Valentine's Day movies

It's St. Valentine's Day 2022, and you may have plans this evening with your Special Someone. Or not.

Maybe your plans (if you have plans) include dinner and a movie. I don't have any McDonald's coupons to offer but you might want to check the app; there are specials there (I'm a cheap date). But, maybe I can help with the movie afterwards.

I went to a few Websites and looked up lists of Valentine's Day movies. These are some of the ones listed, with most of these on several (or most, or all) of the lists. I'll list some of the subscription or free services where you can watch it, as well as a link where you can buy it from Amazon if you want.

• The Princess Bride is on Hulu, Disney+. Amazon.
• Pride & Prejudice (2005) is on HBO Max. Amazon
• Casablanca is on HBO Max. Amazon.
• When Harry Met Sally is on HBO Max. Amazon.
• Say Anything is on HBO Max, Cinemax. Amazon.
• It Happened One Night is on TV Time (free), YouTube TV, Philo, Retro Reels (subscription). Amazon.
• Lady and the Tramp is on Disney+. Amazon.
• Titanic (1997) is on Showtime. Amazon.

This next one is a classic, followed by a remake, followed by a not-remake that referenced the others.

• Love Affair (1939) is free on Pluto TV, Tubi, Plex, Crackle, Classic Movie Vault, Continuum, TMC Movie Classic, Raygun, DDD Television, with subscription on Paramount+, Epix, Epix Now, Retro Reels. Amazon.
• An Affair to Remember is on Movieland TV (free). Amazon.
• Sleepless in Seattle is on The Roku Channel, included with Prime Video. Amazon.

This last entry/entries is/are another animal altogether.

• A Star Is Born (1937) is on HBO Max (subscription), included with Prime Video, and free with The Roku Channel, Plex, IMDB TV, Tubi, Pluto TV, Xumo, Classic Movies, Classic Movie Vault, Classic Reruns TV, Fawesome, ZP TV, TV Tine, TMC Movie Classics, Raygun, Kanopy Hollywood Classics, Continuum, DDD Television. Amazon.
• A Star Is Born (1954) is on HBO Max. Amazon.
• A Star Is Born (1976) is on HBO Max. Amazon.
• A Star Is Born (2018) is on YouTube TV. Amazon.

I own all of these movies, so at least you know I'm not suggesting something for you that I didn't put money into myself. Also, keep in mind there may be other ways to watch the movies. There are certainly other ways to purchase them besides Amazon. I obtained the list of services that carry the movies by searching for each of the movies on Roku, Fire TV, and Chromecast/Google TV.

If you want to check out the full lists I used, they are:

• Woman's Day - 42 Valentine's Day Movies to Stream for a Cozy Holiday at Home
• Town & Country - 26 of the Best Valentine's Day Movies Ever Made
• Country Living - 40 Best Valentine's Day Movies You Can Stream Right Now
• Washington Post - The best movies for Valentine’s Day? These actors (and one Muppet) have some thoughts.
• TV Guide - The 16 Best Romantic Valentine's Day Movies to Watch on Netflix, Disney+, Amazon, Hulu, and HBO Max Right Now

Perhaps these movies will make a great addition to your Streaming Life. Or even better, your love life.

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As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

How to watch Super Bowl 56

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. That means a lot of people will be watching the Super Bowl. It's one of the biggest broadcasts of the year, and has been for quite some time.

Last year, on average, 91.6 million people viewed the game, with 5.7 million streaming the game [source: Sports Media Watch]. That's an increase in streaming numbers of 2.3 million from the year before, but an overall drop of 8.8 million viewers overall from the same year. Streaming is gaining, despite traditional TV dropping.

This year, how do you watch the Super Bowl? Well, you have a couple of options.

The game is on NBC, and if you live close enough to an NBC affiliate's TV tower, you may be able to pick up the game over the air with an antenna. If you live close enough, an indoor antenna will work. If you live far away, you may need an outdoor antenna. For example, I live over 40 miles from the NBC station's tower near Savannah. I need an outdoor antenna, but I have one and it works great.

