Philo price increase, still a bargain

The cost of live streaming services continue to rise. That's not really a surprise, is it? Of course it isn't. Or it shouldn't be.

If you didn't know that prices were going to rise, you haven't been paying attention. Prices always rise. Sometimes, things go a while before the price increase, but the price increase will come.

Recently, Philo finally increased its price to $25/month, which is its second price increase ever, since its launch in 2017, nearly four years ago.

Philo launched with a $16/month package, and later added a larger $20 package. A year and a half ago, Philo dropped the $16/month package for new subscribers, essentially increasing prices. Now, the $20/month package is rising to $25/month.

Even at the new price, Philo is still one of the best bargains for those wanting a live streaming service. Currently, the lineup is:

• A&E
• AccuWeather Network
• AMC
• American Heroes Channel
• Animal Planet
• aspireTV
• AXS TV
• BBC America
• BBC World News
• BET
• BET Her
• CLEO TV
• CMT
• Comedy Central
• Cooking Channel
• Crime + Investigation
• Destination America
• Discovery Channel
• Discovery Family
• Discovery Life
• DIY Network
• Food Network
• FYI
• Game Show Network
• getTV
• Great American Country
• Hallmark Channel
• Hallmark Drama
• Hallmark Movies & Mysteries
• HGTV
• History
• IFC
• INSP
• Investigation Discovery
• Law&Crime
• Lifetime
• LMN
• Logo
• Motor Trend
• MTV
• MTV Classic
• MTV Live
• MTV2
• Newsy
• Nick Jr.
• Nickelodeon
• Nicktoons
• Oprah Winfrey Network
• Paramount Network
• PeopleTV
• REVOLT
• Science Channel
• Sundance TV
• Tastemade
• TeenNick
• TLC
• Travel Channel
• TV Land
• TV One
• UPtv
• VH1
• Vice
• WE tv
• Bloomberg Television
• Cheddar News
• Crackle
• Revry

You can also add premium channels from Starz ($9/month) and Epix ($6/month).

I've mentioned before that I'm not a fan of live streaming services. But, for those in my family that do insist on it, this one fits the bill. It's cheap, at least compared to others, and does have channels almost everyone can appreciate.

Not having sports channels means it doesn't have everything, but if that's not important, it has plenty to make your Streaming Life enjoyable.

Streaming your own content: iTunes movies

A few days ago, we talked briefly about setting up a Plex or similar server to play movies from your DVD collection. However, there's another way that you may be able to play local movies that is a little bit easier, if you have iTunes movie purchases and an Apple TV.

Although I had DVDs before I bought any Apple iTunes movies, I did purchase movies after I got my first video capable iPod several years ago. And, I kept buying iTunes movies after I bought my first Apple TV.

It wasn't aware -- or at least, I didn't think about it -- when I first began purchasing iTunes movies that I could download them to my computer. Then, it hit me that I could do that, so I did.

On my MacBook, I downloaded several movies I had purchased, then launched iTunes, and it showed up on my Apple TV. I was also researching Plex at the time, and tried to see if Plex would see my iTunes movies. It did. However, Plex wouldn't play them because of Apple's copy protection. But, they played fine from the Apple TV device using the built-in process.

So, iTunes was running as a server on my network and was able to play copy protected iTunes content on my Apple TV. No setting up Plex and building a library. iTunes did that automatically. And, if I did rip out content from my DVDs, I could add them to iTunes and watch them too. Even better!

So, for a while, that's what I did. Yes, I eventually moved everything over to Plex, because I wanted to do a couple of things that iTunes couldn't do, but for years this method worked just fine. The few benefits from Plex were countered by needed to remove copy protection from my iTunes downloads.

No, I won't go into how to do all that, because that's not really the focus at the moment. It is time consuming and a lot of work. And, if I didn't really want to do the few things I would need Plex to do, I'd still be doing it that way.

Sure, Apple no longer has iTunes for Mac, so it would be the Apple TV app for Mac to use. Or, with Windows, iTunes is still there and does the job fine.

Using iTunes with Apple TV was a quick and easy way to set up a local streaming server. It may be a good solution for you, too. If so, it will make your Streaming Life easier.

No Internet, no TV? Not really.

You're watching TV on your streaming device when the unthinkable happens. Your Internet service goes out. You have power, the lights all work, your network is still up, but there's no Internet connectivity. Now, you can't watch TV, right?

Well, maybe you can. I know I can.

If your Internet service goes out temporarily, you do have two or three ways to still watch TV. One is to watch from an antenna. If you have an antenna connected to your TV or to a network device -- Air TV, Tablo, TiVo or such -- you can watch TV that way.

Another similar way is that if you have a DVR, you can watch content you recorded earlier. This would be from an antenna, of course, so it's a lot like the first. The only difference is the time-shifting of the content.

And, there's your local library. If you've taken your DVDs and ripped them to Plex or some other local server setup, you can watch movies and TV from your local library. Actually, if you purchased downloads that are not copy protected, you can include them in your local library, too.

Of course, if you don't have a DVR, or an antenna, or a local streaming library, then you may be completely out of luck. You might have to resort to reading a book, or even talking to family members. And that's not a bad thing.

I really enjoy my Streaming Life. I just need to make sure it doesn't replace real life.

Xfinity Flex

Imagine if you will, a world where you are a Comcast/Xfinity TV subscriber. You suffer through the periodic price increases, channel changes, channel removals from your subscription tier, and the constant nagging that things could be better. However, you know that "better" involves that scariest of monsters -- Change.

