My Streaming Life

Dish Network won a large lawsuit against a pirate TV service, and is trying to get the house of the pirate running the service. Back in 2021, Dish sued Nitro TV, a pirate IPTV service, and won a $100-million judgement. After the banks complying with the judgement reported little of the money the pirates made, Dish decided to go for the service owner house.  Torrent Freak reports that the pirate is fighting the seizure, citing a Texas law that protects homes: In a motion to alter or amend the judgment "to prevent a clear error or manifest injustice," counsel for Alex Galindo explained that his client bought the house in Friendswood in March 2020 and declared it his home. "The Texas Constitution provides special protections for the homestead separate and distinct from protections afforded other types of property," the motion reads. "Because constitutional homestead rights protect citizens from losing their homes, statutes relating to homestead rights are liberall...

I like the current batch of high end Amazon Fire TV Sticks (commonly called "Firesticks"). I don't like all the current ones, but the higher end Fire TV Sticks are pretty good. My biggest issue with the previous Fire TV Sticks, and the low end current models, is that they slow down and are practically unusable after a while. Of course, there are ways to fix that, but to me, it shouldn't have to be fixed. The newer higher end (meaning more expensive) models don't need that much attention. That is, not as often. That has to do with the specs, and a little bit with how the operating systems works. You can't do much about the OS -- I'll talk more about that in just a bit -- but the specs require some attention on the user's part more often. Tablo has an article that explains about this :  Unlike many other streaming TV platforms, Fire TV devices require some periodic maintenance to keep them running at peak efficiency. This is due to a buildup of cached da...

Along my journey in My Streaming Life, I have found things unrelated to streaming that have surprised me. And, along the journey, I was reminded of things that I knew, but that weren't commonly realized. One of the main things relates to privacy. It came about in a round-about way. I was looking to build a streaming device based on a Raspberry Pt device, and became reacquainted with Linux. That led me to considering more privacy, as Linux is a very secure and private operating system. That eventually led to me consider privacy when it came to my cell phone. I spent a few months testing various devices and operating systems for phones. Which means you don't have to settle for iOS or Google's implementation of Android. That last phrase seems odd, since Android is a Google project. However, the very basic Android operating system is open source and secure. It's the extra things that Google didn't make open source that complicate things. Security expert Naomi Brockwell ...

Newsmax isn't shutting down, but it will cost to watch the service soon. There has been a carrier dispute with DirecTV, which includes U-Verse and DirecTV Stream, which has resulted in the conservative news channel being removed from those platforms. DirecTV has added a new conservative news service, The First , to the lineups of those three platforms, softening the blow to conservative viewers. Now, days after the dispute resulted in the loss of the service, Newsmax is ending its free streams, taking everything behind a paywall : It should be noted that while the free version has been readily avaialable for Newsmax customers without said pay-TV partners the pay services have been paying Newsmax retransmision fees for the right to have the news feed built into its official channel guide along side other cable news channels like CNN, Fox News and MSNBC. The free feed may well have made the fees paid feel like too high a demand since they were unlikely to drive subscribers who were s...

A report came out this week indicating that Bally Sports was in serious financial trouble. The company is preparing to file for bankruptcy, according to the report. That would include the Bally Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) . The company called Diamond Sports Group LLC, which runs Sincalirs sports channels, is reportedly $8.6 billion in debt. Sinclair is hoping to strike a deal to help them keep the channels operating thanks to bankruptcy. In total, Sinclair owes $55 billion in sports-media rights, according to Bloomberg. A bankruptcy could put payments to the NBA and NHL at risk. It is being reported that Sinclair will skip a $140 million interest payment due in mid-February, starting a 30-day grace period for the company. Sinclair is facing the perfect storm of paying a very high price for the old Fox Sports RSNs just as cord cutting was exploding. Now payouts from cable networks are reportedly drying up as companies are refusing to pay the high price Sinclair wants for its Bally S...

