Cord Cutting, Cord Running

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 2:36 pm

Grammatron wrote:Received a sling invite, thinking about it.

WTF!? I didn't. I was first. I was before you anyway. I've made historical inroads into cutting cords. I've advanced the science!

Damn. The insult. The injustice.

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Fri Mar 06, 2015 10:32 pm

Welp, I can sign up for it now but they don't have a samsung smart hub app. Damned if I'm going to chromecast it.

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Wed Mar 18, 2015 3:23 pm

An update to November's post:

The wife (whom I love so very so so) has reneged on our contract. She says it is not what she wanted, not what she demanded, not what she was promised, not, not, not, not, not. Something about pushing more buttons than promised. Something about having to decide when it should just 'be'. Something about my utter recent failure to please utterly. Something....

She has surrendered. This month's cable bill was $10 more than last month's; they once again raised prices. I confronted her about again with flyer in hand and asked if she thought it was logical to keep paying for something we just.don't.use.or.want.or.need. She was in a rare mood and told me I was, unusually, right ... for once.

I just returned from the COX store wherein I returned both set-top boxes, both remotes, and both power cables. I did not put it off because she might change her mind again. They credited my bill $89 for the unused part of the month, and didn't even try to talk me out of it. I'm keeping the [most excellent] internet and phone service. My work pays for the phone and I bet I can get them to subsidize the internet.

The cord is officially cut.

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 9:24 pm

Just learned about this service today. I haven't a clue yet what it is really all about.

http://www.filmon.com/

All I really know is that they just [kinda] won a court case against a conglomerate of TV and content producers trying to keep them from rebroadcasting TV.
article
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...s ... uldnt-get/

A federal judge has ruled that video-streaming service FilmOn should be treated like a cable company and is entitled to the same compulsory copyright license that cable systems get.
It's a huge and unexpected win, coming not long after Aereo failed when it tried to make the same argument in court. If upheld, the decision would open a route to legal TV-over-Internet businesses—not just for FilmOn but for future competitors.
In his 15-page order, US District Judge George Wu acknowledged that his preliminary decision is in direct conflict with the 2nd Circuit, and he said he'll allow an immediate appeal to the 9th Circuit. The TV broadcasters who sued FilmOn for copyright infringement, which include all four major TV networks, will surely pursue that option.

It appears to be a lot like the Aereo system that the Supreme Court shut down last year but they have the advantage of not having that Aereo baggage.

Are essentially an internet based cable provider?

No Roku app that I can find. No Smart TV app.

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Thu Aug 11, 2016 1:33 pm

Rob Lister wrote:An update to November's post:
The wife (whom I love so very so so) has reneged on our contract. She says it is not what she wanted, not what she demanded, not what she was promised, not, not, not, not, not. Something about pushing more buttons than promised. Something about having to decide when it should just 'be'. Something about my utter recent failure to please utterly. Something....
She has surrendered. This month's cable bill was $10 more than last month's; they once again raised prices. I confronted her about again with flyer in hand and asked if she thought it was logical to keep paying for something we just.don't.use.or.want.or.need. She was in a rare mood and told me I was, unusually, right ... for once.

I just returned from the COX store wherein I returned both set-top boxes, both remotes, and both power cables. I did not put it off because she might change her mind again. They credited my bill $89 for the unused part of the month, and didn't even try to talk me out of it. I'm keeping the [most excellent] internet and phone service. My work pays for the phone and I bet I can get them to subsidize the internet.

The cord is officially cut.

Just an update with a particularly inspiring win message.

It has been almost a year and a half since we have had cable. Last night, the wife wanted to watch the Olympics. I dutifully switched my source to Antenna and picked it up perfectly. She could endure no more than 30 minutes before complaining, "Oh My God! It's all commercials? What's up with all the commercials? Put it back on Netflix, I want to watch Penny Dreadful."

:D

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Wed Dec 07, 2016 10:09 pm

So, it's been a year and two months. I have not looked back. I can't tell you what brand of Tide is out there now.

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 8:43 am

I got new tv a couple weeks ago and it gets all the basic stations without turning on the cable box. No rabbit ears.

