My Streaming Life

I saw something the other day that I didn't like. There was an ad on the home screen of a Google TV device. I had launched a Chromecast device and there was an ad for Hardee's breakfast. I didn't like that. Don't get me wrong, I do like Hardee's breakfast. I just didn't like seeing an ad for it on my Google TV device. Yes, I know that Google is in the business of making money. And yes, I know that the stuff at the top of the Google TV screen are and have always been ads. The difference is that they are advertising Google TV content, not content for your belly. Promotional ads suggesting content isn't the same thing as paid ads for things that have nothing to do with streaming content from the device you're using. Now, I only saw it that one day. I didn't see it yesterday, nor early this morning. And this morning I checked three different Google TV devices: a Sony TV, a Chromecast, and an Onn Stick. All are Google TV devices, and none had ads. There w...

A recent report shows how much the cable industry is losing customers. And, for Comcast, the news is even worse. Cord Cutters News had a report recently that said Comcast lost over 2-million cable customers in 2023. But it didn't stop there. Nearly 40-thousand Internet customers were lost by the company last year as well. In my family, my mother dropped Comcast cable, but kept Comcast as her Internet provider. Internet service by Comcast is pretty good, so it made sense for her. But the industry has changed and more options are now available, giving more people today. And that led to the recent bad news : Comcast lost 2,036,000 cable TV customers in 2023. The company also lost 38,676 Internet subscribers in 2023. Comcast started the year by adding more than 32,000 new Internet subscribers but lost subscribers the remaining three quarters of 2023. These numbers are like the over 2 million TV customers Comcast lost in 2022 and up from the 1.66 million Comcast lost in 2021. This is d...

Freestream, the free ad supported television (FAST) service from Sling TV is getting a feature that isn't common for FAST services. Freestream is adding DVR capability. Sure, many services will include DVR, but those are pay services. Sling TV itself has DVR functionality, but the free channels didn't. Pluto TV doesn't offer DVR. Neither does Tubi. Or any of the big FAST services. But Freestream does. Well, not for me, but for some others. The fine print explains why : ... Users now have access to 10 hours of free DVR storage, an industry first for FAST services. All new users who create a free account on Sling Freestream will receive DVR storage immediately. No credit card required, ever. The new feature will be fully rolled out to all existing Freestream users within the next several months. Sling Freestream has grown to more than 500 channels since its launch in February 2023. It is an industry-leading service for free sports television, featuring customer favorites like...

The NFL playoffs continue today with the Conference Championships. Four teams remain, two in each conference, including the top seeds hosting the games. The Games Both games are today, with the winners advancing to the NFL championship, AKA the Super Bowl. AFC Championship Kansas City (3rd seed, AFC West champions) at Baltimore (1st seed, AFC North champions). CBS NFC Championship Detroit (3rd seed, NFC North champions) at San Francisco (1st seed, NFC West champions). Fox How to watch The various networks carrying the games are available to streamers in several different ways. CBS Antenna (free) Paramount Plus (Premium) $12/month Hulu+Live TV ($77/month) YouTube TV ($73/month) Fubo (Pro) ($75/month) DirecTV (Entertainment) ($85/month) Fox Antenna (free) Sling TV ( 18 markets only ) ($45/month) Vidgo (Plus) ($70/month) Hulu+Live TV ($77/month) YouTube TV ($73/month) Fubo (Pro) ($75/month) DirecTV (Entertainment) ($85/month) ...

There was a report this week about a huge data breach. How huge? Well, there are 8-billion people in the world, and there were 26-billion records compromised. No, not everyone was a victim three times over. Still, the vast number of compromised records indicates that people you trust with your data are not as careful as they should be or could be. The breach is called the " mother of all breaches " by news outlets: According to the team, while the leaked dataset contains mostly information from past data breaches, it almost certainly holds new data, that was not published before. For example, the Cybernews data leak checker, which relies on data from all major data leaks, contains information from over 2,500 data breaches with 15 billion records. The MOAB contains 26 billion records over 3,800 folders, with each folder corresponding to a separate data breach. While this doesn’t mean that the difference between the two automatically translates to previously unpublished data, b...

Just when they finally get it right, Walmart drops the Onn Streaming Stick from their lineup. Well, kinda. They never really announced it; rather, the device just showed up and was available for purchase in the store, but never online. At least, I never found it available for online purchase. It was listed as in store, just not for purchase unless you went into the store. Anyway, it's gone. If you find one in the store, it's worth getting. Well, maybe. It's a good little device. But, it's no longer available. Cord Cutters News notice this earlier this week : The streaming stick comes with 1.5GB of RAM and only streams in HD. It may not be the most powerful device out there, but for it being only HD that is likely more than enough. This is very similar to the Walmart $19.99 Onn Google TV, but that version was released earlier this year. The main difference is the earlier version is in 4K and this new cheaper model is just in HD. Recently, Walmart raised the price of this...

