Netflix streaming turns 10, Apple may make original TV shows, Amazon launches an anime channel. Light Sherlock and Battlestar Galactica spoilers 30:03-30:35. With special guest Justin Robert Young.

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CordKillers: Ep. 153 – T-Mo Singing the Credo
Recorded: January 16 2017
Guest: Justin Robert Young

Intro Video

• T-Mo singing the creedo

Primary Target

• 10 years ago Netflix to offer online movie viewing
  – Quick shoutout that it was 10 years ago today that Netflix launched it’s “Watch Now” service. Netflix subscribers got one hour of watch time per $1 they spent on the service for DVDs and could choose from “more than 1,000” titles. (Windows IE Only)
• Apple said to be seriously pursuing Netflix-style scripted TV and movies
  – The Wall Street Journal reports Apple is talking with veteran TV and movie producers about commissioning high quality scripted series and feature films. The Journals sources say the project would start with a handful of carefully selected shows and movies. No deals have been made and questions remain about how the shows would be distributed. Apple has some original content already with Carpool Karaoke, documentaries and an upcoming series based on the life of Dr. Dre.
• Jimmy Iovine Addresses Apple Music Expansion Reports
  – Apple’s Jimmy Iovine told the Television Critics Association “we’re trying to create is an entire cultural, pop cultural experience, and that happens to include audio and video.”
  “If South Park walks into my office, I am not going to say you’re not musicians, you know?We’re going to do whatever hits popular culture smack on the nose. We’re going to try.”
  Iovine was promoting the HBO documentary The Defiant Ones about him and Dr. Dre partnering to launch Beats. 
   

How to Watch

• A Studio Ghibli-Produced TV Show Is Coming to Amazon Prime Later This Month
  – Studio Ghibli’s 2014 series Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter comes to Amazon Prime video January 27th. It’s based on a book by Astrid Lindgren and directed by Goro Miyazak. It’s the story of a thief’s young daughter who befriends a rival’s son, linking the two opposing ideologies.
• Amazon launches the first of its own subscription VOD channels, Anime Strike
  – Amazon has launched its own Anime channel called Anime Strike featuring collections of classic movies and TV shows along with currently airing Japanese TV. Amazon Prime Members can add the service to their existing subscription for $4.99 a month. Amazon sells add-ons from other services like Starz, Showtime and Cinemax.

What to Watch

• Netflix’s ‘iBoy’ trailer introduces smartphone superpowers coming January 27
• Twitter to live stream the US Presidential inauguration in partnership with PBS
• Joel and Ethan Coen have written and will direct a TV miniseries called The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, a Western

What We’re Watching

• Brian: RedLetterMedia, Sherlock 402, Justified 501, VICE
• Tom: Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, This is Us, Twin Peaks, Star Wars: Rebels, Justified (501), Sherlock (402)
• Justin: Sherlock
• On the Lookout: Travelers

Front Lines

• PBS KIDS debuts a new channel and live TV service, available via web and mobile
  – PBS launched a new 24/7 PBS KIds channel available on 107 over the air stations but also for free on the PBSKids streaming app and at PBSKIDS.org. Later this year PBS will integrated games that extend what’s happening in the live stream. And starting April 21st the channel will have “PBS KIDS Family Night.” From 7 to 9 PM on Friday evenings.
• DirecTV Now appears to be a complete mess
  – DirecTV Now seems to have constant problems still, a month and a half after launch. The Verge notes more than 200 active forum threads complaining about DirecTV Now as well as almost daily apologies from the DirecTV Now twitter account for various bugs, outages, login and billing problems.
• Star Wars will not digitally recreate Carrie Fisher for future movies
  – Lucasfilm issued a statement Friday that it, “has no plans to digitally recreate Carrie Fisher’s performance as Princess or General Leia Organa.” Carrie Fisher had shot all her scenes for Episode VIII. For Episode IX, Hollywood Reporter said one of Lucasfilm’s options was using CG to create new scenes and BBC said Lucasfilm was in discussions with Fisher’s estate about the use of her likeness. 
• Game of Thrones: Could Season 8 Consist of More Than 6 Episodes?
  – HBO programming president Casey Bloys told TVLine are still deciding how many episodes season 8 of Game of Thrones will have. Originally we were supposed to get 7 this year and 6 next but it looks like there’s a possibility of more than 6 in season 8.  
• Apple TV app changes pave the way for better gaming
  – Apple has increased the maximum size of apps that can be submitted to the Apple TV App Store from 200 MB to 4 GB. That could mean new Apple TVs coming with larger drives than the 32 and 64GB models currently offered. It could also mean a focus on games since those apps are much larger than streaming video related apps. 
• ESPN brings Apple’s handy single sign-on tool to its iOS apps
  – The WatchESPN and ESPN apps now supports Apple’s single sign-on feature for Apple TV. The main ESPN app also adds picture in picture so you can watch a game while tapping around reading news. 
• Also Shield TV users, Amazon Video is available in the latest software update!