You are someone who either grew up on cable, or have been with cable so long that you can barely remember without it. What can you do so that you keep the monster known as Change at bay?

Believe it or not, Comcast/Xfinity comes to your rescue and helps you drop cable.

No, this isn't the Twilight Zone or some alternate universe where Spock has a beard. This is here and now.

This is a pretty simple streaming device. There's no app store like you'll find with Roku, Apple TV, Google TV, or Amazon Fire devices. Rather, similar to the early Apple TV devices, there are a limited number of apps provided, and you can use them or not.

It comes with a remote that looks similar to the ones which an Xfinity cable user would already be familiar.

Not a lot of options, an Xfinity standard remote, and an Xfinity style interface. All of this may appeal to someone who is an Xfinity customer and wants to move to streaming. And did I mention that it's free?

Yes, it's free to Xfinity Internet customers. Well, one is. Additional ones are around $5/month if you want one. Trust me when I say you don't want additional ones. I'll explain why shortly. Oh, and if you're not an Xfinity Internet customer, none of this matters.

To cut the cord as an Xfinity customer, simply let them know that you want the Flex box. If you're unsure if you want to cut the cord, they'll still give you a box. Get one and try it. And make sure you get Peacock Premium. As an Xfinity Internet customer, you get the $5/month Peacock Premium service included.

As I said, Xfinity customers will recognize the interface, and the remote will feel familiar. Try it and see how you like watching TV that way. It won't cost anything, and as I said, it works in a way with which you are already familiar.

The down side of Xfinity Flex is the small number of supported apps. It didn't contain Disney+ when it launched, but it is supported now. So, yes, many of the bigger services are supported, and they do add new ones. However, don't expect any new ones, and you won't be disappointed if they take a while to arrive, or if they never arrive.

Oh, I mentioned not getting a second or third device, but didn't explain why. Well, here's why. They're $5/month. If you are actually into streaming, get a serious streaming device, such as a Roku, an Amazon Fire TV device, a Chromecast with Google TV or other Android/Google TV device, or an Apple TV. For six months rental of an additional Flex device, you've spent as much as a Firestick or an entry-level Roku device. If you know you want to stream in multiple locations, go ahead and get a full featured streaming device.

However, if you're testing the waters, and you're an Xfinity customer, this is an easy and free way to try out the world of streaming.

No, the device isn't perfect, but it is a good transition device. Comcast/Xfinity has really done something to help someone just starting their Streaming Life.

Streaming your own content: DVDs

The focus here is, of course, streaming. To many, that means content from sources such as Netflix, Hulu, Sling TV, and so on. But, what about content you already own?

If you've collected many DVDs over the years, how do you watch them? Pop them into a DVD player? Sure, you could do that. And that works as long as every TV has its own DVD player. And you don't mind getting the DVD from your library case, taking it to the TV, switching inputs, putting it in the player, switching to the DVD player remote, and watching the movie that way.

I prefer to grab my streaming player remote and launching an app that accesses my DVDs, then pick one and watch it. Same for TV shows I own on DVD.

How is this possible? Well, it takes some setup. And, initially, some work. A lot of work, or at least a lot of time, if you have a lot of movies.

There are different applications that allow you to do this -- KODI, Servlio, Emby, and others -- but my choice is Plex .

Whichever service you choose, you have to do setup of the server, and you have to rip the DVDs to a format the server can utilize. There is no avoiding that work, but once you get it done, it's really easy to watch the movies.

Let's take the first part, setting up the server. You'll need a computer to sit and run to deliver the content. Essentially, you'll put the movies on one computer, connect that computer to your network, and have it set to run the server software.

As I said, I chose Plex, but you can use any you want. The general steps are pretty much the same, with differences in setting up the software. Pick one you like. Most are pretty simple to set up, and walk you through it. Don't get fancy, not at first anyway, but use a standard setup, if this is all new to you. The main thing is for it to work, and the default settings will make sure that happens.

You can use an existing computer, or even an old computer, to run Plex (or whatever you choose). It can be a Windows, Mac, or Linux setup. Mac will probably cost more, unless you have a spare Mac laying around, so go with Windows or Linux. And, if you're not that comfortable setting up Linus, go with Windows. The main thing that might be an issue is the size of the hard drive on which you'll place your movies. Get the largest you can afford that will work with whatever computer you choose.

Once you have the computer set up, you can add and launch the corresponding app. For Plex, just add the Plex app to your streaming device. It should find your server, even though you don't have any content loaded. And that's the next step.

To extract the movies from your DVDs to a Plex server, you'll need software that can read the DVDs and convert the content to a usable format. Handbrake is a good choice, but not the only choice. It's free, and works most of the time. I use some commercial software that has a few extra features that makes it easier and quicker, but my library is over 1,600 movies, plus hundreds of short films and TV shows, so it was worth it. But, I started with Handbrake and was happy with what it did.

You'll need to follow the instructions for setting it up, perhaps even downloading some extra software to help with the conversion, but once you do that, it's simply a matter of launching Handbrake, inserting the DVD, picking the format (I used MP4) and starting the conversion.

Once you have the MP4 (or other format) file, move it to the correct directory (or folder) that Plex (or other software) expects and it will read it into the system.

Check your streaming app, and the movie will appear. Every time you add a move to your library, it will show up, and you can watch it from any streaming device.

Yes, the setup takes some time, and ripping each movie takes time, but you'll have easier access to moves, and that will make your Streaming Life much easier.