Valentine's Day movies to stream

As much as I am a big streamer -- I've been streaming exclusively for over 13 years -- I haven't been big on streaming for Valentine's Day.

Christmas movies? Sure. Hallowe'en horror movies? Yep. Valentine's Day? Not so much.

I don't know why that is, and maybe I need to change that. Well, there's a list by Good Housekeeping that might be a good place to start:

1. Valentine's Day
2. Sylvie's Love
3. 50 First Dates
4. The Sun Is Also a Star
5. The Perfect Find
6. Moonstruck
7. Waiting to Exhale
8. Long Live Love!
9. Your Place or Mine
10. Brown Sugar

There are 40 more to check out.

My Streaming Life doesn't involve streaming Valentine's Day movies, but maybe that'll change by next year.

Amazon cripples ad-supported tier

Recently, Amazon started showing ads on it's Prime Video service. They will remove the ads if you pay $3/month. But now there is word that Amazon has removed some functionality of the standard (now ad-free) plan.

According to Forbes, Amazon has dropped visual and audio quality for subscribers:

... the Prime Video with ads tier also denies subscribers the previously available benefits of Dolby Vision high dynamic range pictures and Dolby Atmos sound.

So as well as having to put up with adverts on a subscription they may well have taken out months ago out with no expectation that ads would be involved, basic tier subscribers now find that they also no longer get the same potential premium picture and sound performance features they once had.

This is just dirty. It says a lot about the character of the decision makers at Amazon.

My Streaming Life doesn't utilize Prime Video much, so I'm not really impacted, at least not much. Still, it's a bad thing that Amazon has done. And as soon as Walmart Plus gets the kinks worked out of its shipping, I'm done with Amazon Prime.

Best streaming services that aren't as well known

Tom's Guide had an article recently that I found interesting. I didn't necessarily agree with it, but I did find it interesting.

The article was titled "5 best streaming services you've never heard of" and covered some specialty services. I was familiar with four of them.

Whether you're a cinephile yearning for meticulously curated cinematic masterpieces, a thrill-seeker immersed in the spine-chilling allure of horror films, or love the world of Asian dramas and animation, these niche streaming services all have libraries that you might just want to check out!

The article then listed them, along with descriptions. Here are the names of the five:

• Shudder
• Crunchyroll
• Rakuten Viki
• BroadwayHD
• MUBI

None are really my cup of tea. MUBI is the one that is of most interest to me, but I won't pay $15/month for it. Oh, the one with which I was not familiar? BroadwayHD. Again, not really my cup of tea. But one or more of them might be yours.

For years, I've thought the best service that isn't well known is actually a free one, though they have a paid version: Pub-D-Hub. Yes, it's public domain content. But it's an excellent place for lots of content. And while it's free, the paid versions -- Gold and Gold+ -- are less than $1/month combined, paid yearly.

The only bad thing about Pub-D-Hub is that it's only available on Roku and Fire TV. No Apple TV or Google/Android TV.

My Streaming Life has used Pub-D-Hub for several years. I've tried MUBI but didn't keep it. It wasn't the content, it was the cost. I wouldn't watch enough of it to make it worthwhile. But you might. And try out Pub-D-Hub while you're at it, if it is supported on your platform.

Watching the NFL postseason: Super Bowl 58

The NFL playoffs concluse today with the NFL championship game, Super Bowl 58 (LVIII). Four teams remain, two in each conference, including the top seeds hosting the games.

The Game

The two teams have met in the post-season just once. Since they're in different conferences, they could only meet in the Super Bowl. In 2020 (2019 season), Kansas City beat San Francisco 31-20 in Super Bowl 54. They have met 14 other times, with the teams splitting at 7 games apiece.

Super Bowl 58, the NFL Championship

• Kansas City (AFC champions) vs San Francisco (NFC champions). CBS

How to watch

The various networks carrying the games are available to streamers in several different ways.

CBS

• Antenna (free)
• Paramount Plus (Premium) $12/month
• Hulu+Live TV ($77/month)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)
• Fubo (Pro) ($75/month)
• DirecTV (Entertainment) ($85/month)

My Streaming Life does not often involve professional football, particularly NFL games. But, there is no denying the popularity of the NFL. If you want to watch the Super Bowl and are a streamer, or if you're thinking about becoming a streamer, maybe this will let you know just what you would need to do to watch the game.

Microsoft pushing Windows 11

It took about 4 years for Windows 10 to surpass Windows 7 as the top version of Microsoft's operating system. It's been around 2½ years since Windows 11 was released, and it's lagging behind Windows 10 having 2½ times the users of Windows 11. That's how it goes. Microsoft doesn't like that, however, and is pushing Windows 11 hard.

[YouTube]

One of the biggest reasons people aren't upgrading is that Windows 11 requires more updated hardware than many users have. They'll have to buy a new computer, or purchase extended support for Windows 10. Or, and hear me out on this, switch to another operating system. ChromeOS is a good choice for extending the life of outdated computer hardware. Linux is also a good choice to extend hardware life.

My Streaming Life uses Windows to drive my Plex server. It's still running Windows 10, but it is upgradable to Windows 11. If it was not, I would install Linux.

Plex rentals

This week, reports came that Plex now had a movie rental store available within its app. I checked it out -- no, I didn't rent anything, just looked it over -- and sure enough, you can rent movies through Plex.

I'll say up front that I don't see myself taking advantage of this. At least, not much. I don't often rent movies, unless it's something I really want to see, and it's not available on a streaming service I am subscribed to at the time. Rarely have I rented movies, but I have. If it's not a "watch with subscription" movie, I'll usually buy it when it goes on sale, either for a price similar or cheaper than the rental cost.

However, I could see times that I would rent a movie. So, this may be something I try.

As you can see, it's a pretty standard layout. There isn't anything special about Plex movie rentals as far as I can tell. However, as the next picture shows, they seem to be fair when it comes to offereing how to get the films.

When I looked at "Barbie" for instance, the first option wasn't Plex rental. It was watch with a subscription to Max. And, there were otehr rental options listed as well. They aren't quite so in your face as other streaming services. I like that.

My Streaming Life doesn't often involve rentals. But I now have one more option when I do rent a movie. And more choices is better.

New ESPN/Fox/Warner sports service coming

ESPN, Fox, and Warner have teamed up to start a new sports streaming service. The service will carry the major sports leagues, including NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, as well as college basketball and football.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the service will launch later this year:

The as-yet-unnamed service will be offered directly to consumers, who would be able to stream all of these companies’ sports content, the companies said in a statement, following a report in The Wall Street Journal about the new venture.

Each of the companies will have one-third ownership of the new service, which is expected to launch in the fall. The companies didn’t announce pricing.

The chief executives of Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney -- ESPN's majority owner -- said the new offering would increase choice for fans and give a new sports-centric service to those who have cut the cord to traditional pay-TV.

I've been wanting a service that offered major sports apart from cable. Now, it looks like we'll have it. My Streaming Life could get a lot better this fall.