Streaming Beijing Olympics

The 24th Winter Olympic Games begin February 4th in Beijing. If you're a streamer and interested in the games, you'll be happy to know you can stream them.

In 1901, Sweden hosted the Nordic Games. At the time, there were no winter games in the Olympics. Norway hosted the Nordic games in 1903, then Sweden hosted the games in 1905, 1909, 1913, 1917, 1922, and 1926.

In 1924, the first Winter Olympics were held, and the Nordic Games ceased running after the 1926 events. The Winter Olympics were held every four years from 1924 to 1992, excepting 1940 and 1944 when Axis Powers countries Japan and Italy were scheduled to host. World War II took priority.

The Winter Games shifted two years following the 1992 games, being held in 1994, and every four years after. That puts the Summer Olympics in even years divisible by four, and the Winter Olympics during the intervening even years.

This year, they're in Beijing. And, as usual, NBC has broadcast rights in the USA. You'll be able to watch many events on your local NBC station, using an antenna or a live streaming service. If you want to watch more events, there's Peacock TV. The Olympics FAQ says you'll be able to watch every event with that service:

Can I watch the entire Winter Olympics on Peacock, including Opening and Closing Ceremonies?

Yes! If you have a Peacock Premium plan, you can stream the entire Winter Olympics, from Opening Ceremony to Closing Ceremony and everything in between. Get more details here.

If you have a Peacock Free plan, you can stream recaps, highlights, and commentary on our always-on Olympic Channels.

Peacock TV Premium is $5/month. If you are a Comcast/Xfinity Internet subscriber, you can add Xfinity Flex to your plan for free, and get Peacock TV Premium included.

If you want to watch NBC content, your local NBC station is available several different ways.

• Antenna (free to watch)
• YouTube TV ($65/month)
• Fubo TV ($65/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($70/month)
• DirecTV Stream ($70/month)

Keep in mind that only Peacock TV has every event. If you want the Winter Olympics in your Streaming Life, Peacock TV, at $5/month, is the cheapest way to accomplish this.

Tablo Connect update II

A few months ago, I set up Tablo Connect and tried it on my Chromecast with Google TV device, and with my Fire TV Stick 4K device. I had planned on testing it with Apple TV, but never did. I will eventually. Probably.

My focus for now is on Tablo Connect, not on the devices. Simply put, the device doesn't matter. Well, as long as the device supports Tablo Connect. That means no Roku. Tablo works on Roku, but the Connect feature doesn't. Maybe it will one day, but for now, to use Tablo Connect, you need Apple TV, Chromecast, Nvidia Shield, Fire TV, iOS devices, and Android devices.

So, what is Tablo Connect? Well, it's what Tablo calls their watch anywhere, on the go, whatever you want to call it. You can watch your Tablo, live or recorded content, away from home. Is that a big deal? Well, yeah, it really is. Think about that. You can watch your home TV antenna content anywhere. All you need is an Internet connection.

I manage the TV/tech setup in a couple of houses. I don't have an antenna at my house because of the trouble with trees and power lines. It's not an ideal situation, but one that I'm working to resolve. It's not a priority though. Why not? Because at my mother's house, I bought and put up an antenna. That gave that house the ability to watch TV over the air. I set up Tablo there so all the TVs can watch over the air TV and recordings through the Roku devices.

So, my antenna is at a location away from my house. Not ideal, but Tablo Connect lets me use it just as it it was at my house. And it works well. As long as the Internet is working at both locations, I can watch over the air TV any time I want.

The only issues I ever have are unrelated to Tablo connect. There are a couple of channels that occasionally experience dropouts, but that's the antenna and the signal, and the fact the TV tower is over 40 miles away for that station. Tablo Connect is great.

How could it benefit you? Well, if you're in a situation where an antenna isn't easy to set up at your location, but there is another location you could use, then setting up Tablo Connect solves that problem. I bore all the expense is the setup. I bought the antenna and pole, paid for the installation, paid for the Tablo device, paid for the Tablo two-week guide, paid for everything.

Was it worth it? Absolutely. I mean, if I was doing this at my house, I'd have paid for everything, so it was no extra cost for me. I bought what I would have bought anyway. I just put it up at my mother's house rather than mine, because it was much easier to put up an antenna there. I get to watch TV over the air, as do everyone there.

