Plex on Raspberry Pi deployed

I mentioned before about managing a Plex server for a family member. It went out, and was in need of replacing. It was serious. So, rather than buy or put together a Frankenstreamer, I decided to do a little of both. I decided to use a Raspberry Pi as a Plex streaming server.

Well, I ran into some troubles, and combined another project I was trying with resolving my family member's Plex issues. I decided to try an Nvidia Shield as a Plex server. It went well. At first. Then it began to need to be booted every three days or so.

Along this time, I resolved my KVM switch issues, so I was able to run both Nvidia Shield and Raspberry Pi in parallel. And I resolved the Raspberry Pi issues (actually, an update to Ubuntu fixed it).

When everything settled, the Raspberry Pi turned out to be the way I went. Whatever was causing instability with Nvidia Shield may be worked out, but for now, Raspberry Pi, running Ubuntu, is the Plex server I'm using.

And I'm happy with it. I think she'll be happy with it. She was surprised to see the size of it, but a little excited to have it back. Of course, setting it up was easy. Well, I had to move everything from my house to hers, but I did bring everything except the monitor. I got the official Raspberry Pi keyboard, mouse, power supply, case, fan, everything. I used her existing monitor from the dead Windows machine and didn't set up the Raspberry Pi monitor (yes, there is one of sorts).

No, I didn't use the existing keyboard and mouse, because the Raspberry Pi one stands out, being white and red. I wanted it to be clear what was what. The monitor wasn't an issue, just the keyboard and mouse, so that's how I resolved that. It didn't cost that much more to go that route, and having the entire setup (except the monitor) being Raspberry Pi branded made it look really official. So, it wasn't necessary, but it's how I went.

So, how's it going? Well, I set it up Friday, and it ran fine through the weekend. We'll be keeping an eye on it to ensure it works as expected. But so far, her Streaming Life includes a working Plex server again, and that was the goal.

Major League Baseball still doesn't want my money

I've been streaming regularly since 2010, with occasional streaming in the years before that. While many have only recently become streamers, I've been doing it for a while. And my son even longer, as he's the one who got me looking into it as a serious alternative back in 2008.

The point is that streaming is not a new thing. It's bigger than it used to be, and will be even bigger as time goes on. Since it's not a new thing, there really is no good reason for the major sports leagues to not accommodate streamers. But that's where we are. And for years, I've been wanting to give Major League Baseball my money. But they don't seem to want it.

I'm a fan of the Atlanta Braves. I've been in Georgia longer than they have, but I've come to appreciate those newcomers to my state. And if I want to watch a Braves game, I have to either go to the game, or have a pay TV service that carries them. As a Braves fan, I'd like to be able to watch them streaming via a service such as MLB TV. But, the games are blacked out in my area. Doesn't matter if the Braves are at home, or on the road, even on west coast, I can't watch a Braves game live via MLB TV.

And it's not just me. A lot of people in a large area can't watch the Braves live on MLB TV.

If I could, I'd watch the Braves with an MLB TV subscription, but blackouts means I can't. So, ever since I started streaming, I've wanted to subscribe and watch. And since MLB TV streamed its first game in 2002 (yes, 2002), they've know about streamers and how much we'd like to watch our teams live. And 20 years later, blackouts still top that.

I know there are business decisions that are locking down the games to pay TV services, but the bottom line in that nobody in five full states, most of another, and half of another still, can't watch Braves games live with MLB TV.

I suppose I could use a VPN on my network to get around such things, but I won't. The terms of service are what the terms of service are. And if they don't want me to watch the games streaming, I won't. I won't watch them any other way, either.

And that's how it's been for the last few years. I've not watch much baseball, because they don't want me to watch it the way I want to watch it. They want to make my Streaming Life difficult. So, I'll keep my measly $140. 

Roku 11 is here!! New and unimproved!.

A few days ago when Roku announced the new OS 11 had been released. And, within a day of the announcement, I had it on one of my devices. I didn't find out until later, because it was on a device in a spare room, and because Roku doesn't send the updates out all at once, even to the same user. As is normal, one of my devices got it early (though never before this early) and the other ones will have to wait.

So, for that one device that's running OS 11, how is it you might ask. No, really. Go ahead and ask.

Well, since you asked, here's what I found different: nothing.