People who have subscribed to the Netflix Basic plan for $11.99/month will be having to make a choice sometime this year. That plan is being phased out, and subscribers will have to opt for a different plan. Netflix stopped offering it to new subscribers last summer. For existing subscribers with that plan, anyone who switched to a different plan couldn't switch back to it. But those that had it and simply kept it were okay. That changes beginning later this year, according to a recent shareholder report from Netflix In their most recent earnings report, the company said it will phase that plan out and force those subscribers to choose a different plan, either the ad-supported plan, or one of the higher priced ad-free plans . Scaling our ads business represents an opportunity to tap into significant new revenue and profit pools over the medium to longer term. In Q4‘23, like the quarter before, our ads membership increased by nearly 70% quarter over quarter, supported by impr...

I spoke about this before, but it's been a while and I wanted to do it again. I want to take a few minutes and talk about an app that doesn't get a lot of attention. I think it's one of the most interesting apps, not because of the content necessarily, but because of what the app is. Comet is the app for the TV network that is carried in several cities. The nearest Comet affiliate to me is WTGS on the sub-channel 28.2. It's possible you have a local channel that carries Comet. Comet is a science fiction channel. Think SyFy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel) but no new or original programming. It's like TV Land for sci-fi fans. Comet stands apart form other non-major networks in that it offers a free live stream via their app. If you have a Roku or Apple TV, you can add the Comet app and watch the live stream of their programming. For free. No subscription. You want to watch Comet, just use the Comet app. If you don't have Apple TV or Roku, you can launch the STIRR a...

I stopped watching Netflix years ago. I used the service for years, or paid for the service for years, and realized one day that I rarely watched it. After several years of paying, I stopped. I dropped Netflix. Over the next several years, I only ever subscribed to Netflix when they brought back Mystery Science Theater 3000, each time for a month when the seasons were released. I also subscribed for a month when they introduced the ad-supported tier. Apart from those times, I didn't subscribe to Netflix. I did subscribe to other services, however. Only, I rotated the subscriptions. One month, I'd subscribe to HBO Max (now just Max), another month it would be Paramount Plus, another month it would be Disney Plus, and so on. One service for a month, then switch to another service, and over time, I'd watch everything on all the services I wanted for a fraction of the cost. But I didn't include Netflix in the mix. Well, not often, as I mentioned earlier. Around three we...

Dropping cable means losing access to all the channels that are included in the cable package. That means not just channels such as Fox News, ESPN, HGTV, Hallmark, and the like, but also local channels. To pick up your local ABC, CBS, Fox, or NBC station, you need to either pay for an expensive ($73/month or more) streaming service, or get a TV antenna. The initial cost of an antenna may be more than $73 -- mine was a lot more -- over time, it's actually cheaper. The problem with getting an antenna is making sure you go about it the right way. Finding the right TV antenna depends on several things, such as your location, your distance from the broadcast towers, and the specific channels that you want to get. So, with that in mind, here are some you'll need to do, if you want to do it right: Check your Location. Use online tools like AntennaWeb.org or TV Fool to find the direction of the closest towers as well as the distance to them. Choose the Right Type: There are ...

It seems to happen a lot. Microsoft released a new update, and it broke many installations of Windows 10. This isn't the first time this has happened, and it won't be the last. Britec has a video about it, with some commentary. [ YouTube ] It's unfortunate that so many people depend on Microsoft Windows. Every version of Windows has had too mamy problems. Not every version is as bad as Windows ME or Windows Vista, but they have all had their share is issues. Windows 10 continues to have them. If you have a Windows 10 computer, and will have to replace it to run Windows 11, consider switching to Linux or Chrome OS. For most people, Chrome OS would be a good choice, as it is secure -- something that Windows tries to be and gloriously fails time and time again. The privacy concerns I have about Chrome OS are real, but they are not as bad as Windows in that regard. Linux is much more privacy friendly and is secure, but Chrome OS is a good middle ground, keeping the securit...