Tablo Connect is great. If you're using Tablo, or thinking about putting up an antenna, consider Tablo. Both it and Air TV work well, but Tablo Connect is a useful feature for me. It makes my Streaming Life so much better. It may be something for you to look into. I'm glad I did.

Do you need a year-round live streaming service?

If you cut the cord and replaced cable with a live streaming service -- YouTube TV, Fubo, Vidgo, Sling TV, Phio, etc. -- I have a question for you: why?

Why did you simply replace cable with a live streaming service? What was it about cable you didn't like? The price? Okay, I get that. If the live streaming service is cheaper, that's great.

Or was it paying for channels you didn't watch? Well, if that's the case, does the live streaming service have channels you don't watch? I bet it does. So what did you solve? Price? So we're back to that, which is fine, but I'm trying to understand why you actually cut the cord. The real reason.

Is it more control of your viewing options? That's legit. There is nothing wrong with wanting to control your TV, rather than ceding that to the cable company. With cable, you probably have only one or two cable options. With streaming, you have many options, including those listed above. You can switch easily, with month to month service, unlike cable where you are often locked into long term contracts.

My reason was price, and it's still true that I'm saving money vs paying for cable. But I don't have a live streaming service year-round. I'll subscribe to one during part of the year, usually for a total of four months, though not four back-to-back months. I'll let time pass between them. And I'm wondering if you should do that too.

Do this little thought experiment. Suppose you didn't have a live streaming service. Everything you have for streaming is there, just not the live streaming service. Would you be okay with that? Now, perhaps your first reaction is "no." But is that really your final answer. Let's go through this and see.

If you did not have a live streaming service, would you just not watch TV? I suspect you would find something to watch. Likely, you have other services, such as Netflix, Disney+, Discovery+,  Prime Video, Paramount+, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Peacock, or one (or more) of the many many other services. If you have one or more of those services, you can find stuff to watch.

Of course, while you can watch something, you wouldn't be able to watch everything you want, losing the control you may be after. So is it a bad idea to drop live streaming? Well, for you, it may be. But it is something to consider.

If you only subscribed for a few months out of the year, how big of a problem would that be? If you subscribed every other month, would that be a problem? If you could catch up on the missed shows, would the savings in money, cutting the live streaming costs in half, be worth it? What about if you subscribed one month a quarter? Or four months a year, spread out in some manner? Would the savings make the delay in watching some shows worth it?

You can't do this with cable. If you are on a month to month billing with cable, after your long-term contract is up, and you drop cable, they'll sometimes have a reconnect fee. Or they may require a long-term contract to go back. Streaming services don't require that, and you can subscribe and drop as often as you like.

I'm really not trying to talk you out of a live steaming service, but I am trying to get you to put some thought into ways to save money. You have options streaming that you don't have with cable. If utilizing these options saves you some money, then you're ahead of the game. Heck, you're not just ahead, you've won.

If you put a little thought into your Streaming Life, you may end up putting some money in your wallet. That's a good thing.

Are new Chromecasts coming?

I so want to like the Chromecast with Google TV device. However, the more I use it the more trouble I find it. Storage is one of the big issues that I've encountered. I've been hoping for a better Chromecast device with more storage. And, it looked like one was coming, according to a report from 9to6Google.

Part of the charm of the Chromecast with Google TV is the simplicity of the dongle form factor, but demand has been rising for a higher-end device to compete with the Nvidia Shield TV series. In that vein, perhaps Boreal could be a more premium Google TV box. Google has pursued this model in the past with the $69 Chromecast Ultra and $99 Nexus Player.

But now, it appears the new Chromecast will be a low-end device, if the report from Protocol is correct.

The new low-end Chromecast is said to be based on an Amlogic S805X2 CPU with a Mali-G31 GPU. This would allow it to support decoding of the AV1 video codec — something Google has been pushing other hardware makers to adopt. The dongle will have 2GB of RAM at most, and support 1080p streaming with a maximum frame rate of 60fps.

Google’s most recent streaming dongle, called Chromecast with Google TV, sports a more powerful chipset capable of 4K streaming, but doesn’t currently support AV1 hardware decoding. The device retails for $50, making it likely that the new HD-only Chromecast will sell for $40 or less.

I hope that it's simply a mixup, with two devices coming. To me, the best thing would be to replace the low-end Chromecast with a low-end Chromecast with Google TV, and to replace the current 4K Chromecast with Google TV with an upgraded 4K that had more on-board storage.

