My Streaming Life

Reports of the new NFL Plus streaming package don't seem to do much for streamers. NFL fans (and I know there are lots of you out there) that are also streamers (and I know there are more and more of you out there) don't really gain anything from this announcement. The service will allow fans to watch in-market games on mobile devices. It will not be available for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, or Android/Google TV. This is different from NFL Sunday Ticket, as that's for out of market games, and is carried only on DirecTV, the satellite service. Sports Business Journal says he price is cheap, as $5/month . Live games on mobile phones and tablets will be the content centerpiece of NFL Plus, which will sell for about $5 monthly, though a source cautioned the pricing structure may change. It will likely include other content as well; possibilities include radio, podcasts and miscellaneous team-created content. The live mobile/tablet games will be limited to what fans could otherwise...

I am oppressed with a sense of the impropriety of uttering works on this occasion. If silence is ever golden, it must be here beside the graves of fifteen thousand men, whose lives were more significant than speech, and whose death was a poem, the music of which can never be sung. With words we make promises, plight faith, praise virtue. Promises may not be kept; plighted faith may be broken; and vaunted virtue be only the cunning mask of vice. We do not know one promise these men made, one pledge they gave, one word they spoke; but we do know they summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue. For the noblest man that lives, there still remains a conflict. He must still withstand the assaults of time and fortune, must still be assailed with temptations, before which lofty natures have fallen; but with these the conflict end...

I mentioned as recently as last weekend that my plans to spend time working with Linux have gone slowly. They've gone slower since then. For one thing, I needed to focus on a new TV . And I ordered a new TV and am installing it this weekend. I didn't install it the day it arrived because another issue arose. An issue with either my phone or Google app on my phone caused me to no longer be able to control my network as I like. Additionally, smart control of lights, air conditioners, and such are not not working on all devices. After a few attempts to resolve that had the opposite effect, I decided that since I needed to disconnect a lot of stuff to hook up the new TV, I would reconfigure my network. It's a nightmare of switches and cables as it has grown over the years with stuff being added and removed. So, by taking the old TV down, I've had access to everything. And this is a good time to re-do it all in a much nicer and more organized fashion. You can't do that ...

The old adage in online blogging and social media is "never read the comments." That's because that's where the trolls and jackasses hang out. Not everyone there, to be sure, but it sure attracts them. I don't have that problem. I do get the occasional spam comment, but the overall commenting process here doesn't lend itself to trolls. I mean, sure, some can drop by and be total jerks, but that really doesn't happen. I require authentication to comment, meaning a commenter must have a Google account, or some other authentication measure that Google accepts in order to comment. Why does that make a difference?

As you may know -- and if you didn't, you do now -- I frequent the Roku Community Forum and will occasionally offer help to those with issues, user to user. One app that always received a lot of complaints was the Fox News app. No, I'm not talking about some lefty complaining that it exists -- that has happened because awful people gonna awful -- but users of the app complaining that it didn't work. Mainly, it logged them out constantly and they had to log in again and again. To be fair, I never used the app. I don't watch Fox News. I also don't watch MSNBC, ABC News, CNN, CBS News, or any of the other talking head services. I use other news sources and news aggregators, plus some subscription services, to stay abreast of things. Streaming talking head apps aren't how I do it, whether from the left or right. But, the app has generated lots of complaints over the years, mostly because of it never working correctly. Sometimes, I wonder if it's someone not und...

One of the reasons I cut the cord was to save money. In fact, that was the overriding reason I cut the cord. I admit I was fascinated by the prospect of watching TV without cable when my son showed me how he was watching content back in, when was it? 2008? Around that time. Anyway, I was fascinated and wondered if it was the way to go. He didn't really have a choice. He had moved to a new residence, and cable wasn't a priority. He had internet service, however, and either knew or found out he could use a device to stream (Xbox, I think). And liked it, so he stayed with it. I spent two years researching the cost of equipment and comparing the cost of the content before I was able to show that it was cheaper for me. All that to say I don't want to spend money if I don't need to spend money. However, right now, I need to spend money. My TV has been having problems lately. I've had the device about five or six years, and it's been having problems for the last year o...

