Cordkillers – Page 131 – Tom Merritt .com

Latest Amazon Fire TV Features 4k Video, Alexa Voice Assistant
– Amazon Fire TV $100 ships Oct. 5
– supports 4K HEVC (High efficiency video codec)
– Alexa integrated into voice search (discover content queue up media; it cannot set timers or alarms just yet.full feature set coming next year)
– New 64-bit quad-core processor and a dedicated GPU.
– $50 Fire TV Stick with voice search ships Oct. 22 ($40 w/o voice still available)
– A bundle called the Amazon TV Gaming edition packs a Fire TV with a game controller a 32GB microSD card and two free games for $140. Ships Oct. 5
Amazon boasts Fire TV is better at turning you into a couch potato
– Amazon says Fire TV ranks among the top for customer loyalty for Internet-television app Sling TV. 16 hours per week on Fire TV
– Amazon says it has more channels apps and games than any other
– Roku claims 2500 channels

Signal Intelligence

BBC to offer streaming in US
– BBC will offer a streaming service in US
– Programs that aren’t already screened on TV channels or available on existing streaming services
– No price announced
– Coming sometime in 2016

Gear Up

This is the 2nd gen. Chromecast w/ backdrop feeds, better WiFi, ‘Fast Play,’ more
– 9to5 Google got hold of leaked product materials of New Chromecast
– Round form factor instead of stick
– Three colors, red, yellow, black
– Content feeds on home screen
– Fast Play
Chromecast Audio, codenamed ‘Hendrix,’ is a separate device & made to WiFi-enable your speakers
– Chromecast Audio (Codename Hendrix)
– WiFi enable any speaker through aux jack
– Can support multiple speakers
– Will support spotify
– Google scheduled an announcement for 9/29-

Front Lines

French media giant Altice set to acquire Cablevision for $18 billion
– Netherlands-based communications company Altice has reached a deal to acquire Cablevision for $18 billion. Cablevision is the number 5 cable operator in the US.
Subscription movie service Epix will let subscribers download movies for offline viewing starting this month.
BBC iPlayer offers picture-in-picture TV viewing on your iPad
– Hulu and BBC iPlayer are two apps taking advantage of iOS9’s ability to allow picture in picture. In other words on Pad mini 2 and 3, iPad Air and Air 2 you can keep your video playing in a smaller box in the corner while you work on a spreadsheet or play crossy road.
Fullscreen Announces Its Own Streaming Service Targeting The YouTube Generation
– YouTube multichannel network Fullscreen announced this week is plans to launch its own streaming service featuring content from its creators in the coming months. Fullscreen’s lineup includes Grace Helbig, the Fine Brothers, and more. Pricing and launch will be announced later. Electra Woman and Dyna Girl will be one of the launch titles.
Andy Samberg Gives Out A Functioning HBO NOW Login On Tonight’s Emmys

Under Surveillance

Netflix teases images from upcoming Marvel series ‘Jessica Jones’
Brian: Narcos (1-4), Utopia (1-2), The Shield
Tom: Narcos (1-4), Utopia (1-2) Doctor Who 901, Clone Wars, Star Trek: Voyager, The Shield (706), Rugby World Cup, Rick and Morty (208)
Bryce: House of Cards

Dispatches from the Front

On your last show you guys talked about how it would be nice to easily be able to download Netflix shows for off- line viewing. I’ve been able to download shows from all the major online sites ( Netflix, Hulum amazon, YouTube, the networks, and many more using a companion program to playon called Playlater. HD quality, easy to use and then to transfer to my Tivo using Tivo desktop or my ipad using itunes. one time cost right now for both programs of $49 and no monthly fees

– Anonymous

Do you know of a way to translate DVDs into digital format? I know DRM makes this hard, but I was hoping the production studios would get behind this as we transition from DVD to digital as a society.

Secondly, what options do you know of for renting movie content? iTunes and Amazon are great for this, but subject to delays in the studio’s distribution plans (movie is available to buy only for a few months before rental is an option).

– Tyler

vudu.com/disc_to_digital.html

I was listening to episode 87, where the listener wanted to use an antenna and split it off to multiple TVs. Let me tell you what I did. I bought four “flattenas” from Channelmaster.com. Each cost me $10. I went to Alltex computers in Austin Texas and bought some coaxial cable, some end thingies, and a crimper thingy. Oh, I also bought four switches that could switch from cable to antenna. I did not want to run the cable from my attic to the TVs. I just split the existing cable from Time Warner (that was already in the attic) and added the splitter. I then added a piece of new coax that went to each of the flattennas and connected it to the splitter (that was mounted where I cut the Time Warner coax). I mounted the antennas with a pushpin toward the bottom of my roof (as high as I could get them). I then put the switch to the antenna side and now each of my cable connections in the house go to the antenna instead of to the outside cable box. Now I can always switch it back to the cable side in case I ever want to subscribe to cable again. I learned how to create those correct cables by watching YouTube videos. It was simple. And cheap. I get about 23 English-speaking channels here in Cedar Park Texas. Works great!

Thank you for all you do,

– Steven
Cedar Park, Texas

Dear Tom and Brian,

I want to keep you updated on the new revolution in cord cutting in the Middle East and North Africa: icflix.

