Yeah, that too. Also when it first came out, it was really easy to accidentally use it to move the video playing location backward or forward – I’d brush the control and suddenly my video would have skipped forward 20 minutes. I think they tweaked with it during one of the updates though, as I haven’t had that happen in a while.
I like your iMac Hockey Puck Mouse comparison. We had those in one of the computer labs I worked with and they were horrible.
I switched from PlayStation Vue to DirecTV now. The quality is similar, DTV is cheaper for the channels I watch and they have more app logins that Vue so I can bypass the native app. I highly recommend it!
The Apple TV remote is so horrible. I like the Apple TV well enough though. There are a few games like Proun are pretty damn awesome on a TV compared to an iOS sized screen (it helps that i’m a huge fan of the Stereolab-esque soundtrack). I’m not 100% the Apple TV has the best reception, which is to me the number 1 thing about any streaming box. I’ve seen Apple TV Youtube scale down when other devices sitting right next to it do not.
You lose the microphone and the home button as well. For some reason the home button is special and can’t be emulated by the Harmony. Additionally, some apps utilize the swipe down or click on the edge of the track pad gestures, and this can’t be done on the Harmony. It’s frustrating to have to dig out the terrible Apple remote for these few occasions.
So, this is a valid concern I had when I started doing this.
I’m not 100% certain how much my Verizon bill will go down when I do this. I’m thinking I will end up saving at the least the $30 in set top boxes.
The PS Vue is $44, and is actually a win since my GF loves FX and it’s not part of the package we have on Fios. So, even coming out to the same is a win.
Game of Thrones is the only HBO show we watch regularly so I will probably just sign up for HBO Now next year for the 2 months it runs.
And yet, it’s still a net improvement because it’s more targeted and more importantly, happens on your schedule on a wide variety of devices, potentially anywhere you are.
Exactly and not just that, you can watch what you want, when you want, even if it’s not currently being broadcast. So in addition to allowing time shifting, if I plunk down a reasonable amount of money and iTunes or Amazon, or whoever, lets me rent or buy some video and immeaditely stream it to my home.
Even if the price was exactly the same, or even if it was a bit more, the new model is still better for consumers.
I don’t get these suggestions that people will still pay as much with multiple streaming services as we used to with cable.
Right now I can get HBO + Hulu + Netflix + dtv now/sling/whatever for half the price of cable. Not only that, but all those services are individually straightforward and flexible too. I can cancel or put them on hold immensely easily and without going through some awful customer support number and retention bullshit. I’m not locked into any contracts. They’re not secretly jacking up the price every few months with mysterious “fees”. They’re not organizing things into convoluted bundles that change all the time and charge different people in different cities wildly differently depending on the competition in the area.
Was there some context to the tweet above? I don’t get how there’s any insight there.
The context is that the previous services are losing their ability to get content and that we’re going to end up in a situation where in order to get access to most context, we’ll need a whole bunch of services. Specifically the tweet is referring to the fact that Disney previously stated that they were removing their Disney branded content from Netflix and that anyone wanting access to it would have to join a new exclusively Disney subscription service. According to the tweets, now they have stated that they are planning to withdraw their Marvel and Star Wars content as well.
The implication here is that if you want to watch Marvel or Star Wars movies or TV shows, you’ll need to join the Disney subscription. Once Netflix’s current contract runs out in a few years, your current “HBO + Hulu + Netflix + dtv” combo won’t give you access to Star Wars, Marvel, Disney, or Pixar movies and shows anymore. It’s similar to CBS saying if you want to watch the new Star Trek TV show, you’ll have to join the CBS all access, as it won’t be coming to other services. Then we have that whacko announcement of a Stargate streaming service which you can join if you want to watch Stargate TV shows.
When Netflix first started streaming around 2008, almost every movie that come out after that was available on Netflix. But as we’ve moved to a multi-streaming source world, that stopped happening. Similarly for a while Hulu had almost all the TV shows. But now I’m noticing they don’t get them and the ones they have end up expiring fairly quickly and are removed.
That’s also why Netflix and Amazon and Hulu are all running around trying to create their own content.
