My Streaming Life

A couple of weeks ago, I ordered a new SIM from a different carrier in order to set up and test a privacy phone. That is, a phone that doesn't share all of my data with some big company that sells it to advertisers. The latest company I'm trying is Good2Go (they style it "good2go") and it has stuff I like and stuff I don't like. What I don't like is that it's running T-Mobile, though they indicated it ran AT&T. Well, it says it can run AT&T, but I can't get it to connect to AT&T -- yes, there is a setting on the phone for that -- so it picks T-Mobile automatically. The good news is that this is the best T-Mobile reception I've ever received at home. I've used T-Mobile in the past, many times over the years, and reception at home has always been spotty. That includes recently, with a couple of previous SIMs I tried with this phone. So far, it's working. I'm cautiously optimistic about this. Perhaps T-Mobile has improved their...

One complaint I see on support forums is about streaming devices buffering. You know, you're watching something on your Roku or you Fire TV device (or whatever) and suddenly the image stops, the circle appears, and after a few to several seconds, things pick up again. Why does this happen? Well, there are a variety of possible causes. And the one that most people jump to most often isn't always the actual reason. For many, the default response is to increase the Internet service speed. That may or may not be the problem. And, to make it more confusing, even if speed isn't the cause, it may be the solution, though not the best solution. If you are experiencing buffering, it could be that your Internet service speed is too slow. So how do you find out? Well, that depends on how you stream. For example, I'm not an Internet gamer. No online games for me. It's just not something in which I have an interest. But, if you are a gamer, you want to get as much bandwidth as yo...

I've seen articles recently touting the availability of ViX or ViX+ streaming service. It's a Spanish language service that contains a variety of content, including TV shows (including some original content), movies, and sports. Amazon has promoted the availability of ViX+ through its Prime Video channels . Sling TV has a press release about it, promoting the sports coverage : ViX+ is the premium tier of ViX, the first large-scale global streaming service created specifically for the Spanish-speaking world, featuring more than 10,000 hours of entertainment programming and 4,000 hours of premium live sports coverage in the U.S. in its first year. ViX+ is the only Spanish-language streaming service in the U.S. with coverage of the UEFA Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League matches. The service has been around less than a year and a half, premiering in March 2021 as PrendeTV, and changing its name to ViX in March 2022. It is owned by TelevisaUnivision, which has a...

You may or may not know that many of the antennae that you find for sale at Walmart, Best Buy, or other retailers, are ... well, junk. Oh, not all of them to be sure. But some are simply junk. That is, they may work, but so might a paper clip. And no, I'm not exaggerating or engaging in hyperbole. There are situation where a paper clip will work just as well as some fancy TV antenna. First, understand there is no such thing as an HDTV antenna. HDTV is a recent thing. Well, at least, I consider 1998 recent. That's less than a quarter century ago, and people have been watching TV a lot longer than that. And the TV antennae that we used to use back in the 1960s -- I don't or can't remember before that -- will pick up today's HDTV signals. The HDTV is part of the content that is being broadcast, not the broadcast frequency. The antenna will pick up signals on certain frequencies, and it's the same channels that have been used all along, within the Low VHF, High VHF,...

Being a fan of Tablo, I took notice when I got the email last week that the service was no longer selling new lifetime subscriptions to the user guide. What they're talking about is the 14-day live TV guide that tells you what is coming up on the various channels. They're not dropping the guides, to be sure, but they're only offering them as part of a monthly or yearly plan. This week, we announced that Lifetime TV Guide Data Service plans will no longer be offered starting August 30th. If you CURRENTLY have an active Lifetime TV Guide Data Service subscription, these changes DO NOT AFFECT YOU . Customers who already have a Lifetime TV Guide Service subscription can continue to use it on their existing device and/or transfer it to a different Tablo DVR model at any time using the account portal at account.tablotv.com . New and existing Tablo customers who own a network-connected Tablo DVR and are considering a Lifetime TV Guide Data Service subscription have until...