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 8:52 am

https://ukcognitive.files.wordpress.com ... imated.gif

--J.D.

ed · Post by ed » Thu Dec 08, 2016 11:41 am

corplinx wrote:There is success by people sideloading the Amazon Instant Video app on the Nvidia Shield TV device.

This means with an Nvidia Shield TV sideloaded with SMPC (Kodi) + Amazon Instant video you get:
Android
4k
HDR
10bit color support
HEVC video support
Netflix
Amazon
Youtube
Anything on your Home network via SMPC (Kodi) via SMB or DLNA.

The Roku Premiere/Ultra is out and has it's own Netflix/Amazon apps, but reading reports on the av forums it appears these one-off apps have issues switching in/out of 4k and HDR modes.

So currently the ShieldTV is the best embedded platform to use as a TV head.

Like a centralization of sources?

Grammatron · Post by **Grammatron** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 6:21 pm

Why not just have a dedicated media computer? Relying on 3rd party to hopefully release an app that will work with your device and won't hurt your soul seems odd to me.

ed · Post by ed » Thu Dec 08, 2016 8:12 pm

corplinx wrote:Actually, that's a good point. Amazon is now adding HBO and Showtime channels to Amazon Instant Video.

Which means the Amazon Instant Video app is becoming an aggregrator of channels (whereas Netflix is more focused on original programming).

The Amazon Problem right now is.....

They have this beautiful show "The Grand Tour" in 4k/HDR/BlingUltra4000.

None of their FireTV devices support 4K/HDR.

They won't release their app on general Android TV (because they want to sell FireTV devices). The Shield TV (nvidia) handles 4K+HDR output.

The Roku Ultra handles 4K, HDR, _and_ it's internal version of Amazon video will play it in this format (but reading the owners thread at avs, it is not a seamless device). ref: http://www.avsforum.com/forum/39-networ ... ad-63.html (read backwards)

Basically, territorial pissing is the only reason why Nvidia's set top boxes aren't a pure plug and play-everything experience.

Now, if you download The Grand Tour because you are a Prime customer anyway, you can just play the files via Kodi and not bother with sideloading the Amazon Instant Video app.

Time was you had to change trains 20 times to get to chicago because there wasn't a standard track gauge.

Enter the Robber Barons.

Problem fixed.

ed · Post by ed » Thu Dec 08, 2016 11:38 pm

corplinx wrote:
Grammatron wrote:Why not just have a dedicated media computer? Relying on 3rd party to hopefully release an app that will work with your device and won't hurt your soul seems odd to me.
Well. If I had to recommend a device to a friend, it would be something embedded/dedicated with low power they can use without ever calling me.

You don't want Windows 10 rebooting your movie for mandatory updates halfway through.

In my experience, PCs typically don't even have the RGB setting correct when you hook them up to a TV vs a Monitor. Tearing/etc are more likely with a PC. The PC uses too much power and puts off too much heat. The PC needs driver updates. The PC uses Kodi and Websites. Websites are not as easy to use via remote control as dedicated Android TV apps.

With the shield, SPMC (Kodi tailored for Android) is actually on the play store now that I check. So you hook up the shield, install SPMC, and you're done and you use it with a remote control. You never need to hook up a keyboard and mouse to rescue the thing. Google Play will keep the Netflix, SMPC, Youtube, etc apps updated for me (or the person I refer it to).

The Shield is what I put on friends. I have an older MacBook Pro I use with Kodi on my TV and I deal with it being Clunky. I switch to my PS4 if I want to watch Netflix/Prime.

I've been using a dedicated computer for media (streaming, pirated stuff, games) for 15 years or so. It can have it's moments but ultimately it's just another device. Have not noticed any sort of problems with color and I appreciate the storage. I supposed I'd ditch it if there was a clear alternative.

So it's friday night, launch VUZe and bingo, 5 min later Project Runway is ready for my viewing pleasure. Not sure I am doing anything that I couldn't do with other stuff, guess it's just a habit.

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 9:17 pm

VLC LOL.

--J.D.