Lately, I've seen a lot of hate for the app buttons that Roku puts on their remotes. There has always been some dislike by some users over the buttons, but it seems to have ramped up lately. Most of the complaints are that Roku won't allow users to reprogram them. And some say they'll go buy a Fire TV because of it. Fire TV doesn't have any shortcut buttons, by the way. Meaning that if they can't get four out of four buttons they like, they'll take zero buttons. One was unhappy that he couldn't be guaranteed that he would get a particular button, so he just wouldn't buy a Roku. Again, see the bit about Fire TV devices not having any buttons. Some Android/Google TV devices have a Netflix shortcut button, but that's it. Fire TV and Apple TV don't have shortcut buttons. Roku has four, but there's no guarantee what they would be. Roku sells the buttons to companies. Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+, Hulu, and others will buy buttons for the device. Th...

For some time I've been promoting the idea of hopping around with streaming services in order to save money. Many "news" stories have taken the approach over the past couple of years saying that in order to watch everything you want, streaming is actually more expensive. And the data they give is quite compelling. They list how much it costs each month to subscribe to the various services. I recently ran down a list of 11 top subscription services: Netflix ($15/month; $10, $15, or $20 depending on tier) HBO Max ($15/month; there is a $10/month package) Disney+ ($8/month) Paramount+ ($10/month) Discovery+ ($5/month) Apple TV+ ($5/month) Hulu ($7/month) Prime Video ($9/month; $12/month package includes shipping benefits) Peacock TV ($5/month; there is a free tier that has about half content, and a $10 ad-free tier) AMC+ ($7/month) Starz ($9/month) That totals to about $95/month. But I watch those services for around $10-15/month. How? I don't subscribe to all services...

You ever read something and then wonder for a moment if the person is serious, or just writing clever satire? If so, you understand what I went through recently. I saw an article on Kim Komando's Website that offered suggestions on when it might be time for a cord cutter to return to cable. Albert Khoury actually wrote the article , and he was serious about it. Now, perhaps you're wondering if you should return to cable. Well, let's look at what was written, and I'll give you my thoughts on this. Your combined streaming services are more expensive than your old cable bill If you're paying more for streaming than you are for cable, you might be doing something wrong. First, do you really need a live streaming service? Don't just say "of course" because you don't. Well, probably don't. I certainly don't. Rather than pay $70 for the ability to watch Hulu+Live TV tonight, I'll pay $7 and watch the show on Hulu tomorrow, at a time of my choo...

As a side effect of my building both a streaming device from a Raspberry Pi, as well as building a Plex server from a Raspberry Pi , I got reacquainted with Linux. I haven't done anything with Linux in years, but did tinker around a few years back. I haven't progressed much on this, even though it's something I want to do. The reason is that I'm working a project at work that involves a Linux server, and that is totally unrelated to what I'm looking to do at home. In fact, working on the Linux server project at work is what helped me decide to proceed with a home project as well. However, as I'm playing catchup on Linux, I don't want to have my work goals and home goals to interfere with each other. If I was researching an issue for work, and ran across something that I could apply at home but not at work, I don't want to take work time away from work. Yes, overall, I would increase my Linux knowledge, but I want to ensure that it's targeted where it...

I've been a Braves fan for years. The way I, and many other Braves fans my age, were able to follow the Braves was on radio. But the Braves ended up on TV with WTBS (later just TBS) and that eventually became the primary way I followed. Over the last few years, though, it's been harder to follow the Braves on TV. Cutting the cord certainly put a crimp in it, and the Braves going from a single TV source (WTBS) to multiple (regional sports networks) made it more and more difficult. With MLB TV being around for a couple of decades, you'd think it would be easy enough to watch them on a streaming device. You'd think wrong. Blackout rules mean I cannot watch the Braves live. And unless I want to pay the big bucks for a streaming package with regional sports -- I don't -- then I'm not able to watch them streaming. At least, most of the time. When they show up on Peacock, or one of the broadcast networks such as Fox, I'm able to watch the games. Otherwise, unless I...

An article on The Streaming Advisor this past week suggested that Disney may expand Disney+ with a free tier. But, there's a catch. There's always a catch, isn't there? Well, this take by Ryan Downey was worth a read. He mentions FASTS, or Free Ad-Suported-Streaming Services (I know, the letters don't match, but oh well): There is constant hand wringing about subscription fatigue, which is the idea that people are reaching the breaking point in their willingness to sign up for more subscription streaming services. This is coupled with the rise in the popularity of FASTS. Only a few years ago Pluto TV was an independent startup company with curated YouTube channels. Now it is a key part of Paramount Inc after first being bought by Viacom. XUMO too started as an independent company with an aim to bring valuable brands together on Smart TVs and streaming platforms. Ir is now under the auspices of the largest cable provider in the US and a large part of its future as seen ...