Or, you can stream the game on NBC's own Peacock TV service. Or you can watch NBC on one of the live streaming services that carries that network.

• Antenna, if you are in range (most of you are). (Free)
• Peacock (Premium) ($5/month; free to Xfinity Internet Flex users)
• YouTube TV ($65/month)
• Fubo TV ($65/month; $195/quarterly required for new accounts)
• Hulu+Live TV ($70/month)
• DirecTV Stream ($70/month)

Any of these options will get you the Super Bowl. It can be a part of your Streaming Life tonight.

Raspberry Pi streamer Update 2

I mentioned earlier about a project to make a streaming device out of a Raspberry Pi. I ran into a couple of hiccups along the way, but found an excellent tutorial that really helped. (Thanks TripleM)

I left off with an issue with the remote. That's not fully resolved, but it's working better than it was. I don't like the remote, and ordered one that I think I will like. We'll see.

However, since the remote is working better -- still aggravating, just not as bad -- I've actually used the Raspberry Pi streamer a little bit. I've added YouTube, Movies Anywhere, Pluto TV, and Prime Video, since I'm currently using those apps. I also added HBO Max and Paramount+ to see if they would load.

You see, I found some videos about others using a Raspberry Pi as a streaming device. Some loaded apps that wouldn't run. I was worried about that, for a couple of reasons.

First, the fact that someone had a video of an app not running was pretty good proof that something like that could happen. Next, my current Raspberry Pi only has 2 GB RAM. The smallest recommended RAM for an Android TV streaming box is 4 GB, so I'm way under on that.

To my surprise, most of the apps I've tried seem to work. There is an issue with Pluto TV. I can't select a channel. Well, I can scroll around and see all of the channels on Pluto TV, but I can't change the channel via the large menu. I can scroll through the channels up and down, but that's the only way to change the channels. I can mark favorites, but can't select from the Favorites menu. I don't know if that's an app thing or a remote thing. When I get the new remote, I'll know.

Another app with issues is Amazon Prime Video. Nothing plays. I see my entire Amazon library. Content from my Amazon Prime subscription shows. It does everything but play. I get the little spinner and nothing more. I switched to my Chromecast with Google TV and every played, so I'm thinking it's the device. Could be the fact it's only 2 GB RAM, half the minimum recommended.

Hulu had problems as well. I currently have basic Hulu on demand service, with commercials. I couldn't get content to play. Ads would play, but after the last ad, it would hang up. Again, trying different things led me to think it's the device. Maybe it would perform better with more RAM.

Movies Anywhere works as I would expect. There are no issues I've had so far with that app. It's working well. Same with YouTube. Everything plays as expected. Same with HBO Max.

I didn't try a lot of apps because I didn't want to run out of space just yet. There is still space available. I filled up about ⅓ of the available space, and want to hold off filling up until I test a few more things.

For now, it's a mostly working device. Some issues could be the remote. Some issues could be the RAM. I'll have the remote issue resolved soon, I hope. I'm uncertain what to do about the RAM issue. I'd have to buy a new board with more RAM, and I'm not sure about that just yet.

Once the new remote arrives, I'll have a little better idea about how well, if at all, a Raspberry Pi streamer fits into my Streaming Life.

Will free streaming pass subscription streaming this year?

I'm not a big fan of subscription TV. That is to say, I believe it serves a purpose, but I don't think it's worth subscribing to a service year-round. I'll talk more about that in a little bit. For now, I want to talk about a report from Tubi, the streaming service.

According to its yearly report -- this year's called "The Stream: 2022 Audience Insights for Brands" -- Tubi says that free streaming will surpass subscription streaming in 2022. Here a a few definitions to cover first:

AVOD - This is ad supported video on demand. Things like Pluto TV, Tubi, Xumo, and the like.

SVOD - This is subscription video on demand. Think Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, and the like.

TVOD - This is transactional video on demand. You buy a movie, order a pay-per-view event. Things like that.

When you see AVOD, think free ad-supported content. When you see SVOD, think subscriptions like Netflix. When you see TVOD, think purchases or rentals. Okay? Good.

