Saturday, December 4, 2021

Christmas movies

Yeah, I know people are always posting about Christmas movies every time the calendar starts showing December up at the top. So do you really need another online post about Christmas movies.

No, not really. But if you are interested in what some say are the best Christmas movies, and how you can watch them streaming, keep reading.

Rotten Tomatoes has a list of the 65 best Christmas movies. Some are movies I didn't even know existed. Some are may favorite movies. And some are movies that some say aren't really Christmas movies. Spoilers: the Rotten Tomatoes list considers Die Hard a Christmas movie.

I'm going to focus on the top of the list, however. On the list are five movies that have a 100% rating. So, if the list is to be believed, these are the five best, and most perfect, Christmas movies. The good news is that all of these are available for Amazon Prime members. If you aren't a Prime member, they are available for rent or purchase from Amazon. But the top two are available on Tubi for free.

  1. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
  2. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
  3. Holiday Inn (1942)
  4. The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
  5. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1967)

Note that the Grinch is actually the classic TV special, where the Grinch is voiced by Boris Karloff and his singing is by Thurl Ravenscroft.

If you're wondering where Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is, it came it at number 14, three spots behind Die Hard.

If you haven't seen these movies, do give them a watch. They may become a regular part of your Christmastime Streaming Life.

Friday, December 3, 2021

ACC Network to Comcast

Over the last several years, since the College Football Playoff started, the Atlantic Coast Conference has gained a lot more exposure. Every year, the ACC champion has made the playoffs, although at this writing, that's not expected to happen. The only two conferences to have made the playoffs every year have been the ACC and the SEC. The ACC won the last BCS game and made it to the CFP championship four times, winning two.

In the last eight seasons prior to this one, the ACC has been represented very well in the college football post season. Even this year, a down year for the ACC, the conference champion will get a good bowl game. And this success by the ACC in recent years has increased the conference fan base. That means more are watching ACC games on TV. Except for Comcast TV viewers. Well, until now.

Comcast has not carried the ACC Network. For those wanting to watch an ACC game that's not featured on one of the major networks, this has been a problem, since Comcast is one of the largest TV services. Streaming was the only way that Comcast customers could watch ACC Network games. Which I was actually fine with. I stream. But not everybody does.

This week, it was announced that Comcast would carry ACC Network.

...Comcast will distribute ACC Network (ACCN) to its Xfinity customers, allowing fans and followers of the Atlantic Coast Conference to access the multiplatform network in the coming weeks. The availability of ACCN is part of Comcast and The Walt Disney Company’s content carriage agreement renewal that will continue to make Disney’s programming available to Xfinity TV customers.

With the addition of Comcast, ACCN is now fully distributed with every major satellite, telco and digital provider across the country, and available to nearly 90 million households. Further launch details in Comcast’s Xfinity markets will be available in the coming weeks.

While I am an advocate for streaming, the news that Comcast will carry the ACC Network might seem to be good news for "the other side" (non streamers). And it is. But there's an upside for streamers.

You see, being a streamer doesn't mean you can't have cable TV. Streaming is simply another way to watch TV. It doesn't preclude all other means. I stream, but I have an antenna. That's two different ways to watch TV. Cable is simply another way.

Now, to be sure, I dropped cable, and suspect most people could drop cable and stream instead, but keeping cable doesn't mean it was a bad decision. It's just not my decision.

Comcast customers will be able to watch ACC Network when they are away from home. Whether that means on a phone or table, or a stick kept in the suitcase for travel, it's a streaming method that wasn't available before.

Maybe Comcast realized that more and more ACC fans could find out about streaming services when they wanted to watch their team on ACCN. If those ACC fans tried a streaming service and liked it, they might end up dropping cable. Comcast didn't get to be so big by doing stupid stuff. Or at least not for too long.

Of course, this might let ACC fans discover that with ACCN on Comcast, they can now watch streaming when away from home. And that might let them discover what you and I know about streaming. Perhaps this will lead them to including streaming as a part of their everyday activity.

Comcast may have opened the door for many customers to begin a new Streaming Life. I know I enjoy mine.

Thursday, December 2, 2021

Bedtime TV

Some people, including one in particular I see in the mirror, like to watch TV when they go to bed. Having the TV on is just something that some people do. I understand it. I used to think it odd, until it became my way of doing things. I understand. I don't like that I need the TV on the go to sleep, but I'm not going to fight it. It works for me. Maybe it works for you, too.