Many people who cut the cord want to keep cable, or the familiarity of cable. This isn't something that I care about, as when I cut the cord, there were no live streaming services that mimicked cable. However, there are several such services available today. As a result, several will choose to use a service to ease their entry into streaming. So, how to choose which one? Antenna Man Tyler has some thoughts: [ YouTube ] Tyler offers lots of good advice on streaming, with a focus on over the air antenna. He is the Antenna Man, after all. He offers good advice on ways to improve your Streaming Life.

One of the things about the recent re-acquisition of Cord Cutters News by Luke Bouma is his passion and knowledge about cord cutting was lost. Even though those running things did a good job (for a while) it wasn't the same in certain aspects. Recently, Mr. Bouma ran an article where he talked about the things he saw as a big thread to Comcast and Charter (Xfinity and Spectrum) in 2023. The biggest challenge is inflation : The number one reason new cord cutters cancel cable TV has always been to save money. With inflation making almost everything more expensive, especially many of the everyday necessities like food, gas, and utilities, more expensive cable TV has become a luxury many cannot afford anymore. Now, many cable companies, including Comcast, have announced price hikes for 2023. As inflation continues to grow, it has left many Americans looking at their cable TV bills and asking if they are really worth it. For many of them, the answer recently has been no and more are li...

The focus of this is Netflix, but the ideas are applicable to all streaming services. With that out of the way, I wanted to point you over to the TV Answer Man by Phillip Swann. He covers a question about Netflix buffering pretty well. A reader of his Website asks about why there is so much trouble with the picture on Netflix so often. And Mr. Swann's answer is a good one . There’s an obvious reason for this problem. Your Internet service’s speed varies and sometimes it will dip below the minimum requirement for a high-def or 4K picture. (Netflix says you need a minimum speed of 5 Megabits (Mbps) to watch high-def and 15 Megabits to watch 4K programming.) When this occurs, Netflix may post an on-screen message asking if you want to change the HD setting to SD, or the 4K setting to HD. I would not advise doing this very often. You are paying for HD and/or 4K and you want to watch your show or movie with the best picture quality possible. He also points to another article he wrote a...

I've not done a lot of music streaming. When I bought a new Chevrolet several years ago, it came with XM Radio. Later, XM and Sirius Radio merged to form SiriusXM. I've had XM Radio/SiriusXM Radio ever since. In the last several years, there have been many music streaming services to emerge. I've tried a few, but have been happy with none of them. Tidal, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, Deezer, Qobuz, LiveXLive, YouTube Music, Idagio, iHeartRadio, and Pandora are among the most popular. Oh, and SiriusXM has a streaming service as well. I only listen to a few SiriusXM channels, and $15.77 is not a bad price. Sure, it's possible to get a lower price with a retention plan, and I might try that one day, but I'm pretty much okay with the price. Of course, if there's a cheaper service I like, I might change. But for an automobile radio, SirusXM is a convenient way to go. Perhaps one of the streaming music services would be a better option. Of course, that would mea...

Back when I was a child, it was easy to watch TV using an antenna. I say that because, well, I was a child. I didn't have to deal with all the adult things. Everything was easier when I was a child. For me, that is. Somewhere along the way, cable TV took over as the way to watch TV. Along with that way, many TV antennae came down and that technology was considered old technology, from the past. It was, but it wasn't dead technology. Today, as cable TV use shrinks, more and more people are streaming, and are finding out that they can save money. I save money by not subscribing to a live TV streaming service -- essentially cable services delivered via streaming -- and a TV antenna helps. But what about someone for whom a TV antenna is "new" technology? How do they navigate all the claims about a TV antenna and cheaply, freely, watch local TV? Well, Tablo, a quality OTA DVR has some suggestions : Modern, quality antennas are designed to focus on today’s broadcast TV spec...