The NFL finally launched NFL+ this week, and, as I feared, it isn't really a service for streamers. However, it is something that fans can otherwise use. Now, when I say "not for streamers," I mean streamers will not be able to watch some of the content that is available for non-streamers. You'll be able to watch games on your mobile device that you won't be able to watch on your Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, or Android/Google TV devices. Here is what the service offers, according to the NFL : NFL+ offers access to live out-of-market preseason games across all devices, live local and primetime regular season and postseason games on mobile devices, live local and national audio for every game, NFL Network shows on-demand, NFL Films archives and more. Notice that the only live games that will be available on all devices, which means your streaming device, are out-of-market pre-season games. No regular season games will be available on your streaming device, regardless of...

Recently, I purchased a new TV. As I'm a Roku fan -- it's my streaming platform of choice -- I bought a Roku TV, right? Nope. I bought a Sony TV that runs Google TV. So, have I switched to Google TV as my primary streaming platform? Nope. I still use Roku. Well, primarily Roku. I use it most of the time, as I did with my old TV. No more, no less. So why is that? Simple. I don't feel I need to limit my TV purchases to platforms I like. I want a TV that has the features, the picture, the reliability that I want. The streaming platform doesn't matter. Well, not that much. If it came down to two or three sets, and they all were equal apart from the streaming platform, then I would let the streaming platform be the deciding factor. Since it's so easy to add a streaming device to any TV, and since I already had a good quality streaming device, it was easy for me to not care what platform the TV had, or even if it had one. So, when I bought my new Sony TV, it was a highly...

Before we begin, let me start by saying when I mention Linux in context with a desktop or laptop computer, I'm talking GNU/Linux. If that distinction doesn't mean anything to you, that's okay. It's not all that important for the purposes of the discussion here. But I know how some Linux people are, and this is to shut them up. So, now I'll begin... I've mentioned before that I finally got a Linux desktop computer running and had begun using it to write the posts here. And that has been true since then. Well, mostly true. I'm not writing this post on my Linux desktop. I'm writing on my Linux laptop. I had mentioned about having converted an old Dell laptop to a Linux device, but was not happy with the results. Not the Linux part, but the Dell part. It was a decent but cheap Dell laptop. And while Linux OS is a great way to extend the life of many computers, it doesn't do anything about the hardware. Cheap hardware is cheap hardware. So, I wanted some...

There are two big ways to watch TV for free. And you can watch a lot of TV for free. What do I mean by that? Free Over the Air Well, one way to watch TV for free is using an antenna. Of course, you have to buy an antenna, so that's not free, but once you do that, you're good to go. Depending on how far you are from the TV tower, you may be able to pick up a lot of TV channels. They're free over the air broadcasts, and you can watch it for free. You can add DVR devices, multiple tuners that can be shared across your network, and several other things to improve your over the air (OTA) experience. You can even configure things so that you can watch OTA TV from home while you're away from home. I use Tablo devices to accomplish this, and can watch TV from my antenna when I'm traveling, if I want, using my phone or tablet. Watching TV free over the air is a great option. And you can use it along with other options. Streaming One other way to watch free TV is by streami...

Philo has been one of my favorite live streaming services for some time. It offers a good selection of content for a reasonable price. However, there are a two major types of programming that you won't find on Philo: local channels and sports channels. Philo has some news channels: BBC News, Bloomberg TV and Cheddar News, but that's it. Philo does offer 73 live streaming channels for $25/month. That's pretty good. But, you need to ask, does it offer the services you want? For example, if the Discovery networks are something that you're after, you may find that the $5/month Discovery+ service might be a better deal. Is Live Required? The first thing you have to ask yourself is: Do I need a live streaming service? Will an on-demand service get me what I want? If it's not important to have a live streaming service of the channels available on Discovery+, then it's till an option. However, if live streaming is a must, then you have your answer: Philo. You se...

Short version: Go read this . Long version: Read all this, then go read that . As one who provides user support (as a Roku user) on the Roku Community Forum, I see a lot of the issues that users run into from time to time. It's often the same ones over and over. Prepare for rant, in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... So many people that go to support forums (not just Roku forums) don't bother to look for their issue. There's a good chance any issue someone encounters has been encountered before. And solved before. But do people bother to search the forums? Nope. They may go so far as to see a post with a title that describes their issue, and then simply post their question without reading to see if there is an answer. I cannot tell you how many times I've seen a post on the Roku support forum asking a question, and that question is immediately following the answer from someone else's earlier asking of that same question. They didn't even bother to read the answer that was ...