Dispatches from the Front
Hi Guys, on the last Cordkillers, Jason asked about streaming in an RV. This link is invaluable for info on just that subject. Please pass it along, thanks ~ Steve Lamb TV & Movie Entertainment on the Road: Streaming, Downloading & Alternatives – RV Mobile Internet Resource Center

Stephen

• TV & Movie Entertainment on the Road: Streaming, Downloading & Alternatives

 

 

Hey guys, one of your bosses, Rick from outside Orlando here. read on Zatz not funny this week slingplayer is discontinued. As a long time user this upset me greatly as I use mine every time I travel to connect to my Tivo Roamio at home, and also have one in my parents house across the country to watch my favorite sports teams, not to mention slinging to my PC in home for background TV when I’m surfing the net. Can you guys tell me if there are any viable alternatives as I have not found one?

– Rick

• Slingbox Manufacturing Halted… In Favor Of Video Production Ecosystem
  – “Fortunately, existing owners have nothing to fear in the short term as Slingbox services will carry-on. Although I wouldn’t hold out hope for much in the way of application enhancements.”

 

 

Hey Tom and Brian,
On episode 152 you guys were discussing streaming services with Cloud DVR options. Long term, do you really think cloud DVRs will be the best way to do things or is just a holdover from the cable and satellite tv days?

I’ve had DVRs from DirecTV and TWC in the past, but since becoming a Cord Killer, I’ve enjoyed the freedom of on demand and not having to mess with a DVR.

Isn’t On Demand a better solution? I don’t have to worry about remembering to record a show or hope the game doesn’t go long and bump the schedule back 5 minutes, or run out of space on a DVR.

Also, how dumb is a storage restriction on a cloud DVR. We all know they probably aren’t actually recording shows to individual DVRs for each subscriber, its just a database entry of what shows you are recording. This will be like cell phone minutes or texting plans, where we get billed like crazy for small uses at first but then eventually get unlimited once demand is high enough.

Keep up the great work,
– Josh

 

 

I’ve been running my own DVR (MythTV) for around 10 years now and while I use to love it, both my wife and I have been slowly using it less and less ever since we subscribed to Netflix in 2012. It was to the point that when I had a motherboard go bad, I had to figure out if it was worth the time/cost to replace it. In the end I decided to but since I stopped even watching GMA in the morning like I use to, then unless it is for a special live event, I just don’t use it anymore.

Even shows that I have several seasons worth on my DVR, Simpsons, Bobs Burgers, Family Guy, etc., I realized most of those shows are now on Netflix so I determined the last episode I saw and started watching that episode on Netflix. I’ve now seen more Bob’s Burgers over the past month then I have over the past few years just due to moving it to the interface I’m always on (Netflix). Simpsons I had to leave due to them not being on Netflix yet, but I’m sure I could find them via one of my friends on Plex if I cared to look.

The point it, even consumers like me who loved OTA so much to build our own machines to watch, just don’t care anymore…but I will probably continue to keep it around for live programming or others events that are nice to be able to pause, or time-shift just enough to skip commercials but still enjoy majority of the event live.

As a side-note, if I actually cared about local news, Roku’s NewsON app lets me watch local news. I even saw some of GMA this morning when our weather turned bad and my antenna wasn’t picking up the best signal. But that’s the first time I’ve turned GMA on in months.

Thanks for the great work guys!

– Greg (Kansas City)

 

 

Brian,

This last week I found a great, but limited use for my over the air antennae. I live in the Portland, Oregon metro area and we recently had a very bad snowstorm. The local early morning traffic report OTA was amazing quality. Using the local news streaming sites was a horrible experience, max 720p streaming and even then it struggled (I have 300mbs fiber).

Before this I was with you, but after rediscovering the OTA part of my TV I am amazed at the visual quality (better than my 4k roku ultra using 4k uhd hdr samsung) and the diversity of channels is great….

THE COMMERCIALS KILL IT THOUGH!!!! lol our household can’t stand commercials and my 6 year old has no concept of them… “where’d my show go?, this isn’t my show!”
Netflix, Amazon and commercial free Hulu are how our household views it all. We tried SlingTV and PlaystationVue and didn’t even finish the free trials because of the commercials.

Keep up the great work!!

– Brandon from Oregon

 

 

Hi, Tom, Brian and <insert the name of your guest so I sound clairvoyant>

Comcast is getting sneaky trying to get people to subscribe to cable TV. The other day I was helping my uncle setup a new wireless router he bought. We called Comcast and at the end the tech said “For only $5 more a month you can get 8 times the speed increase on your internet”. We figured he had some old outdated plan and thought that sounded like a good deal. After 10 minutes of the tech setting that up he comes back and says “Oh by the way that includes cable TV as well”, which he was not subscribe to before. We put the brakes on that quick and there was no way to get the speed boost without getting cable TV. Sorry Comcast stop trying to sell me cable TV, its never going to happen.

See ya
– Adam

 

Hey Tom & Brian,

My sister has a question regarding piracy. She’s working on a project that started out as trying to get enough YouTube clips from Captain America: The Winter Soldier to make a short movie, but it quickly turned into a quest to see how many clips she could find. We’re editing the clips together, but she keeps asking me if doing this is illegal. Ordinarily I would say “Of course, we’re cropping out Facebook links and editing out the curse words. It’s not the full experience.”, but she has 2 hours worth of clips out of a movie that’s 2 and a half hours long! What should I tell her?

From,
– Amar

 

Links

2016 Winter Movie Draft
patreon.com/cordkillers