Back to the Tubi report, the company says AVOD (free streaming) is becoming more popular:

Tubi’s new research highlights the explosive growth of ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) services, set to surpass SVOD this year in audience size, and the changing demographics of a free streaming universe that remains young and multicultural while becoming more reflective of national audience averages in education and affluence.

I'm not surprised by this. I never really thought about it, but I know that I prefer cheaper ad supported content over subscription content.

Frequenting the Roku support forums, I used to see a shipload of people complaining about ads, saying they would pay to remove ads. Many of the long-time users -- Roku calls us "Experts" now (ha!) -- thought otherwise, but privately figured we were not the norm. Well, we soon will be. Or we were trailblazers. One or the other. I'll let you decide.

Anyway, I came to realize years ago that you don't need to pay a boatload of money each month to watch TV. So, once again, I'm offering my suggestion that you may have read before here a time or twelve.

If you subscribe to a service, don't subscribe year-round. Only subscribe when something you really want to watch is available. This mainly applies to live TV content, such as sporting events.

If you have multiple subscription services such as Disney+, HBO Max, Netflix, Hulu, Discovery+, and the like, subscribe to one at a time. For example, subscribe to Disney+ for a month, then cancel. Then subscribe to Netflix for a month, then cancel. Then subscribe to HBO Max for a month, then cancel. Do this with all your services. They all have enough content to fill up a month, plus you have plenty of free options (AVOD, remember?).

Right now, I have Hulu. It's $7/month. The subscription will pause (not cancel) in a week. Then, I'll subscribe to something else. Maybe Disney+. Maybe HBO Max. Maybe Discovery+. Maybe Apple TV+. I don't know, something. But then, only for a month. Then I'll move to something else for a month. During the year, I get the content I want, but I don't pay nearly as much.

Also, during college football season, I'll subscribe to a service, probably Sling TV. Any kind of catch up for some content -- Rick & Morty, for example -- I'll do with the on-demand features of that service.

Tubi says free TV is expanding, and more and more people are flocking to it. That's a good thing. That means less money spent for subscriptions, and if the advertising works, more for goods and services that are advertised. That's a win for everybody. Perhaps your Streaming Life will breathe some life back into this economy.

Signing up for Roku with no credit card

Roku is the most popular, and one of the easiest to use, streaming platforms. There are a lot of good things about it. I'm a fan of Roku. But there is one aspect that I don't like: Roku Pay.

Now, Roku Pay has its purpose, but I will only use it on rare occasions, and generally recommend that people not use it. For the most part.

Here's what Roku Pay is. It's Roku's system of paying for stuff through your Roku account. You can purchase apps, you can subscribe to services, you can buy things through your Roku. It's really nothing more than having your credit card stored and using it to pay for stuff. That's all it really is, when you get down to it.

Roku really likes it, because they make money by making it easy for you to buy or subscribe using Roku, and they get a cut. And they make it really easy to set up Roku pay. When you create a Roku account, it automatically goes to a page where you can fill out credit card or PayPal information to be stored and used if you want to purchase or subscribe to something.

Some people get all bent out of shape over this. I personally don't. Roku has never had a financial data breach. Some have made claims there have been, but when the facts came out, it wasn't a Roku breach. I'm fine with having a credit card stored there. But I get it. Some people don't want that. And, since it comes up automatically when signing up for a Roku account, there's no easy way to get past this. Or so people think. But really, it's easy.

All you have to do is click the Roku logo at the top. That's it. Your account has already been created. Roku is simply trying to gather more information. If you don't want to give it, don't. Just click the Roku logo. It's as simple as that. You'll be taken to the Roku home page, and if you look in the top right, you'll see that you're logged in.

Some people will tell you that you can replace part of the URL with something else, and that' true. When the credit card page comes up, you're on https://my.roku.com/signup/payment

Some say change it to https://my.roku.com/signup/nocc and press Enter. You can do that, sure. But, you can also just click the Roku logo. That's easier, to me.

Skipping the credit card entry is really simple. If you look at the Roku support forum, you'll see people thinking it's the worst thing since Stalin. But it's not. It's just a request for data, and you can easily skip it by clicking the Roku logo. Nothing to get all worked up about.