When you travel, how do you handle streaming TV? There are a couple of different ways to do this. I'll give you two of the more popular ones, then how I do it. And if that seems to indicate that I don't do it in one of the more popular ways, that's correct. But first, the popular ways. Most of the support Websites when discussing streaming and traveling usually offer suggestions about using a Fire TV Stick or a Roku Stick. The reason is that those devices are small and easy to pack. And for many people, the Fire TV Stick is the easiest to use when it comes to setting up a streaming device in a hotel. The problem that you run into is that many hotels force you to agree to terms, or require you to enter your room number, or otherwise require input from you when you connect to their WiFi. With Roku devices, you have to have a computer or smart phone to complete the process. It's a little more complicated and not as easy as a Fire TV Stick, according to many that have...

If you've used the ESPN+ service, there's a good chance you're about to pay more for it. If you have it as part of the Disney Bundle -- Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ -- then nothing is changing. But, if you subscribe to the service standalone, you're about to have to shell out an additional $3/month. Yes, the price for ESPN+ is going up from $6.99/month to $9.99/month. And in case you haven't done the math, that's an increase of nearly 43%. This is the third year in a row that it's gone up. The last two years, it went up $1/month. But this year, it's $3/month increase hitting subscribers. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the annual subscription is going up as well. It was $69.99/year. That's going to $99.99/year. Will I keep my subscription? That's easy. I don't have a subscription, so no. But, I may subscribe later in the year, during college football season. Three subscriptions ought to get me through the season. I can live with that. I do hate t...

If you're a fan of PBS content, you'll be happy to know that PBS has streaming apps available for several devices, including the Big Four: Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android/Google TV. You can watch PBS content on demand for free. Not all for free, but a lot of PBS content is free. You know how they always say that it is supported Such And Such Foundation, and "viewers like you?" Well, they mean viewers like me. I donate monthly to PBS. And watching more PBS content is a bonus. In the PBS app, you'll find that some items are marked with a little compass, indicating it's PBS Passport content. The content that doesn't have the icon is available for watching for free. The PBS Passport content requires you to have a PBS Passport membership. How do you get one of those? Donate to PBS at a certain level. The level for PBS Passport is $5/month or $60/year. If you donate that amount, you can log in to the PBS app and watch PBS Passport content. I suspect mos...

I'm beginning to wonder if this whole "privacy phone" experiment is worth it. If you're not quite sure what I mean, here's the deal. I'm looking for a cell phone that doesn't capture all my data and sell it to companies, who bombard me with emails, ad, and other nuisances. I'm not looking to go off the grid. I'm not looking to sneak around. I just want to use as much of what current technology offers without giving my data for others to sell. I will pay my way. To achieve that goal, I need a phone that offers things I can use, that's easy to use, and that isn't always reporting back to the mothership (Apple or Google). I love using an iPhone. I don't like my data being shared by Apple. Now, Apple says they don't sell my data . So maybe I already have a privacy phone. If that's the case, why am I doing this whole experiment? Well, there is more than just iOS. And there are iOS apps that sell data. First, let's stay with iOS a...

I've talked about this before, but I'm going to talk about it again. 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 so...

When you decide to start streaming, you have a few ways to go when it comes to getting a streaming device. If you're looking for a new TV anyway, whatever you get will probably be a smart TV. It will have the ability to play apps and let you stream content. If the TV is a Roku TV, a Fire TV, or an Android/Google TV, it will be a good streaming device. Quite honestly, though, I would focus on getting the best picture and not worry so much about the type of TV. If you narrow it down to two or more that are equally acceptable, then the platform should be the deciding factor. Why is it not important to get a Fire TV powered device if you like Fire TV? Because if it doesn't have the platform you want, you can add it. If you have a standard TV, or a smart TV that doesn't work the way you like, you can add a stick or a box very easily, and use that as your streaming device. And that's the way many many people stream. Suppose you want the Amazon Fire TV experience, but yo...