The Netflix clone just surfaced in the area with a huge selection of movies and TV shows and it costs just 8 US$ a month. It comes pre-installed in all new LG and Samsung smart TVs and has apps on consoles, smartphones, and tablets.

The price includes simultaneous streaming for 5 devices of libraries of movies of Hollywood, Bollywood and Jazwood (the latter two are Indian and Arabic movies.)

The Walking Dead is the first thing I searched for and surely, it was there.

And since all major Football (soccer) are already available for paid streaming on Bein Sports, and NFL Game Pass available for the middle east, everyone in the Middle East and North Africa can finally cut the cord and never go back.

Yours,

– Fares

I can already stream Cordkillers on my Apple TV, through the Podcast channel.

– Sara in Sunny Seattle

Brian and Tom,

On the most recent show, you were talking about scenarios where offline streaming would be useful outside of planning trips. I watch a ton of video on my tablet in my tractor. I’ve got an unlimited data plan, so the 70 gb or more per month of mobile data doesn’t cost anything, but there is a lot of my farm where Verizon doesn’t work well enough for streaming video. I usually fill up my tablet at night using Plex, which isn’t always as legal as I’d like, so having an offline option with Netflix would be huge. Imagine burning through a 12 episode season of TV every day for a month, and you can see just how nice it would be to have to work a little less hard at sourcing content.

– Aaron @Traffas from smoggy Sharon, Kansas

Links

patreon.com/cordkillers

2015 Winter Movie Draft

It’s Spoilerin’ Time 87

Cordkillers / September 16th, 2015

Movie Draft Wrap Up, Triage (Mr. Robot), Mr. Robot Finale, Rick and Morty (207), The Shield (705)

00:47 – Movie Draft Update – Summer 2015 Wrap Up

03:47 – Triage (Mr. Robot)

09:07 – Mr. Robot 110 (season finale)

16:06 – Rick and Morty (207)

20:28 – The Shield (705)

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Download Audio

Cordkillers 87 – Show Us What You Got

Cordkillers / September 14th, 2015

Hulu goes commercial free-ish, Voice search comes to Apple TV, why Netflix won’t let you watch offline.

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CordKillers: Show Us What You Got
Recorded: September 14, 2015
Guests: Kristi Kates, Mulango Akpo-Esambe

Intro Video

Show me what you got!

Primary Target

Hulu Starts a Commercial-Free Option to Rival Netflix and Amazon
– Hulu launched a commercial free tier for $12 a month
– Exceptions are shows that Hulu hasn’t got the license to show commercial free
– Those shows will have a commercial before and after each episode.
– Grey’s Anatomy, Once Upon A Time, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Scandal, Grimm, New Girl, and How To Get Away With Murder.
– Shows only available because you authenticated through a cable service will still have commercials

Signal Intelligence

Netflix Exec: No Offline Downloads Because Too Much Choice Is Bad
Rakuten’s Wuaki.tv Beats Netflix To Offline Downloads, Starting First With Mobile Devices
– Amazon and Wuaki now offer the ability to download certain shows fro offline viewing.
– Netflix Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt told Gizmodo that offering offline video options is too much choice
– “One of the things I’ve learned is that every time you offer a choice, you paralyze some people who can’t decide if that’s what they want to do or not. Now, that sounds really stupid and self-serving, but it is in fact true.”
– He said tests have shown adding an addition step in the decision-making process can stop people from watching anything at all
– Netflix would rather make the existing service work in more places like planes, trains and hotels

Gear Up

Apple Unveils A More Powerful Apple TV, Shipping In October
It’s hard to build Apple TV apps and that’s good for users
Plex will bring its media streaming to Apple TV
– 4th gen Apple TV (Eddy Cue senior vice president of Internet Software and Services)
– “The future of TV is apps”
– “Over 60% of pay TV streaming video is consumed on an Apple device.”
– Remote – touchpad, airplay button, voice control “siri” button,
– Searches across multiple apps: iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Showtime
– Plays screen savers that are daypart appropriate
– movies/tv shows/app store/photos/music
– FF, rewind, with thumb on touchpad “what did she say?” skip back
– Can use phone or tablet as a controller
– Can ask Siri for weather and sports scores
– Runs TVOS
– App store including games and shopping and even Zillow?
– 64-bit A8 chip, Bluetooth 4, 802.11ac MIMO, IR
– 32GB for $149, $199 for 64GB, late October
– SDK Available for devs today, no webkit, so no browser

Front Lines

Microsoft, Amazon video to join Disney’s cloud movie service
– Disney announced Amazon and Microsoft has joined Disney Movies Anywhere. That means Disney movies purchased from Amazon or through Xbox will also be available on any other Disney Movies Anywhere Service, and vicer versa. Vudu, Google and Apple are already part of the system.
U.S. Consumers Now Spend More Time In Apps Than Watching TV
– A Flurry App Analytics report says the average US consumer spends 198 minutes a day in apps v. 168 minutes watching TV. And that doesn’t count the browser as a an app. TV minutes have remained steady while app minutes have been growing year over year.
TiVo revenue beats estimates on subscriptions rise
– TiVo subscriptions rose 26% in Q2, though we don’t know how much is from cable and satellite customers and how much from OTA. The company says it expects continued growth from cable and retail. Also Android users can now download TiVo recordings for offline viewing if they have a TiVo Stream or a box with Stream built into it.
Binge watching clock
– Want to know if you have time to binge all the episodes of DragonballZ/ Well if you have 5.2 days available you can. We know this thanks to bingeclock.com. The service can caluclate how much to binge on shows with commercials, without commercials and skipping credits.
Hey South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong! Netflix says its launching in your countries in early 2016.

