It's Hulu time again, maybe

I have subscribed to Hulu for ... well, since it was called Hulu Plus and there were two different Hulu services. In other words, for a while. But, during my purge earlier this year, I dropped Hulu. It turns out that I hadn't watched anything on it for some time. So, even though it was only $6/month, that was me paying $6/month for a service I wasn't using. "Heck," I said to myself, "I'll resubscribe in the fall when the new shows start."

I figured in September, I'd resubscribe. But, I didn't. I don't think it even crossed my mind. October came and went. Now we're halfway through November -- yes, we are half-way through November as of this past Monday -- and I still haven't subscribed to Hulu. I suppose I'm waiting on the new episodes to start.

Well, I actually don't know when the new episodes start. But I accidentally found out that some have started. The Rookie, that police show with the guy from Firefly on it, has started. Four episodes in, I think. Maybe five.

Anyway, I suppose it's time to subscribe to Hulu again. I may wait until next week. I still got a lot going on with work, as well as my Plex server. I still have to set up my collections. All the movies and TV shows are moved from the old one, and I'm getting other shows I never finished putting into Plex, primarily the new Doctor Who episodes. I've been working on that along and along.

Speaking of TV, I have Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (don't ask), The IT Crowd, The Outer Limits (1963), and The Twilight Zone (1959). Of course, Mystery Science Theater 3000 is there. So, I've been dealing with TV shows, just older shows. The new ones can wait. But for how long.

I'll probably wait until next week to subscribe to Hulu again. Except that's the week of Thanksgiving. Hmmm.

Some time in December then. Yeah. I'll subscribe to Hulu before the year is out. Probably.

I really though I would miss Hulu a lot more than I have. But, I won't abandon it for good. It will once again be a part of my Streaming Life soon. Or some time.

Dead Roku

My Roku Ultra died. It's the second Roku I've had go bad in nearly 11 years. And, the other one was a Roku Ultra, too.

Until recently, it was my primary Roku device. When I replaced my defective sound bar with a Roku Streambar, the Ultra was assigned to a secondary TV. Well, this weekend, I went to use it, and I couldn't get it to work. It had power, but there was no output to the TV. I changed HDMI cables and ports, but it wouldn't work.

I was able to get a Roku Premiere+ (the Express form factor, model 3921) running, so the TV has a Roku on it, but my Roku Ultra isn't working.

In 2017, a Roku Ultra (model 4660) I had went bad, not long after I got it. Roku replaced it without issue. The device worked well for another four years. That is, until this weekend.

I don't think I'm going to replace it, at least, not yet. The Streambar works well, and the three-year-old Premiere+ works well. This is the first time since I got my first Roku that I haven't had a top of the line model. Next time I need a Roku device, I will get one, but using some of my retired stock works for now.

I'm certainly not soured on Roku by this. The device is four years old, and that's not too bad. I've never used an Amazon Fire TV Stick that long. I get fed up with them well before then. I have Apple TV devices, if I need to use them. But, I do prefer Roku, but it's not necessary that I run out and replace this one with a new one.

I have enough streaming devices, including some that do work very well, to keep my Streaming Life functioning just fine.

Sling TV Free

I've mentioned before that Sling TV was the first live TV streaming service I tried. The reason for that was simple. At the time, it was the only live TV streaming service. I tried it, thought it was alright, then canceled.

Why did I cancel? I wasn't really watching it. I only used it during college football season, and when the season was done, I canceled. Actually, when I first subscribed, it was early in the year, I did a month, just to see what it was all about, then I canceled, then I signed up again when football season started. After the season, I canceled again.

Ever since then, I would subscribe during football season and cancel after the season. But, Sling TV wasn't the only service I would use. Other services would offer specials that were a better price than Sling TV, and I'd try them. Then, when the special was over, rather than pay the higher price, I would go back to Sling TV to finish the season. Right now, in fact, I'm not subscribed to Sling TV. I have Fubu TV because I wanted to try it, then when the month was done, they offered me a great price to keep me from canceling. So, I'm keeping Fubu TV for another month. I probably won't keep them longer, because, as I've said, I only want a live TV streaming service to watch football. Fubo is great for that. For me, though, Sling TV will do the job just fine.

Now, I know you're wondering where I'm going with this. "Sling TV Free?" What's that about? If I can get Sling TV Free, why would I pay for another service?

Well, Sling TV Free isn't all of Sling TV. The service does offer some live streaming free, along with some on-demand content. It's not gonna be the same stuff you get with the Orange or Blue package. Well, you actually do get all of this with Orange and/or Blue. This is stuff you get just by having the app, regardless of if you have a subscription or not.

You get some news channels, some entertainment content, even some sports, but not the big cable channels. For example, the news channels include ABC News Live, CBSN (CBS News), Newsy, and such. It does not include CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News, and that's probably a good thing, to tell you the truth.

You also get on-demand content, to include TV shows and movies. Again, not the same as Hulu or Netflix, but still a selection of content.