After you click the logo, click the little person avatar in the top right, and go to the My Account page. Be sure to set up a PIN preference. You have three options:

Always require a PIN to make purchases and add items from the Channel Store.

Always require a PIN to make purchases.

A PIN is not required to make any purchase or add any items from the Channel Store.

I suggest the first or second option. The first one keeps anyone from adding apps to your Roku without the PIN. The first and second keep anyone from making a purchase/subscription without the PIN. I never suggest the third. If you use the first or second, you'll get the PIN when something is trying to happen that will cost you money.

Of course, with the first, you can't add a free app unless you enter the PIN, so if you choose the first option, don't get all worked up about the PIN. If you don't care if a user adds apps, then pick the second option.

That's actually more confusing than skipping the credit card sign up. That's really easy. Again, just click the Roku logo when it asks you to enter your credit card information on account creation.

Using a Roku is really easy. Don't overthink it. Just enjoy it, and enjoy your Streaming Life. 

Raspberry Pi streamer Update 1

I didn't expect to post so soon about my project to build a Raspberry Pi streamer, but here we are.

After I posted, I realized I had everything I needed to begin the project except a remote. I already had a Raspberry Pi device that worked, although a very basic one. It was connected to a keyboard, mouse, and video monitor via a KVM switch.

I already had that up and running, so I knew the hardware was good. I had another microSD card and reader, and was able to set up the software on it. I didn't want to reuse the working OS for the Raspberry Pi, but rather have the streamer OS and software on a separate card. That way, I could just place the card I wanted in it, boot it up, and it would function as I wanted. That's how most will use project devices. I had everything except a remote. So, I looked for a remote to use with it, and found one that claimed to work with it. That arrived Tuesday.

Last night, I decided to see just how complicated it would be to do this. And, yes, it was rather complicated. Well, let's put it this way: I found several different instructions on how to set it up, and ran into issues each time. There was always something a little different about the instructions and reality.

What I mean by that is the instructions would say "You'll find the {thingy} setting under the {whatsit} section of Settings." However, {thingy} wasn't there. Or {whatsit} wasn't, but {whosit} was. Or when that was figured out, some installation would simply fail. I was starting to get frustrated. Then I found The Video.

[Link to YouTube]

This was fantastic! It covered everything, and was easy to do. Hats off to Triple M for his video.

Back to the project. I followed the instructions in the video, using the versions of the software he suggested, and the thing worked! I had a working Android TV streamer. Now, I was using the keyboard and mouse to do the setup of the software. If you follow the video, you'll see that you install a basic OS, then add software features to it via an interface on the device itself. You can do it all on a Windows or Mac device. You prep it there, but put it together on the Raspberry Pi itself.

So, using the keyboard and mouse, it worked great. But I was to the point of using it on my TV. That meant using the remote. Well, the remote didn't work all that well. Regardless, I moved the working Raspberry Pi streamer to the TV, connected it, changed the input on the TV to the HDMI port I was using, then powered it up.

Everything worked except the remote. I was quite disappointed with that. It may be that I did something silly and wrong, but it was late, and I called it a night.

I'm going to do a bit more research into it, and may end up with a different remote, but either way, the project isn't done. Well, unless I want to control it with a keyboard and mouse, which I don't.

I'm happy so far with the Raspberry Pi as a streaming project. I'll find out once I get the remote control issue worked out if it's really a good streaming device. So, for now, it's still a project in my Streaming Life.

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Update 2

Is Fubo FUBAR?

The news hit this weekend about Fubo's new pricing structure. If you're new to Fubo TV, you can sign up, but the monthly plan is no longer available. The shortest plan is a quarterly plan. And, the pricing is all jacked up, too. That's the really big story, I think.

Let me clarify: by "jacked up" I mean a couple of things.

One thing I mean is a price increase. Fubo seems to have hidden a price increase into all of this. They've upped their prices by a huge amount, then turned around and discounted it to the current price.

