interest in being able to manage and search for their available content from one place. Consumers want aggregation services to help remove pain points from the subscription process. They also expect bundled offerings to deliver greater value, as well as to improve account management, discovery, and content recommendation functiona...

I'm not into golf. My son is. And I have a grandson that is as well. One of his grandmothers posted a picture on Facebook of him at a driving range this week. They went to Jacksonville, and he had a blast. So, while I would post what I am today anyway, it's a little extra fun for me knowing my son and at least one grandson would have an interest in this topic. The Masters is this week. Starts today, in fact. And if you're a streamer, you have some options for watching one of the premiere gold tournaments. The first two rounds will be on ESPN with additional coverage on ESPN+. The final two rounds will be on CBS. If you're a streamer, you're in luck. ESPN, ESPN+ Sling TV (Orange) ($35/month) Vidgo TV ($55/month) YouTube TV ($65/month) Hulu+Live TV ($70/month) Fubo TV ($70/month) DirecTV Stream ($70/month) ESPN+ is an standalone service that is $7/month. It does not include the standard ESPN content. CBS Antenna (Free) Paramount+ ($10/month) YouTube TV ($65/month) Hul...

For a while, streaming platforms have been implementing ways to find what it is you want to watch. If you're like me, you don't really care what service and app carries certain content, just that the content you want is available ... and it's easy to find. It's that "easy to find" part that is hard. Roku search was one of the best early ways to find content. Roku was service independent. They didn't care where it was, if their database had the content you wanted, it pointed you to it, or the multiple apps/services that had your content. Then Roku began doing what the others did and started featuring content from their streaming service, the Roku Channel. Of course it makes sense to feature your carrying of the content. If a movie you want is on Roku Channel and on Xumo, for instance, Roku would rather you watch it on their service so they get the ad hits and more ad revenue. Amazon did this a lot right out of the chute. Fire TV is essentially the Amazon ...

If you currently subscribe to Fubo TV on the $65/month plan, your price is going up on May 1. But there is not a price change. Let me say that again. If you're on the $65/month Fubo TV plan, you'll be paying more after May 1st, but Fubo TV is not raising prices. How in the world are they managing that? Well, it's quite simple, really. They're doing away with the $65/month Starter plan, and moving all those subscribers to the $70/month Pro plan. The Pro plan is already $70/month, and has been for a little while. But they're doing away with the smaller plan, and moving you to the higher plan. The Starter plan, the $65/month plan, is going away. Now, you don't have to accept the move. You can simply cancel Fubo TV and pay nothing. The bottom line is that if you're on the Starter ($65/month) plan, you'll pay more, because you get moved to an existing, and more expensive, plan. That leaves YouTube TV as the final $65/month live streaming subscription service,...

This isn't really about streaming, but it came up because of streaming. Specifically, my Plex server setup, which not only includes my movie, TV, and video shorts collections, but also includes my music collection. I don't have all of my music in Plex just yet. That's not really a priority, but I have some artists collections in Plex. Only three at the moment, two of which are complete: the Beatles, Elton John, and Eagles.  Elton John isn't complete, as I don't own all of his releases. But, most of what I own, at least the full albums, are there. But it's not Elton John I'm talking about today. It's the Beatles. My collection is rather extensive. I own all of their music that's available via download, mostly iTunes, and all of their CDs. I used to own all of their albums. Okay, most of their albums. Via purchase, I owned all of their US releases except Introducing the Beatles , from Vee Jay records in 1964. Via CD, I own all of their Capital US relea...

I've mentioned this before, but I had a conversation along this line this week at work, and that has put it in the front of my mind. One of the criticisms of streaming, at least as it has developed, is that by the time you subscribe to all the services you want, you end up paying more than cable. And that can be true. But it's not for me. So why is that? Well, I subscribe to different services, but not year round. Oh, year round, I'll have something, but not everything at the same time. I'll subscribe to one service, keep it a month, watch all I want, then cancel. Next month, I'll subscribe to another service, keep it a month, watch all I want, then cancel. The next month, I'll subscribe to another service, keep it a month, watch all I want, then cancel. You see where this is going, right? Let me offer some examples of how this might work. According to one recent survey, here are the most popular subscription streaming services: Netflix, 221.8 million worldwide,...