Flag Day and Army birthday, 2023

I've been quite remiss in recognizing important days of the year. On these days, I consider posting about the day, and many times decide against it. The topic of this Website is streaming, and I suppose if I put enough effort into it, I could find some streaming tie-in. However, I've decided to simply acknowledge the particular day.

Today is two special days. It is Flag Day, and it is the anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Army. So, here is the Army Field Band performing the Star Spangled Banner.

[YouTube]

My Streaming Life is important to me. But my admiration and respect for the Flag and the Army are greater, and I want to let you know that.

YouTube TV cracks down on password sharing ... maybe

A week or so ago, there was a report from Cord Cutters News that YouTube TV had begun cracking down on password sharing. This came on the heels of Netflix cracking down, and reports that subscription numbers are up as a result.

CCN said the streaming service had begun enforcing existing rules:

YouTube TV has always put limits on its account-sharing feature. YouTube TV clearly says it is only for people living in the home. So your family that live outside of the primary account location are not allowed to use the account-sharing feature of YouTube TV. You can use YouTube TV outside your home, but you are supposed to bring that device back to your home location every 90 days.

Now YouTube TV has started to crack down on people sharing their YouTube TV account with people living outside of their home. Over the last few weeks a growing number of people have reported their friends and family have woken up to error messages on YouTube TV. These messages inform them that they need to buy their own YouTube TV subscription or return to their home location to continue using YouTube TV.

More recently, word came that Netflix had seen an uptick in subscriptions after its crackdown:

According to Netflix, 100 million people around the world access Netflix through a friend or family member's account.

This news comes as Netflix had seen two consecutive quarters of subscriber losses. Now with the password-sharing crackdown, Netflix has seen that number turn around and is once again adding subscribers.

To be sure, not everyone is subscribing. Some are dropping the service. However, I believe that many that say they'll drop the service won't follow through. Netflix seems to have made a decision that, at least in the short term, has increased the number of subscribers.

However, all of that is countered by a Tom's Guide report that the supposed crackdown by YouTube TV is simply a glitch that the company is working to resolve:

And YouTube's own account actually responded, writing "Just wanted to give an update — engineering is aware of this & is currently looking into how to fix it." That account also offered a temporary solution: "If you remove the family member & re-add them then they should be able to login again."

This reply, plus the lack of any official statement from YouTube TV about account sharing, makes it seem like nothing's actually certain about a potential password-sharing crackdown.

So, that's the actual deal? Who knows? My Streaming Life does not include Netflix or YouTube TV currently, so whatever is going on doesn't impact me. But it may very well impact you. And we need to keep an eye on this situation.

Free TV

One of the really neat things about streaming is the amount of free content available.

I may need to pause for a minute and remind the gentle reader that "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch." If you always keep in mind TANSTAAFL, then you'll be okay.

Free content usually (always) means ad-supported. If you don't want commercials on your content, this post isn't for you. But, if you can put up with some commercials, read on.

There are many free services available, and they advertise hundreds of free streaming channels. And while they're truthful about that, the reality is that most of the streams are the same, regardless of service.

For example, if you took five services that offered 300 channels, how many total channels would you have? Trick question, because the answer is not 1500 (5 x 300) because all five probably have the same 300 channels. There may be a handful on one service that is not on the others, but it won't be many.

Now we have two drawbacks: duplicate content across services, and commercials. You were already okay with commercials, or you would have stopped reading when I said to. So the duplication of services is the thing.

Is it okay? Well, yeah, probably. If there is a channel that one service has that really means a lot to you, then it's simple: use that service. If that's not the case, then what it really boils down to is: which interface do you like the best?

I like some of the interfaces, and I hate others. The ones that irritate me and that I don't use are those that automatically play content and won't let me change a setting to stop it. I will never never never never never want any service to automatically play content. Never. If the service insists on doing that, I insist on not using the service. Simple as that.

So what are the best services? Well, that's subjective, of course. But here are the ones I like, or think are worth considering:

• Plex
• Freevee
• Sling/Freestream
• Roku Channel
• Pluto TV
• Tubi
• Xumo Play
• Crackle
• Local Now
• Filmrise
• Stirr
• Redbox

Most of these are pretty much the same thing. 100-400 channels of free streaming content. Local Now and Stirr have local TV content, mostly news and weather.

I do not like that Xumo Play, Local Now, Stirr, and Redbox automatically play content when launched. They would be a good one, in my opinion, if they did not auto-play.

Filmrise doesn't have live/linear content -- it's all on-demand -- but it is a good source for free ad-supported content. The others are pretty much the same. Some offer more content, but more isn't always better. They're all good. The ones I use least are the ones that auto-play.

My Streaming Life has a lot of free ad-supported television, and these services are some good ones.

Managing passwords

One of the things that I find most frustrating is people using the same password for everything. "Oh, it's easy for me to do it that way" or some variation is the reason given.