The NFL playoffs continue today with the Divisonal Round. Eight teams are playing, including the six winners from the Wild Card Round, plus the top seeds in each conference. The Games Today, there are two games scheduled. Two more are scheduled for tomorrow. Saturday Houston (4th seed, AFC South champions) at Baltimore (1st seed, AFC North champions). ABC, ESPN, ESPN+ Green Bay (7th seed, wild card) at San Francisco (1st seed, NFC West champions). Fox Sunday Tampa Bay (4th seed, NFC South champions) at Detroit (3rd seed, NFC North champions). NBC, Peacock Kansas City (3rd seed, AFC West champions) at Buffalo (2nd seed, AFC East champions). CBS How to watch The various networks carrying the games are available to streamers in several different ways. ABC Antenna (free) Sling TV ( 8 markets only ) ($45/month) Vidgo (Plus) ($70/month) Hulu+Live TV ($77/month) YouTube TV ($73/month) Fubo (Pro) ($75/month) DirecTV (Entertainment) ($85/month) C...

Roku has always had a clean, simple interface. And ads. The original layout was simple, with a single line of icons for the apps that were installed. There was a space for a banner ad at the bottom. I realize that many of you may not remember that old layout, but from the start, Roku had ads on the interface. See? Not pretty, is it? But there is the ad at the bottom. Roku has always had ads on the home screen. A lot of people have complained about the ads on the current home screen. They have sought ways to stop the ads, complaining that Roku has suddenly added them. People have been fussing like that since Roku went to the current home screen layout almost a decade ago. But the fact is, ads have always been on the Roku home screen. And now there are about to be more. According to Ad Exchanger, Roku wants to have even more ads on the home screen. But "more ads" has a couple of different meanings. It doesn't mean that more space on the home screen will be used to try...

Last week, Panasonic announced new TVs using the Fire TV platform, representing a change in platforms. According to a release, the devices will be available some time this year. No specific date was announced . In a world of content overload, the Z95A and Z93A stand out with their ability to aggregate content from both broadcast and streaming services. This content-forward approach, made possible by Fire TV built in, offers viewers a streamlined experience in content discovery and consumption. "With such vast options, the real challenge becomes pinpointing exactly what you want to watch. Therefore, our new mission goes beyond just providing great picture and sound. It’s about simplifying the process of content discovery, ensuring it's not just easy but delightful," says Mr Akira Toyoshima, President, CEO of Panasonic Entertainment & Communication Co., Ltd. The integration ensures that users will have an elevated, simplified user experience and access to an extensive r...

I wrote nearly three years ago, and what I wrote is still true. After all these years, one of my favorite services 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 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 acces...

Over the years, I have visted many help forums for different things related to streaming. One of the most common complaints is people having network issues. Only, they don't realize they're having network issues. They usually blame a service or streamign device. But many times, it's actually network issues. When someone (usually not me) suggest there's a network issue, many of the people don't like that suggestion. They come up with all kinds of reason why it can't be that, but many times, it's obvious to those with experience that it is exactly that. Why are people like that? I don't know. Maybe many reasons. But it's how many people are. Let me tell you about a network issues that it took me a while to solve. Actually, I didn't have the issues. My mother had the issue. I don't know how common this siutation is, but the solution to that problem has solved all kinds of network issues for people I've known over the years. Her house wa...

On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the following speech in Washington, DC: Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we've come to our nation's ca...

Naomi Brockwell has a recent video about privacy, which you may know is a favorite topic of mine. [ YouTube ] My Streaming Life is for fun, but privacy should not be overlooked, ever.

The NFL playoffs begin today. It's called the Wild Card Round, even though six division champions are playing this weekend. AFC North champion Baltimore Ravens and NFC West champion San Francisco 49ers are top seeds in their respective conferences and get a first round bye. The other three division champs in each conference are hosting wild card teams, hence the "Wild Card Round" name. The Games Today, there are two games scheduled, three tomorrow, and one Monday. Saturday Cleveland (5th seed, wild card) at Houston (4th seed, AFC South champions), NBC Miami (6th seed, wild card) at Kansas City (3rd seed, AFC West champions), Peacock Sunday Pittsburgh (7th seed, wild card) at Buffalo (2nd seed, AFC East champions), CBS Green Bay (7th seed, wild card) at Dallas (2nd seed, NFC East champions), Fox Los Angeles (6th seed, wild card) at Detroit (3rd seed, NFC North champions), NBC Monday Philadelphia (5th seed, wild card) at Tampa Bay (4th seed...