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Sun Dec 11, 2016 12:01 pm

corplinx wrote:https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/23 ... be09eb.jpg

You cannot be better than Everything and Free.

But you will always be worse on a PC.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u264 ... hcogvb.gif

--J.D.

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Sun Dec 11, 2016 12:36 pm

corplinx wrote:With the shield, you may have a computer serving NAS or DLNA on your network (where you pirate your content), but you use SMPC (kodi) to play them on the TV. No hard drive noises in your TV area. No fans blowing.

I don't know if the shield is better or worse than what I have now. I'm happy with my current set-up. The hardware associated with my setup is the TV, my always-on desktop, two NAS devices, a roku and my tv. There's a dvd player connected to the tv as well but I never use it anymore. My desktop runs the plex server through an app on the roku. So I currently get 95% of my content through roku, the other 5% OTA. I subscribe (or share a subscription) to netflix, hulu, hbo now, and quite unnecessarily, plex. I've yet to actually use hulu. My end of all of that is ~$20 a month.

At the beginning of this venture I made a lot of technical plans that I never found necessary to implement. My desktop is pretty good but not good enough to transcode so I was going to build a dedicated linux server with built in NAS that could. But I never need to transcode so why bother? The roku and plex work so seamlessly that I don't see a need for anything fancier.

I disconnected the internet connection to my TV because I don't like it updating itself every third day -- Samsung sucks that way.

My only bitch is I need to use the original tv remote to turn the tv on and off and change the source/volume. I've almost pulled the trigger on all in ones but their too expensive.

Grammatron · Post by **Grammatron** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 6:43 am

That seems like overkill for hotel TVs, but very smart and convenient.

ed · Post by ed » Mon Jan 16, 2017 4:13 pm

Why would you not simply hook a pc up to your tv?

ed · Post by ed » Mon Jan 16, 2017 5:31 pm

becasuse you gots vuze and all the other crap

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Sat Feb 10, 2018 1:26 pm

:De_Bunk: So now Viacom is [thinking of] setting up their own streaming service.

Viacom to launch its own streaming service this year

Is there room in the market for yet another streaming service? Viacom thinks so. The company, on its earnings call on Thursday, said it’s planning to launch its own ad-supported streaming service by September 2018, the end of its fiscal year. The service will include “tens of thousands of hours of content” from across Viacom’s library.

https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/09/viaco ... this-year/

Now just to be clear: Ad-supported does not mean otherwise free.

Viacom owns a lot of fucking content. Problem is, it is mostly crap content. They own Paramount Pictures International so they some decent stuff.

They are also [part of] the reason cable costs went from $20/mo to $100/mo. No Cox Cable, you can't have MTV unless you also buy these 6 other channels nobody will ever watch.

But if the price is right I'll UN-subscribe from one of the others and subscribe for a while with them. I'm already so inundated with commercial free content I doubt I'll ever get around to it though.

Grammatron · Post by **Grammatron** » Sun Feb 11, 2018 7:24 am

The golden age of piracy is about to experience a renaissance.

gnome · Post by **gnome** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:09 pm

corplinx wrote:Yes.. VLC is a good app for watching video... on your computer itself... if you have a Mac.

There are better players on the PC.

Interested in hearing about it. I switched to VLC a while ago when I was tired of using multiple players and chasing down codecs. Just kind of stuck with it since. What is the new hotness?

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:16 pm

gnome wrote:
corplinx wrote:Yes.. VLC is a good app for watching video... on your computer itself... if you have a Mac.

There are better players on the PC.
Interested in hearing about it. I switched to VLC a while ago when I was tired of using multiple players and chasing down codecs. Just kind of stuck with it since. What is the new hotness?

I also switched to VLC a while back for the exact same reasons

ed · Post by ed » Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:57 pm

I still have direct tv + netflix and amazon thru my desktop pc.

Don't see a way of ditching the PC. But I did get this thingie for some other TVs
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NE ... UTF8&psc=1

Lets you watch virtually any video file no muss no fuss.

gnome · Post by **gnome** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 8:51 pm

corplinx wrote:on a PC, go to ninite.com, select "K-Lite Codecs", download, execute.