What they don't think about is that it makes it just as easy for hackers. Once they get one, they get them all.

So, having the same password on multiple accounts is a security issue. But here's the thing: managing a separate password for each account is a pain, a huge pain.

A password manager is a good way to keep up with everything. It can generate passwords for you, and keep them all safe and secure for you. Or at least that's the idea. You have to keep your access to a password manager safe, or else you took a bad situation and made it worse. A good, safe, secure password to access your password manager is critical.

But, that's not the only thing. So what's a body to do? Well, knowledge is good. And Rob Braxman is a good source of information about security. Earlier this year, he did a video on password managers. If you're concerned about security, give it a watch.

[YouTube]

My Streaming Life involves a lot of passwords, and my password manager (BitWarden) does a good job.

Streaming the Belmont Stakes

There will be no Triple Crown winner this year, as the Kentucky Derby was won by Mage, and the Preakness Stakes was won by National Treasure. However, there is still an interest by horse racing enthusiasts for the individual races, even without the possibility of a Triple Crown winner.

Today is the final race, with the Belmont Stakes airing on Fox. Coverage starts at 4:00 although the actual race is not until 7:00,

Fox

• Antenna, over the air, free.
• DirecTV (Entertainment), $65/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• Vidgo (Plus), $70/month.
• YouTube TV, $73/month.
• Fubo (Pro), $75/month.

Of course, I'm not going to let the opportunity pass to mention Secretariat. That horse hold the record for the fastest time in the Kentucky Derby, in the Preakness Stakes, and in the Belmont Stakes. Not just set the records the year he won those races, but still holds the records to this day. While the 1973 Kentucky Derby and 1973 Preakness Stakes wins were impressive, the 1973 Belmont Stakes was something else altogether. If you have never seen it, this is your opportunity. If you have, you'll want to see it again.

I was please to watch that race live on TV 50 years and one day ago. It's not likely that we'll see anything like that this year, but you never know.

If you want to watch this year's races streaming, you have options. My Streaming Life doesn't normally include watching horse races, but I'll probably peek in about post time. You never know what might happen.

Onn Streaming Box gets it right

Over a month ago, I decided to try the new Onn Streaming Box.

I tried the older Onn Streaming Box back in 2021, and was underwhelmed.

When I read that Walmart was updating the device, I was skeptical. I said I would probably get one -- and I did -- but I also said I wasn't expecting to like it.

I was wrong. I actually do like it. It's a huge improvement over the original Onn Streaming Box.

The remote is pretty much the same, and is still missing a pause button. It's not intuitive for me to press the center button to pause. It's not ideal for me, but I can adapt to it.

The Google TV interface is good. The device is responsive. Most importantly, the device is stable. The original device required a lot of restarts. The new one hasn't skipped a beat.

At $20, it's a great bargain. My Streaming Life is predominately Roku, along with some Fire TV. But the Onn Streaming Box running Google TV is an excellent choice, based on my experience.

Ad supported Prime Video, but with a catch

There is a report in the Wall Street Journal that Amazon is planning to launch an ad-supported version of its Prime Video service. But there is a catch.

You may remember that recently both Netflix and Disney Plus launched ad-supported versions of their services. It involved a new tier at a lower price.

For example, with Netflix, before the ad-supported tier launched, the lowest priced tier was $10/month for the Basic plan. The new "Standard with ads" plan is $7/month. Its limits include not just ads, but some original content is not available on the service.

With Disney Plus, the discount for the ad-supported plan is $3/month as well. The ad-supported plan for Disney Plus is $8/month, while the regular plan is $11/month. There are not restrictions on the content, such as what Netflix has.

Amazon is expected to take a slightly different approach, according to the Wall Street Journal report:

Amazon is discussing a variety of ways it could introduce ads in Prime Video, people familiar with the matter said. One option would be to bring more advertising to existing Prime subscribers and give them an option to pay more for an ad-free alternative and other features, some of the people said. The company is planning for the ad breaks to be short, they said.

That kind of upselling is an approach Amazon has taken recently with its Amazon Music offering: It gave Prime members access to more songs at no additional cost, but took away the option to get most songs on demand unless users opt for a pricier upgrade.

So, the idea is that Amazon would introduce ads, or actually more ads, into the current model. Amazon has ads to a degree already. They are actually promos for other Amazon content, not third-party advertising. This would change, the report says, and you'd start seeing standard commercial advertisements, not just Amazon promos. Then Amazon would offer an extra fee to stop the ads.

This is the opposite approach from Disney Plus and Netflix, where the new tier was a lower price. Amazon would turn the existing service into an ad-supported service, then charge more for an ad-free experience.

My Streaming Life has included Prime Video, but only because I've been an Amazon Prime subscriber since before Prime Video existed. Prime Video has been a bonus for me. And I rarely watch it. If they do introduce more ads, it won't impact me that much, and I won't pay more to omit them.