Under Surveillance

Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror to become a Netflix show
– Radio Times says Netflix has struck a deal with Charlie Brooker to fund additional episodes of Black Mirror. Channel 4 which aired the first two runs of episodes is said to have a first look deal on new episodes.
Marvel’s Jessica Jones will premiere on Netflix on November 20th
– Marvel’s Jessica Jones is coming to Netflix November 20th. An enigmatic teaser trailer is out. Kyrsten Ritter is Jessica Jones, Mike Coler is Luke Cage and David Tennant is the Purple Man.
A trailer for Steven Soderbergh’s next TV series Red Oaks is up. It comes to Amazon October 9.
If you have something capable of displaying 4K video, you can watch space stuff on a new 4K NASA channel launching November 1st.
Brian: The Shield (705), Rick and Morty, Bojack Horseman season 2, Mr. Robot finale (twice!), couple more episodes of rebels
Tom: The Shield (705) Late Show w/ Stephen Colbert, Star Trek: Voyager, US Open, Rick & Morty (207), Mr. Robot finale
Mulango: Mr Robot finale, Doctor Who, Clone Wars because of rebels, Rick and Morty
Kristi: Agents of Shield, Astronaut Wives Club, Inside Llewyn Davis
Bryce: Update (Knights of Sidonia, Hotwives), Narcos
Narcos has been renewed a mere week after its premiere.

Dispatches from the Front

With Hulu going commercial free (Hey Tom, take $4 of my dollars I send you and get a month commercial free and then go back to the commercial version and then tell me if you don’t really notice the commercials on Hulu 😉
Also Sling TV giving me access to Rugby (and my dad is waiting for Apple TV to have sling on it so he can start watching Tennis. He worked in TV for years and only does OTA for his tv viewing)
I am so close to being totally Cord Free but I have horrible reception here in West Hollywood so I still have a TiVo with local cable channel service. We use the Tivo for recording live events like award shows. Is there a service out there that allows me to record / view these shows for later or live viewing? Or is it just a matter of time to wait for it to happen. (AKA Apple TV live streaming coming early 2016/2017/2018….)
Thanks in advance and keep up the good work.

– Blair in West HollyWeird

I’m ready to kill my cord. I love my Fios, but I’m done giving that much money to Verizon every month.

I love with 2 teenagers who are mostly cord-free anyway, but I do have 3 TVs I need to drive OTA signals to. I know about the Channelmaster for OTA DVR action but I really need the potential to run all 3 TVs simultaneously live for local sportball. Is there a solution for this that only involves 1 antenna shared somehow? I’m in a remote suburb and need to get my antenna in the attic or on the roof and don’t want to have to do it x3.

– Rob Damascus, MD

Hey Tom and Brian,

Today marked week one of NCAA Football. Over the last few years conferences have created their own networks; SEC network, Big 10 network, ect. These can usually be found in cable sports packages. While a lot of the networks are aligned with ESPN, they require their own authentication. SLING to the rescue. I added the sports package to my Sling subscription today and was off to the gridiron. The authentication on the ESPN website is pretty flawless. To activate the app on my Amazon Fire TV stick I had to enter a code on another connected device.

I have noticed some streaming issues, I have Optimum 100MBPS (down) internet, but the picture goes form 480 up to HD and back regularly. The audio also drops out sometimes while the video continues in the ESPN app. On the sling app, I would get total black screens with no audio then everything would come back.

While it is not as nice as cable was to watch sports, it was so much easier to add the sports pack and will be easier to remove it. I am just starting my post cord cutting experience. Moving 1/3rd of the way across the country was a great motivator. I am still getting all my devices unpacked and hooked up, but it feels nice to be saving effectively $80/month and getting more content I am interested in.

Your boss,

– Sean

Amazon has acquired video technology company Elemental – Full disclosure, I was employee #12 at elemental six years ago. …

Companies like these three are very much infrastructure companies – they’re features are the guts of the video workflow….

Think about one of Amazon’s other big recent purchases – twitch. Twitch is the eyeballs, Elemental is the efficiency of delivery on that service (and improved quality i imagine). Between just Amazon Instant Video and Twitch, there should be a pretty big value in having elemental onboard.

Here’s one last piece and then i’ll shut up. Elemental has a lot of big broadcast customers – the Olympics, BBC, ESPN, Disney, and even google and Microsoft. Imagine how interesting license rights negations get when your talking to the platform that delivers the content AND the company encoding your content.

– Andy Beach

Links

patreon.com/cordkillers

2015 Winter Movie Draft