Two antennae?

When I was younger, we had an antenna at the house. I was the one designated to go turn the antenna before my parents bought a rotor to turn it.

If you have no idea of what I'm talking about, I'll try to explain. At the top of the antenna pole was a motor to which was connected a short pole that contained the actual antenna. And running from the motor down to the TV was a power cord that attached to a controller that determined which way to point the antenna.

If it was set correctly, setting the controller to north pointed the antenna north. If it was moved to the east, the motor would turn and the antenna would point to the east. And it went the full 360° of the compass, pointing the antenna where you wanted it.

And, if you aren't sure why that would be needed, well, that was because we were one of many many families that could pick up TV from multiple cities, or at least, from multiple directions. For some nearer the big cities, there may be an antenna on one side of town and another on the other side of town. Or one of a bunch of other reasons why you would want to point the antenna to a different direction.

For us, it was Savannah in one direction and Jacksonville in another direction. We could pick up the stations from both, if the antenna was pointed that way.

Before we got an controller and rotor, I was the one designated to go outside and physically turn the pole to point to Savannah or Jacksonville.

Today, it may not be quite as easy. First of all, my antenna pole isn't as tall as the one my parents had. Next, the digital signals don't really pick up from Jacksonville as clearly as the old analog signals did. And part of that is because I'm in a slightly different terrain from where my parents' house was.

I don't know if I want to try to pick up stations from a location other than Savannah. I'm close enough to pick some up, from the charts I've seen, so it may be something I want to do. But if I do decide that, I don't want to turn the antenna. Rather, an option might be to put up a second antenna and combine the signals.

Here's the thing. That can lead to interference between the signals and make the channels unwatchable. How do you deal with that? Well, you can get antennae that are designed to do just that. Tablo had an article on their Website that covered that very topic a few days ago:

When you live in between two cities, or in places where local Over-the-Air TV broadcast towers are oddly distributed, your antenna needs may be a bit different than most.

Even 'omnidirectional' TV antennas can really only pick up stations from about a 40-degree spread. So if you're in a similar situation to Tom, you have two decent options: a TV antenna with poseable 'elements' or two directional antennas and a combiner accessory.

The articles goes on to mention a specific antenna sold for that purpose. It may be something that I look into, although I'm not sure I want to replace my current, works quite well, expensive antenna.

However, if you are thinking about putting up an antenna array that picks up stations from different directions, you should at least research if something like that is feasible.

If you are able to put up an antenna, or add an antenna to gain extra stations, you will probably be quite happy with the additional choices these offer to supplement your Streaming Life.

Plex breach

I've been a fan of Plex for quite a bit. But recently, Plex did something that I really didn't like. They got breached.

Sure, I know, these things happen. But these things should not happen.

Any company that pretends to be technology based or handles money -- and that includes companies such as Plex -- knows that there are people that will try to break in, and need to secure their servers.

Plex got hacked. Somebody broke in and got user information. And I got an email last week:

Dear Plex User,

We want you to be aware of an incident involving your Plex account information yesterday. While we believe the actual impact of this incident is limited, we want to ensure you have the right information and tools to keep your account secure.

What happened

Yesterday, we discovered suspicious activity on one of our databases. We immediately began an investigation and it does appear that a third-party was able to access a limited subset of data that includes emails, usernames, and encrypted passwords. Even though all account passwords that could have been accessed were hashed and secured in accordance with best practices, out of an abundance of caution we are requiring all Plex accounts to have their password reset. Rest assured that credit card and other payment data are not stored on our servers at all and were not vulnerable in this incident.

What we're doing

We've already addressed the method that this third-party employed to gain access to the system, and we're doing additional reviews to ensure that the security of all of our systems is further hardened to prevent future incursions. While the account passwords were secured in accordance with best practices, we're requiring all Plex users to reset their password.

What you can do

Long story short, we kindly request that you reset your Plex account password immediately. When doing so, there's a checkbox to "Sign out connected devices after password change." This will additionally sign out all of your devices (including any Plex Media Server you own) and require you to sign back in with your new password. This is a headache, but we recommend doing so for increased security. We have created a support article with step-by-step instructions on how to reset your password here.

The email was even longer than what I've posted here, but that covers the main parts of it.

I'll give Plex credit for not hiding it, as some companies have done, and letting users know, as well as suggesting that password changes be conducted.

But ... this never should have happened. No company worth a darn should let something like this happen. Somebody didn't do their job.