I'm not a golfer. My son is, however. He enjoys it, and does it in his spare time, when he can mange to get some spare time. A lot of people golf, and seem to enjoy it. A lot of people watch it, as well. And one of the big events in golf is this weekend. It starts today, in fact. The PGA Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma is one of the four major tournaments in the USA. The Masters was in April, and Scottie Scheffler took the Green Jacket. The U.S. Open is next month, and the British Open (properly, The Open) is in July. The PGA Championship starts today, and if you're a streamer, you can watch coverage of the event. CBS, ESPN, and ESPN+ will carry various rounds of the PGA Championship. Today, ESPN+ coverage starts at 8:00 am and wraps up at 2:00 pm. ESPN continues from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Tomorrow's 2nd round schedule is the same. On Saturday and Sunday each, ESPN+ covers from 8:00 am to 10:00 am, then ESPN from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, and CBS has coverage from 1:00 pm to 7:00 ...

I so want to like the Chromecast with Google TV device. I really do. But Google really makes it difficult. They really do. Google has a troubled history with streaming devices. They entered the market with the Nexus Q and Nexus Player in 2012 and 2014 respectively. The Nexus Q never really launched. It was doomed from the start, with its $300 high-end price and its low-end specs. It ran Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and required an Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) device to use as a remote to control the device. Like the original Chromecast. They ended up giving them all away and canceling the product. The $300 Nexus Q was replaced by the $35 Chromecast, which also requires a mobile device to control it, although it's not limited to Android devices. The Nexus Player did a little better than the Nexus Q. It was actually in production for a year and a half. It was an actual streaming player, with a remote control and access to the Google Play store. And, it had the features of a Chromeca...

I saw where Amazon has their Fire TV devices on sale this week. And it looks like some good prices. But is it really? Let's take a look. The Amazon Fire TV Cube is currently on sale for $70. I'm going to cut right to the chase. If you've been thinking about one, get this deal. That's a very good price for a very good device. And, just in case you haven't been following along, I'm firmly in Camp Roku. But the Fire TV Cube is good, and this price is more than good. It's great. The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max is also on sale for $45. This is a top notch streaming stick, and while the discount isn't as deep as that of the Fire TV Cube, it's still good deal. The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is discounted to $35. That's a good price on a decent stick. It's not quite as good as the Fire TV Stick 4K Max, but it has been a reliable device for me. The Amazon Fire TV Stick is on sale for $25. While that's a $15 discount, that's too much in my o...

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I liked the On Now section of Amazon Fire TV . They call the section "On Now" and it includes a Live TV Guide. If you're like me, you have multiple free live streaming services. Among the ones I have are Pluto TV, Xumo, Plex (which I use for local streaming as well as live TV), FreeVee (formerly IMDB TV), Sling TV (which has a free tier that doesn't get enough promotion), and Tubi TV. I have others on my Roku device, but that's all I have on my Fire TV, as those are the ones I use the most. Fire TV will work with your live streaming apps/services and let you pick which ones you want to include in your Live TV Guide. In fact, it's better than that. It lets you pick the channels you want from each service. You can pick all of them, or you can pick a few, or all but a few. It didn't take me long to realize that simply turning on access to those six apps put a lot of live streaming channels in the guide. More than I w...

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I didn't need YouTube TV because it didn't bring enough to the table. That may sound a little harsh. But the truth is, I'm not going to get $65 worth of entertainment from it. Well, at least, most months. As you may know -- and if you don't, you're about to find out -- the only time I really feel that I "need" a live TV streaming service is during college football season. But the rest of the year, no, I don't really need any such service. That's not to say that YouTube TV doesn't bring anything to the table. It does. In fact, I consider it the best of the live streaming services. I just don't need one. But you might. I think you should put some serious research and thought into whether or not you need one, but if you have and concluded you need one, or even if you haven't but just want one anyway, then I think that YouTube TV is an excellent choice. YouTube TV is the best priced of the premium live...