I don't use live TV streaming services regularly. During football season, I use a service -- most of the time it's Sling TV -- to get access to ESPN. But for the majority of the year, I don't use a live TV streaming service. Does this mean I'm not qualified to offer opinions on them? No. In fact, my low opinion of them is part of the reason I don't use one regularly. If I thought I got good value for the product, I'd use it more often. But, I can find the content I want without such a service. When I recently saw a video on YouTube about the worst live TV streaming services, I was curious. And, after watching it, I gotta say, I have no disagreement with their thoughts and conclusions. I may have picked things in a slightly different order, but I think the opinion expressed is worth considering. [ YouTube ] I don't know how many people have one as part of their Streaming Life. If you use a live TV streaming service, I'd certainly be curious as to your ...

Netflix has a problem. People have, for years, been sharing their Netflix password with others. Now, before you say "so what?" you should keep in mind that Netflix only allows password sharing for those in the same household. That means that sharing your password with your parents (or grandparents) who live separately from you is a violation of Netflix terms of service (ToS). Of course, it's often that the parents (or grandparents) are the ones actually paying for the service that the adult children (or grandchildren) are using. Both happen, but it appears that it's the younger ones who are freeloading, not the older ones, more often than not. Regardless of which generation is paying the bill, the mere fact that multiple households are sharing the same Netflix account is a violation of Netflix ToS. So, what does Netflix do about it? Well, nothing. At least, so far, they have done nothing. But they do want to do something. According to a recent report, Netflix said th...

A recent article and recent news release shows that Plex, which is my choice for a home media server, is now more of a streaming service than media server. And that worries me in a way. First, let me say that I've seen nothing from Plex that makes me want to switch to a different media server platform. I really like having all my movies available on Plex. However, according to a recent article, which included comments from Scott Hancock, Plex’s vice president of marketing, Plex is fully aware of the shift in usage, and may be focusing more on the streaming platform going forward : While Plex's ambitions now stretch well beyond the media server, Hancock said the company hasn’t abandoned the server side of its business. "We have resources dedicated to both, I guess I'll put it that way," he said. "It's not that we're not focused on one or the other." To that end, users should expect some improvements to Plex Pass features such as downloads this yea...

A few times, I started to write about the range some TV antenna brands and stores claim for their products. Many times, more than most people realize, the claims are out and out lies. However, I haven't actually written about this to the degree I wanted, mostly because it's a lot of work and I'm lazy, but also because there are many other resources that provide good information. Why should I write something that is no better than what someone else wrote? One good resource for this kind of information is actually a Website that doesn't sell TV antennae, but is dependent on a good TV antenna in order for their product to work well. I'm talking about Tablo. Tablo is a good quality DVR that records over the air TV from an antenna, and can put the TV signal, as well as its DVR content, on your network. I'm a fan of Tablo. Earlier this month, Tablo posted another article on TV antenna range claims. It gives some good information, and posts links to other good informat...

I said last Spring that I so wanted to like Chromecast with Google TV, but had a hard time liking it. When I first tried it out, I did like it. However, it didn't remain a favorite for long. After a few months use, it became apparent that the device didn't match up to Roku in a couple of ways. Most prominently was the fact that the storage for apps was small, even though it was larger than Roku devices at the time. The main difference is the way the two platforms handled apps. On Roku, if you run out of space, Roku will remove the oldest app (in terms of how long it's been since you launched it) to make room for the newer app. Only, they still left a shortcut on your device, meaning that if you went to run the older app again, it acted as if it was still there, removed the oldest remaining app, and re-downloaded the app again for you to use it. The effect was that it seemed as if the storage was never full, because it managed the storage space so well. Other devices, inclu...