Did I mention that Sling TV Free is free? Because that's a good price.

Even if I were to subscribe to another live TV streaming service -- and right now, I do -- I would keep Sling TV app on my streaming device. It still has free content, and some of it is certainly worth watching. I suspect you will be able to find something you would enjoy watching.

Now, be aware that every time you launch the app, it asks you to subscribe (or, in my case, resubscribe). But, there is a "Skip, Watch Free Content" button down at the bottom. I use that.

With Air TV, and without a Sling TV subscription, you just watch the free content, and that includes your antenna content. So, at the locations with an antenna, the Sling TV app is how I can watch local channels via Air TV.

If you have an antenna, or are thinking about putting one up, getting an Air TV device and using the Sling TV app is a great option. But the Sling TV app by itself, without Air TV, is a good option for free content.

If you want to have free content, this is one way to go. Or an additional way to go, along with whatever other apps you use. It's certainly a part of my Streaming Life.

Best Picture movies

I've got a decent movie library, totaling 1,690 films. That doesn't include short films, cartoons, TV shows, and such. Part of my library consists of movies I just like and bought.

Wait. Did I just imply that I may have movies I don't like? Well, I do. Some, I didn't know at the time. I thought I would like them, so I got them, either on DVD (which I later ripped into my Plex library) or purchased a digital copy (which I later ripped into my Plex library). So, I found out I didn't like some of them after I bought them. But I'm okay with that. I gave the film a shot, and if I didn't like it, that's just how it is.

Along the line, though, I decided I wanted to include in my library certain collections. I decided I wanted all of the movies that won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. I checked my library -- it wasn't all in Plex at the time -- and found that I had a good number of them. So, I looked into getting the rest. And I did.

As of this writing, there have been 93 Academy Award ceremonies, and of the 93 films to win Best Picture, I have 94 of them.

Okay, now you're wondering if I just don't understand math. I do. But I also understand history, and I don't like when it's changed.

In the first Academy Awards ceremony, held May 16, 1929, there were two top awards for films given. Wings won the award for Outstanding Picture, while Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans won Best Unique and Artistic Picture. At the time, they were considered equal top awards. The next year, they did away with the Best Unique and Artistic Picture category but kept the Outstanding Picture award, and declared that Wings was the top film of the previous year, retroactively.

Sunrise actually received more nominations than Wings and more awards than Wings, and is probably a better film. Still, Wings is today considered the first winner of the Best Picture award by the Academy, and by most people. But not by me.

I feel that at the time, they considered the awards equal and both the top award. No amount of revisionist history will change that. So, I consider them both the Best Picture in that first ceremony. And they are both in my library. Of course, it really doesn't matter. I'd have Sunrise in my film library regardless.

Oh, and there were two Best Director wins that first year, too. There were separate awards for dramatic and comedy pictures. Like Outstanding Picture and Unique and Artistic Presentation, they were combined into a single award beginning the next year. Unlike Best Picture, they didn't retroactively reduce one of the awards.

But back on track, I didn't, but soon did, have all of the winners of the Best Picture awards. And, since I added those to my library, each year, I've added the new winners of the award. I haven't seen them all. Yet. I will. I just haven't seen the most recent. I've seen the older ones. In fact, I have some serious catching up to do. The most recent Best Picture winner I've seen is The Artist, and that was only a two or three years ago. I have a whole decade of Best Picture winners the catch up and watch. I need to get around to that.

I like the idea that I have all of the Best Picture winners. I just don't seem to watch all of them. I'll get to those last ten some time soon. I mean, what's the use of having a movie if I never watch it? I might not like some of them. If the pattern for the last 30 years holds true, I will like a few of them and not like most of them. Still, I'm happy to have all of the Best Picture winners in my Streaming Life.

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Using HBO Max

Last month, I decided to give HBO Max a try. As I said then, I'd watched HBO before. When Comcast raised my price -- technically, the special they gave me ended -- I looked for a better price package, and they were running a special where I could get Internet, cable, and HBO cheaper than Internet alone. So, yeah, I did that for a year. And during that year, I watched HBO from time to time. And, when that special ended, I got a different package that didn't include cable or HBO, just Internet, because it was cheaper.

I've not watched HBO since. Well, until last month. I subscribed to HBO Max to give it a try. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, I just wanted to see what it was all about. I know lots of people that use the service. I but way back on streaming services some months ago, but am willing to give one a try from time to time. Either a new one I've not done before, or one I haven't used in a long time. HBO Max is sort of both.

Well, it's been a month. How do I like it?

It's okay. The thing is, with work and everything, I don't have time to sit and watch a lot of movies. I wish I did. Maybe when I retire, finally.

I've subscribed for about a month now, with the free trial and 30 days, and I'm not sure I'll keep it. Honestly, I wish I had time to watch it. There really is a lot of good stuff on there. It's worth the cost. If you got time to watch it, and I don't.

When my real life stops infringing on my Streaming Life, I'll probably subscribe to HBO Max and keep the service. I can hardly wait for that day.