How to shop for a TV antenna

If you are thinking about cutting the cord, or just putting up a TV antenna for any reason, it's not really a simple process.

It should be, of course. After all, that used to be the way everybody got TV signals. In the days before cable and satellite TV, that was how you got TV. People in the 1940s and 1950s could watch TV by putting up an antenna. Why can't people in the 2020s do the same thing?

Well, people can. But many people face a couple of drawbacks on this.

One, people are lazy. Technology has made so many things easy, that anything that requires work or some thought is often ignored by an easier way to accomplish the same thing. But with that convenience comes expense. To save money, you have to put in some effort. Keep reading for tips on how to accomplish this.

Two, there are more liars and cheats than there used to be. Part of that is because there are a lot more people overall. We're at 8 billion today. In 1950, there were around 2½ billion, less than ⅓ of today's total. More people, more liars and cheats.

What do liars and cheats have to do with anything? Well, they're the ones that will sell you a piece of trash for you use to watch TV. Or not watch TV, as it often turns out.

So, what's a body to do? Well, one good thing would be to find a reputable source for information. I'm not claiming to be one that can answer all your questions, but I can point you in the right direction.

Let me tell you about Tablo. That's an over the air DVR system that only works properly if you have a good antenna. If your antenna is trash, their system doesn't work worth a darn. They want you to watch TV using their equipment. Part of that is having a good antenna.

Here's the secret: you don't need to purchase a Tablo in order to get good information about TV antennae. Tablo regularly posts tips on finding a good antenna. They put out a good article around three years ago that covered shopping for a TV antenna. Actually, about how to NOT shop for an antenna. It's good information:

1. DON'T Just Buy the First TV Antenna You Saw Advertised
2. DON'T Just Buy the Same TV Antenna Your Brother/Cousin/Coworker Bought
3. DON'T Just Ask for a Basic Recommendation
4. DON'T Just Google 'Best TV Antenna'
5. DON'T Just Search for 'TV Antenna' on Amazon

Those are actually the titles of sections of a large article, and they give the reasons they make those suggestions. They're good suggestions. And they list three different antenna manufacturers that make quality antennae and provide good online tools to research things.

Let me offer you two reasons -- well, two versions of the same reason -- that you need to do some research.

A good friend lives a few miles away from me -- different county, in fact -- and she has a difficult time picking up TV signals. Simply getting the same antenna I got wouldn't work for her. Her setup, based on her location and terrain, would mean she would need a much higher antenna. Even then, she wouldn't pick up the same stations I get.

My mother's residence is only a couple of miles from mine, but even at that close distance, terrain means reception at her house is than reception at my house.

It's a little bit of work to find the right antenna, but the savings could really add up to make it worthwhile. I'm glad I did it. It's made my Streaming Life so much easier.

Watching the college football national championship game

There are 42 college bowl games and playoff games this year. The bowl season kicked off December 16 and concludes with the national championship game tonight. In all, 82 schools have played games this post-season.

Streamers college football is a lot easier than it used to be -- legally that is -- and today you have many options options when it comes to watching the bowl games.

January 9, 2023

The national championship game is tonight. Top ranked Georgia and 3rd ranked Texas Christian are the two teams left in the playoffs and battle for the crown tonight.

Georgia claims three national championships, although the NCAA recognizes only two of the claims. Last year, Georgia won the CFP. In 1980, Georgia was recognized by the major polls. Georgia claims 1942 as well. Te final AP poll, before the bowls, had Ohio State number one and Georgia number two. However, Georgia was the east representative in the Rose Bowl and won that game, while Ohio State didn't go to a bowl. Several other polls proclaimed Georgia as number one, and the school recognizes it. The NCAA does not.

Texas Christian claims two national championships, although the NCAA recognizes only one. In 1938, AP ranked them as number one after the season, and the Horned Frogs won the Sugar Bowl. The school also claims 1935, in which they finished 12-1 including a win the the Sugar Bowl.

Officially, this will be either Georgia's third title, or Texas Christian's second.