Recently, The Streaming Advisor's Ryan Downey caught some flack online for his article Why Cord Cutting Is Not A Real Thing . Do I agree with what he wrote in that article? No. And yes. And that may be his point. We're calling what people do "cord cutting" but is it really? Yes. And no. I had cable TV from a local provider in 2011. Then, I canceled cable. But I kept service with that provider because they were my Internet service provider (ISP). So I didn't really cut the cord, I just cut one of the services that came in on that cord. My mother began streaming in the last few years of her life. She was fascinated by the different content, and way of watching all content, that streaming offered. But, she kept her Comcast service until the last year of her life. She did cut back on her Comcast cable TV service, but didn't drop it all together. It wasn't until the year she passed that the full "cutting of the cord" happened. I didn't pressure he...

This isn't streaming related. Maybe I shouldn't be posting this, since streaming is the focus here. However, this is something that I think is important. I'm a privacy advocate. I don't like the idea of my information being collected by, well, anybody. That includes streaming. But, today, I'm talking about non-streaming privacy. As a privacy advocate, I'm sharing this, and hope that you find it useful. I'm not trying to change your mind, or anyone's mind, about things. I'm wanting to provide information you may not have, and some thoughts that you may not have considered. Then, make up your own mind. If your opinion doesn't change, at least you have rethought things with more information. And I think that's a good thing. Here are Naomi Brockwell's thoughts on security, privacy, and word processing. [ YouTube link ] This may give you information you didn't have before, and it may give you pause. It did me.

You know how high fees are for cable TV, right? Well, maybe not. I knew the fees were high, but it didn't hit me how high until I saw an article online this week. According to a report from Cord Cutters News , the fees Comcast charges, above and beyond the regular cost of services, can total $800/year ! Recently it was announced that Comcast would be raising the fees on a wide range of plans. Comcast’s Xfinity Broadcast TV Fee is going up 11% this year to $21.30. Back in 2016, these fees were just $5 a month.  RSN fees are also going up in Philadelphia to $13.35 a month, a 5% jump. This is up from just $3 a month back in 2016. The cost of a TV box and remote will now be $10 a month, a 17% increase from $8.50 just a month ago. Modem rentals for internet customers will now cost you $15 a month. All of this is on top of your base package that can cost as much as $99.99 a month just for TV, according to Seniorliving.org. All of these fees over the course of a year will add up to $715.8...

The latest round of streaming service price increases is still going on. Maybe it's not a round, but a trend. Maybe it's just a thing. Regardless, along with everything else that's gone up in price over the last two years, you can add HBO Max to the list. On yesterday, the streaming service announced a price increase, effectively immediately. It's not a large increase, and it's only for one of the two plans, but it's still an increase, and not something any of us want . Effective Thursday, Jan. 12, the price of a new HBO Max no-ads monthly subscription in the U.S. will increase from $14.99 to $15.99 (plus applicable taxes). That’s a nearly 7% increase. Existing HBO Max subscribers who are currently paying $14.99/month will see their monthly rate increase to $15.99/month effective their next billing cycle on or after Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023. "This price increase of one dollar will allow us to continue to invest in providing even more culture-defining program...

I've been a fan of Cord Cutters News for some time. I was a reluctant fan at first, but I got over that quickly and became a big supporter of the Website. Years ago, when I first decided to start writing about streaming and cutting the cord, I tried to do something like Cord Cutters News. I didn't know about Cord Cutters News, and I quickly realized how much work was involved in trying to cover all the things people wanted to know. Having a full time job made that impossible. I tried to create a how-to Website, and quickly realized how much better others did that. Finally, I realized that I was facing an uphill battle, and decided to simply share my thoughts and feelings about cutting the cord, so here we are. Cord Cutters News became a regular place to visit, as they covered things very well. Then, around two years ago, things changed. Luke Bouma sold the Website and others took it over. They did a good job. For a while. Philp Palermo was the face of the Website and YouTube p...