If you want to cut the cord, or watch free local channels, an antenna is a good way to get you free local content. But can you put up an antenna? Maybe you can. Maybe you can't. Let's find out. A few things to keep in mind. You may be able to use an indoor antenna, if you live close enough to a TV tower. If not, you may be able to pick up stations on an outdoor antenna. And, then you need to get the right kind of antenna. That may not mean what you think. We'll come back to this. First, are there stations close enough to pick up? And if so, will an indoor antenna work? I like to go to AntennaWeb.Org to check. There are other places you can use, but that's been a good one for me. Location, location, location Put in the address you want, then either check or don't check the box regarding antenna height. Then press GO and look at the results. Look at the results and see what antenna it recommends.  In or out? If the station is close enough, an indoor antenna may work....

A month ago, I decided to try YouTube TV again. So I subscribed. How did that go? Not too good. Almost every night after work, I came in, sat down, fired up the Roku device, and went right past the YouTube TV icon on the Roku menu. Same for when I fired up the Fire TV Stick or the Nvidia Shield. Why? I mean, I paid $65 to Google to use YouTube TV for a month. So why didn't I use it? Well, I did. Twice. No, three times. I watched some USFL games, but that was is. Nothing else. Why not? That's easy. There was nothing I wanted to see. I get local channels via antenna, with DVR from Tablo. That takes care of one of the things services such as YouTube TV offer. I can watch more local channels without YouTube TV than with. Sure, there's Better Call Saul, right? Well, I bought the season, so I get the shows early the next morning anyway. And I don't have to watch live to find out if Lalo is targeting Jimmy and Kim. That can wait a few hours. So, with live local channels not ne...

I've seen news reports this past week about a Microsoft streaming stick coming to market in the next year. The thing is, Microsoft announced a streaming stick in June 2021 . "We're also developing standalone streaming devices that you can plug into a TV or monitor, so if you have a strong internet connection, you can stream your Xbox experience," CVP of gaming experiences and platforms Liz Hamren said. There's no word on when to expect the smart TV app or streaming hardware to hit the market, but neither seems too far off. So why is it in the news again? The best I can tell is that a reporter said it will be in 2023 before the device arrives. Only instead of "it won't be" the article was "as soon as" in tone . In the next 12 months, Microsoft plans to release an Xbox cloud-gaming streaming device. This will likely look like an Amazon First Stick or perhaps a small, Roku-like puck. And like a Roku, the Xbox streaming device will enable you t...

I saw a question on the Roku support forums the other day where the person complained that he couldn't get live local TV on Roku. He said the salesman -- assuming he bought it in a store based on this -- told him he could watch live local TV. Now, either the salesman lied, or the person misunderstood. I'll go either way. The person also complained about there not being a CBS app. There is a CBS app, so the person will certainly get things wrong, meaning it could have been the salesman said something that the person interpreted that way. Either way, that's not what Roku does. Nor Fire TV. Nor Apple TV. Nor Google/Android TV. If you are looking into streaming, be aware that a Roku -- or any streaming device -- does not in and of itself get you live local TV. You get that from an antenna. Or from a subscription to a live streaming service that costs $65/month or more. But just taking a Roku and hooking it up to a TV? That won't get you live local TV. Now, you can get live ...

According to research that Tubi commissioned, a majority of U.S. streamers are looking to stream more content in the next year. The same poll shows that streamers are also looking to cut the number of streaming services. How can that be reconciled. Fairly easily. I've been doing it, and suggesting that others do it for a while now. And it seems more and more people are coming to that conclusion. They may not be doing it the same way I'm doing it, but still, taking charge of your streaming budget while enjoying what you stream is a very good thing . Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Tubi, the survey found that seven in 10 cited changes to their financial situation as a reason to reevaluate their streaming service spending. Aside from budget respondents cited other factors that would make them pull the plug on a streaming service, including a limited selection of titles (49%), lack of a user-friendly interface (34%) and poor customer service (33%). Forty-four percent said they’d ...

When I was younger, we got three TV channels. Actually, two. Or five. Or six. Let me explain. The nearest TV stations were in Savannah, and way back when I first started watching TV, we were able to pick up two stations out of Savannah. WTOC Channel 11 was the CBS station, and WSAV TV 3 was the NBC affiliate. What about ABC? Well, WSAV also carried ABC programming, but they went with the NBC programming most of the time. Sometimes, they did carry the ABC show, such as The Avengers or The Time Tunnel, instead of the NBC show, but most of the time, NBC programming was offered live, with ABC shows broadcast on a tape delay basis. So, two stations. But there were three if you counted the PBS station. We didn't. Of course, in the evenings, we could pick up the stations in Jacksonville. Well, two of them. WFGA, later WTLV, Channel 12, was the NBC affiliate in Jacksonville. WJXT, Channel 4, was the CBS affiliate. We couldn't pick up the UHF stations from Jacksonville. Oh, there were a...