Xfinity (Comcast) recently launched its Xumo Stream Box. It replaces the older Flex device that the company nearly three years ago . That was a good box for beginners; people that were just starting out streaming and were used to Xfinity cable. So, with this new device, the Xumo Stream Box, how is it different? First, the interface is improved, so that's good. Setup was actually easy. Well, it was extremely difficult, but that's unrelated to the Xumo Stream Box. Xfinity made an account error, confusing my account with my sister's, in a behind the scenes screw up. That's unrelated to the Xumo Stream Box, and was a totally different Comcast/Xfinity issue. Once that unrelated issue was fixed, setup went smoothly. Assuming Comcast/Xfinity doesn't have an account screw-up already in place, you should have no trouble with setting it up. As I said, once they fixed their screw-up, the setup went really easy. And so ends the good news. Switching now to the bad news. Xf...

TV Answer Man Philip Swann had an article published recently entitled "How to Improve Your Video Streaming In Just One Step." My first thought was to connect without WiFi, and use a direct Ethernet connection. But here was his suggestion:  connect without WiFi, and use a direct Ethernet connection. Why is that the answer. He explains it well : Improving Your Streaming Picture With One Step Connect your Smart TV (or device such as a Roku or Fire TV) directly to the modem with an Ethernet cable. That will bypass the WiFi network entirely and deliver a stronger signal to your set. The WiFi network itself, while convenient because it allows anyone in the household to connect, can slow down your speed. So if you don’t need to worry about others connecting, give the direct connection a try. Then test it on Fast.com to see if the speed increased. If it did, you should see a better picture going forward. He absolutely correct. Many people do not realize how much WiFi can h...

I'm a fan of Tablo. Well, mostly. There's one thing I don't like, but a lot that I do. If you are thinking about adding Tablo to your setup, you'll want to make sure you are able to use it. You see, not every platform supports Tablo. First, a little about what Tablo is. It is my favorite DVR for recording over-the-air antenna programming. I've used TiVo, Fire TV Recast, Air TV, and Tablo. There are more, and from what I understand, some good ones. But these are the ones I've used. And I mean I purchased the devices and used them. I put money into them. And, of those, Tablo is my favorite. Not every platfrom supports Tablo, however. Or maybe it's Tablo doesn't support every platform. Either way, it may be that your setup won't let you use Tablo on your streaming television. If you have Roku, Fire TV, or Android/Google TV, then you're good. However, if you have Apple TV, Tizen OS (Samsung), WebOS (LG), or SmartCast (Vizio) then you can't c...

A recent report says that the number of cable TV subscribers in the USA has dropped to levels not seen since the 1980s. Last week, Luke Bouma of Cord Cutters News posted that the most recent data shows that only 34 million people subscribe to cable TV in the USA . According to the study, only 34 million Americans subscribe to cable TV in the third quarter of 2023. That number has not been that low since 1984. It is a dramatic fall from the peak subscriber numbers of 67 million in 2002 before satellite, TelCos, and streaming started to chip away at the cable TV subscriber base. Cable TV is not alone in this drop in subscribers. Satellite services, like DIRECTV and DISH, have seen subscriber numbers drop from a peak of 24 million in 2014 to 15 million at the end of the third quarter 2023. Cable TV has lost 33 million subscribers since its peak. Satellite TV companies have lost 9 million American subscribers. Since the peak of both services, they have lost a combined 42 mill...

Bowl Season of college football for 2023 ends tonight with the national championship game. There is national championship game tonight , featuring two undefeated teams. Also, not featuing an SEC team for the first time since the 2014 season, and the second time since the 2005 season. ESPN The game features top ranked Michigan and second ranked Washington. Here's how to get the game streaming: ESPN Sling TV (Orange) ($40/month) Vidgo (Plus) ($70/month) Hulu+Live TV ($77/month) YouTube TV ($73/month) Fubo (Pro) ($75/month) DirecTV (Entertainment) ($85/month) This year's Division 1-A/FBS college football is done after tonight. My Streaming Life focuses on college football during this time of year. I'm missing it already.

Recently, I shared a video from Britec that covered one of the issues with Windows 11 that doesn't get a lot of attention. With the increased hardware requirements for Windows 11 , many computers, a very large number of computers, will not support Windows 11. Additionally, the unofficial workarounds to make Windows 11 work on those devices leave open the possibility of unforeseen issues. And anyone that has experience with Microsoft knows that specific issues may be unforeseen, but the chance of some kind of issues is 100%. There will be issues. Bank on it. So, what can you do? Buy a new computer? Sure. But what do you do with the old one? Let me propose something different: drop Windows for another operating system. There are two major operating systems that will extend the life of an older computer: Linux and Chrome OS. I'm going to only suggest Linux if you feel you are up to learning something new. It's different enough from Windows that you will have to learn ne...