Xumo is the new name of the joint venture between Comcast (Xfinity) and Charter (Spectrum), with a little Walmart thrown in. And prior to this week, it was the name of the free ad-supported television (FAST) service that Comcast owned. With the Xumo name now applying to the project, OS, and devices, the streaming service has been rebranded as Xumo Play. There are not a lot of changes to the app and service, apart from the new name and modified logo. There is one recent change that I really don't like, though. And I really don't like it. When you launch the Xumo Play app, your live stream starts playing. And there is no option to stop that. Let me first explain that Xumo Play, like the Xumo app before it, is similar to Pluto TV. The main difference in what the two apps/services do is mostly cosmetic and who owns them. Pluto TV is owned by Paramount. Xumo Play is (and has been) owned by NBCUniversal. Previously, the Xumo app didn't autoplay. Now it does. And there is no setti...

If you are thinking about cutting the cord, or just putting up a TV antenna for any reason, it's not really a simple process. It should be, of course. After all, that used to be the way everybody got TV signals. In the days before cable and satellite TV, that was how you got TV. People in the 1940s and 1950s could watch TV by putting up an antenna. Why can't people in the 2020s do the same thing? Well, people can. But many people face a couple of drawbacks on this. One, people are lazy. Technology has made so many things easy, that anything that requires work or some thought is often ignored by an easier way to accomplish the same thing. But with that convenience comes expense. To save money, you have to put in some effort. Keep reading for tips on how to accomplish this. Two, there are more liars and cheats than there used to be. Part of that is because there are a lot more people overall. We're at 8 billion today. In 1950, there were around 2½ billion, less than ⅓ of to...

There are 42 college bowl games and playoff games this year. The bowl season kicked off December 16 and concludes with the national championship game tonight. In all, 82 schools have played games this post-season. Streamers college football is a lot easier than it used to be -- legally that is -- and today you have many options options when it comes to watching the bowl games. January 9, 2023 The national championship game is tonight. Top ranked Georgia and 3rd ranked Texas Christian are the two teams left in the playoffs and battle for the crown tonight. Georgia claims three national championships, although the NCAA recognizes only two of the claims. Last year, Georgia won the CFP. In 1980, Georgia was recognized by the major polls. Georgia claims 1942 as well. Te final AP poll, before the bowls, had Ohio State number one and Georgia number two. However, Georgia was the east representative in the Rose Bowl and won that game, while Ohio State didn't go to a bowl. Several other...

Recently, this video popped up in my suggested list, and I watched it. It's pretty informative. If you're an Apple hater, you won't like it. If you're an Apple lover, you won't like it. Although you won't hate it as much as Apple haters hate it. [ YouTube link ] This has given me something to think about. I hope you learned something as well.

Comcast and Charter -- meaning Xfinity and Spectrum -- are going big into they Xumo partnership with a recent announcement. The two companies recently said that Element Electronics would build the new Xumo TVs, which will run on Comcast's global technology platform. That means that the operating system that powers the Xfinity cable boxes, and the Flex TV streaming boxes, will be the operating system for the new lineup of TVs. Walmart is involved in the mix, but the recent announcement did not mention the retail giant. Some may be under the impression that Element makes Walmart's ONN brand of TVs, but that's not the case, although Element does handle warranty repair for ONN brand TVs. The announcement said that the TVs would hit the market before end of the year. Element Xumo TVs will be built on and powered by Comcast’s flexible and scalable global technology platform, which currently powers tens of millions of entertainment devices. The smart TVs will join a growing portfo...

Glancing around some Websites in the streaming world, I have seen a few articles that mention canceling certain services this month. There are a couple of reasons for this, and these are reasons that many don't think is all that important. More and more Websites that promote or support streaming will mention what's coming to certain services or leaving certain services during a particular month. This may bear some explanation to those that aren't as familiar with what's going on. Services such as Netflix or Disney+ (and most all others) don't always create their own content. They'll reach licensing agreements with content creators who actually own the rights to the show. The agreements will allow the services to carry certain content for a particular period of time. Sometimes, it's an exclusive agreement, meaning that only one service has the content, and the other services are out of luck. Sometimes, the content is shared across multiple platforms. After th...