National Championship Game
7:30 PM on ESPN

University of Georgia (1) (14-0)
vs
Texas Christian University (13-1)

How to watch

To stream the game, you need one of the following service.

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.

If watching the college football national championship is something you want in your Streaming Life, you have plenty of options.

Is an iPhone safe?

Recently, this video popped up in my suggested list, and I watched it. It's pretty informative.

If you're an Apple hater, you won't like it. If you're an Apple lover, you won't like it. Although you won't hate it as much as Apple haters hate it.

[YouTube link]

This has given me something to think about. I hope you learned something as well.

Xumo TVs announced

Comcast and Charter -- meaning Xfinity and Spectrum -- are going big into they Xumo partnership with a recent announcement. The two companies recently said that Element Electronics would build the new Xumo TVs, which will run on Comcast's global technology platform.

That means that the operating system that powers the Xfinity cable boxes, and the Flex TV streaming boxes, will be the operating system for the new lineup of TVs.

Walmart is involved in the mix, but the recent announcement did not mention the retail giant. Some may be under the impression that Element makes Walmart's ONN brand of TVs, but that's not the case, although Element does handle warranty repair for ONN brand TVs.

The announcement said that the TVs would hit the market before end of the year.

Element Xumo TVs will be built on and powered by Comcast’s flexible and scalable global technology platform, which currently powers tens of millions of entertainment devices. The smart TVs will join a growing portfolio of products soon to be made available under the new Xumo brand, including XClass TV and Flex, a 4K streaming device Xfinity offers to its broadband customers.

Element Xumo TVs will launch in select U.S. retail locations in a range of sizes and price points later in 2023.

I expect Walmart will be one of the "select U.S. retail locations" because of the earlier announcement that Walmart was a part of all this, but the way the press release was worded indicates other places than just Walmart would be selling them. My guess is that Best Buy, and any other place that sells Element TVs would be included in that.

My biggest -- well not exactly point of contention, but you'll get what I mean -- is that the "global technology platform" is the basis for this. I've used it. At least, I've used Comcast cable boxes at family residences, and the Flex TV streaming boxes, since I have one.

How did I like it? Well, my Flex TV device is in its box in a drawer. I don't like it. And I don't think I'll like it as a smart TV platform. But, I'm willing to be wrong.

To me, anything that offers more options to people is generally good. And maybe Comcast is going to improve the interface. But I won't be running out and buying one, at least nor before I get a good look at it. It's unlikely to be a part of my Streaming Life, though it may be just familiar enough to some people to make this successful.

Rotating services

Glancing around some Websites in the streaming world, I have seen a few articles that mention canceling certain services this month. There are a couple of reasons for this, and these are reasons that many don't think is all that important.

More and more Websites that promote or support streaming will mention what's coming to certain services or leaving certain services during a particular month. This may bear some explanation to those that aren't as familiar with what's going on.

Services such as Netflix or Disney+ (and most all others) don't always create their own content. They'll reach licensing agreements with content creators who actually own the rights to the show. The agreements will allow the services to carry certain content for a particular period of time. Sometimes, it's an exclusive agreement, meaning that only one service has the content, and the other services are out of luck. Sometimes, the content is shared across multiple platforms.

After the license agreement is up, the content will either be renewed or an agreement with a different service will be reached. Or, if the content turns out to be not very popular, then it simply won't be available anywhere.

What some viewers don't understand is that just because that particular viewer may enjoy a show, often not enough enjoy the show to justify the expense of continuing to carry it, at least not enough justification for a particular service.

So, content moves around. And many Websites will post articles about whats new to this service or leaving that service. And for the streamer that's looking to save money, that's important information to have.

The most cost-effective way of streaming is to only subscribe to a few services. Well, that's the second most cost effective way. The most is to subscribe to nothing. There is plenty of free content out there, and for some, that's enough. They are willing to wait until a free ad-supported television (FAST) service picks up certain content to wait. That usually takes longer, but if the wait is worth the savings, then that's a good decision for them.