I recently returned my Xfinity Flex device and got a new Xumo Stream Box. That's essentially the replacement for it. Xfinity charges $5/month for the box, but the first one is free is you ask for it. They charge $15 to set it up, but they will waive that if you ask. I didn't really like the Flex box, so I'm not sure how I'll like the Xumo Stream Box, but I'm willing to give it a try. I actually picked up the device a couple of weeks ago, but with several things going on, I have not set it up ... until now. I'm starting the setup, and I'll try it out for a bit, then let you know how it goes. My Streaming Life involves several streaming devices. Many I've tried and abandoned. Some I've tried and liked, but went back to my favorite. And some I've tried and liked, and used it as my primary for a while. We'll see which this turns out to be.

A report on Cord Cutters News this week says that Netflix viewership has dropped over the same time last year by around 17%. That's a pretty sizable drop, and it reflects 7 billion viewing hours lost, according to the report by Shelby Brown : The streaming giant’s self-reported data showed time spent watching movies and TV shows on the service declined by more than 7 billion hours in comparison to 2022 – about a 17% decrease in audience engagement year-over-year. This comes after Netflix spent 2023 trying to drive subscriptions with an eye towards increased profitability . The streamer expanded its initiative to stop password sharing, which despite early backlash, ended up yielding an influx of new customers. It also raised the price of its premium plan in an effort to drive users to its cheaper ad-based tier. Why the drop? No one knows for sure. I think it's because there is so much available elsewhere that Netflix is not the "must have" service it used to...

Word of upcoming Xfinity price increases have been something I've looked at for a while now. Now it's happened. I've been paying $52/month for Xfinity Internet for several months now. Word of a $4 price increase came late last year. Now it happened. And something else happened that was unexpected. My bill went up $9/month. It's now $61/month. Of the $9, $4 is the price increase. The other $5 was a reduction in the autopay credit. It was $10/month, but the new bill, which came this week, shows a $5/month autopay credit. I'm not happy with this. The $4/month increase was bad enough. But reducing the credit for autopay? That's extremely frustrating. Just one more reason to hate Comcast, right? My Streaming Life will continue to use Xfinity Internet. For now. As the price increases, I'm continuing to look for alternatives. Right now, there are no cheaper options. But I'm looking.

A report from the Wall Street Journal says that a quarter of streaming service subscribers have canceled at least three in the last year . ... consumers nationwide paring their streaming bills and getting more strategic about when they turn services on and off. Customer defections across premium streaming services rose to 6.3% in November, from 5.1% a year earlier. About one-quarter of U.S. subscribers to major streaming services -- a group that includes Apple TV+, Discovery+, Disney+, Hulu, Max, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock and Starz -- have canceled at least three of them over the past two years, according to November data from subscription-analytics provider Antenna. Two years ago, that number stood at 15%, a sign that streaming users are becoming increasingly fickle. If you think about it, the number of those cutting back may be even higher. Those numbers are from last year. What about those that cut back in previous years? If they cut back even more, dropping only one or...

The Roku Streambar is a pretty good streaming device, and a decent sound bar. I've had one for a few years, and have been happy with it. It's a good mix of streaming device and sound bar. I wonder why others haven't come up with something similar. Now someone has. Or at least that's the rumor. According to AFTVNews, Sonos is reportedly developing a streaming device built into a sound bar, and it's due out this year : ... The new TV box is said to run a custom operating system based on Android, much like Amazon’s Fire OS for Fire TV devices. The rumored Sonos TV streaming box, codenamed "Pinewood," is said to be a premium device that will cost between $150 to $200. That puts it in league with the Fire TV Cube, Nvidia Shield TV, and Apple TV 4K. Unsurprisingly, the sources say it will support Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision. In addition to running streaming service apps, the TV box is said to serve as a "central hub for a customer's other ...

Bowl Season of college football for 2023 is nearing the end, since it's now 2024. There are five bowl games today , all involving ranked teams. ESPN Three of today's games are on ESPN. Both feature ranked teams facing each other, including both college football playoff games. Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (8) University of Oregon vs (23) Liberty University College Football Playoff Semifinal 110th Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential (4) The University of Alabama vs (1) University of Michigan-Ann Arbor College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl (3) University of Texas at Austin vs (2) University of Washington ESPN2 One of today's games is on ESPN2. ReliaQuest Bowl (13) Louisiana State University vs University of Wisconsin–Madison ABC One game is on ABC today. Cheez-It Citrus Bowl (17) University of Iowa vs (21) University of Tennessee, Knoxville Later Games The only remaining bowl game is the national championship, which will air on ESPN next we...