Over the years, there have been different iterations of Roku TVs. Ten years ago, there were Roku Ready TVs, which were TVs with an MHL port. If you don't know about MHL ports, they are variations of HDMI that include more power, and worked with Roku Sticks model 3400. You could buy the TVs that essentially had sticks installed. Some had the sticks visible, and some had the sticks behind the rear panel, hidden from view. Roku later licensed their software to TV manufacturers to build TVs branded as Roku TVs. That's the current situation. But it's not the future situation. Roku recently announced a new line of Roku TVs, that Roku itself will make . A smart TV made by Roku just makes sense. When we combine our streaming leadership with our hardware expertise, it progresses the overarching ambition to innovate across the TV experience, benefiting all streamers with a Roku TV. Available in 11 models ranging from 24” to 75”, the new Roku Select and Plus Series TVs will focus on t...

Back in November, I tried Netflix with Ads. It went well . I was very happy with the service, as I everything I watched played without issue, and the ads were inserted in a odd, thoughtful way. That is to say, at breaks in the action, and not in the middle of a scene or sentence as some services have done. Netflix did ads right. I recommended it as a cheaper alternative to regular Netflix Basic. However, I didn't realize that my testing was incomplete. Some Netflix content, including some original content, is not available on the ad-supported version. I didn't run across this in my testing, but it came to my attention recently. So, I subscribed for another month, and sure enough, some content was not available. Once I knew what content specifically to look for, I found that to be the case. That means I take back my recommendation. Well, kinda. I still suggest Netflix with Ads as a cheaper alternative, because, like me, you may not have any unsupported content that you want to ...

Somehow, during Christmas, New Year's, and bowl season, I missed a pretty big announcement. Fubo TV is adding Bally Sports networks to its lineup. You may recall that many live streaming services carries Fox Sport networks. Fox and some carriers didn't renew agreement, and Fox eventually sold off their regional sports networks (RSNs), which were rebranded as Bally Sports networks. For a while, DirecTV Stream -- and all its earlier names, such as AT&T TV Now, DirecTV Now, and others -- has been the only way to get Bally Sports. Bally did launch a direct to consumer service, but only five of the RSNs go so far as to carry major league baseball, though others expected to join. During the latter part of December, Bally and Fubo TV announced that they had an agreement to carry Bally Sports RSNs on the streaming service. This is a big deal, as Fubo hasn't carried Bally Sports, or actually its predecessor Fox Sports, in three years. But that will change soon : While a fi...

There are 42 college bowl games and playoff games this year. The bowl season kicked off December 16 and concludes with the national championship game on January 9. In all, 82 schools will be playing games this post-season. Streamers college football is a lot easier than it used to be -- legally that is -- and today you have many options options when it comes to watching the bowl games. January 2, 2023 Four games are scheduled today. Two are between two ranked teams, and two games involve one ranked team. ReliaQuest Bowl 12:00 PM on ESPN 2 Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science (22) (8-4) vs University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (8-4) Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic 1:00 PM on ESPN Tulane University of Louisiana (16) (11-2) vs University of Southern California (10) (11-2) Cheez-It Citrus Bowl 1:00 PM on ABC Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College (17) (9-4) vs Purdue University (8-5) Rose Bowl Game Presented by...

Are you a streamer? I don't know the answer to that question, but it's either yes or no. Even then, it's not quite that simple. If you aren't a streamer, then you aren't taking full advantage of the technology available to you. But, that may not be a bad thing. Using technology simply for the sake of using it shouldn't be a thing. You should use the technology only if it makes it a better situation overall. If you still have cable, and if that works for you, then you're happy. You'll have to deal with people like me suggesting you switch to streaming, but we're really telling you what works for us. Some of us -- not me -- insist that you change because they can't imagine that any way other than the way they do it can be right. Me? No, I'm not going to insist you change. I will tell you that I'm happy with my change. It was 12 years ago this month that I dropped cable, and I've never regretted it. But, that may not be the way for you t...