Internet TV arrives in Hollywood, why it’s OK NOT to cut the cord, and a full Windows PC that plugs into your TV’s HDMI port for $149.
CordKillers: Ep. 53 – Blasphemy
Recorded: January 12, 2015
Guest: Lamarr Wilson
Intro Video
Primary Target
- Amazon, Netflix Win Big At The Golden Globes
- Amazon wins
– Jeffrey Tambor (Best Actor, comedy or musical TV) (Beat Gervais in Derek)
– Transparent, best comedy or musical series (Beat OitNB, Girls and Silicon Valley) - Netflix Win
– Kevin Spacey, best actor in TV drama - Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin plugged upcoming Netflix show Grace and Frankie
– One of the award intros remarked it doesn’t matter what screen you watch a show on…
– Hulu plugs telling people to watch shows - No major network show made the cut for nomination as best comedy series (Broadcast TV took 2 awards, best supporting actress drama (Joanne Froggatt, Downton Abbey) and Best Actress TV comedy or musicl, Gina Rodriguez CW’s Jane the Virgin))
Signal Intelligence
Gear Up
- Intel’s Compute Stick puts Windows 8.1 on your TV for $149
– Intel’s HDMI Compute Stick 32GB of storage and 2GB of RAM, along with a USB port, WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 support and a mini-USB connector for power. Windows version $149, Linux version $89 Arriving in March - Sony, Sharp and TP Vision get ready to sell Android TVs
-Android TV is coming: TVs from Sharp, Sony and TP Vision (aka Philips) will all run Android TV when they arrive this spring. A Huawei media player and Razer Forge TV will have it too. - Channel Master adding linear Internet channels to DVR+
– Channel Master DVR+ which is very popular with Cordkillers audience members will add more Internet channels to the program guide. (already has Pandora, Vudu and YouTube
Front Lines
- Verizon CEO Says Video Effort to Debut in Second Half, AOL Acquisition Report Inaccurate
–Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam speaking at the Citi Media Conference indicated the companies online video service will debut in 2nd half of the year. Also it will focus on mobile and wireless.
-Why mobile? Well McAdam said: “Millennials are not signing up for 300 channels that they have to sit in front of the TV at 8 o’clock to see a certain show. (Our service) is probably going to be a 20- or 30-channel offering, and the content that we see will be very compelling.” - David Cross’ new movie will be the first feature film distributed in a BitTorrent Bundle
–David Cross of Mr. Show and Arrested Development fame is showcased his movie Hits sat Sundance last year to mixed reviews. So Feb. 13 he’ll distribute it as a pay-what-you-want BitTorrent Bundle, the first feature film distributed as a Bundle. He’s also launching a Kickstarter to raise $100K to rent theaters and do marketing for pay-what-you-want theater showings. - Tablo is building a beautiful Roku app for its cord-cutting DVR
–Tablo previewed new apps for Roku, Android TV and Fire TV at CES The Roku app should come to users by the end of March. They also showed off Tablo Metro DVR with tiny built-in antennas for folks who live within 25 miles of the TV towers. It’s also expected in March for $249 with two tuner capability.
Under Surveillance
- All episodes in Daredevil available on Netflix in all territories April 10. (based on Frank Miller’s “Man Without Fear” run )
- Season 5 of Game of Thrones returns April 12. (Silicon Valley returns that day also)
- Game of Thrones Becomes First TV Series to be Showcased in IMAX
- Deadline says Fox ordered a pilot of a Minority Report TV series. (Takes place 10 years after the film)
- Marvel is posting episodes of Japanese Spider-man featuring Takuya Yamashiro and his giant robot, Leopardon.
- Brian: rewatched How to Train Your Dragon 2, more Cowboy Bebop (incl. movie), Marco Polo, Quick Draw, The Profit, Archer
- Tom: Marco Polo (Ep. 5), Agent Carter, Continuum, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Star Wars Clone Wars, Archer, Tiny House Hunting, Late Night Chef Fight, Boyhood, Predestination, The Hollywood Reporter Roundtables, The Shield (406), Mozart in the Jungle
- Lamarr: Caught up with The Flash, almost caught up with Arrow, binge watched Marvel’s Super Hero Squad on Hulu+
2014 Winter Movie Draft
draft.diamondclub.tv
- Brian: $426,279,690
- Scott: $412,921,238
- Tom: $362,581,351
- Brett: $337,754,420
- John: $224,307,968
- Justin: $154,196,092
Dispatches from the Front
Hey guys,
Is spoilering time strictly for shows that you are currently watching or can we make special requests? I love listening to spoilering time as like a tv digest. I don’t really have (or necessarily want to have) time to watch some shows and spoilering time is like my clif notes to popular tv. Long story short; I love being spoiled! If requests are granted then please spoil for me LOST. I’ve only watched up to season 3 and although I don’t particularly want to watch the rest of the seasons I would like to know how it ends. Love the show!
Your boss,
Adam
Hi Guys,
Couple of thoughts from the last show:
Didn’t feel justified sending a message without being a patron, so here I am. Also, I was disappointed to hear that being not being a patron put me in with the majority of your listeners so I am proud to be part of a minority group.
On the subject of the Sling TV service, if a similar service was available in Canada it would boost my chances of cord cutting over 80%, my wife just wants to turn on the TV and watch. She doesn’t want to choose the programming, we have Netflix but even going through that menu can be frustrating and using the internal network becomes frustrating with quality glitches and buffering.
Also Brian being one of your latest bosses, I need you to change your schedule. I fly to England on January 19th so, please change your Hacking the system premier to January 18th, thanks.
Ian in Ontario, Canada.
The Geeky Brit.
Hey Brian and Tom, I think the “Gear Up” section should be called “Cord Cutlery.”
Thanks, love the show.
Kirk
Hi Brian,
Unfortunately, the government (and studios) interpret the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (a predecessor to the DMCA) such that violating your terms and service can be a criminal act. The wording is:
“No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title.”
Kind of what a VPN does when you use it to watch content in a region where it is not available.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1201
This is pretty much how they threw the book at Aaron Swartz.
Not that any of this is a good thing.
Alan (not a lawyer?)
Greetings, programs. Just wanted to share with you my handy guide for whether or not Sling TV is right for you. Perhaps you and your viewers might find this interesting.
Dave Warner
This may be parsing things too finely, but I wanted to comment that we almost bought one of the Hisense TVs with Roku built in. My non-techy husband was at the store, and called me to discuss what to buy. He said the box indicated that the TV comes with a Roku stick (instead of having the software built into the TV). It was $30-40 more than the same size Hisense TV without the Roku, which is what we ended up buying. Our model only has 3 HDMI ports (if the Roku version is the same, that leaves two open ports — I guess you get what you pay for).
It seems like this is only worth it if you don’t have a Roku already, and even then only marginally. I wanted the software actually built-in to make it easier for my non-techy hubby. We already have 2 Roku boxes.
I’m bringing this up because you often talk about these TVs with stuff built in, and I’m wondering how many of them are really just selling the devices together in the same box, and whether you think this is better or worse than built in.
Love the show!
Beelissa
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