For others, they don't want to wait, so they subscribe to services. This is me, to a degree. I subscribe to one service. Which one? All of them. Just one at a time.

I rotate around services. This month, it might be Paramount+. Next month, it might be Disney+. The following it might be HBO Max. The next, Netflix. And so on.

That seems like a lot of work, but it isn't. I subscribe when I want to watch something, then set a calendar reminder to cancel at a later date. During that 30 day period of time, I watch all I want on that service. Then, during the next cycle, based on what the services are carrying or what I want to catch up on, I'll subscribe to something else.

I get to watch all I want, and only pay for one service at a time. It's really easy, and not a lot of work. It is a lot of savings.

How much savings? Well, add up all the subscription services you use, and see what the total is. Now, compare that to any one of those services. See the difference. Now, spread that out over a year. If you have six services, for example, and you subscribed to only one a month, you'd be able to watch the same content over a year for 1/6 of the amount of money in a year. That's a chunk of change.

These Websites that tell what is coming and going to the various services are useful. And they can help you save money in your Streaming Life, if you take just a little bit of time and rotate your subscriptions.

Roku TV, for real

Over the years, there have been different iterations of Roku TVs.

Ten years ago, there were Roku Ready TVs, which were TVs with an MHL port. If you don't know about MHL ports, they are variations of HDMI that include more power, and worked with Roku Sticks model 3400. You could buy the TVs that essentially had sticks installed. Some had the sticks visible, and some had the sticks behind the rear panel, hidden from view.

Roku later licensed their software to TV manufacturers to build TVs branded as Roku TVs. That's the current situation. But it's not the future situation.

Roku recently announced a new line of Roku TVs, that Roku itself will make.

A smart TV made by Roku just makes sense. When we combine our streaming leadership with our hardware expertise, it progresses the overarching ambition to innovate across the TV experience, benefiting all streamers with a Roku TV.

Available in 11 models ranging from 24” to 75”, the new Roku Select and Plus Series TVs will focus on the features that streamers have come to love, including access to free live TV, news, and sports, plus fan-favorite features like Find My Remote and Private Listening. All Select Series TVs include the Roku Voice Remote with push-to-talk controls, and all Plus Series TVs include the Roku Voice Remote Pro featuring hands-free voice commands. Additionally, the all-new Roku TV Wireless Soundbar offers simple and wire-free home theater setup.

I don't know if the third-party Roku TVs will remain. I've not been particularly fond of the Roku TVs I've used. I've never purchased one, but I've used one -- or more than one -- and they're okay, but just okay.

I also don't know if I'll purchase a Roku TV Select or Plus series TV (the ones Roku will make), since I don't need a TV. But I am looking forward to getting my hands on one. It's won't be a part of my Streaming Life any time soon. But I'm not opposed to it.

Revisitng Netflix ad-supported service

Back in November, I tried Netflix with Ads. It went well.

I was very happy with the service, as I everything I watched played without issue, and the ads were inserted in a odd, thoughtful way. That is to say, at breaks in the action, and not in the middle of a scene or sentence as some services have done.

Netflix did ads right.

I recommended it as a cheaper alternative to regular Netflix Basic. However, I didn't realize that my testing was incomplete.

Some Netflix content, including some original content, is not available on the ad-supported version. I didn't run across this in my testing, but it came to my attention recently.

So, I subscribed for another month, and sure enough, some content was not available. Once I knew what content specifically to look for, I found that to be the case.

That means I take back my recommendation. Well, kinda. I still suggest Netflix with Ads as a cheaper alternative, because, like me, you may not have any unsupported content that you want to watch. But, if you do, it's easy enough to switch to the Basic plan, then switch back. Yes, there will be a little bit of a cost involved, or at least, a delay in switching back, but that strategy can save you some money.

When I do Netflix, I'll do the ad supported version, then upgrade to the Basic plan if there is content I want to watch that requires it. I'm no aware of what I need to do.

That may be too much work for some people, but it's really not too much for me. I don't mind doing a few extra steps once a month in order to save some money in my Streaming Life.