It installs media player classic and all the right codecs already setup.

To update it, you just re-run the ninite installer and it will check your current version and update it.

I advise using ninite for any other apps you see on it as well that you normally use to update them all at once.

No kidding, Media Player Classic? Does it do .mkvs, DVDs, and .srt subtitles?

Grammatron · Post by **Grammatron** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 8:53 pm

gnome wrote:
corplinx wrote:on a PC, go to ninite.com, select "K-Lite Codecs", download, execute.

It installs media player classic and all the right codecs already setup.

To update it, you just re-run the ninite installer and it will check your current version and update it.

I advise using ninite for any other apps you see on it as well that you normally use to update them all at once.
No kidding, Media Player Classic? Does it do .mkvs, DVDs, and .srt subtitles?

And how.

I prefer it over VLC in some cases.

gnome · Post by **gnome** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 1:02 am

Just coming back to say I made the switch, two things I like already:

- If I start typing in a neighboring window and accidentally still have the movie file in focus, it doesn't start fucking up the player.

- It's able to choose English subtitles by default.

Wilsondrake · Post by **Wilsondrake** » Wed Jun 27, 2018 11:10 am

What on earth are you people talking about ? Who uses VLC for streaming in 2018 ?!! :o :o

There plenty of streaming applications which you can easily use, customize, delete, reinstall, change and just bring em about your change.
You have Kodi, Plex, Stremio, Terrarrium, Miro and many many more. BUT WHY VLC ??!!

Try installing Kodi for yourself. You will be able to make it upto your own taste using one of the best kodi skins. And even installing some of the best kodi addons or just simply put on one of the best kodi build which have preinstalled addons. This player requires you to be a bit tech savy. But I am using the following for installation guides and they mostly are pretty easy.

...

If you are not happy with Kodi (which will not happen :twisted: ) you can try usingPopcornTime. Just install this app and you will be able to get all the movies, TV shows and much more. Its high time people move on with rubbish VLC or windows media player shit. :De_Bunk:

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Tue Jul 03, 2018 8:24 am

Wilsondrake wrote:What on earth are you people talking about ? Who uses VLC for streaming in 2018 ?!! :o :o

There plenty of streaming applications which you can easily use, customize, delete, reinstall, change and just bring em about your change.
You have Kodi, Plex, Stremio, Terrarrium, Miro and many many more. BUT WHY VLC ??!!

Try installing Kodi for yourself. You will be able to make it upto your own taste using one of the best kodi skins. And even installing some of the best kodi addons or just simply put on one of the best kodi build which have preinstalled addons. This player requires you to be a bit tech savy. But I am using the following for installation guides and they mostly are pretty easy.

...

If you are not happy with Kodi (which will not happen :twisted: ) you can try usingPopcornTime. Just install this app and you will be able to get all the movies, TV shows and much more. Its high time people move on with rubbish VLC or windows media player shit. :De_Bunk:

We are mostly old farts here. We can't keep up with every new app that the teenyboppers are using this week. If something works well I tend to keep using it until I have a reason not to.

ed · Post by ed » Tue Jul 03, 2018 11:09 am

Right. Anax is still putting hot compresses on his boils cuz thats what his mammy taught him.

ed · Post by ed » Tue Jul 03, 2018 11:19 am

Wilsondrake wrote:What on earth are you people talking about ? Who uses VLC for streaming in 2018 ?!! :o :o

There plenty of streaming applications which you can easily use, customize, delete, reinstall, change and just bring em about your change.
You have Kodi, Plex, Stremio, Terrarrium, Miro and many many more. BUT WHY VLC ??!!

Try installing Kodi for yourself. You will be able to make it upto your own taste using one of the best kodi skins. And even installing some of the best kodi addons or just simply put on one of the best kodi build which have preinstalled addons. This player requires you to be a bit tech savy. But I am using the following for installation guides and they mostly are pretty easy.

...