Things like this are quite aggravating. I want to simply stream content, both from the Internet and play my local content. I just want to enjoy my Streaming Life. I don't want to have to worry about my personal data being compromised because somebody was too busy to do their job.

Pi Hole testing, part 2

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had set up and was running Pi Hole, a DNS service that is often used to block ads. I also mentioned that I didn't want it to block ads, but rather, to block tracking of online activity.

I'm not doing anything that I would be ashamed for my kids to know about, but rather I don't like being tracked and the data being sold and used to target me for ads and emails.

During the initial setup, the default blacklist included information for ad services as well as trackers. I also used a Raspberry Pi device that was actually overkill for the job. I used a Pi 4 B with 8 GB RAM. That's more that is needed to do the job. However, a Raspberry Pi 2 that I had ordered arrived last week, and I set it up. I used Raspberry Pi OS Lite (formerly Raspian), which is a command line version of the OS. There is no desktop interface, and everything is command line. I added a USB connected Ethernet port and set a status IP address. I added Pi Hole service, and added the scripts. This was essentially my re-doing step one of the three step process on this project:

Blocking trackers is actually functionality that is built in to many Web browsers. However, I'm looking for a network wide solution to blocking trackers. That's where Pi Hole comes in.

It's a multiple stage process I'm going through. First, I want to see how easy it is to set up and run in general.

Next, I am researching how to block trackers on the network without impacting ad services....

Then, I want to confirm how well the process works on the network.

I'm at stage two, where I'm trying to block trackers without impacting ad services. I've turned off all of the ad blocking scripts. However, some ads are still blocked. That's because some ads also track your usage. Ads that don't track usage aren't getting blocked, but ads that do track usage do get blocked. This is more in line with what I've been looking to do. As I said, I don't mind ads. I do mind my online activity being tracked and sold.

It's been right at a week now that I turned off the ad blockers and are using only tracker and malicious Website blocking lists. That freed up 135,885 URLs (yes, I counted them). I'm feeling a lot better now knowing that I'm only blocking trackers and am letting regular ads through.

Actually, some of those are trackers and are in other lists, so I didn't actually free up 135,000 URLs, but I did free up a lot. If a Website or service has ads and the ads don't track my usage, then I'll see the ads, and I'm okay with that.

I understand why others use Pi Hole to block ads. And if you fall into that category, that's your decision, just as how I'm doing things is mine. My online experience and Streaming Life need to work as I want them to work for me, just as you should have yours work as you want.

Watching college football games this weekend: Week 1, Weekend 1

College football kicks off this weekend, and fans such as me have been waiting for this since January.

This season, if you've cut the cord, you'll be wanting to find ways to stream the games, or otherwise watch the games without cable. And ever since 2015, when Sling TV launched, it's been possible to watch nearly any major college football (Division 1-A/FBS) game as a streamer.

Week 1, weekend 1, is this weekend. If that sounds odd, it is. In the past, there have been references to "Week Zero" as the weekend before the official "Week One" that is when most of the teams start play. However, it seems that "Week Zero" isn't being used by everyone anymore. It was kind of stupid anyway, so I'm glad it's not being as widely used. However, now Week 1 covers two weekends.

Week 1 is games from Saturday, August 27th, through Monday, September 5. And yes, those 10 days cover two weekends. Week 1 has two weekends. So, I'm calling this Week 1, Weekend 1. Next week will be Week 1, Weekend 2. At least, that's what I'm calling it. I don't expect that to catch on. If you have a better idea, let's hear it.

All right, then.

There are only 11 games this weekend, none featuring ranked teams. Only 10 games will air. Sorry North Texas and Texas-El Paso; you'll have to go to the stadium, listen on radio (which is available online), or hope that one of the schools will carry it on their Website.

Of the games that you can watch, you have games being carried on ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS Sports Network, ESPN2, Fox, and Fox Sports 1. In future weekends, more networks will be carrying games, but this weekend, only these six are carrying the ten broadcast games.

So, how do you watch these networks?

ACC Network

• Sling Orange, with Sports Extra, $46/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $65/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Choice, $90/month.

Big Ten Network

• Sling Blue, with Sports Extra, $46/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $65/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Choice, $90/month.

CBS Sports Network

• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Ultimate, $105/month.