The other thing I mean is that whoever at Fubo knows math was left out of the whole thing. The math is wrong. But, as I'll show, even if you take the best way of looking at it, the prices are really high. And Fubo is now the most expensive live streaming service, taking the crown from DirecTV Stream and Hulu+Live TV.

First, let's look at the pricing schedule for new users.

I don't see a monthly plan. And neither do you.

Now, if you've subscribed before, and log in with your old credentials, you'll be presented with the option to renew at whatever old rate you had, for one month at a time. I haven't resubscribed, so I don't know if the renewals are monthly, or if they change to quarterly. I suspect monthly, but I don't know that for certain, and haven't seen anyone who has resubscribed after this change hit.

The other thing I don't know is for new subscribers, is if the renewal is at quarterly intervals, or if it reverts to monthly after the first quarter. I suspect the term is quarterly going forward, but I don't know that.

That leads to the really big story. Fubo TV went up in price. Notice the $65/month price listed. That's what Fubo has been for some time. So, where's the price increase? Look next to the price. See the "29% savings" thing? What that is saying is that the most recent price of $65/month is now a discounted price of 29% off.

Now, I'm pretty good at math, but I am going to round to the nearest dollar to keep the numbers simple. This will give you a good idea of what to expect, okay?

If $65/month is a 29% savings, that mean the regular price is $92/month (actually $91.53). A savings percentage reflects off the full price. Take 92 and subtract 29% (or multiply by .71, same thing). You get about 65. That means that to get a 29% savings at the $65/month price, the full price is nearly $92/month. That's a huge price increase. In fact, it's an over 40% price increase. Take 65 and multiply by 1.4 (that's adding 40%) and you get 91.

Now, if you actually click through the signup as a new person, you see a different price, however. Fubo says the regular monthly price is $80.97. That's a nearly 25% price increase.

Anyway you look at it, Fubo's math is wrong, and that's probably just a mistake, not a an outright lie. Somebody screwed up, and is giving out bad numbers, and probably not on purpose. But even then, that works out to Fubo TV increasing their prices by over 24%. And that's the best-case scenario.

Of course, it bears repeating that this pricing is for new subscribers. Current, and apparently previous, subscribers get the monthly option still, at the monthly rate we're used to seeing, which is the monthly average of the new quarterly plans.

But does any of this matter? Yes. Yes it does matter. But let's look at both sides of the argument.

If you think Fubo TV's $65/month plan is a good thing, and you plan to subscribe for at least three months anyway, there's no big deal. You'll still get the same good service at the same price. So, if you look at it like this, it doesn't matter.

But to me it does matter. Here's what I don't like. One of the biggest attractions about streaming plans is the fact you can subscribe for one month at a time. And you still can for Sling TV, Philo, Frndly.TV, Vidgo, YouTube TV, Hulu+Live TV, DirecTV Stream, and others. But not Fubo. Not Fubo.

Nothing about the service itself has changed, just the term of service. It's now three months. And I don't like that. I didn't like being locked in to long term plans for cable, and I don't like a streaming service trying to lock me in for a longer time.

I'm worried that if this succeeds, the dams will break. And if that happens, the "damns" will break as well

[Link to video]

Fubo TV is still a streaming service that offers a good selection at a reasonable price on average. But I don't expect them to be in my Streaming Live going forward.

Raspberry Pi streamer?

I may have a new project to do. I recently updated my Plex server, and have a couple of other things I need (okay, want) to do. But in the last several weeks, another project has come to mind that is more streaming related.

For Christmas, I gave one of my grandsons a Raspberry Pi kit. I had thought about doing a Raspberry Pi project for some time, but never really got around to it. Well, when I was trying to decide what to get this one grandson, the idea of a Raspberry Pi was floated, and that's what I ended up doing.

I'm not sure he really got into it, but it did get me to thinking. I know there are several projects that one can do with Raspberry Pi devices, including a streaming device. Now we're talking.

I'm shopping around for the things needed to build a streaming device out of a Raspberry Pi. From everything I can tell, the newer, more powerful devices will run Android TV. I've used a couple of different Android/Google TV devices, and I think it's a fine platform. I wish the Android/Google TV devices I've used had a little more power and storage, but maybe if I build my own, I can resolve that. Maybe.