If you are not happy with Kodi (which will not happen :twisted: ) you can try usingPopcornTime. Just install this app and you will be able to get all the movies, TV shows and much more. Its high time people move on with rubbish VLC or windows media player shit. :De_Bunk:

WTF is this about? A link to a site that "warns" us about the dangers of torrents? Listen here my boy, we were sharing files when they were still in manila folders. I recall slipping Lister some 1's and naughts that were the first frame of Exodus ... here are the originals
https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_2 ... eb6e5j.jpg
Took Lister a month just to enter 'em. All the while the federales were nosing around, asking questions and such. So don't you try to "protect" us or you'll force me to get out of the wheelchair and give you a swift kick to the pills.

Meanwhile here is the link to the popcorn thing
https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_2 ... eb6e5j.jpg

Thats the way it should be done.

Now, get off my lawn :x :x :x :x :x :x :x

ed · Post by ed » Tue Jul 03, 2018 11:49 am

Popcorn my enormous black ass.

A fucking Russki backdoor into our sacred computing space. :freedom:

A way for them to get you to buy into a VPN.

Fuckers.

And if you can avoid their horrid imprecations you get this

ScreenShot114.jpg

Ooooohhhhh ..."can't download" what a shocker. :x :x :x :x :x :x :x

We have ways of dealing with Russian hackers on this site, boy-o. :x :x

gnome · Post by **gnome** » Wed Jul 04, 2018 5:44 am

An odd thought: Napster now compares to Napster-that-was like Guns & Roses compares to when they were the real band.

ed · Post by ed » Wed Jul 11, 2018 10:32 am

https://article.images.consumerreports. ... sues-06-18

ed · Post by ed » Thu Nov 01, 2018 10:31 am

OK ... short strokes time

I am redoing my entertainment stuff.

I have a 60" samsung TV, Direct TV, a computer for streaming Amazon/netflix/downloaded content & playing games.

Dumped the Components, got a sound bar (love it)

Want to get rid of wires.

Would a smart TV allow me to stream from Amazon and Netflix?
Is the Direct TV "wireless" service really wireless?
Can I wirelessly view content from my PC?

If Cool Hand were here, he'd come over and just fix it for me. Probably foot the bill too. I miss him.

I am thinking of a 75" samsung 4k thing.

I need such resolution to fully enjoy the impeachment proceeding which will doubtless be starting soon.

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Thu Nov 01, 2018 11:47 am

edwina wrote: Would a smart TV allow me to stream from Amazon and Netflix?

[Most] Any tv you buy today comes with all that shit built in. You gotta look for one that doesn't. But I recommend against using that feature. I disconnected my tv from the internet because it kept updating (at least weekly, sometimes daily). Instead use Roku. Cleaner, more apps, more betterest.

edwina wrote: Is the Direct TV "wireless" service really wireless?

Nope. It's just like cable.

edwina wrote: Can I wirelessly view content from my PC?

Sure.

Here's my setup from about two years ago

Spoiler:

All that smart-tv stuff is now routed through the roku.

ed · Post by ed » Thu Nov 01, 2018 11:54 am

You are such a tease, you brute.

How, when, where?????

Had this guy that worked for me back in the day. Really really compulsive. Would master an area before buying anything "because". Whe I wanted a TV or something I'd just go up to him and say "what should I buy?". Didn't have to know why, I just wanted to be happy. And remain lazy.

So give dammit. How to strean the tv content because then fuck ruku, can do it all thru the tV. Right?

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Thu Nov 01, 2018 11:57 am

Yes, you can do it all through the tv. Doesn't matter the brand. Some brands even use roku built in.

turn on tv. Select Smart choice on remote. It will show you all the built in apps. Select netflix. It will load its [no doubt klunky] version of the netflix app. enter password or type in key for first run. done.

Same for amazon, hulu, hbo, showtime, etc.

The interface will suck. But you won't know.

ed · Post by ed » Thu Nov 01, 2018 1:01 pm

Cool .... now stream the computer .... got hdmi out. now what

Tell me about samsunf q series tvs. Bring some coffee. Doughnots too.

Thanks.

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Thu Nov 01, 2018 3:04 pm

get plex

ed · Post by ed » Thu Nov 01, 2018 4:39 pm

wtf is that all about? Sounds squirrelly.