The British Open, properly called The Open Championship, is one of the four major golf tournaments. The British Open starts today. If you're a golfer, this it's quite likely you're interested. Many non-golfers follow the majors. It's a big deal. If you're looking to watch the British Open, you have plenty of options, including streaming options. The British Open, as all major golf tournaments are, will be broadcast by NBC, and carried by to additional networks that are owned by NBCUniversal: USA and Peacock. So, how can you watch the 150th Open Championship? NBC If you have an antenna, you can watch NBC for free. If not, there are streaming services that carry local NBC broadcasts. Sling TV (Blue) ($35/month) (11 markets only) Vidgo ($55/month; $67/three months) YouTube TV ($65/month) Fubo TV ($70/month) Hulu+Live TV ($70/month) DirecTV Stream ($70/month) USA Sling TV (Blue) ($35/month) Vidgo ($60/month) YouTube TV ($65/month) ...

I haven't written about pirate TV services in quite some time. Now, am I about to call all IPTV services pirate TV services? No, not really. But I am calling many of them pirate services. But how can you tell? Well, here's how I can tell. Does the service offer thousands of channels for a very low fee? If so, it's probably a pirate service. Notice I said "probably." Here's why. There are services that offer legitimate content, and there are a lot of legitimate content services out there. However, you've probably never heard of most of them. If the ones offered are major cable channels, and the fee is low, then it's a scam. It's piracy. Are all the premium channels included? HBO, Showtime, etc? It's piracy. Do they offer a special box to pick up the channels? While this sounds reasonable to someone who is used to having a cable box in the house, with streaming, you don't have to buy a certain box. You need a streaming device -- unless your s...

A lot of people, including some family members, absolutely love Amazon's Fire TV platform. Me, not so much. Now, to be fair, it's a good platform. But, I prefer Roku. But, Fire TV is a really good platform. And, by good platform, I'm referring to the interface. The reality is that the Big Four platforms -- Roku, Fire TV, Android/Google TV, Apple TV -- are all good stable platforms with a lot of features and apps/services. Only in very rare circumstances would the platform make a difference apart from the interface. So, in general, get the interface you like. As I said, I'm on Team Roku, but I'm not going to trash the others. They're good. And there's one other thing that makes the differences between them almost meaningless -- except for the interface. Almost any streaming tips will apply to any platform. For example, recently, Roku Blog published " The best cord cutting tips according to Roku customers ." Most of the tips can apply to Fire TV. A...

You can tell by the title of this exactly where this is going. Turns out Sony is removing some movie purchases from some customers who, yes, purchased the movies. You read that right. Sony is removing access to some movie purchases from people that purchased the movies. The details, according to Variety (tip: The Streaming Advisor ), Studiocanal movies purchased by users in Germany and Austria are being removed. The move comes a year after Sony’s PlayStation group stopped offering movie and TV show purchases and rentals, as of Aug. 31, 2021, citing the rise of streaming-video services. At the time, Sony assured customers that they "can still access movie and TV content they have purchased through PlayStation Store for on-demand playback on their PS4, PS5 and mobile devices." But clearly, that didn’t mean forever. PlayStation posted notices about the impending removal of the Studiocanal content for German and Austrian customers on its website. "As of August 31, 2022, due...

I posted last weekend about my foray into a privacy phone, trying to use a Teracube 2e phone running /e/OS I bought from Murena. And it didn't go well with the first two carriers. Briefly, I put a working Tello SIM in, and it worked for texting and phone calls, but the data didn't do well, because I'm in an area where T-Mobile is very weak. I need Verizon or AT&T. Next I tried Cricket, since that runs on AT&T. Data worked, but it wouldn't send or receive calls or texts. So, I tried an AT&T carrier that their Website says will work. Yeah, I shoulda done that to start with, right? Well, I didn't. But now I did. Only, that didn't go well either. Red Pocket runs on AT&T and says they are supported. Red Pocket support says the phone works with their setup. Only, it didn't. Data? Fine. Texts? Fine. Calls? Not so good. In fact, it won't send or receive calls. I worked with Red Pocket a couple of days on this. The testing went poorly. I ended up...