With me, if there isn't a TV going, small sounds wake me up. A constant stream (get it?) of sound keeps little household sounds from waking me. Anyway, I go to sleep with the TV on.

But what about leaving the TV on all night? Some people don't care -- that guy in the mirror, for instance -- but some people do. How do turn the TV off if you're asleep?

Well, some TVs, including Roku TVs, have a sleep timer. It's actually pretty easy to do with a Roku TV. Roku has instructions on doing this:

  1. Press Home home button on Roku remote on your Roku remote
  2. Scroll and select Settings
  3. Select System
  4. Select Time
  5. Select Sleep timer
  6. Choose a time interval (30 minutes, 1 hour, 1.5 hours, 2 hours, 3 hours)

Pretty easy, huh? Yeah. But, what if you don't have a Roku TV? Well, your TV might have that capability, too. But if you're using a Roku attached to a TV, what happens if your TV goes off while Roku is streaming? Well, your Roku continues to stream. While the TV is off. Maybe. Or probably. It depends.

A lot of people don't realize that a separate Roku device won't always stop streaming if you turn the TV off. A Roku TV will stop, of course, but a Roku attached to a TV won't. Not always.

There are settings that allow the Roku to control the TV. This works both ways. Well, best case scenario is that it works both ways. But, that doesn't always happen. Whether it's a bug in the TV, or just a lack of full compatibility, turning off a TV doesn't always stop the Roku from streaming.

Originally, it never did. But, as TVs began supporting CEC better, turning off the TV began to turn off some Roku devices. I would not depend on it happening, if it's really important.

For instance, if you have a data cap, streaming with the TV off (that's what could be happening) will just eat up data and perhaps add up to going over your cap. That's money wasted. Don't waste money.

So, what do you do? Well, what I do is I use the Bandwidth Saver feature. That's on by default, and you have to change the settings to turn it off. But before depending on it, check to make sure it is still enabled. Just to be sure. Here are Roku's instructions on turning off Bandwidth Saver.

  1. Press the Home button home button on Roku remote on your Roku remote.
  2. Select Settings.
  3. Select Network.
  4. Select Bandwidth saver.
  5. Choose Off.

Of course, choose "On" if you want to turn it on.

That way, if you go to sleep, the Roku will stop streaming after four hours, unless you respond to the notice as it counts down the last several seconds before stopping the stream.

Perhaps you'll find this helpful if your sleep habits aren't working well with your Streaming Life.

Wednesday, December 1, 2021

Another reason to cut the cord

I cut the cord in 2011. I wanted to save money on cable, and found that dropping cable and streaming TV (along with an antenna) allowed me to do just that. Back then, there weren't services such as Sling TV or other live streaming services. I could buy TV shows from Amazon, iTunes, or some service and watch them (and own them). I could subscribe to Hulu Plus (as it was known back then) and watch them. Or I could watch via an antenna (I had a TiVo, so I would actually record and watch when I wanted).

Anyway, I cut the cord to save money. And I'm sure you're wanting to save money too. But do you really want to learn a new way of watching TV? It's really easy with cable to just watch TV the way you always watched TV. But I was able to make the transition, and so can you. And, you can save money.

How much money can you save? Well, there's no single answer for that. But, if you're a Comcast/Xfinity TV customer, you can save even more money by cutting the cord.

No, there's not some special going on for Comcast/Xfinity customers to get special pricing on streaming content. Rather, Comcast is raising rates at the first of the year. So, that 20% price increase in certain fees you're about to get actually means you'll be saving 20% more, according to a report from The Streamable:

Comcast’s “Broadcast TV Fee” for local channels, that are available for free over-the-air, will now add $19.75 to your bill. While the exact amount differs by market, the Chicago market will see a 20% increase from $16.20 to $19.75 — after increasing from $11.70 in 2019. In fact, that’s a nearly 70% increase in just 2 years from channels that are free over-the-air.

That's a lot of money. I'm not saying that cable TV, or Comcast TV, isn't worth it. I'm saying that you have options, and by streaming, you may just save you some money.

I've been saving money for nearly 11 years by streaming. Perhaps you will find that a Streaming Life is a relief to your wallet.

Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Watching ESPN

I don't watch ESPN except during college football season. That's the reason I only subscribe to a live streaming service during football season: to get ESPN. I usually go with Sling TV (Orange) but if another service has a special price, I'll jump around.

Does that make it confusing for finding ESPN on my streaming devices? No, not really. There's a little housekeeping involved, but the app is always the same. I use the ESPN app authenticated against whatever streaming service I have.

My default live streaming service is Sling TV, because it's cheaper than the others. Unless the others are running a promotion, in which case, I authenticate against the cheaper service. Yes, that means that once a month, I may have to log out of the old service and log in using the new service. But it's once a month. I can deal with that. And so can you.

That way, when I want to watch ESPN, I use the ESPN app. I hardly ever use the streaming service app, whatever the service is I'm using that month.

To me, it's easy. The app is always the same. I never have to try to remember which service I'm using, except when I change services. And, it makes sense to me. ESPN is on ESPN.

A lot of people use the app for their streaming service. If that makes their Streaming Life easier, fine. But it is much easier for me to use the same app all season long. Consider if that might make things easier for you as well.

Monday, November 29, 2021

Streaming the college football conference championship games

If you're a college football fan, you've been looking forward to this upcoming weekend all season. It's the conference championships. Of course, if your team didn't make the conference championship game, this weekend might not be all that big of a deal.

Just kidding, it's a big deal. If your team didn't make it, you can hate on the team that made it in place of your team. That's football, right?

This weekend, there are ten conference championships, and as a streamer, you can watch the games. Here are the networks carrying the different games, and how you can watch those networks with your streaming device.

ABC

  • Pac-12 Conference, Oregon vs Utah, Friday, 8:00 pm.
  • Big XII Conference, Baylor vs Oklahoma State, Saturday, Noon.
  • American Athletic Conference, Houston vs Cincinnati, Saturday, 4:00 pm.
  • Atlantic Coast Conference, Pittsburgh vs Wake Forest, Saturday, 8:00 pm.

You can view ABC via:

  • Antenna (free)
  • Vidgo ($55)
  • Hulu+Live TV ($70)
  • YouTube TV ($65)
  • Fubo ($65)
  • DirecTV Stream, formerly AT&T TV ($70)

CBS

  • Southeastern Conference, Georgia vs Alabama, Saturday, 4:00 pm.

CBS is available from:

  • Antenna (free)
  • Paramount+ ($10)
  • Hulu+Live TV ($70)
  • YouTube TV ($65)
  • Fubo ($65)
  • DirecTV Stream, formerly AT&T TV ($70)

CBS Sports Network

  • Conference USA, Western Kentucky vs Texas-San Antonio, Friday, 7:00 pm.

CBS Sports Networks is carried by:

  • Hulu+Live TV ($70)
  • YouTube TV ($65)
  • Fubo ($65)
  • DirecTV Stream Ultimate ($95)

ESPN

  • Mid-American Conference, Kent State vs Northern Illinois, Saturday, Noon.
  • Sun Belt Conference, Appalachian State vs Louisiana, Saturday, 3:30 pm.

To get ESPN, you need:

  • Sling Orange ($35)
  • Vidgo ($55)
  • Hulu+Live TV ($70)
  • YouTube TV ($65)
  • Fubo ($65)
  • DirecTV Stream ($70)

Fox

  • Mountain West Conference, Utah State vs San Diego State, Saturday, 3:00 pm.
  • Big Ten Conference, Iowa vs Michigan, Saturday, 8:00 pm.

To watch Fox, you can use:

  • Antenna (free)
  • Sling Blue, select markets only ($35)
  • Hulu+Live TV ($70)
  • YouTube TV ($65)
  • Fubo ($65)
  • DirecTV Stream, formerly AT&T TV ($70)

The three broadcast networks carry seven of the ten games, so an antenna may be all you need, depending on what games you want. If you want to be able to watch all ten games, and want a single service with the other games, you need to add either YouTube TV or Fubo for $65, Hulu+Live TV for $70, or DirecTV Stream ($70 without CBS SN, $95 with CBS SN).

Cutting the cord doesn't mean you can't watch football. It's how I've watched football since 2015. It's definitely a part of my Streaming Life.