I saw an article on AFTV News this week about Amazon inserting digital product placement in movies. Huh, was my first thought. Then I read the comments. There's everything from "now everyone's going to be doing it" to "everyone is already planning to do this" to "I'm throwing all my stuff away" to ... well, everything. The actual product placement in the article was a bag of M&Ms . ... presumably, the M&Ms on the counter did not exist when the scene was shot and have been digitally inserted after the fact to advertise the candy. The program is currently in open beta and already being used in Amazon’s own original content, such as Reacher, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, the Bosch franchise, Making the Cut, and Leverage: Redemption The funniest, or silliest, or most knee-jerk reaction was one that said: I can’t believe they have went this low I am sorry Amazon but this just makes me want to ditch all my streaming device’s 8 in total Think that o...

The Kentucky Derby is this afternoon. And yeah, it's kind of a big deal. It's been a big deal for a while now. I never really cared for horse racing, whether Thoroughbred or other horse racing, mostly because I didn't come up around it. Maybe if I was from Kentucky, I might care. Well, care more. I do have a passing interest in the race, and if I'm able, there's a better than even chance I'll watch it. And I realize I'm not sounding like I'm drumming up excitement about the race. That's because I'm not. Some people are interested in it a lot, some a little, and some not at all. If you are interested, and if you are a streamer, you will probably want to know how you can watch it. Or even if you can watch it if  you're a streamer. Well, you can. NBC is, again, carrying the race. While USA carried the Kentucky Oaks yesterday, the Derby is on NBC and Peacock. Coverage begins at 2:30 pm, with the actual race a few minutes before 7:00 pm. The faste...

In case you haven't noticed, there are ads on this Website. Yeah, I know. You noticed. You can't help but notice. And that led into my thinking about data collection. You see, those ads may be customized with you in mind. Oh, I'm not doing that. Google places the ads, and Google picks what the ads are for. I do have the option to request certain ads not be shown, or suggest other ads that may be shown, but I don't do that. I leave it entirely up to Google. Why? They do this for a living, and are making a shipload of money doing it. They're the professionals, and I'm fine with them handling all the ads. The cookies and other data that Google collects along the way is part of how they determine what ads to show you, but I don't get that data. I don't know if it's available to me, but I don't really care. I'm not in the data collection business. If you leave a comment, the form asks you to log in with a Google account. And that's stuff that ...

I've been a Roku user for quite some time. In the early days, there was no Roku stick. They eventually introduced one that connected via an MHL port. That's another long story that we won't cover today, but just know that you couldn't take that stick and expect it to work on most TVs today. In March 2014, Roku introduced their model 3500 HDMI Streaming Stick (to differentiate between the MHL-based stick for the old "Roku Ready" TVs, which is another long story). I got one of those, because I liked the idea of a stick. It was kinda meh. Heck, it was a lot meh. In April 2016, Roku upped their game with an update, the model 3600 stick. It was better than the 3500 by quite a bit, but by then, I was used to the speed of a Roku 3, meaning the 3600 stick, while an improvement, was still kinda meh. In October 2017, Roku released the 3800 Streaming Stick and the 3810 Streaming Stick+. Finally, Roku had a good stick. At least the 3810 Streaming Stick+ was good. I never ...

Recently Roku added a Live TV section to their main menu. While it does bring something that Roku users haven't had before, it pales in comparison to what Amazon Fire TV has with their setup. Roku's is pretty much content from the Roku Channel, along with selections from some live streaming services. Yeah, that's a description of what Amazon Fire TV offers, but the details are different. The only real live TV guide is actually within the Roku Channel. If you have Pluto TV, or Xumo, or Sling TV Free, or any of a number of other free live streaming apps, you won't find them in one place. And where it does have links to other services, it's simply links to those apps, whether or not you have them installed. You'll see in a minute why I bring this up. Again, Roku's Live TV section is not as useful to me as Amazon Fire TV's. So let's see what I like about Amazon's setup. The Fire TV section for live TV is called "On Now," which actually is ...