ESPN2

• Sling Orange, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

Fox

• Antenna, over the air, free.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

Fox Sports 1

• Sling Blue, with Sports Extra, $46/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $65/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

If you only want a few of these, one service may do the job. But, if you want to have them all, the cheapest way is ...

YouTube TV. This weekend, if you want to watch every game on your streaming device, the cheapest way to get all 10 games is YouTube TV, at $65/month.

Note that later in the year, possibly as early as next weekend, it may be that there are games that YouTube TV isn't carrying. Let's go ahead and look at the games from next Thursday and Friday.

Some of the Week 1, Weekend 2 games are played on Thursday and Friday. And some of those games are on networks we haven't covered. So, what are they and how do you watch them?

ESPNU

• Sling Orange, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.
• Fubo TV Elite, $80/month.

ESPN3

ESPN3 is usually included with a service that carries standard ESPN/ESPN2.

• Sling Orange, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

ESPN+

ESPN+ is a standalone sports programming service. It is not the same thing as regular ESPN that you get with cable or one of the live streaming services. Some content from ESPN, ESPN2, or other ESPN networks may be available on ESPN+, but often, it's content that is only available on ESPN+.

• ESPN+, $7/month.
• Disney Bundle, $14/month.

Pac 12 Network

• Sling Blue, with Sports Extra, $46/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $65/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• Fubo TV Pro, with Fubo Extra, $78/month.
• Fubo TV Elite, $80/month.

SEC Network

• Sling Orange, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Choice, $90/month.
• Fubo TV Ultimate, $100/month.

That changes things. YouTube TV doesn't carry Pac 12 Network, and ESPN+ is a standalone package. So, what is the cheapest way to watch all of the games from August 27-September 2?

Fubo TV Ultimate and ESPN+, totaling $107/month is the cheapest way to get all of these networks. The networks that run the price up so much are Pac 12 Network and CBS Sports Network. Those are not carried on as many services, and limit your choices greatly. If you could do without one or both of those, you could get all the remaining games for a better price. But, if you want it all, that's what it will cost you.

Regardless, this does show that it's possible to keep college football in your Streaming Life. Cutting cable doesn't mean cutting out college football. The money you save on cable can be used to subscribe to a streaming service with the games you want. The money you still have left over after that can be used for nachos! Or whatever your favorite game snack is.

Making an old smart TV better

Imagine this scenario. It will be easy for some of you.

You bought a new TV, maybe during a Black Friday sale, and you go it home and it was absolutely wonderful. You were able to stream content, and that whole world opened up to you.

Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Pluto TV, and so many other services were just a few button pushes away. Life, particularly your Streaming Life, was good.

That was then. Time has passed, and things are not quite as good.

Oh, the TV picture is great. You can't beat the colors, the sharpness of the image, and even the sound. But, there's ... something.

When you press a button, or launch an app, things aren't quite as snappy as they used to be. Maybe things have slowed down a notch. Maybe you're just more aware of how long things are taking to happen. Not long, but long enough to notice.

Things aren't quite as great as they used to be, for whatever reason. So, what do you do?

Do you wait for the next Black Friday sale and buy another TV? I mean, that one has a good picture and great sound. It seems like it would be a waste of money to not get more life out of that TV.

Well, if you've experienced this, or know someone who has, don't you buy a new TV. Or let them buy one. Unless of course you just want one. But be aware that you don't need one.

You can treat the TV like it's not a smart TV. Get a Roku device. Or a Fire TV device. Or an Apple TV device. Or a Google TV device. If your TV is otherwise good, but the streaming experience has seemed to have gone downhill, replace the streamer, but keep the TV.

Adding a streaming device to a smart TV is actually a good idea, if the circumstances are right.

One reason, as we've been saying, is that the streaming functionality is now sluggish. It's not as snappy as it once was. So a streaming connected to one of the HDMI ports on the TV now turns your smart TV into a new streaming capable setup, with your Roku (or Fire TV, Apple TV, or Google TV) device now handling the streaming.

What other reasons might there be? Well, for me, it's because I want the same experience on all the TVs. I have Roku and Fire TV devices on all of my TVs. Roku is my primary streamer of choice, but I will use the Fire TV device on occasion, and can do it on all my TVs.

If  you have a streamer on one of your older TVs, and your newer smart TV is showing some age, get the same brand streamer for the smart TV. You'll get better performance, and a consistent interface.

There are ways to put some new life into your old TV. Add  your streaming device of choice, and improve your Streaming Life.