Don't get me wrong. I really like Roku devices. And the Amazon Fire TV devices work well. And Apple TV. And I like Google/Android TV devices I've used -- Chromecast, TiVo, onn (box, not stick), and others -- so this little project may be a fun thing to do.

I'm not sure if this project, if successful, will be a long-term part of my Streaming Life, or just a side project to see if I can. Either way, it'll be fun.

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Update 1

Update 2

Watching the Pro Bowl

The NFL all star game, called the Pro Bowl, is this afternoon. For years, it was played in Hawaii. From 1979 through 2015, it was in Hawaii every year except 2009 (Miami, FL) and 2014 (Phoenix, AZ). After four years in Orlando, and a cancellation last year, the game returns, being played in Las Vega, NV.

As often happens, players from the two teams in the Super Bowl won't play. Well, most from the Bengals and Rams that were selected have opted out, but as of this writing, some are still on the roster. Other stars often opt out as well. The NFC starting QB Aaron Rogers, along with Tom Brady (his 15th Pro Bowl selection), are not playing. The Cardinals' Kyler Murray, along with replacements Kirk Cousins and Russell Wilson will play, as of this writing.

On the AFC side, the three selected quarterbacks are still scheduled to play. Starter Justin Herbert, along with Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson are still expected to play. I won't go over the entire roster, but you can see the AFC roster and the NFC roster to see who will be in the game.

What you want to know is how can you watch the game, right? Well, it will be on four networks: ABC, ESPN, Disney XD, and NFL Network.

ABC

• Antenna, if you are in range (most of you are). (Free)
• Vidgo ($55/month)
• Fubo ($65/month)
• YouTube TV ($65/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($70/month)
• DirecTV Stream ($70/month)

ESPN

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

Disney XD

• Sling TV (Orange) with Kids Extra add-on ($41/month)
• Vidgo ($55/month)
• Fubo ($65/month)
• YouTube TV ($65/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($70/month)
• DirecTV Stream ($70/month)

NFL Network

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

Any of these will get you the Pro Bowl. If the NFL all star game is something you want in your Streaming Life, you have plenty of options.

Amazon Prime price increase

If you're an Amazon Prime member -- and I've been one for years and years -- there's a price increase coming. The current price of $119 will become $139 come February 18 for new customers, or March 25 for those renewing.

As I've said, I've had an Amazon Prime membership for a long long time. I was a Prime member before there was a thing called Prime Video. I was a Prime member when Unbox was introduced. Unbox became Instant Video on Demand, and is now called Prime Video. That's how long I've been a member.

I think (I really should check to be sure) it was originally $79/year. It went up to $99/year, then to $119/year. Now, the next price increase is coming and again, it's another $20/year increase.

Amazon last hiked the price of Prime in 2018, when it increased to $119 from $99. Four years before that, it raised the subscription fee to $99 from $79.

Amazon’s annual increase amounts to about a 17% rise in price. Amazon also raised the monthly price of a Prime membership from $12.99 to $14.99, the company said. New members will see the increased prices on Feb. 18, and current members will be billed at the higher rate after March 25.

Well, there you go. It was $79 to start with. It's not quite doubled since it's original launch, but it is giving me some pause.

When it started, there was no video service. We went with it because we calculated that the cost would be justified by the shipping benefits. Now, at $60/year more than it first cost, I have to wonder if it is worthwhile.

I suppose if you figure the video services into it, it is worth it. But we didn't subscribe for video services, and have always considered that a bonus. No longer. It's now figuring into my calculations, because I'm not sure we'd get $140 worth of benefits over a year from the shipping. Heck, I'm not really sure we're getting $120 worth, the current cost.

So, now Prime Video moves from a bonus to something I'm actually paying for. It's still cheaper than Netflix (the middle and higher package). I'm not a fan of the interface still. It's better. Or maybe I'm just more used to it. I've never liked the interface. But the amount of content is really good, and as a streaming service, it's probably worth it.

I'll be keeping Prime Video in my Streaming Life. I just don't like having to pay more for it. Such is life, even a streaming one.