My Streaming Life

Sunday, November 20, 2022

Plex on Raspberry Pi, revisited

Recently, I was visiting a family member that had Plex running on a Raspberry Pi device. I had set that up in March and it had been running ever since.

So, everything is good, right? Well, not exactly.

When I set it up, I followed instructions of others who had set up Plex on Raspberry Pi. And they used the full Raspberry Pi graphical user interface (GUI). You know, with the windows and mouse and such.

If you're setting up a personal computer, that's fine. That works well. But, it does take up resources, and that can be a problem. Not a huge problem, but everything the device has to manage and operate that is not needed is a waste of resources, and more importantly, something that can go wrong and cause a device to hang up.

You see, Plex should run just fine without the GUI. It has a small Web server running, and if I want to use a GUI, it's easy enough to simply launch a Web browser. And that's how it's managed. We don't need to physically go into the room where the device is located (where the Internet service comes in; not the main room of the house) to get on it. Launching a browser can be done from anywhere on the network.

However, there are other tasks that need to happen from time to time, particularly updates to the operating system.

Now, with it running a full installation of Ubuntu Linux, there are many applications that are installed with a setup like that. And those applications are not needed to run Linux, but they do need to be updated from time to time, for security reasons. And that's the issue with a full GUI installation for a dedicated purpose device.

So, here's what I'm thinking I'll do. I will set up another device running a headless install of Linux. With just a command line setup, the updates will be simple enough. Running SSH will allow connection from another room. And, should things go horribly wrong, it would be easy enough to connect a monitor, keyboard, and mouse to access. But most of the time, accessing the command line is easy, and updates will be two commands:

sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade -y

That's easy, right? And you don't even have to get out of your chair.

But if it's working, why would I want to go through all this trouble. Well, it's not exactly working. There are some issues with updates. Oh, to be sure, you can do updates, but the Ubuntu installation is wonky, and command line updates don't always work. So, it needs some work, and I'm thinking the thing to do is to just put in a new, simpler installation.

I like things to just work in my Streaming Life, and right now, maintaining Plex isn't working as it should. And I will fix it. "It tasks me." And if you know that quote, you know I may fail gloriously if I allow it to blind me as the speaker of those words was blinded, obsessed. But when you get down to it, I just want it to work.

Saturday, November 19, 2022

Watching college football games this weekend: Week 12

College football season in now in Week 12. All four unbeaten teams are also playing, and all are favored to win. Three are expected to be blowouts -- Georgia, Ohio State, and Michigan are big favorites -- but TCU is a close favorite.

If you want to watch all of the games this season, you need access to most of the networks, which can get expensive. Of course, you might not want to be able to watch all the games.

This weekend, only one game will not be on these networks. Here are the networks carrying games:

ABC
ACC Network
Big 12
Big Ten
CBS
CBS Sports Network
ESPN
ESPN 2
ESPN 3
ESPN U
SEC Network
ESPN+
Fox
Fox Sports 1
Longhorn Network (No games this week)
NBC
NFL Network
Pac 12 Network
Peacock
Stadium
FloSports
Team1Sports

Here is how to watch these networks listed. Note the prices reflect the announced price increases for Sling TV:

ABC

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.

ACC Network

Sling Orange, with Sports Extra, $51/month.
Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $70/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, $51/month.
Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $70/month.
Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
YouTube TV, $65/month.
Fubo TV, $70/month.
Hulu+Live TV, $70.
DirecTV Stream Choice, $90/month.

CBS

Antenna, over the air, free.
Paramount+ Premium, $10/month.
Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
YouTube TV, $65/month.
Fubo TV, $70/month.
Hulu+Live TV, $70.
DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

CBS Sports Network

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

ESPN

Sling Orange, $40/month.
Sling Orange+Blue, $55/month.
Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
YouTube TV, $65/month.
Fubo TV, $70/month.
Hulu+Live TV, $70.
DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

ESPN2

Sling Orange, $40/month.
Sling Orange+Blue, $55/month.
Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
YouTube TV, $65/month.
Fubo TV, $70/month.
Hulu+Live TV, $70.
DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

ESPN U

Sling Orange, $40/month.
Sling Orange+Blue, $55/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, $40/month.
Sling Orange+Blue, $55/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.

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, $51/month.
Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $70/month.
Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
YouTube TV, $65/month.
Fubo TV, $70/month.
Hulu+Live TV, $70.
DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

Longhorn Network

Sling Blue, with Sports Extra, $51/month.
Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $70/month.
Vidgo Plus, $60/month.