Fubo to add Bally Sports networks

Somehow, during Christmas, New Year's, and bowl season, I missed a pretty big announcement. Fubo TV is adding Bally Sports networks to its lineup.

You may recall that many live streaming services carries Fox Sport networks. Fox and some carriers didn't renew agreement, and Fox eventually sold off their regional sports networks (RSNs), which were rebranded as Bally Sports networks.

For a while, DirecTV Stream -- and all its earlier names, such as AT&T TV Now, DirecTV Now, and others -- has been the only way to get Bally Sports. Bally did launch a direct to consumer service, but only five of the RSNs go so far as to carry major league baseball, though others expected to join.

During the latter part of December, Bally and Fubo TV announced that they had an agreement to carry Bally Sports RSNs on the streaming service. This is a big deal, as Fubo hasn't carried Bally Sports, or actually its predecessor Fox Sports, in three years. But that will change soon:

While a firm date is not yet known, Bally Sports Networks will be available in the coming weeks. We will update this page when a confirmed date is available.

If you are in a region eligible to receive Bally Sports Network programming, you will not need to make changes to your subscription. The channel will automatically be added to your Fubo TV Pro, Elite, or Ultimate English channel package.

Note that the $70 Pro plan is part of the deal. Unlike DirecTV Stream, Fubo will carry the Balls RSNs on all plans. With DirecTV Stream, you have to get the $90 or higher plan for the RSNs.

Fubo has promoted itself as THE place for sports, but missing the RSNs has been a huge gap in programming. The deal with Bally Sports makes Fubo more of what they claim to be, and possibly an important part of your Streaming Life.

Watching the bowl games, Day 15

There are 42 college bowl games and playoff games this year. The bowl season kicked off December 16 and concludes with the national championship game on January 9. In all, 82 schools will be playing games this post-season.

Streamers college football is a lot easier than it used to be -- legally that is -- and today you have many options options when it comes to watching the bowl games.

January 2, 2023

Four games are scheduled today. Two are between two ranked teams, and two games involve one ranked team.

ReliaQuest Bowl
12:00 PM on ESPN 2

Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science (22) (8-4)
vs
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (8-4)

Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic
1:00 PM on ESPN

Tulane University of Louisiana (16) (11-2)
vs
University of Southern California (10) (11-2)

Cheez-It Citrus Bowl
1:00 PM on ABC

Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College (17) (9-4)
vs
Purdue University (8-5)

Rose Bowl Game Presented by Prudential
5:00 PM on ESPN

Pennsylvania State University (11) (19-2)
vs
University of Utah (8) (10-3)

How to watch

To stream the gameS, you need one of the following service.

ABC

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

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/month.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

If watching college football bowl games is something you want in your Streaming Life, you have plenty of options.

It's 2023

Are you a streamer?

I don't know the answer to that question, but it's either yes or no. Even then, it's not quite that simple.

If you aren't a streamer, then you aren't taking full advantage of the technology available to you. But, that may not be a bad thing. Using technology simply for the sake of using it shouldn't be a thing. You should use the technology only if it makes it a better situation overall.

If you still have cable, and if that works for you, then you're happy. You'll have to deal with people like me suggesting you switch to streaming, but we're really telling you what works for us. Some of us -- not me -- insist that you change because they can't imagine that any way other than the way they do it can be right.

Me? No, I'm not going to insist you change. I will tell you that I'm happy with my change. It was 12 years ago this month that I dropped cable, and I've never regretted it. But, that may not be the way for you to do.

However, if you've wondered about it, considered it, but weren't sure how to start, or check it out to see if it's what you might want, today is as good a day as any to try it.

On the other hand, any other day is just as good. There's nothing special about January 1. Yes, it's a new year, and that represents a new beginning, a starting over, and all kinds of things. But all those things can be done any time.

If you choose to pick today, or this week, or just 2023 in general, as a beginning of a Streaming Life, then you may find it to be quite satisfying. I have.