Yep, absolutely nothing different.

What the ...???

Well, as it turns out, all of those fancy dancy changes that will come with OS 11 will come later to OS 11. So, all this hype about what Roku OS 11 brings is ... just hype. Nothing rolled out with the update. No new features. Those seem to be updates to the interface. And what rolled out was the behind the scenes changes that are needed to support the features. So, yeah, technically, Roku OS 11 is on one of my Roku devices, but none of the promised features are there.

If you recall, last April, when Roku announced OS 10.0, Roku promised "Improved convenience of the Live TV Channel Guide." Remember that? The Live TV Guide Customization feature? Well, it never rolled out with 10.0. It finally showed up later, in 10.5. Now I'm wondering how much of the new features that run under OS 11 will roll out soon. I'm not holding my breath.

Now, it could be that Roku rolls them out today. It could be they roll them out next week. Or next month. Or late in the year. Or next year. But, sure, yeah, the features promised will arrive. Eventually. Probably.

Roku has been a valuable part of my Streaming Life for many years. But doggone it, they sure can be aggravating at times.

Starlink satellites and monthly are going up

As Starlink expands its coverage with more and more satellite launches, one other thing is going up: it's subscription cost.

Starlink launched with a $99/month cost. The company recently announced that the monthly cost is going up to $110, an increase of over 10%, according to reports.

SpaceX sent notices on Tuesday to Starlink users and deposit holders noting the higher prices, according to a copy of the email obtained by CNBC.

“The sole purpose of these adjustments is to keep pace with rising inflation,” the Starlink email said.

Starlink’s baseline monthly service price will increase by 11%, to $110 from $99 per month, effective May 21. The price of the baseline Starlink hardware will jump by 10%, to $549 from $499, for users who placed a deposit but are on SpaceX’s waiting list for service.

For new orders, the company increased the base hardware price by 20%, to $599 from $499.

My sister has the service, and while she's not happy with the price increase, she's not exactly grabbing her pitchfork either.

She was in a bad situation regarding Internet service. Two separate Internet Service Providers served houses in her neighborhood, but neither would serve her house. The house next door to hers has Internet service from a major provider, but they won't extend the service to her house. She had to get traditional satellite Internet, and satellite TV service, but now she has Starlink and streams everything. And she's taking the price increase in stride.

Yeah, but it’s still a great price based on what we were paying and for the coverage we have. Stormed all night and day and have not lost service.

I'm fortunate that I have at least one option with Comcast/Xfinity, and I'm paying less than half of what she was paying. I suppose I am fortunate in that respect. And while she's not happy her new Streaming Life is costing more, she knows it could still be a lot worse.

Roku 11.0 is coming, sooner or later

I got a surprise a couple of days ago. On Tuesday, Roku announced that Roku OS 11.0 had been released. I had actually communicated with someone on Monday who had received the update, so I knew it was coming. Neither I nor he had participated in the beta release of OS 11, so when he got it, I knew it was out, and the next day, Roku announced it.

Normally, it takes a while for me to get it. But late Tuesday night, I got it. One one device. I checked four devices, and only one of them had the update, but that's normal. Some people expect to get the update the day it's released. I've never got it that early. Once, I got an update within a week or two after release, but this is the first time I got it the day they announced it.

And, of course, it's only on one of my devices. That's another thing some people don't understand. You probably won't get the update to all of your devices at the same time. At least, I've never received updates to all my devices at the same time. There's no pattern to when it will arrive. It's not by Roku account, it's not by geographical region. It's not by model number. It's not by anything we can tell. It just is, whenever it is.

So, let's recap.

If you get the Roku OS 11 on one or more of your devices, then that's normal.

If you don't get Roku OS 11 on one or more of your devices, that's normal too.

If you get Roku OS 11 on one but not other devices, that's normal.

If you don't get it for a month, that's normal.

If you don't get it for two months, that's normal.

If you don't get it for three months, that's normal.

So, when will you get it? When you get it. You might not like that answer, but that's the truth. Your not liking doesn't matter.

Roku updates don't have any discernable rhyme or reason to when it happens, and if you have more than one Roku device, you may not get them all at once, or even close together. It's how it is. If you have Roku, that random update rollout process is now a part of your Streaming Life.