A story kinda went under the radar recently. At least, I didn't notice it until late this week. And it may be a big story. We'll see. So, what is the news? Xperi has purchased Vewd. Okay, I can hear the collective "huh" right now. So let me explain why this might matter. Xperi owns a company called TiVo. Yes, TiVo. You certainly know who that is. And TiVo is more than just a DVR for antenna or cable. The TiVo Stream is an Android TV based streaming device, though the interface looks like TiVo. What about Vewd? Never heard of them? Well, maybe you have. And maybe you've used it, but under its old name of Opera TV. I've used Opera TV with some early smart TVs. A lot of smart TVs used to use Opera TV. At one time, Sony, LG, and Samsung used Opera TV. My new Sony now uses Android TV. LG now uses webOS, and Samsung uses Tizen. So Opera TV lost a lot of TV brands it was on. I must say that I was never particularly impressed with Opera TV. Whether it's the hardwa...

I saw a promotion that Amazon is running that really caught my eye. They're including a year of Grubhub+ with a Prime account. Grubhub+ is normally $10/month, so that's a pretty darn good deal. Well, for those in a service area. You see, I am not in a service area. Well, my house isn't. I can't get Grubhub to deliver to the house. Door Dash, yes. Grubhub, no. But, if you are in an area served by Grubhub, and if you are an Amazon Prime member, you get that benefit for a year. You have to activate it. It's not automatic. But, it's easy to activate. Here is a link . By the way: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases . I just want you to be know that. But, it's still a good deal. If I didn't think it was, I wouldn't post it. So, why would i be promoting something I won't take advantage of myself. Well, I will take advantage of it. I said my house isn't in a Grubhub service area, and that's true. But, there are places I am tha...

GAC Media, a family friendly media company, has added a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service. Great American Adventures is GAC Media's first foray into FAST content. They have other channels that are available via some pay services. GAC Media has GAC Family and GAC Living, both of which are available on Frndly TV ($7+/month), Philo ($25/month), Sling TV (Orange [$35/month], Blue [$35/month], Orange+Blue [$50/month], with Heartland Extra [+$6/month]). GAC Family is also available on Hulu+Live TV ($70/month plus Entertainment Add-on [+8/month]) and DirecTV Stream Choice ($90/month). This new service, Great American Adventures, as noted, it is the first venture of GAC Media into FAST programming . "Great American Adventures is a perfect fit as a FAST channel on XUMO," noted Stefan Van Engen, SVP of programming and partnerships at XUMO. “It’s always the right time to enjoy and celebrate the kind of everyday American traditions we all know and love. Great A...

Every now and then, I get reminded that my experience and ways of looking at things is way different than others. This week, a big reminder happened. I was talking with a coworker. She's a streamer --- sort of. Well, yeah. But she's not exclusively a streamer. She streams some content, but also has satellite TV. She lives in an area that is serviced by Windstream, Comcast/Xfinity, and AT&T. Windstream isn't available where I live, but Comcast and AT&T are. I mentioned that I had a conversation recently with a technician from Windstream, and she asked about their pricing. I didn't know, and told her that. I mentioned the speeds and prices of Comcast and AT&T, and she mentioned how much she was paying for Dish network. It was a lot. We talked about getting local channels via antenna, and some live streaming services, and the costs involved. It was simply curiosity on her part. We've actually had these discussions before, and she said each time that she wou...

I've been a Roku user for years. And I've frequented the Roku support forum for almost as long. Less than a year after I bought my first Roku device, I logged on the Roku user support forum. The reason was that I had an issue. I don't recall the details, but it was that an app worked on other platforms, but not on Roku. That much I recall. And that was when I began to learn more and more about how things work. I've always been fascinated with technology. Perhaps the idea of living with technology that sounded like it came from Star Trek was the thing. Maybe not. I don't know. But, I've always been fascinated by it, and Roku was my first venture into the world of streaming, back in 2010. Since that first request for help, I think I may have asked for help with a couple of other issues in 2011, and maybe in 2012. But that was it. If that much. However, I've been a frequenter of the support forums for years. Often I'd just read and learn, but occasionally, ...

One of the most important documents in world history is the United States Declaration of Independence. If you've never read it, it may be worth reading. It gives you a glimpse into history, as well as the Unites States overall. In Congress, July 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are insti...