NBC

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

NFL Network

Sling Blue, with Sports Extra, $51/month.
Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $70/month.
Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
YouTube TV, $65/month.
Fubo TV, $70/month.
Hulu+Live TV, $70.

Pac 12 Network

Sling Blue, $40/month.
Sling Orange+Blue, $55/month.
Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
Fubo TV Pro, with Fubo Extra, $78/month.
Fubo TV Elite, $80/month.

Peacock TV

Peacock is a standalone streaming service that carries NBCUniversal programming, including much sports from NBC as well as exclusive sports programming. Peacock Premium is $5/month, but is included with Xfinity Internet plans.

SEC Network

Sling Orange, $40/month.
Sling Orange+Blue, $55/month.
Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
YouTube TV, $65/month.
Hulu+Live TV, $70.
DirecTV Stream Choice, $90/month.
Fubo TV Ultimate, $100/month.

Stadium, Mountain West

Website, free.
Stadium app, free.
Plex, free.
Roku Channel, free.
Sling Free, free.
STIRR, free.
Tubi, free.
Xumo, free.
Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
YouTube TV, $65/month.
Fubo TV, $70/month.
Stadium app, free.

FloSports

FloSports app, $13/month.

Team1Sports

Team1Sports app, free

This list of networks covers all the games airing today. It also covers games next week through Friday, as the early games next week are all on one of these networks.

NOTE: Longhorn Network is not needed this weekend.

To watch all the games, having an antenna won't really matter, as in order to get all the networks carrying games, the services also carry the OTA stations. So, how much to watch them all?

The services necessary will cost $98. That's $78 for Fubo TV Pro + Fubo Extra, along with $7 for ESPN+, and $13 for FloSports.

If you want college football in your Streaming Life, you have options, though it can get expensive depending just how many games you want to watch.

Friday, November 18, 2022

Antenna: avoid bad antennae when making your choice

I mentioned recently (again) about Tyler the Antenna Man. He's pretty good about keeping up with things.

If you are thinking about getting an antenna, spend some time looking at his YouTube videos. You can learn a lot from him ahead of making your decision.

He had a video earlier this week about a really popular, but really bad, TV antenna. Give it a watch, if you or someone you know is looking at getting a TV antenna.

[Direct link]

There are many antennae like this one in many stores, both brick and mortar and online. Be careful with your antenna choice. You want a happy Streaming Life. An antenna like this one can ruin it.

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Choosing an antenna the easy way: let someone do it for you

Although we had an antenna in my youth, by the time I was out and on my on, cable was big, and had all the channels I wanted, and more. When I got my own place, I didn't get an antenna because I got cable. That gave me all the local channels. My parents eventually got cable, and finally took down their antenna. I don't know why they didn't just leave it, but this is what they did.

When I dropped cable back in 2011, I lost access to my local stations. I didn't often watch local channels, so it wasn't a big deal. There were some network shows I watched, but I was able to watch them on Hulu in 2011. So, I went without an antenna for a while. I put up an antenna and was able to watch local channels that way.

Years later, my mother dropped cable, and I put up an antenna at her house. This time, though, it was a little different. She lived over 40 miles from the TV towers, and you can't just get any TV antenna to work. So, I had to do a little research.

A couple of years back, I ran across Tyler the Antenna Man's YouTube channel. I watched one of his videos and, while I don't claim to be an expert, much less "The Antenna Man," I do know a little bit about what I'm doing. I did my research. But, I figured I'd watch more of his videos and see just what he was all about.

Turns out, I was impressed with his knowledge. His videos are for the general public. He doesn't exactly dumb it down for people who don't understand or care about all the things that go into picking up TV signals, but he does explain things in a way that's good for most people.

I had picked out an antenna for my mother's place, but hadn't purchased it yet. Part of the problem was finding somebody to put it up. It's not just the physical installation of the antenna an pole, but the electrical lines that ran there. Those are dangerous, and I'm not looking to play reckless games with an antenna. I needed someone to install.

Tyler's Website offers a consultation service (I think I paid around $40 back in 2020; it is still that price today) for both an antenna, but also installer options. He found someone that would install it for me.

Tyler's antenna recommendation was a good one, and he did find someone to install it, so I was happy with the decision to use his service.

The installer had antennae that would do the job, and the one he brought was one of the ones Tyler had recommended. I felt good about it all, and the setup still works. I expect many long years of service from it.