There's no evidence that this is what will be happening, but if it did happen, then both stories could be true, and the discrepancy could be simply confusing the code names of the new devices.

I so want to like the Chromecast with Google TV. If they fix the storage issue, that would be a huge step in the right direction. Chromecast with Google TV is a part of my Streaming Life, just a small part. An upgraded device would make it much easier to use it more. I really hope that's what happens.

Watching Hallmark movies

During the Christmas season, it's almost cliché to think about the Hallmark Channel and all their Christmas movies. People will joke about how bland and predictable they all are, but watch them anyway.

Of course, Hallmark doesn't just have movies during Christmas. The Hallmark Channel, and the Hallmark channels (there are more than one), offer content year-round. And, sure, you could make the same jokes about the other Hallmark movies that you do about their Christmas movies (most of the same jokes) but the reality is, you'd probably like those movies just as well.

There are several ways for a streamer to watch Hallmark movies and TV shows, ranging from expensive to cheap to free.

Expensive

The services that carry the three Hallmark channels carry more than just Hallmark. However, it's a good idea to look at their other channels to see if it's worth the cost. It may be. Or not. If your only want is Hallmark, these are probably not the way to go. All of the expensive ones carry news channels and, mostly, local channels as well. Note that Hulu+Live TV, which would be listed in the Expensive category isn't listed because it doesn't have any Hallmark channels.

DirecTV Stream

The DirecTV Stream service is the most expensive, at $70/month, but includes a lot of channels, including local channels, plus two Hallmark channels: Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. You can add Hallmark Drama as part of the Movies Extra Pack, which is another $5/month. That pack also includes AMC+, Hallmark Movies Now, Lifetime Movie Club, A&E Crime Central, HISTORY Vault, Pantaya, UP Faith & Family, Pantaya, Revry, and DOGTV.

Fubo TV

Fubo TV, at $65/month, includes the three Hallmark channels, as well as local channels and around 80 other channels.

YouTube TV

YouTube TV is $65/month includes the three Hallmark channels, with the ability to add Hallmark Movies Now for another $6/month.

Vidgo

Vidgo is cheaper than Fubo or YouTube TV, and offers the three Hallmark channels in their $55/month package.

Cheap

Cheap is a relative term. Compared the the services listed above, these services are at least $20/month cheaper. None of these carry local channels, and only one, Sling TV, has any news or sports channels.

Sling TV

Sling TV is a little complicated. That's because Sling TV has a free tier that most people don't realize or think about. Free Sling TV is similar to Xumo or Pluto TV, but doesn't offer as much content. What it does offer is a "best of" in that the offerings they do have are many of the more popular ones of the free streaming services. That includes some on-demand content from Hallmark Movies Now. To be sure, it's not the entire library, and it's not the current year's content, but it is Hallmark content, and it's free.

For Sling TV subscribers, whether the Orange or Blue plans ($35/month) or the combined Orange+Blue plan ($50/month), you can get the three Hallmark channels with the add-on Lifestyle Extra package for another $6/month.

Philo

At $25/month, Philo is one of the best deals available for live streaming entertainment, with over 60 channels, including the three Hallmark channels.

Frndly TV

For $7/month, this is the cheapest way to get the three Hallmark channels, with live streams plus on-demand content.

Oh, if you have a service that doesn't have any Hallmark content, it may be easy enough to

Free

Yes, you can get some Hallmark content for free. You won't get the full live streams of the three channels, but you will get some content, which is better than no content. And you'll get it for free, which is better than paying through the nose.

Live streams

These apps and services offer free Hallmark content live streaming.

• Xumo (Hallmark Movies & More)
• The Roku Channel (Hallmark Movies & More)

On demand

These apps and services offer free Hallmark content on-demand.

• Xumo (Hallmark Movies & More)
• Sling TV Free (Hallmark Movies Now)

Alternatives

I know we're talking Hallmark content, but the reality is that Hallmark doesn't have a monopoly on the types of movies they show. You can find similar content on many services. For example, on Netflix, if you search for "Hallmark" you'll find no matches. You'll also find a list of movies that are similar, and if you didn't know better, would think that many of them were Hallmark movies.

If Hallmark movies and TV are what you're after, you can add some content for free, or all content for as little as $7/month.