Sunday, November 28, 2021

Good time to solve your network issues

I've spoken before about how I solved my network issues. Essentially, I tried several things, but ended up getting a mesh network setup. It wasn't cheap, but it worked.

Now, there are all kinds of things you can do to try to resolve any network issues you have. The worst solution is to let your ISP talk you into a faster Internet speed. Doing that will speed up your Internet speed, but it won't do diddly squat about network connectivity.

To be sure, I'm not saying your ISP would be trying to scam you. There are instances where a slow connection is the issue, not a weak network connection, but that's usually not the case. Even is your network connection shows as good, and the performance is bad, it could be a device on your network interfering with other devices. Or, it could even be a device that's on a totally different network interfering, if that other network is on the same channel.

You can tweak your network settings and resolve some of this. Or, you can get network equipment that deals with this automatically.

Extending your network can also help, but that can be hit and miss.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I tried all of that. What I finally did was bit the bullet and get a mesh network. I've not had a lick of trouble since then.

So, if you want to do something about network issues, it may be less work, but more money, to replace your setup with all new network equipment. Yeah, like I said, that will cost more. But this is the time where everybody is putting stuff on sale.

I have a Google WiFi system -- it's now discontinued and has been replaced by Google Nest equipment -- but any good mesh network system would probably be an improvement. If you've done all the tweaking and extenders and all the other stuff, like I did, and still aren't happy, like I wasn't, take advantage of these sale prices and get a good network.

I've not have to do any tweaks of any kind in the years I've had mine. My Streaming Life is much simpler with a good network, and yours can be too.

Saturday, November 27, 2021

Disney+, for a little while

One of the tips that should be considered by cord cutters -- and I feel strongly about this -- is to subscribe to a service only when it has something you want. For example, right now, I'm using Disney+.

I mentioned this past summer that I wasn't subscribing to Disney+ because there was very little I would watch on it. But right now, there is.

You may have picked up that I'm a Beatles fan. When I set up my new Plex server, the first music I added was my catalog of Beatles music. It took a while to get it all in because I have a lot. I have all of their US albums and their UK albums, at least from their official catalog. And I have both the mono and stereo games. If you're a die-hard Beatles fans, you understand the reason for that. For the uninitiated, even though their albums were released in stereo, the Beatles themselves only participated in the mono mixing of their recordings until their last few albums. Those were versions the Beatles themselves thought of as their official releases, and those were the ones that were sent to radio stations. Those are the original releases.

So, yeah, I'm a Beatles fan. And that plays into Disney+ because of the recent release of Peter Jackson's new "Get Back" documentary. It's airing on Disney+ -- not Apple TV+, as you might have thought -- so it's now a service of interest. And with shows on Hulu having returned and being several episodes in, and ESPN+ still on the table during football season, I'm subscribing to the Disney Bundle.

I won't keep it long. I'll finish "Get Back" very soon, I expect, and football season is winding down. Plus, I'll catch up on my TV shows from Hulu ... maybe. If not, I'll keep Hulu, but if I do, I'll drop the Disney Bundle and save the money.

That's the thing I suggest everyone do. Only subscribe to what you watch. When you're caught up, stop the subscriptions and don't resume it until you have something you want to watch. Right now, I'm watching the Beatles. And football. And some current TV. For the time being, the Disney Bundle (Hulu, ESPN+, and Disney+) are an active part of my Streaming Life. But not for long.

Friday, November 26, 2021

Cheap Hulu

Just a couple of days after I was fussing about Hulu's price increase. Hulu+Live TV, actually, but that till is a form of Hulu. Well, now I feel I should mention a great deal Hulu is running for Black Friday. Subscribers -- new and existing -- can get the standard Hulu service for 99¢/month for a year.

Hulu actually did this three years ago, but then changed it to $1.99/month for the past two years. And, you couldn't get it if you were already a subscriber. It was for new subscribers only. This year, anyone can get it.

The only downside would be if you have the Disney Bundle. There's no plan that takes this Hulu deal into consideration. Still, it's a heckuva deal. If you were thinking of the Disney Bundle with standard Hulu, it may be cheaper to go this route. However you do it, it's a great way to include Hulu in your Streaming Life.

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Proclamation

Issued by President George Washington, at the request of Congress, on October 3, 1789
By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and—Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favor, able interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other trangressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go. Washington