Am I recommending Tyler the Antenna Man. Yes, I suppose I am. But I'm also saying that if you do the research properly, you'll wind up with the same conclusion.

My research showed that I didn't need his services, but I'm happy enough with his services that I bought that I can feel good about recommending him. If nothing else, it ensures you aren't overlooking something, and gives you peace of mind. If that's worth $40, then it's a bargain.

An antenna is a great complement to your online viewing, and should be considered as part of your Streaming Life. I've been happy with my choice to put up an antenna.

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

How to stream Yellowstone Season 5

I've never watched Yellowstone. Apparently, I'm missing out on the next big thing. It seems to be a popular show.

Some friends who recently cut cable were asking me how to watch Yellowstone. As I don't watch it, I didn't know what to tell them. But, I told them I would find out.

You see, I didn't want them to jump to the conclusion that you couldn't watch it. Perhaps they couldn't, but I didn't know. I suspected they could.

First thing I had to do was find out just what it was. I mean, yeah, I had heard of it, but it was nothing more than a small blip on my RADAR as nothing more than something that existed. I knew nothing else about it.

Until now.

My research showed that it was a huge hit show for Paramount Network. Okay, that's a TV channel you can find on cable, satellite, and streaming services. But Paramount has its own streaming service, right? Paramount? Well, yes they do, but the show isn't on Paramount Plus.

Turns out that Paramount (the company) has signed an agreement with NBCUniversal some time back for the latter company to carry the show on its service, Peacock TV.

At the time, there was no Paramount Plus. There was CBS All Access, but it wasn't assured of getting content from it's parent, Paramount. And sure enough, Paramount dealt the show away to the new Peacock TV service.

Well, wouldn't you know it, but Yellowstone suddenly took off. Around that time, Paramount decided to rebrand CBS All Access as Paramount Plus and focus on streaming. And the big hit show, Yellowstone, wasn't available.

The earth cooled and time passed.

Now, it's time for Season Five, and Peacock TV has it, right? Nope. That service only has the first four seasons. Right now, the only way to watch Season Five is with Paramount Network. So how do you get that?

Right now, this is it. The cheapest, of course, is Philo. And Philo is a great service, particularly if you don't care about watching talking news heads or sports.

The whole situation is a bit confusing, but you can get Yellowstone in your Streaming Life.

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Roku's Sports Hub

Roku has launched a Sports hub on its devices. The goal is to help users find live and upcoming events. And that is something that is needed. But how well did Roku do? Not as well as I had hoped.

If you're a streamer, you may know that there are ways to watch a lot of content. Only, there is no one way to watch everything. Of course, that's true of cable and satellite as well.

Some games are available over the air, and most cable systems will carry those, but satellite can be another matter. And, depending on where you live, and how easy it is to put up an antenna, you may or may not be able to watch live local channels for free. This is true of streaming as well.

A lot of various networks may be necessary to watch your favorite team. In fact, it's likely that you'll need to be able to watch multiple networks to catch all your team's games. And that can lead to a lot of frustration.

I'm using football as an example because it's football season, but this is generally true for any sport. One thing you can do is check each week and see who's carry your team. And that's what a lot of people have to do. My weekly posts about how to watch the college games the current weekend are some of my most read posts. But wouldn't it be nice if there was another way, an easier way, to just sit down and find your game?

That's the idea of the new Roku Sports hub. They call it the Sports Experience. And it does okay, but it's not perfect. They carry information about a lot of games.

Currently, our new sports experience includes pro and college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, baseball, and soccer from DIRECTV, FOX Sports, FuboTV, Paramount+, Peacock, Prime Video, Sling, The Roku Channel, TNT, TBS, and truTV, as well as games coming over the air through an antenna connected to Roku TV models, with more sports and viewing options expected in the coming months.

Checking this weekend's Top 25 games, I see it falls short. And yes, a new CFP Top 25 will come out tonight, but the current listing is close enough to show my concerns.

Using the Roku Sports Experience, I don't see the Georgia-Kentucky game listed. Georgia is the number one team, but the game isn't listed. Yes, it's on CBS, but livw local CBS is included with Paramount+ Premium service.

Number two Ohio State's game with Maryland isn't listed either. That game is carried on ABC, but isn't on the Roku hub.

Number three Michigan's game with Illinois is there, and it's on ABC ahead of the Ohio State game. So, one game on a certain network shows, but another game involving a higher ranked team, carried on the same network, is not.

Number four Texas Christian vs Baylor (on Fox)? Nope.