The situation is definitely worse than it was back when Netflix was the only streaming game in town (although I’m still shocked at how cheap Netflix subscriptions are). And it’s clearly getting worse as things fragment. For me, I think as long as you can still purchase all the movies/TV shows on iTunes, I’ll be okay, although it is more fun to sample TV shows on the streaming services, instead of having to make a decision on whether or not something is worth purchasing.
There, quite honestly, needs to be some government intervention at some point. There is this extreme divide between high cost bundled cable/satellite subscriptions, and the multi-siloed and multi-charged alternatives. I had thought when we got to the point of the Time Warner/Charter merger we would see something happen, but then the election went a different way, and the new FCC chair was like, “lol, let’s cut competition even more!” Soooooo, yeah.
As a cord cutter, really what ends up happening is you hearing about things like this and just saying, “well I guess I won’t watch any of those anymore.” Perhaps the complaints to the FCC will need to come from the content creators who start hemorrhaging money moving forward. I think I remember hearing in the past that ESPN had the biggest content charge to the cable/satellite companies. With all the talk on them hurting here lately, how much of that is due to people just not seeing their content anymore?
Do the entertainment companies think we’re all sacks of infinite money walking around (don’t answer that)? In their attempts to grab a bigger piece of the pie, they forgot that it wasn’t just convenience but also cost that drove people to cut the cord and go with streaming services. Sure there are going to be those crazy outliers who subscribe to every service and end up paying more than they would with cable but going without or piracy (I’ve heard this is especially easy with certain streaming devices these days, to the point some people may not even realize it’s piracy) seem like the more obvious choices.
There is so much content available that yea, I might be a little sad about missing out on whatever new Marvel spin-off comes up but I have no problem finding something else to watch (or play) and at the rate new stuff is coming out probably never will.
No, they just think they can get a bigger slice of the pie than they’re currently getting. Which is probably true for some (Disney?) and not for others (CBS?).
So, I cut the cord… sort of.
I called Verizon and I can’t figure out how their pricing model make any sense. Basically, I still technically have TV. I had two choices: a local channels only bundle plus internet for $70/mo, or internet only for $90. I don’t need the cable set top box for the local channels.
Naturally, I chose the cheaper option. But the bundling just doesn’t make any sense. How does having internet and tv become cheaper than just internet?
We will still use the Playstation Vue for all the TV anyway. But I guess it’s good if we have a storm and lose internet but still have cable tv. It’s unlikely that would happen, since the failure for both is probably the same spot anyway.
They’re hoping you forget or don’t want to fight the massive price hike after your promo period and then rake in the cash. Thanks monopolies!
That sort of pricing is standard and I have to imagine is about being able to report you as a TV customer for deals w/ the channels.
That’s what I was thinking. Kinda like how I can say I have “x amount of Twitter followers” even though 80% of them are bots.
I was looking through Plex Pass again recently since they finally launched their Live TV and DVR features for Plex Pass members. I noticed that they now list the Hauppauge Digital TV for Xbox One as one of the things you can get LiveTV and DVR features from. So even though my old HD HomeRun (HDHR-3) doesn’t work with the DVR features, maybe the Hauppauge will. I wonder if it can speak directly to the device that’s connected to the Xbox One, or doesn’t it have to be connected to my computer maybe? In which case, I guess I won’t be able to use the OneGuide on Xbox One and have LiveTV on there anymore, but if I can then have it through Plex, maybe that won’t be much of a loss.
How is the LiveTV and DVR on Plex?
Never use live TV, but the DVR functionality works well at recording. The guide’s a bit odd (more show than schedule oriented), but no complaints on functionality.
FUCK PLAYSTATION VUE
Losing my internet connection during the thunderstorms from Irma is enough for PlayStation Vue to think I’m not on my “home” wifi network again.
If they make me call during business hours and cancel and resubscribe to this piece of shit service again to restablish this as my home network, I’ll… complain about it. I guess. Because shit, what else am I going to do?
This online service is so bad I suspect it’s secretly being run by Nintendo.