Number five Tennessee vs South Carolina? Nope.

I won't go on, because my point is made. The project needs work. However, it is better than not having it. Just realize that it's not perfect. Still, it's an important thing for a Roku user's Steaming Life.

Monday, November 14, 2022

Walmart dropping Onn streaming devices?

I've seen a few news articles over the last few days speculating that Walmart is discontinuing its Onn streaming devices.

To me, that's not a big loss, as it's one of the worst streaming device lines. The Onn Streaming Stick is simply junk. I bought one in the summer of 2021 and tested it out. And it failed the test.

It was slow, frustratingly so. And, it would hang up. I won't go on and on about the Onn Streaming Stick, but if you do want to see all the details of my thoughts on it, look at my post about it from June 2021.

There were/are two Onn devices though. The other one was much better. Even being better, it was not one I would recommend. I wrote about it in July 2021 if you want to read about that.

In the last week, there have been reports about the devices not being available for shipping, and not being in stock at several stores. One higher profile article was on 9to5Google:

In the past few days Walmart has entirely ceased online sales of the Onn 4K and Onn HD, its two Android TV-powered streaming devices. Some users on Reddit found that they could still add the devices to their carts as of early this morning, but we’re currently seeing the device as not available online at all.
Local stock on these streamers also appears to be limited at best. I couldn’t find a single device in stock in the eight stores near me or any other zip codes I tried.

Some readers have reported that the devices are in stock at their stores. No one has reported it available for shipping. It's not in my local Walmart, for instance, and as reported, not available for shipping.

There has been no announcement from Walmart about any discontinuation of the devices, but I would not be surprised about it. In fact, if you recall, before these Walmart shortages being reported, I had speculated about Walmart dropping the line because of the deal Walmart has with Comcast and Charter to carry the new Xumo brand devices.

None of this means I was right. But you know what I think: I was right. What I don't understand, though, is why none of the other places put this together. I'm the only one that seems to have put these things together.

Of course, all this could be a coincidence and the Onn devices may start showing up again. Or newer versions may show up. Time will tell.

In the meantime, if you are wanting a good cheap streaming device for your Streaming Life, I still say to avoid the Onn devices. They're junk. Get a Roku or Fire TV device. Look for the Black Friday -- or Before Black Friday -- sales going on. You can do much better than an Onn streaming device.

Sunday, November 13, 2022

Network issues

Everybody suffers from network issues from time to time. I'm actually a bit of a computer expert. I don't know everything about everything. Heck, I don't know everything about anything. But I know a lot about a lot when it comes to computers. That includes networks.

Now, to be sure, there are plenty of people, including people I know well, that know a lot more about networks than I do. But, I'm still pretty good. At the very least, I can set up my own network and troubleshoot issues accurately.

Just because I'm the family's "computer guy" doesn't mean things don't go wrong. For example, I spent most of the week out of town. I had a business trip (two actually) and squeezed some out of town family time in the middle of it all. And, when I got back home after being away for a few days, I had a problem with my network.

Now, picture this. I pull up in the carport and grab my phone to turn on the lights. Many of my lights are on the network, and I can use an app to turn them on or off. But, in the carport, my phone is still on cellular.

That's odd, because I should be on my network. So I'm wondering what's going on. Then, I get an idea. I have a VPN running, and I can connect to it from cellular. So, I launch the VPN app and it connects. That tells me the network is actually running -- if the network was down, I couldn't connect to the VPN -- but the wireless isn't working.

I launch my Home Automation app. Some of the lights are available. So, I turn those on. They are on the far end of the house, near to where the main network connections are.

That tells me that some of the WiFi is working, and some isn't. I've either a problem with the second wireless access point, or the connectivity between the main wireless router and the secondary one.

All this, and I've not even exited my car. By this time, I'm tired of being outside and unload the car and go inside.

Just because someone is pretty good and knowledgeable about computers and networks, that doesn't mean they won't have problems. Problems don't care how much you know. But how much you know can determine how quickly and inexpensively you'll get the issue fixed.

Being somewhat computer savvy does make some things about my Streaming Life easier. I'm hoping that one day, all these issues would go away. But, then what would I do for fun?

Saturday, November 12, 2022

Watching college football games this weekend: Week 11

College football season in now in Week 11. All four unbeaten teams are also playing, but not all are favored to win. Three are expected to be blowouts -- Georgia, Ohio State, and Michigan are big favorites -- but TCU is an underdog.